SINCE releasing their debut album in 2009, Deaf Havana have come through more than most.

Just a few years ago they stared down the possibility of walking away from the band for good after losing their desire to make music and accumulating insurmountable debt.

Now with a new team and renewed motivation, the Norfork five-piece are set to release their fifth album which was completed just three months ago.

Rituals is the result of throwing out the ‘Deaf Havana rulebook’: first frontman and lyricist James Veck-Gilodi picked the song titles, second; he wrote tracks that fit the theme of those titles, third; everything was written on the computer, then the band came in to play all the parts.

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He was forced to dig deep into his past to find inspiration for the album having moved on from his anxiety and alcohol ridden past.

Fans may be surprised to find songs about redemption and overcoming personal demons rather than tales of debauchery and self-loathing.

In a complete change of direction, the new record turns the typical Deaf Havana gloom on its head with help from the London Contemporary Voices choir, who feature on five of the album tracks.

“It is a problem because I do like to write about pretty miserable stuff and as it stands at the moment I’m actually fairly happy”, Veck-Gilodi explains.

“The album is retrospective so I’ve had to dig quite far into my past.

“No one wants to hear about how great my life is really. They want something they can relate to.

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“The lyrics on this record are a bit semi-fictional. That’s another thing that’s different on this record because normally everything I do is very literal, so I guess im running out of things to sing about.”

He adds: “Making the record the way we have was completely accidental.”

“The last record was almost five years in the making but this was literally the polar opposite. It was completely by accident.

“My friend Phil who ended up recording it at his studio in Sheffield and he just said come up and do some demo’s. I was supposed to go for a few days and I ended up staying for months and doing the whole record.

“I guess it was just the speed we were writing songs at was pretty ridiculous.”

“It certainly wasn’t as fun as recording the last record because that was a group effort, we had loads of time and beautiful studio.

“This was just me and a couple of guys sitting in front of a computer for hours so it wasn’t particularly glamorous but it was fine.

“Before, we enjoyed recording live and making it feel like an energetic rock record, this couldn’t be more different.”

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Although the change in sound came naturally, it was not without risks.

Ahead of the release of first single Sinner, which features the London choir, James admits being more nervous than ever before.

“I don’t know if it was because I really care about the songs or that I was scared about how people would react to the new sound", James adds.

An increase in airplay has no doubt helped the band on their mission to finally breakthrough. Not to mention an appearance on a little known show called Love Island.

Over the past few months, Deaf Havana’s Spotify streams have increased by around 300,000.

For a group so close to giving up, the future seems brighter than ever.

The musician explains: “I’m the most positive I’ve ever been about everything.

“Because we’ve been through it, we know exactly what to look out for now and we know exactly what not to do.

“I’m far more involved in every aspect of the band and we have a different team behind us. As far as I can see it won’t happen again, because I can’t let it.

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“We reached a point that was so low, we didn’t talk to each other for ages.

“We missed playing music together. We had to get to the point where we realised we all still wanted to do it - we had to get to the lowest point we could reach.”

Deaf Havana will be signing copies of their new album at HMV and performing at St Luke’s Church on August 6.