Mystery Jets on AWSoP

'... a parallel place that’s totally private ...'

West London’s favourite sons Mystery Jets release their debut album Making Dens ... and front man Blaine Harrison recently explained to Gigwise (2006)the meaning of the title.

He explained: “Well, first of all, it’s the name of the last track on the album. But I think what the title means – though I think it’s cool to leave it open to interpretation – is … well, we wanted to find an identity for the album which actually described the whole process of making the album itself.”

Harrison added that the name derives from feelings he had when he was at school, he revealed: “Some of my favourite songs – not just our music – are songs that would get me through a difficult period. I remember there was a time at school when a friend of mine had a cousin who died, who’d had this amazing band.”

“For a long time I listened to their music and it totally took me to a place that I wanted to be; and for a long time I listened to Procul [sic] Harem[sic]’s Whiter Shade of Pale, every night before I went to bed – for about six months.”

“And what that song came to represent was almost like a dream-like state, or a parallel place that’s totally private. That’s what my favourite kind of music is: music that takes you to a kind of private place.”

“And that’s basically what a den is, somewhere that you can crawl away to; you’ll build it out of twigs, up a tree or under the ground but it’s your private place; no-one can discover it, it belongs to you. That’s what ‘Making Dens’ means – we wanted to make 12 little songs that people can crawl away to.”