With over a decade of evolution under their belt, Bristol-born indie-electronic outfit The Ramona Flowers have carved out a sound that blurs the lines between stadium-sized anthems and late-night synth pop.
Known for their emotive hooks, slick production, and cinematic energy, the band return today (October 10th) with their fourth studio album, ‘Made By Humans’ — a record that feels both deeply personal, and sonically expansive.
Blending disco, funk and indie flavours with raw lyricism, 13-track collection captures the contradictions of modern life — connection and isolation, technology and intimacy, humanity and machine. It’s a title that speaks volumes: a reminder that behind every digital beat and polished melody lies real emotion, real stories, and, of course, real people.
We sat down with band members Steve, Sam, Dave and Ed to talk about the creative process behind ‘Made By Humans’, how their sound has matured since their debut, and what it means to stay human in an increasingly digital world.
Lads, ‘Made by Humans’ is finally ours! Despite this being your fourth studio album, is it still nerve wracking releasing new music?
Sam: It can be, but maybe not that nerve-wracking because to be honest, I keep forgetting it’s coming out! But it’s exciting, really exciting. We’ve been working hard on this album for a long time now, so I’m just happy that it’s finally being released.
Steve: Yeah, it’s a nice feeling knowing that it’s out and everyone can hear it. I feel like we’ve created a real body of work this time around, so I’m excited to see what people think of the new material.
What does the LPs’ title represent, and how does it tie into the themes of the album?
Steve: The title reflects the fact that lyrically the songs on this album touch on real-life subjects, that all people go through, and that only humans can experience. In a world of AI, it felt like the correct title.
Sam: It emphasises the fact that we’re the real deal. We’re a band that’s been around. We’ve done everything. We’ve toured, we’ve played every shit-hole, and we’ve learned how to get good. We wanted this album to showcase that we are a real band, writing real songs, playing real instruments, and being the real deal, and only humans can do that.
Were there any particular emotions, stories, or real-world events you felt compelled to write about?
Steve: I think we just wanted to do what we’ve always done, and that’s write music that reflects our own personal experiences, as well as how we view the world in it’s current state. From my point of view, I went through a lot of things during the making of this album — I had some addiction issues, and I had a child, so I definitely wanted to make sure I addressed those things in a couple of the songs.
Which tracks feel most personal to you?
Steve: I would say ‘Sings of the Father’ and ‘Luna’ because that’s about my daughter.
Sam: For me it’s gotta be ‘That Summer’ because some of the lyrics were inspired by my relationship.
Dave: I like all of the songs on the album. It’s like when you have children, you can’t pick your favourite one.
Ed: If I had to pick one, then it would be ‘Mirrors In The Mansion’. It’s hard to choose a favourite or a song that feels the most personal, because they all touch you in different ways. Steve was really quite open and vulnerable on this album, and after being his mate for so long, I class him as basically a brother, so I’m moved by everything he writes and creates.
The Ramona Flowers — Mirrors In The Mansion (Lyric Video)
Are there any tracks you’re especially excited to play live, and how do you manage translating them to the stage without difficulty?
Dave: Difficulty being the operative word (laughs).
Steve: Yeah, it’s hard for me to answer as I have nothing to do with putting our live shows together (laughs).
Ed: It’s difficult, I’m not going to pretend it isn’t. Luckily, we work with some really great people who help us to make it all happen.
Sam: When we’re writing a song, we don’t necessarily think about how we’re going to bring it to life in a live setting. We just write and produce our music to the best of our ability, and it’s only afterwards you think: “shit, how are we going to do this live?”
Ed: We’ve all written individually and brought our own ideas to the table on this album. We’ve never really done that before. So when it comes to performing live, I guess we’ll each just put our own stamp on the songs and see how it sounds.
Sam: Ed wrote the guitar solo on ‘Mirrors In The Mansion’, and it sounds epic. But as a drummer it’s really difficult to keep up with. So I know when we play it like I’m going to be thinking: “Am I going to get this right tonight?”
Ed: There’s a moment on one of the tracks Sam wrote called ‘Sins of The Father’ — it has this rhythm to it that’s amazing, but it’s hard to groove with if you’re a drummer or base player, so they tend to hate it (laughs). One of our friends played bass on it when we recorded it, and he nearly had a breakdown trying to master it! He had to take a minute afterwards, and go find someone to have a conversation with!
Sam: After we’d recorded it, I remember the producer tried to straighten it out and I was like “what have you done?” And he told me he’d made some changes because it sounded weird, but I was like “no that’s the whole point, it IS weird!” So we changed it back. However, the problem we now have is, everyone struggles to play it live (laughs).
As a collective, did you know the kind of record you wanted to make this time around?
Steve: Not in t he beginning, no. I think we were happy to just experiment and see what we came up with. Then we wrote a song called ‘Up All Night’, and that kind of became a cornerstone of the album. I’d say all the material we wrote after that came from the feeling we got from that one particular track.
Sam: I think we knew though that we wanted this album to be a bit more upbeat didn’t we? We wanted the songs to be a bit more danceable, and fun.
How would you say your songwriting process has evolved since your earlier albums?
Ed: Well, I’d say my process has totally evolved because I actually write songs now (laughs).
Sam: You were always involved in though — especially when it came to arranging the rhythm and drum sections. But yeah, it’s nice now because everyone writes more so it spreads the load a little.
Ed: I suppose everyone’s become more confident in what they do. And because we’ve known each other for so long, we’re more comfortable having those difficult conversations that we sometimes need to have. We’ve got a much better bullshit filter now that’s for sure!
Steve: Yeah, if something’s not good enough, we just say it… as tactfully as possible, we don’t want to purposefully hurt anyone. In the past I think we let certain things drift on for longer than they should because we weren’t being as honest with each other as we are now.
Your sound often blends cinematic, electronic and indie rock elements. Did you push those boundaries in any new ways on this record?
Ed: We never set out to do anything like that. We just write music we want to make.
Sam: We started out an indie band, and then transitioned into experimenting with more electronic sounds. Now we’ve kind of come out of that and have gone back to being a real band. But all that shifts as we grow and evolve.
Were there any unexpected sounds or instruments you experimented with for the first time?
Ed: Our producer brought along a couple of old synths one day, which we all quite enjoyed experimenting with.
Sam: You’ll often find that anytime you’re in a studio, you’ll find something and think: “let’s play around with that and see what we can come up with”, and yeah, it’s usually a synth (laughs).
Dave: It’s funny how different sounds and ideas can seemingly appear out of nowhere. Sam was putting his guitar down during a session, and the producer recorded the sound of it because it created this unique rhythm. When he played it back to us we were like “what’s that noise, it sounds amazing?” We actually ended up sampling it on one of the tracks.
Sam: And then there’s a door slamming sample (laughs) We found that the keys echoed every time the door slammed, and it sounds epic. So we recorded it and used as one of the downbeats.
How do you see ‘Made By Humans’ setting the stage for your future sound and projects?
Ed: I think because it’s taken such a long time to write this album and put it together, some of the songs on there are two, maybe three years old, and some were written in the last six months, so as a completed record it’s a real reflection of who we were, and who we are now. I’m excited to see how we evolve on the next one to be honest.
Sam: I feel like we’ve created a really strong foundation that we can build upon. We’ve definitely found our sound as Ramona Flowers now, and this album solidifies that.
How do you hope listeners will connect with the new material?
Steve: We obviously want everyone to love it and enjoy it. But also, I want people to understand the lyrics, and hear the stories we’re telling in a way that they can relate to them to what they have going on in their own lives.
Sam: I want people to listen to the album as a whole, from start to finish. It worries me that people don’t seem to buy albums anymore, so they never quite feel the impact of a full body of work. I think that’s a shame. There are some beautiful songs on this album, particularly the ones nearer the end, so I really hope people take the time to listen to the whole record and not just the singles.
Download / stream ‘Made By Humans’ here
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