International Departures is a collaborative songwriting project between multi-instrumentalist Henry Carden and Chris Charlton.

The duo is currently writing and recording their debut release with producer Paddy Jordan, with each track featuring a different guest vocalist.

Henry and Chris most recently won an Xtra Mile Recordings competition to be featured on their next sampler, alongside artists including Frank Turner and Against Me.

We caught up with Henry during the recording process to find out more about International Departures.

First off, how did you come up with the name International Departures?

It’s the name of a song by my favourite band, Stapleton. Everybody should listen to them, especially their album ‘Hug The Coast’, it’s amazing.

Why did you decide to expand upon the studio-only concept?

I didn’t initially plan to do International Departures live. It was just going to be a studio-only project, but I got offered a couple of pretty good gigs and thought it’d be interesting to road test the songs live. I poached a local group called John and the Ragmen and they effectively became “the band” for a few gigs.

How would you describe your music?

Biggest influences are probably bands like Death Cab For Cutie, Idlewild, The Dismemberment Plan…so kinda like a watered down version of all of them! Every song has a different guest vocalist, so that gives the whole thing a little bit of a different feel. One of the best things about doing a studio project is that I don’t feel I have to worry too much about every song sounding like the same band, but I can only really play guitar in one way, so that’s a constant factor.

Which track of yours should we check out first?

Probably ‘Give Me Something‘ which features Joe Hammill from Cattle & Cane on lead vocals. It’s soon to be released on an Xtra Mile Recordings compilation with bands like Against Me, To Kill A King and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which is pretty cool.

How is your debut album coming along?

We’re about half way there with it so far. I need to demo the next batch of songs and send them over to Chris and Paddy, then hopefully I’ll get back in the studio before the end of summer.

How did you select the guest vocalists for the release?

Once we’ve demoed the track, Chris and I usually make a little hit-list of Northern vocalist who we think would suit the track. That’s worked really well up to now, but I do quite fancy the challenge of setting out to write some tracks with specific vocalist in mind from the start.

Are there any tracks that already becoming your personal favourite?

Latest track ‘The Title of Returning Champion‘ which showcases the talents of Joe Smithson from Collectors Club on vocals. It’s got a nice feel that was great to play live and it was also a good laugh shooting the video, which is basically just me and my mates playing heads and volleys in the garden!

How would you describe your live set?

Good fun! At the last gig, we got Martin from The Lake Poets to jam some saxophone with us and the lads from John and the Ragmen always have a smile on their face, so yeah, good fun seems pretty reasonable.

Where would you most like to perform in the UK?

My old band DARTZ! did some great gigs down in Kingston, so I reckon it’d be good to play for the lovely Banquet Records chaps again at some point.

Anything else you wish to add?

I think I’ve already said too much.

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