The Hardest Part

In this episode of The Hardest Part, Young the Giant break down the songwriting process and music production process behind “Different Kind of Love,” exploring how the band tried to return to the spirit of their first record.

After years of touring, remote writing, adult responsibilities, and fragmented workflows, Young the Giant wanted to reconnect creatively by getting back into a room together and writing instinctively as a band again. Through writing retreats in Joshua Tree and Idyllwild, they rebuilt their process around collaboration, momentum, and live energy.

We talk about songwriting process, music production, creative flow, and how producer Brendan O’Brien helped the band stop overthinking and trust the energy of being together in the studio. They also discuss how “Different Kind of Love” evolved structurally over time, and why this album became an attempt to reconnect with the openness and joy that defined their earliest work.

Artist: Young the Giant

Host: Kieron Banerji

Song: Different Kind of Love

Album: Victory Garden (2026)

Creative: Callum Baker

Engineers: Max Walker and Giovanni Almote

Young The Giant Team: Lloyd Williams and Natalie Nichols

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What happens when you can’t move, can’t escape, and a song is the only thing you can build.

In this episode of The Hardest Part, Kieron Banerji sits down with Westerman to break down the making of “Mosquito” from his 2025 album A Jackal’s Wedding. 

The song was written during a period of physical and emotional isolation, after Westerman tore his meniscus while travelling in northern Greece. Unable to move for months in extreme heat, with little contact with anyone else, the song emerged slowly in fragments, built from a looping guitar idea and moments of clarity in an otherwise disorienting time.

He explains how the track became a kind of soundtrack to that period, shaped as much by limitation as by intention. From the physical difficulty of writing while injured to the emotional weight that led him there in the first place, the process was both technically and psychologically demanding.

We explore how environment influences sound, from the hazy, heat-soaked textures of the demo to the decision to treat the physical surroundings as an active part of the record. He also reflects on abstraction in songwriting, why not everything needs a fixed meaning, and how stepping away from the work can be the only way through creative blocks.

Guest: Westerman

Host: Kieron Banerji

Song: Mosquito

Album: A Jackal's Wedding (2025)

Creative: Callum Baker

Recorded backstage at The Village Underground, London.

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Sometimes the hardest part is not writing the song, it is making it feel right.

In this episode of The Hardest Part, Kieron Banerji sits down with Winter to break down the making of “Misery” and how the song transformed completely in the studio. 

What started as a faster demo in a different key with only one verse became the longest and most complex process on the record. Through experimentation with tempo, pitch, and arrangement, the track slowly evolved into something entirely new.

She explains how working closely with her producer led to key decisions like pitching the vocals down, slowing the tempo, and reshaping the song’s emotional tone. These production choices did not just change the sound, they changed the meaning.

Guest: Winter

Host and Executive Producer : Kieron Banerji

Creative: Callum Baker

Engineer: Max Walker

Studio: The Thin White Duke, London.

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In this episode of The Hardest Part, Kieron Banerji sits down with Athens-based band The Overjoyed to go behind the scenes of their track “Party Eyes,” exploring the songwriting process, music production, and the emotional realities that shaped it. 

The song begins with a deeply personal place: sleepless nights, hangovers, and the emotional comedown that can follow moments of excess or difficult periods in life. What starts as a reflection on insomnia evolves into something more vulnerable, touching on mental health, isolation, and the quiet, often unspoken moments where everything feels overwhelming.

We break down how the track came together, from the initial riff to building the structure around a feeling rather than a concept. We also discuss how songwriting can act as a form of release, and why revisiting difficult moments through music can feel cleansing over time.

The band also perform an exclusive version of the song for The Hardest Part at the end of the interview.

 

Guest: The Overjoyed

Host: Kieron Banerji

Creative: Giovanni Alimonte and Callum Baker

Mixing Engineer: Max Walker

Studio: The Thin White Duke, London.

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In this episode of The Hardest Part podcast, Tigercub break down the songwriting and creative process behind their track, "Fall In Fall Out".

The track sits at the centre of their new album’s core tension, exploring contradiction, cycles, and the difficulty of articulating feelings that don’t fully make sense yet. Jamie explains how the song began with melody on acoustic guitar, before any clear meaning was attached. From there, the process became one of discovery, using stream of consciousness writing, dream journals, and notebooks filled with fragments to uncover what the song was actually about.

Kieron and Jamie explore the balance between instinct and editing, the challenge of writing without overthinking, and how meaning often reveals itself only after the song already exists. They also discuss the influence of dreams, literature, and film, and why leaving space for interpretation can make a song more powerful.

Guest: Tigercub

Song: Fall In Fall Out

Host and Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji

Creative: Callum Baker and Dylan Roberts

Recording Engineer: Giovanni Alimonte 

Mix Engineer: Max Walker

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Sometimes the hardest part of songwriting is figuring out what you are actually feeling.

In this episode of The Hardest Part, Kieron Banerji sits down with Madi Diaz to break down the making of her track “Heavy Metal” and the songwriting process behind it. The song began as a feeling she could not fully access while finishing her record, something unresolved that she knew was there but could not yet put into words. 

Madi reflects on the challenge of writing when you feel emotionally heavy, and the patience required to keep peeling back layers until the meaning reveals itself. The conversation explores how melody can arrive before clarity, how repetition can carry emotional weight, and how songwriting can become a way of understanding yourself in real time.

Guest: Madi Diaz

Song: Heavy Metal

Host: Kieron Banerji

Produced and Distributed by Palm Tree Island

Creative: Callum Baker and Dylan Roberts

Engineers: Giovanni Alimonte and Max Walker

Recorded at The Thin White Duke Studios, London

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What happens when you enter the studio with a song that is not finished and no time to figure it out?

In this episode of The Hardest Part, Kieron Banerji sits down with Julia Cumming and Nick Kivlen of Sunflower Bean to break down the making of their track “I Knew Love” from the album Mortal Primetime.

The song was one of the only tracks that was still being developed once the band entered the studio. With time, budget, and pressure all in play, they found themselves building the structure in real time, chasing a feeling they knew was there but had not fully landed yet. They talk about the origins of the song, from experimenting with open D tuning to pulling influence from artists like Nick Drake and Sonic Youth, and how collaboration helped unlock key moments in the track when ideas felt incomplete.

This episode is about the reality of self-producing, from trusting instinct under pressure to navigating disagreements and knowing when to push forward with an idea even if others are unsure. They also reflect on how a single lyric, “I knew love and it shined on me,” gave the song its emotional center and allowed everything else to fall into place.

Guests: Julia Cumming and Nick Kivlen of Sunflower Bean

Host: Kieron Banerji

Creative: Callum Baker

Produced by Palm Tree Island

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In this episode of The Hardest Part, Kieron Banerji sits down with Foy Vance to explore the realities of songwriting and the role ego plays in the creative process. The conversation focuses on how ego can shape, and sometimes block, the way songs are written.

Foy reflects on the importance of stepping back, letting go of control, and allowing the song to take the lead rather than forcing it into a preconceived idea. They discuss the balance between confidence and humility in songwriting, and why some of the best work happens when you stop trying to prove something and start listening more closely to what the song actually needs. 

This is a thoughtful discussion about creativity, process, and what it really takes to write something honest and meaningful.

 

Guest: Foy Vance

Host and Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji

Creative: Callum Baker

Recording Engineers: Giovanni Alimonte

Mix Engineer: Max Walker

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In this episode of The Hardest Part, Kieron Banerji sits down with Sam Fischer for a behind the scenes look at the songwriting and music production behind his track “Sweet Contradiction.” The conversation dives deep into the songwriting process, the emotional reality of creating music, and how a studio writing session meant for another artist turned into one of Sam’s most personal songs.

From the first lyrical idea to the final acoustic performance, Sam breaks down how the song came together and why the theme of contradictions became the core of the track.

 

Guest: Sam Fischer

Guitar: Marton Bisits

Host: Kieron Banerji

Produced by: Palm Tree Island

Creative: Callum Baker

Engineers: Giovanni Almonte and Max Walker

Recorded at The Thin White Duke Studios, London.

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In this episode of The Hardest Part, Kieron Banerji sits down with Matt from Mariachi El Bronx for a behind the scenes look at the songwriting and music production process behind their track “Songbird.”

 The conversation dives into studio life during the making of the band’s fourth Mariachi El Bronx record and how the song came together in a completely unexpected way. Unlike the rest of the album, “Songbird” did not exist as a demo. It emerged in the studio after bandmate Vincent Hidalgo shared a fast, melodic guitar idea that immediately sparked something new.

Matt explains how, after ten years between records, the pressure to write had created what he describes as a “traffic jam” in his head. There was no shortage of ideas, but too many thoughts competing at once made it difficult to translate them into lyrics. That one new musical idea broke the block. Within 24 hours Matt had written the song through a quick home recording on his phone before bringing it back into the studio to finish with the band.

The episode explores writer’s block, creative pressure, and how sometimes a single spark can unlock the entire songwriting process.

Guest: Mariachi El Bronx

Track: “Songbird”

Album: Mariachi El Bronx (IV)

Host: Kieron Banerji

Produced and Distributed by: Palm Tree Island

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