Haerts didn’t set out to make a “second album statement.” They set out to survive a stretch where things got weird, heavy, and personal, and then tried to write honestly through it without dressing it up. The result was New Compassion, a record that sounds like it’s been stripped down not for effect, but because there wasn’t anything extra left to hide behind.
That instinct showed up early with “Your Love,” a song that quietly found its way into 13 Reasons Why without ever being written for TV. “We had been in touch with the music supervisor for quite some time,” the band explained. “She tried ‘Your Love’ on this scene, and it just somehow worked. That’s how it ended up in the show.”
The placement didn’t overwrite the song’s meaning for them. “Our personal meaning doesn’t really change by the context the song is put into,” they said. “But we like it if it happens. It’s really interesting to see how people interpret it in different ways.”
That openness to interpretation is part of what made the moment land. “Movies and music have a really strong connection,” they said. “Some of my favorite songs are tied to scenes I saw them soundtrack years ago. To be part of that—to have one such moment—that’s really special.”
It also didn’t hurt that it introduced Haerts to an entirely new audience. “13 Reasons Why really opened the song to so many people who probably would have never listened to our music,” they said. “For us, that was a really great thing to happen.”
If “Your Love” cracked the door, “The Way” kicked it open. One of the last songs recorded for the album, it arrived fully formed. “It was just on acoustic guitar from beginning to end,” they said. “It was so easy to record because everything just fell into place. We kind of knew what it was supposed to be.”
That clarity didn’t come out of nowhere. After their debut, Haerts knew exactly what they didn’t want to repeat. “A big thing we took away from the first record was the idea of really wanting to be completely free with the second,” they said. “We wanted to write it ourselves, produce it ourselves, and do it one hundred percent on our terms.”
That freedom translated into restraint. “We never sit down and say we want something to sound a certain way,” they said. “It’s always about the songs and what they need.” But where they landed was noticeably raw. “We wanted to find clarity and boil things down to the essence. Less production, fewer layers, more focus on the voice and melody.”
The reason wasn’t aesthetic—it was emotional. “Making the record was, in a way, finding direction again,” they said. “It was a time to understand things and deal with things, and I think that’s reflected in the sound.”
They’ve described the album as a “transformation,” and they didn’t hedge. “The record is really an expression of our past three years,” they said. “Things got a little dark. There was a feeling of falling.” Writing through that period wasn’t quick. “It was made over two years. A lot changed—musically and personally.”
Not everything survived the process. “We wrote a lot more music than what ended up on the record,” they admitted. “At some point it just became clear what it actually was about, and then you commit to that.”
That clarity widened as they went. While the record started inward-looking, it landed somewhere more collective. “At the end of it, we arrived at something more universal,” they said. “A lot of people feel lonely and isolated.”
Which is where the title finally locked in. “New Compassion signified a shift within us,” they said. “Leading with kindness. Leading from the heart. Focusing on the human aspects—things everyone feels and goes through.”
Not a manifesto. Just a reminder. And maybe, if it sticks, a decent place to start.
Listen to the interview above and then check out the videos below!
