“We had all been really inspired by the Get Back documentary watching The Beatles flounder and struggle, but ultimately pull it together, and this provided the impetus for starting the project,” he shares. The idea to record was initially inspired by Peter Jackson’s 2022 documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, which focused on the making of Let It Be. Unlike previous Badhands records, which were meticulously planned in the recording and songwriting, The Wheel was conceived and recorded largely on a whim and in a very short time frame. ‘Head in the Clouds’ follows Badhands’ atmospheric single ‘For a Little While’, which was on the RTÉ Radio 1 Recommends list two weeks running, and ‘Movie Nights’, which was compared to the soundscapes of Bruce Springsteen and the War on Drugs. Sonically I wanted a Blade Runner style synth to help give the music a bit of a dystopian sound to match the lyrics.”

The performance is loose but full of energy, and the addition of Aoife and Paddy Hanna’s vocals on the choruses really allow the song to take flight by the end. “It captures a really good, lively performance from the band, which we hammered out in two takes – Ken Mooney on drums, David Tapley on bass, Chris Barry on guitar and Aoife Ruth on synth. The lyrics describe a person operating in a dreamlike state of denial, oblivious to what's going on in the world around them.”

Daniel Fitzpatrick says of the song: “‘Head in the Clouds’ captures the mood of the new album as well as any track.

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