Music

MARVIN Exclusive: New Constellations Let the Current Lead on Debut Album It Comes In Waves

New Constellations don’t force things — and It Comes In Waves proves it. The debut album from duo Josh and Harlee is five years of living distilled into dream-pop atmospherics and unflinching honesty: love, grief, self-sabotage, and the quiet courage it takes to let something pass. They quit their jobs, signed a deal, and dove in. The rest, as they tell it, was divine timing. MARVIN caught up with New Constellations to find out what happens when you stop fighting the current.

MARVIN: It Comes In Waves sat with you for five years—why drop it now, and not sooner?

NEW CONSTELLATIONS: We truly believe in divine timing. We try not to force anything. The simple answer is that it was time to make our album, and we felt it deeply. When the universe tells you something, it is important to listen. We knew heading into 2025 we were going to focus on making our album, once we decided that in our hearts everything fell into place. We signed a record deal, we quit our jobs and we dove in. – Josh

MARVIN: You talk about life in cycles—are you learning how to ride the wave, or just bracing for impact?

NEW CONSTELLATIONS: Sometimes all you can do is hold on. “It comes in waves” is not only our album title but also just a fact of life. Everything comes in waves–pain, joy, love, regret, all of it. To fight against change will only cause more turbulence. This album is about embracing and honoring the ebb and flow of life. It is possible to honor and cherish times of your life while also letting them pass. – Josh 

MARVIN: “I Disappear” lives inside a spiral—how do you turn that kind of mental chaos into something that actually lands?

NEW CONSTELLATIONS: I prefer freestyle expression. I think just allowing yourself to feel and ramble out all the thoughts and angles from a situation is really helpful. Sometimes we get caught up in how we should feel or want to feel that we  bypass our true emotions. To be able to move through any hard emotion we have to feel it first before we can alchemize it. -Harlee

MARVIN: Dream-pop haze, dance-pop highs—are you chasing release, or running from something heavier?

NEW CONSTELLATIONS: Wow what a heavy hitting question. I don’t know that it’s either. I’ve been working very seriously this last few years on the emotion baggage and trauma I carry with me. I’m not running from it. I’m sitting in it. I’m writing songs about it. I’m screaming, crying and laughing with it. And through that work I think I get to experience release quite often. Singing songs that I wrote about my own pain and joy allow me to have a release as I sing them and continue to process it in real time. -Harlee

MARVIN: From bedroom demos to a fully realized debut—what part of your dynamic hasn’t changed at all?

NEW CONSTELLATIONS: I think at the core of everything we do is a deep love and respect for one another. When you are working in a partnership making art it is so important to respect each other’s voice and input. If you find that respect then you will rarely butt heads or disagree because you are working from a shared goal. With “It Comes in Waves” we did have some new experiences by bringing in some other collaborators. So we were very selective while bringing in new energy to ensure that that dynamic and respect was shared. – Josh

MARVIN: “Believe Again” and “Secret Safe” feel like lifelines—what are you gripping onto when everything starts to slip?

NEW CONSTELLATIONS: I really prioritize my relationships with my friends and family. They support me heavily in my day to day. I’m incredibly lucky for have such a large support system. All our closest friends work on all our music videos, tour manage us , do our book keeping, the list goes on and on. We are a really tight knit crew and that just makes life a lot easier and sweeter. I also rely heavily on therapy, hot yoga, meditation, and plant ceremonies for my wellbeing. As the world gets heavier I work to bring as much light as I can into the world and that starts within myself. -Harlee 

MARVIN: You flirt with manifestation, but also self-sabotage—do you trust your mind, or does it still betray you?

NEW CONSTELLATIONS: My mind still betrays me. I consider myself to be a very optimistic person who is able to find the good in a lot. But I still deeply struggle with negative self talk and obsessive thinking.   There have been areas of my life that self sabotage is very alive in me. I have been addicted to nicotine most of my adult life and for a vocalist to literally cause damage to her ability to do the thing she loves most In the world was a hard pill to swallow. I’ve been off the vape for a few months now and am really proud of myself but there’s always this voice in my head that just wants to hit a damn pen. I haven’t figured it all out yet but I think the choice to not self sabotage can be a minute by minute journey. I do what I can do and Try not too judge myself when I fail . -Harlee

MARVIN: After “Hot Blooded” took off, how did you keep this record from getting swallowed by expectations?

NEW CONSTELLATIONS: We faced plenty of sessions early on trying to make the “next hot blooded”. They were never good. So we gave up and went back to doing what we always did, which was to show up with small ideas or a lot of time nothing and allow the song to take shape as it needed. Hot blooded was never supposed to be the sound of our band. It was just the sound of a moment. We’ve completely taken the pressure off of ourselves to make something like that again. We will continue to make great music that stands alone and doesn’t need to be compared in our eyes. -Harlee

New Constellations aren’t chasing the wave, they’re learning to trust it. With It Comes In Waves out in the next month, Josh and Harlee have handed over something intimate and hard-won, a debut that doesn’t try to be everything at once but lands exactly where it needs to. There’s more music coming, more stages to fill, and if this conversation is any indication, a whole lot more honesty on the way. The universe, as they’d say, is right on time.