Living together in New York, Maya Bon and Ryan Albert of Babehoven share everything. From their domestic space to their musical concepts and two blind cats named Trilobite and Zorza, the gravity of their connection is palpable in every lilting note of their voices. Beyond the boundaries of their creative home, however, the musicians maintain their individuality through contrasting approaches to the outside world, a distinction that has directly informed the pair’s third studio album.

I See Them, I See Me imagines a “parallax view” that is, a multilayered projection containing various outlooks–focused on a singular reality. In crafting its fourteen tracks, Babehoven seeks to reevaluate how the separate entities of Bon and Albert relate to perception, specifically questioning the warped constructs of society and the ways in which they bleed into the self. Transcending these distractions, the duo settles on the meaningful heart of their craft, celebrating music and connection as the most integral pieces of existence.

I See Them, I See Me refuses to be defined by a singular emotion or theme. Its lyrics weave through questions of self-discovery, fear, and relinquishment with an apparent trust and appreciation for its many variations of being. Keeping with the record’s commitment to union, I See Them, I See Me marks Babehoven’s first collaborative project involving producers and engineers outside of their humble duo. Working with Sam Evian, Kevin Copeland, and Phil Weinrobe across four separate studios broadened the album’s dynamism and added to its ensemble of expressions. After releasing Water’s Here In You in 2024, the pair were determined to find more time for fun and play in their conceptual process, and Weinrobe’s encouragement of “no playback, no headphones, and no preparation” was successful in its proven ability to extract authenticity from every recorded sound.

Take Lasagna, for example–a song about new love and old habits. The guitar-heavy single’s multifaceted lyrics demonstrate an awareness of both the comfort of attachment and the fear of growing indistinct from one another. Closeness is a safe, yet confusing distortion that Bon expresses with seismic intensity: “And I’m reading you between my knees / When you break in two, I’m relieved.” The duo’s songwriting honors the complexity of the human experience, embarking on a journey towards liberation from anything definite. In the conversation below, Babehoven delves into the perspectives and experiences that shaped their upcoming album, set to release on September 18th.

Describe the early days of the album’s conception. What were some of the first sounds, feelings, and images that shaped its identity?‍

We actively tried to have more fun while recording this LP. Normally, we wind up getting bogged down in our recording space at home for months on end and we decided not to do that this time. We split up the recording sessions sometimes by many months, we worked in three different studios with four different engineers, we incorporated many new players. And we had a more light-hearted approach to recording than we normally do. We genuinely had a lot of fun and that felt really good for us as a couple and as a band. The pressure was way less than we normally feel.

You’ve referred to I See Them, I See Me as a recalibration of your relationship to society. What prompted this shift in attitude? Is there a particular track that embodies its purpose?

Between demoing these songs and officially recording them, I had a terrible vocal injury. My vocal cord was paralyzed from COVID and it’s been a long and challenging recovery process. I was told by a couple ENTs that they were unsure if I’d recover. It was very scary. This is part of the “I See Them, I See Me” title as well; I see my peers being able to sing, tour, go about life as usual and I could barely speak for a couple months let alone sing. Being totally out of control was very scary especially as music has always been something I fall back onto to process my feelings. I have so much gratitude now that I am able to sing again. I think part of the ‘having fun’ we’re talking about is trying to really enjoy what we can do, the gifts we have. We wanted to enjoy the process rather than stress about it, especially now that we know what it’s like when I couldn’t do it at all.

I think “Blue Around You” perfectly depicts the lightness we were trying to bring into this record. Though it is standalone in the pureness of its joy, we carried that feeling along with us for the rest of the songs as well.

Your lead single “Lasagna” describes a fear of remaining stuck in the past, but dually feels wary of change. How has this conflict arisen in your personal trajectories? What does pasta have to do with it?

I think that struggle is often at the core of my songwriting. How do we move forward when we’re stuck in a dynamic of not really seeing one another fully? How do we grow when we want to maintain an idea of ourselves as stasis, unmoving? I wrote the beginning of this song as a 22-year-old when Ryan and I first started dating. He was baking a lasagna in the kitchen and I wrote that first verse. I tabled it for many years and returned to it with a fresh lens a few years back.

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This is the first project in which you’ve invited other sound engineers into your production process. How has collaboration evolved Babehoven’s sound?‍

Working with many new people, working in new places, opening up our horizons to instruments we both don’t play and trusting people we don’t even know in some cases to play them, was a big step for us. We had to release a lot of fear and allow ourselves to play more with it. We loved the outcome. Recording with our drummer Ellington on most of the tracks made it so that we could live track most of the record. We barely quantized any of the songs. This brought a human feeling into the recordings because Ryan wasn’t doing everything in our home with just the two of us. Also, working with Phil Weinrobe to produce was a big first. We’ve never had a producer other than Ryan on any songs and that felt very exciting and new to collaborate in this way. Working with other engineers also encouraged us to be more active listeners. We could think more about music than about mic placements.

The album is a “parallax view” that explores different perspectives of the same reality. Tell me more about these alternate points of view and what brought them to life. ‍

In what seems like a rapidly changing music industry, there’s a lot of self doubt and not knowing how to move forward. What people see is often not how the lived experience is of artists on the ground. Ryan noticed many of my lyrics incorporate “seeing” something, someone, a concept, a feeling. So ‘I See Them, I See Me’ as a lyric in Three Reds and as a title reflects the experience of the different realities we all live within, even when we’re literally seeing the same thing. None of us have the same experiences or the same point of view.

The album artwork is a direct nod to the title “I See Them, I See Me,” as the goal of jumping over/above is the ability to float through the differences and challenges we face as people. Floating through it, soaring above it, we can mitigate how much we let the chaos of our times in. We can engage but shake it off. We can see it, feel it, but also be carefully and tactically distanced, disentangling ourselves from the web of despair it’s so easy to fall into. The fine line of jumping and falling comes to question here: are we falling from the sky? Are we jumping through it? What is the difference? Is it just the point of view? Are we in distress or are we transcending the pain?

‍I See Them, I See Me” asks listeners, “What makes music and life meaningful?” Do you have your own answer to this question?

This is a tough one. I think actively trying to find the beauty around us is what makes music and life meaningful. Acknowledging the vibrant colors around us, even if they are cars as they pass by, noticing the light change, eating food made with care, planting a garden, cuddling with your pets, making time for a mid-day swim, reading a book, writing a song. I think it’s about looking inward and connecting outward in balance.