For those readers that have not heard of you before could you tell us a bit about yourself your story?
I’m an artist from Liverpool, UK who makes alternative, indie pop that’s in the HAIM / St Vincent / PJ Harvey realm. I write, sing and play electric guitar, I have a band who I perform with live too. I have a new collection of songs – my new album Memory Girl – that capture and crystallize memories from both childhood and adulthood – weaving deeply intimate stories that channel life’s most vital thoughts and feelings like love, jealousy, and loss into a skewed mixture of lilting yet gloriously catchy pop songs.
As an artist how has the past year and all the lockdowns affected you, have you still managed to be creative?
Yes to a certain extent, I had a load of writing sessions and really tried hard to push myself to keep writing even when there was very little stimulus! I kind of branched out to writing for other projects and artists too, so that was a really amazing contrast and kept things fresh and new.
Who inspired you to get on stage and perform?
I remember watching Top of The Pops when I was a kid and just thought the band playing on stage looked like they were having SO much fun – so that was pretty inspiring. I remember Radiohead // Ok Computer blowing my mind when I was about 11, hearing Jonny Greenwood play guitar brought out the experimental side of me and from then on I wasn’t afraid to try to create new and interesting sounds on guitar, with time signatures, with production and sounds. Tom Morello was a huge influence on me too.
Are there any particular artists or albums that have inspired you and informed your style?
Definitely PJ Harvey, I think she’s an icon. From early on: Radiohead, Placebo, Joni Mitchell, St Vincent, and Jesca Hoop too.
Do you have any particular rituals when writing new music?
Not really. The only thing I can think of that regularly happens is what I call the ‘click’ – when you’re messing around with an idea and writing loads of parts or finessing something, and then suddenly it just clicks and you know you’ve kind of solved it for yourself and you know what it’s going to be. Actually, also – regular breaks really help me – sometimes coming away from it makes it click faster!
Could you tell us a bit about the writing/recording of the Syncr Music winning track “Heaven”?
I wrote Heaven really early on for the album and recorded the demo on Garageband (that’s how I know it was really early on!). Heaven is about The lyrics – “When I go to heaven, will I remember how it feels?” Heaven is a state of never forgetting how good or right something was, even if you’re viewing it through rose-tinted shades, or in hindsight; even if it’s so overpowering it drags you right back to square one – back to that time and place. “Today I took a walk on the wild side, such brave talk – I thought of you and the tiger died”. Heaven is that safe place where you can envelop yourself within a memory – and although you might feel the ‘grown up’ thing to do is just move on – you’re spellbound by it.
You are due to release a new album “Memory Girl” on July 30th, how’s the album coming along?”
The album is finished and ready to come out! It’s my first album on vinyl – something I am HUGELY excited about! It’s on transparent white vinyl which looks absolutely amazing, when I first saw it I just wanted to bite into it! This album was a longer process than my last album but I think it definitely clicks, it’s a very introspective album for me – there’s themes of belonging, self-belief, rejection, social anxiety, childhood, adulthood, and learning curves. It does feel and sound very close.
It sounds like you’ve been busy you also had a new track “Take me to your leader” out on 16th June, how did that release go?
Amazing! The response has been brilliant – it was playlisted on Amazing Radio US and on the day of release played twice on BBC Radio! So yeah really happy with the response. It’s the main album track, so it’s really exciting it’s finally out. I’ve had people message me since saying they heard it live a while ago before I’d even thought about releasing it, and they were just waiting and waiting for it to come out because they really loved it.
Here at Artistic Echoes, we are always on the lookout for new artists do you have anyone to recommend?
Sure! TWST, I Break Horses, Purple Pilgrims, Birthh, Husky Loops, Before Breakfast
What plans do you have for the rest of the year?
Releasing my album Memory Girl on July 30th. Writing the title track ‘Memory Girl’ which will be released as a standalone single after the album. Playing the album live, FINALLY! And also starting to write & produce the follow-up album. So a lot!!
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