Hi! You recently released ‘Sabre Tooth’ and it’s brilliant. For anyone who’s yet to hear it, how would you describe the track?
Thanks so much! Sabre Tooth experiments with a lot of contrasting sonic textures which make it hard to pin down genre wise. The best way I could describe it would be as brooding cinematic folk pop. The lyrical themes are quite heavy but the playful mixing and mashing of disparate musical influences makes the overall tone of the track feel a lot more fun.
How would you say it compares to your previous releases?
It’s the first time that I’ve played around with using heavy amounts of distortion on the drums, acoustic guitar and voice. In the past that hasn’t really worked for me but in Sabre Tooth it seemed to be the right direction to go in. I really enjoyed finding the right balance of raw and clean elements in the song and that’s something I’d like to do more of in the future.
Are you planning to make it part of a larger release, such as an EP or album?
At the moment I’m just working on releasing singles and just seeing where that takes me.
I’m very interested in how you started your adventure with music, and did you know from the beginning that this is what you wanted to do?
I took up the guitar when I was younger and wasn’t particularly good but then I heard ‘Nevermind’ by Nirvana and quickly learned how to play a power chord. After a week I could play half the record and was completely hooked. I then started making my own songs up off the back of that and I’ve never stopped writing music ever since.
Your music interweaves so many different styles and sounds. If you could collaborate with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
Paul Buchanan from The Blue Nile. He has the most other worldly voice and has a really unique lyrical perspective. Just to have a conversation with him would be incredible.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a musician?
Your soul has zero interest in your career ambitions.
Where are you based? Can you tell us how the music scene there has inspired your sound at all?
I live in a village called Ripponden in West Yorkshire, England. It’s close to Halifax which has a really healthy music scene these days. Growing up here though there wasn’t a lot going on musically and my influences were from much further afield, particularly American bands. But I’ve always loved living where I live and I’m massively inspired by the dramatic expanse of moorland landscape that surrounds me.
And what was the first album you remember owning?
‘Powerslave’ by Iron Maiden. Heavy metal was my first love.
Finally, have you got anything to share regarding upcoming gigs, and what have you got planned for 2023?
I plan to continue to release a few more singles this year and hopefully an EP early next year. At the moment I’m concentrating mostly on working on my songs in the studio but hopefully further down the line I’ll play live again.
