INTERVIEW: Novo Amor (Dec 2020)

Happy day-after-Spotify-wrapped-day... while the streaming model certainly has all kinds of flaws for artists, it can clearly be a superb tool for music discovery. I was pleased to find that my top five artists are ones whose album I've bought this year - if you find something you like, buy the CD, the vinyl, a gig ticket (one day!) or get yourself some merch! Tell your friends if you think they'd like the music too. Follow them on social media. Your appreciation in those ways is worth far more than a stream - but stream away too, you'll find some of your favourite new artists there! 

No surprises for me to find that Novo Amor was right there at the top of my wrapped (again) - my top artist, top song, and 17 of the top 100 songs (including a bunch from his brand new record Cannot Be, Whatsoever.) I'm nothing if not a little bit predictable. With that in mind, it's really exciting to finally be sharing this interview today. Ali was kind enough to agree to answer some questions about his previous record at the start of 2019 and I finally got round to sending some over a couple of weeks back... better late than never? 

Yesterday, he premiered Please Don't Stand Up When Room Is In Motion, a documentary created by his director pal Josh Bennett, which serves as a timestamp of his musical career up to now. It's a lovely watch for fans but also just a really interesting insight into the process of making a new record (and it's put together beautifully) and expands on a lot of the things touched on here - I've embedded it a little further down, but if you can't wait that long, it's here.

Hello! Firstly, for those who haven’t seen the hundreds (almost) of posts that I’ve written about your music in the last couple of years, who is Novo Amor, and why the moniker?

Novo Amor is the artist name I gave myself back in 2012. I never wanted to put myself out there using my own name; I wanted something/someone to hide behind and something that could be ambiguous - a music project that could be adaptable as a I release more and more music, allowing myself to sit somewhere between a solo artist and a band, flowing from the sound of one to another.

Discovering you via the Birthplace video in 2018, I felt a little late to the party and as if I had some catching up to do (I think I’ve managed it..) It was clear online and at one of your Union Chapel gigs that you had a really loyal and global following. I’m intrigued to know how things started… were there any earlier iterations of the project, and had you always wanted to make music?

I’ve made music for a long time, since I was 12, when I got a game called Music 2000 on Playstation. In the years between 12 and 20 I was playing drums in bands and just producing as much music as I could. A lot of music discoveries happened in those years and it inspired me to flow between making electronic music, cinematic pieces, orchestral scores, rock and metal and the folky alternative stuff that became Novo Amor. 

Through my time at university I was an aspiring film score composer, scoring small films and passion projects when I could. It wasn’t until I stopped studying that, I guess, I found my voice and started to put a name to what I had been working on: a catalogue of music that was inspired by my previous year in upstate New York. 

Novo Amor · Decimal

We’re talking (via the internet) as you’ve just released your second record Cannot Be, Whatsoever into the world. Congrats! After loving Birthplace so much and spending so much time with your music over the past two years, this record still managed to surprise me and I love that. How does it feel to have the record out, particularly in such a strange time for the world and for music?

No surprise that it feels strange, as the times are. It was a very long lead into the release, sharing half the record before it was out, so it feels like it’s taken up a lot of my year and been given the attention that it needed. Sitting here in November 2020, looking back at what my year was meant to be like, is quite saddening. I’ve been very bored this year. I like to travel and accomplish things. 

Touring the Birthplace album was almost like a way of putting the record behind me, closure to move onto something else. I played about seventy shows around that album. By the time we hit the final show, it felt like a big moment, a real accomplishment for me and my touring friends to be proud of. I’m worried that I’m not going to get that from this album. It’s a shame, but I’m okay with it.

What was the recording process like? The when, the who, the how… feel free to get as musically nerdy as you’d like (the more, the better!) How did it vary from with Birthplace?

Both albums were self-produced and recorded in the same place, here in my studio in Cardiff, but they feel very different to me. Birthplace, my debut album, felt like closing a chapter on a lot of my past. The album really focused around the era where I started writing music as Novo Amor, back in 2012. Whereas Cannot Be, Whatsoever feels more focused on the present. If Birthplace is the countryside, then Cannot Be, Whatsoever is the city: it’s not where I’m from, but it’s where I’ve been for a long time now. 

The process of recording was a bit more collaborative, with more of the sounds and parts coming from other people than before, mainly my collaborator Ed Tullett who co-wrote a lot of the music with me. Making music alone, which is all I used to do, can get old pretty fast. It’s nice to share the experience with somebody else and accept other people's ideas. It definitely makes for a better outcome. The majority of the recording was still just me at home on my own, layering ideas, deleting ideas, working through the mistakes and taking it one day at a time.

On this record (and across your music more generally) are there any notable influences, musical or otherwise? As a nature-loving bookseller, I’d love to hear about any natural or literary influences…

The last time I finished a book was about five years ago. To be honest, pretty much all the influences in songwriting come from personal experience, a mental digestion of my surroundings or view of my past from my present. Growing up in deep Mid-Wales, surrounded by nature, has probably had some sort of an impact on the music I make. I’m definitely drawn to relaxing and calm music, I love ambience and texture and sounds that feel as though they could represent natural landscape and stillness. 

I think nature became a bigger visual influence than anything else. A lot of my videos are based around bodies of water and set in remote, almost otherworldly natural environments. The Birthplace video was all shot in the ocean, Terraform was shot on a volcano, Holland and Anchor were shot against the sea, From Gold - on a lake, Alps was shot on a snowy mountain in Scotland, Repeat Until Death was shot in the snowy hills of Mongolia with a tribe that live amongst reindeer. etc etc...

You know that I have a particular soft spot for No Plans (that drop… damn) but do you have a favourite track on the record? Is there one that you’re particularly excited to play live with the band, when you’re allowed to?

No Plans is definitely one that will feel great to play live. It brings me back to my rock music roots. I think Decimal or Halloween are my favourites. Decimal is one of the best songs on the record and Halloween is just a song I feel a strong personal connection to.

Novo Amor · No Plans

On that note (sort of) it’s no secret that I love how conscious you are of the environmental impact that you have as an artist. I guess I’d like to ask how important that is to you? Personally, I think you go far beyond the majority of artists - recycled and sustainable merch, less emissions when touring, reusable bottles, only asking for what you actually need on the rider, etc. With so much emphasis (rightly) on climate change and finding environmentally friendly ways of doing things, I’m finding myself drawn towards artists (and by extension, venues and festivals) who I can see making a tangible effort in this way.

Even though my choices are only making a small direct impact on the environment, I think it’s the message that’s carrying. It’s important for people to understand that there are, for most things, more than one option. The more we lean into the sustainable and ethical options, the more feasible they become for the rest of the world.

Finally, something I like to ask everybody - what are you listening to at the moment? Any new artists that you’re really excited by, or old favourites you can’t get enough of?

I’ve been listening to Magic Oneohtrix Point Never the new album by Oneohtrix Point Never. It’s the guy who scored the film Uncut Gems. Also been loving Great Grandpa, Holly Humberstone and Christian Lee Hutson.

You can (and should!) buy the new album Cannot Be, Whatsoever here. 

Follow Novo Amor - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

INTERVIEW: White Tail Falls (June 2020)

The remarkably talented, often hilarious, always welcoming and all round lovely chap Irwin Sparkes just put out his debut solo album Age Of Entitlement under the moniker White Tail Falls. Having heard some of the tracks live at a sort of 'secret' set in 2018, and singles released over the past months, hearing the record in full for the first time was a joy. By joy I mean sitting in awe with tears rolling down my face... a lot of emotion and heart has been poured into the record, and it would be difficult not to be moved by it. Many listens later (you can thank me for the streaming revenue later, Irwin) and, well, I'm still in awe. This is a genuinely gorgeous record from an artist who I have long had a lot of love and respect for. 

I'd try to be cool and blasé about this but I'm delighted to be sharing an interview with Irwin (via email, distancing through the ether) about the record and the project more generally. This post feels like a highlight of my time running the blog, and I'm enormously thankful to Irwin for taking the time to share such detailed responses - now... read, listen, buy the record!!

Hello! Firstly, for those who are yet to discover the wonder of White Tail Falls (the small minority of people, that is) - who is White Tail Falls, and where does the name come from? 

My name is Irwin. I read about a location called White Tail Falls in the Pacific Northwest of America. Having never been, I liked that this place could be anything; I had no frame of reference to project upon it, so it held a mystery. It could be anything. Like a fresh start, which I liked the sound of. Rather than use my name I like the use of a disguise; it can become anything. 

Colour. Noun. Verb. What's not to like?

It’s been just over two years since I first heard about the project and saw you performing what I guess was one of the first live sets as White Tail Falls, at a tiny London show alongside The Ayoub Sisters and Alexander Wolfe. I’m intrigued to know when the project first came to be… and if you always felt that you had a solo record brewing under the surface? 

The idea for the album started forming around 2015. I'd partaken in too many co-writes where the artist had no investment in what they were saying and this exacerbated my delusion with music to the point where I was struggling to see how I'd move past that. The choice was cynicism or see if I could write something I believed in. Something reflective of the music and genres I'm into and wanted to listen to. It was terrifying. Doing this took me back to writing my first songs: where I was trying to figure out my own feelings. The songs I started writing tended to be very reflective. Bordering on grotesquely self-obsessed, you could say. 

I think I just had about three demos which I showed to Erland Cooper, who I'd written with and clicked with. Erland understood what I wanted to make, but pushed me to work at recording it myself (I was hoping he'd do it all.) He heard something in my rough demos that could be complimented with strings and a harp.

In terms of always having a solo record... I honestly didn't know what I had to say. Age and an earth-shattering amount of humility (ha) have made me question the value of my own opinion and voice. To start, I thought I'd write about what I knew: myself. So this album has an insular quality. That allowed me to check on myself and ensure I was telling the truth/saying what I really wanted to say. Some of my favourite albums (Benji by Sun Kil Moon, Last of The Country Gentlemen by Josh T. Pearson, Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens, any Elliot Smith, The Eels and Blake Mills' first two albums, to name quite a few...) draw on their own experiences but allow the listener to share in it. By virtue of being truthful and expressing an emotion that's common to all they create a communal experience. What I'm saying is, I don't want to be a navel-gazer. 

If I'd have made a solo album ten years ago I would have cared so much more about what people thought - it couldn't be anything other than contrived and a product of paranoia and fear. 

On that note! As I write these questions, it’s just one week until the debut album Age Of Entitlement (plug plug plug) “drops” figuratively and literally into our hearts, our streaming services and our postboxes. How does it feel to finally be sharing the record in full, especially in these unpredictable and crazy times?

Sat here, responding the week after release, it couldn't be crazier. I feel so sad and frustrated with what's happening in America following the murder of George Floyd. It's terrible timing to be self-promoting when there are clearly bigger issues to be addressed. Desperately searching for the positives, I hope this moment can be a catalyst for change in our western systems to address the injustices faced by black and minority people. That all sounds good but to do it I've got to take responsibility for my adding to the problem.

As for the release, it's been finished for a couple of years and the label (Physical Education Recordings) and I have been building to this moment so it's a lesson we are not in control. Regardless, I'm so glad it's out there. Getting the Rough Trade Edit was a real cherry on top of the day of release.

To me WTF makes sense as an album. I didn't set out to write singles and so releasing the three singles felt a little disjointed. I get it; that's how bands/artists introduce themselves to the world: "Hi, here's my most immediate record, can we be friends?" To me the tracks make the most impact in the context of the album. Finally having the full LP out there allows people to experience the whole journey as intended. 

Can you talk a bit about the recording process for the record, and the guests that helped out along the way… especially the foxes in your garden - they’re receiving royalties, right? On your recent live stream with Alexander Wolfe you touched on the differences in recording as part of a band in the past, and now having the responsibility of making those big decisions yourself. A learning curve?

Don't get me started on those foxes. I'm over city-living, having (humanely) gotten rid of the fox den under the "shed-io", the accompanying fleas, plague of moths and as of yesterday: rats. So gross. 

I had to learn how to record as I went. The album running order is pretty much chronological and you can hear me learning how to record as I go. Most of the vocals are recorded on a £30 USB mic. A lot of the early demos were recorded in my cousin's shed in Cornwall, or a motel travelling around America. After deciding that the demos would form the bedrock of the album it helped me accept my limitations and if there's one thing I've got a lot of... I made some rules: only three attempts at a part. Hence I couldn't play all the parts on the piano, or whatever, to you, that you hear on the album, as often, what you hear recorded is the only time I ever played it. Mistakes an all. And there's a lot of em. 

Initially I envisioned my album gleaming with professionalism and finesse, as are the other recordings I've been a part of. I realise now how much I've relied upon the better ability of my bandmates and producers and engineers. Once I accepted my newfound "raw", lo-fi approach, I can't see how it could have worked any other way. It's a fortunate occurrence, as I'm singing stories I've lived, seen lived and learned from, it makes sense that the recordings are lived in. I began to relish the bleed of the metronome through my cheap headphones on Body Weight, or how my sense of timing is a law unto itself. This, too, a reaction to the chart-filled perfection of locked-to-the-grid timing.

I knew I didn't just want to be some guy with a guitar. Maybe for fear of being exposed, but I also wanted some drama.

I wanted to use a restricted sonic palette. I'm trying to think of a less wanky way to say that. I just can't think of one... I wanted organic synth sounds so I bought a Yamaha VSS30 after hearing one in a co-write in Nashville. It's an 80s toy synth with a voice sampler that's all over the record. That way I get to augment my first instrument of a guitar with a synth that's using my voice as a texture. Restrictions in sound help give the album a cohesiveness. That said Devout is the only track that uses a phone app...

 

White Tail Falls · Devout

Hardest thing was making all those decisions. Erland was great for that. I'm surprised he's still talking to me! I must have driven him mad. Like a clingy eaglet that really doesn't want to leave the nest... it took time to trust my instincts. I have a new found respect for every record in existence. Even if you hate it, someone was able to choose THAT note, THAT sound, etc over all others. Mind blowing. I hope I've learned how to do that quicker. I'm writing the next album, so I'll find out pretty soon.

I got myself in fixes that required professional help. I just couldn't play bass well enough to do justice to Disintegrate or Only Getting Easier, so I roped in the amiable axeman Leighton Allen, who plays with The Hoosiers amongst others. Crucial to the sound was how we blended my rough-hewn takes with the sonorous beauty of strings and harp - Stephanie O provided violins and Lisa Canny the harp, both are solo artists in their own right and well worth your time. The Ayoub Sisters joined me on the second half of the record for violin and cello duties. 

Bernie Gardner got me out of trouble on the drum programming of Disintegrate. Alexander Wolfe wrote the string line on Age Of Entitlement and it's probably the biggest hook on the album. Paul Frith (arranges for Bear's Den, Mumford & Sons amongst others) helped me out with the strings for Fake News and Disintegrate. At live shows I always ask any string players what their favourite arrangements are, in case they choose mine over Paul's. None have yet. There's always next time...

Naomi Jensen (Rinngs), Hayley Wolfe (Tygermylk) and Alexander Wolfe lent me their voices for backing vocals. 

Nearly forgot, early on in the recording my Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and I felt a sudden burst of needing to work with him, so I got him playing piano on Body Weight and Give It Up, Son. It was tough going. Not sure we'll work again. Creative differences. He's doing ok now. Great help courtesy of the NHS and Prostate Cancer UK.

             

I find that favourite albums can be like a crutch to lean on when I feel low or when the world becomes a little too much, so I’m revisiting a *lot* of firm favourites at the moment... music always helps, and yours, in its various guises, has really helped me in the past (you know that!) I guess in the sort of mirror of that, you’ve shared online about the therapeutic process that writing the record was for you during a difficult time... how it helped to put you “back together”. I really admire the honesty in those posts, putting yourself on the line both there and in the songs, and I’m interested to know how it feels to be sharing them, with their incredibly personal origins in mind? Turning full circle, it must be heartwarming to know that people might take comfort from the tracks. 

Great question. Truthfully, I struggle with being vulnerable online. Especially when I feel like I've already done that to write and record the songs. And that was always my intention: to exist in the songs I write, not in my online presence. That said, a couple of folks, who stumbled upon my online biography, told me it got to them in one way or another and so I was encouraged to really boil down what the record was about and not hide behind the metaphors in lyrics or my usual online brevity. Truth is, when I came to write these songs, I was hurting and didn't know why and felt I had no right to hurt and in writing, attempted to figure that out. That's probably the shortest answer. 

Once you're committed to releasing the record, you want it to reach as many people as possible, although, I'll offer a caveat that I know not everyone will like it. It's not for everyone. So I will open up online, occasionally and against my better judgement, from time to time, because I want the music to reach people that it needs to and so that means telling people where it/I've come from. First time I did it felt like disrobing for Playboy. On an emotional level.

White Tail Falls · Rome's Already Fallen

Like many musicians, you’re adapting to the newly popularised ways of connecting with fans at the moment, mostly via livestreams. You can’t hear me clapping and singing along (unfortunately… or not) or see me crying in the front row, and it must be a little (a lot) strange to be playing into your phone. How are you finding that side of things? 

First couple of livestreams brought on an existential crisis. Strangely tiring. Apparently there's some science to being watched and how that being "on" takes it out of you. Can't really complain. Especially when trying to moan to Fran, aka Ajimal, who finishes a shift as an NHS doctor helping covid sufferers then does a livestream. What a guy! Though he is making the rest of us look really bad so I wish only bad things for that man and his beautiful music. 

My livestream when the album came out got me all choked up. There were people there! I felt more relaxed - actually it was relief that the album was finally out there and to see people respond to it felt like the years of work and multitude of decisions made along the way were vindicated. That was my favourite and I hope I'm settling into them. Not expecting it to be perfect or me aiming to use too much tech (cos I don't know what I'm doing) is helping.

Public service announcement: we interrupt the interview with some dates for your diary.... 

Tuesday 9th June 7.30 BST: Twitter album playback listening party. Press play & lets drink in the Age Of Entitlement together. Tell me how it makes you feel and I’ll tell you how your feelings make me feel. 

On Thursday 11th June at 7.30 BST: come back to Insta and Facebook and I’ll get acoustical and talk more. Deal?

Finally, who or what is in your headphones at the moment? Aside from the cool music and things 2020 playlist, of course, which I hear is brilliant.

That playlist is the bomb! 

Nnamdï's BRAT is blowing my mind. 

Moses Sumney's græ

Little Feat

Basia Bulat

Töth

Dawes

Andrew Mayling

Ajimal

Buy/stream Age Of Entitlement here (check out the clear vinyl!)

Follow White Tail Falls - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

INTERVIEW: Pêtr Aleksänder (May 2020)

Really excited to share this! Pêtr Aleksänder just shared their Another World EP - which I wrote about on the blog here - and I caught up with one half of the project, the overwhelmingly talented Tom Hobden, to chat about the EP, a recent collaboration with RIDE and all things Pêtr! This interview has been in the works since the end of 2018, but various things got in the way of me ever getting around to writing questions, so enjoy!!!

Hello! First and foremost for those who are new to the project, who are Pêtr Aleksänder, and where does the name come from?  

Pêtr Aleksänder is an alternative modern classical band comprising of myself (Tom Hobden) and Eliot James. The name is the combination of our middle names, and a tip of the cap toward the composer-centric world of the modern classical genre. 

Sonically, you’re unlike anything else that I write about on the blog (but you do still hold the spot as the most viewed post on the site for the Bells video premiere.) How would you describe your sound?  

We mix a conventional piano quintet lineup, so piano, a couple of violins, viola and cello with electronic elements, and more recently I’ve been singing on some tracks too. Our previous output was all instrumental, which really challenges you to make the music speak on its own terms as opposed to a mood being set by a lyrical sentiment. Our first foray into song form was a song called Copy, Echo, Mirage which actually derived from an instrumental track of ours from our debut album called A Walk On The Seabed, so the progression feels very natural.

Pêtr Aleksänder · Copy, Echo, Mirage

We’re here (on the internet) primarily to discuss your brand new EP Another World, which is a delight. It’s the first PA release to feature lyrics - sung, spoken and sampled, if I’m hearing correctly - and mostly taken from a C.S. Lewis passage. What’s the story behind that? 

Yea, so I was reading a book by C.S Lewis and one particular passage jumped out and hit me for six. It was the “If I find in myself a desire…” passage, and I immediately wanted to set it to music. Eliot and I worked it into Another World and the text became a trigger for other songs. 

Where did you record the EP, and, aside from the vocals, what else can we hear on it? 

We recorded the entirety of the EP at Eastcote Studios, which is where we work from and met many years ago when Eliot produced the first Noah and the Whale album there. We have a trusty crew of string players we’ve used on all Pêtr Aleksänder releases, so they were involved, alongside our modular synth rig, which bleeps and gurgles when we need it to, and that’s about it, not forgetting our creaky muted piano of course! 

You’ve also just released Clouds In The Mirror, a reimagined version of the RIDE album This Is Not A Safe Place. The response to the record has been (deservedly) really positive! How did that come about?  

So, in tandem with our own material, we’ve been releasing what we’ve called “reimaginings” of other artists’ songs: the idea is that we take just the vocal from a song and strip away everything else of the track, and build our own arrangements around the vocal melody, completely transforming the song into something quite unexpected in many cases! We’ve released our reimagines of songs by Interpol, Mumford and Sons, Banfi and Geowulf thus far. I think that the guys from RIDE discovered that was something we were doing and they got in touch, seeing if we would be interested in turning our hand to reimagining the entirety of their acclaimed 2019 album This Is Not A Safe Place. It was an exciting prospect, not least for the fact that we hadn’t given them any indication of what we were up to until the day they joined us in the studio for the string recording sessions! The first few bars of Future Love put all our minds at rest, I’m thankful to say, and now it’s been out for a couple of weeks it’s really great to see the response.

Staying with the reimagined tracks, you’ve worked with tracks from a few different artists in the past - is there anyone in particular whose work you’d love to work on? Looking through my playlists, I’m looking at the likes of Dizzy and Martha Gunn, and thinking that something with Cosmo Sheldrake, for instance, could be completely bonkers.  

I know Eliot’s been doing some work with MarthaGunn recently so that could be a channel in to something, who knows? I’ve come across Cosmo through reading your blog actually(!) and he makes really original, exciting stuff - with bassoon in it. Could be a fit. 

Lastly, what are you listening to at the moment? Anything new that you’re really excited about, or old favourites that you’re revisiting? 

I’ve been soaking up my friend Blake Mills' new record Mutable Set. It’s next-level beautiful. Also looking forward to LA Priest’s record Gene, think that comes out pretty soon. Love What Moves and Beginning.

Follow Pêtr Aleksänder - Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud | Instagram.

INTERVIEW: Hailaker (May 2020)

Over the moon to be sharing this!! The lovely Hailaker shared their second record Holding a couple of weeks back via Lowswimmer, the somewhat surprise (but a very welcome surprise) follow-up to the self-titled record they released last year. They're one of my favourite discoveries of the last couple of years and very kindly agreed to answer some questions about the project and album for me. The results of an email chat with Jemima are below... happy reading!

Also: you should most definitely get the new album (and the debut) via Bandcamp here.

Hello! Before we go on, for those who are new to the project (and have lots of exciting music to discover, once they’ve finished reading this interview) we should introduce you! Who exactly are Hailaker? Or perhaps more accurately, what is Hailaker? 

Hailaker is a project that makes music! We’re mostly Ed Tullett and Jemima Coulter, but sometimes Ali Lacey and Dave Huntriss too... and also whoever we can get our hands on to play instruments and sing backing vocals. All our artwork is done by Mike Roth who lives in Portland, he’s been with us since the beginning so he’s an important part of the project as well.

Where do we find you isolating? And (most important question of all, I think) do you have any pets with you? Definitely not asking that because I haven’t got any pets and have to settle for staring longingly at my neighbours' dogs over the garden fence… 

I’m (Jemima) in Bristol and Ed’s in Cardiff. Nope no pets... yet - I think we’re getting a cat next week? And there’s slugs eating the lettuces- don’t forget the little guys!

After first hearing some of your music playing in between sets at a Novo Amor show towards the end of 2018, Hailaker was one of my favourite discoveries of 2019 and the self-titled album firmly earned itself a spot in my albums of the year list. How have you found the response to the record, and how was getting to play some shows for it? 

Everyone’s said really lovely things about it! I’ve been blown away by people and their messages on Instagram. I don’t really know how it compares to what happens when anyone else releases music, but I guess that’s not the point. It’s been amazing. The shows were great! I think we were a bit unsure about how it would translate live (especially with all the ‘bits’ in the first record) but it really worked, was great to play to people, who nearly all hadn’t heard our music before, great to spend loads of time in the car together, of course. Kind of dreamy to play with American Football as well, made us very excited for the future and hopefully playing bigger venues.




The reason we’re here (on the internet, where we all live now) is that you’ve just, with only a couple of weeks warning, released your second album Holding into the world. Was the release planned for now or an isolation treat for fans? It’s certainly a huge treat either way! 

It was planned for now! It just so happened that isolation kicked in a month before.

In press for the first record, you described it as “the narrative of mine and Ed’s friendship first and foremost, since it meant we went from being strangers to spending weeks writing together.” Where does the new record find you, in the narrative of the project, and thematically? 

That’s a good question. I think it found us (we started writing these songs end of 2017 ? ) wanting to explore songwriting… writing real songy-songs, that you could pretty much just sing into the air and they’d hold their own. That was what we were interested in doing. Thematically its a bit more earthy than the previous record, we talk about things that are a bit more tangible and that was exciting for us as well, finding a new lyrical voice I guess. And we talk about people moving away and apart, finding places to live, feeling mediocre compared to friends... for me it almost systematically goes through all of the things that you encounter when you fall out of education/structure and suddenly realise that you’re supposed to be an adult but don’t really know how, so you just look around you to see what everyone else is doing and hope that no one notices that you’re very much out of your depth.



Yours is a largely collaborative project and one that is free from self-imposed restrictions on genre and style, and I love that. With that in mind, what is the creative process like on a Hailaker record? Where did Holding come into being? 

We started writing it a few months after we’d finished the writing for Hailaker but I think we were still producing and mixing it. We’d write ideas when we were together and needing a break from finishing the first record. Then we took all these ideas to a little house in Swanage and wrote lyrics and some more songs and hung out. And then in September 2018 we went and stayed at Ali’s for 3 weeks and recorded everything. So that’s really where Holding came into being.

I think because we don’t feel too concerned about being consistent, at least not over albums anyway, we just write with the ideas that we have at the time. If it’s an idea that we both like but we don’t feel like it fits with what we’re working on at the moment, we put it away and say ‘oh maybe this can be for the third record, or for that pop EP that we might do, or that minimalist piano project that we were talking about’. But I think it’s important to say that Ed and I are both pretty particular about stuff, if one of us doesn’t like something then it’s unlikely we’ll back down until it’s changed, so that’s really where the honing in of ideas comes. Finding ideas that we both really really like is when we know that we’ve got something good.

Were there any particular influences - musical or otherwise on this record? 

Not intentionally I don’t think… we both love the band Pinegrove and their sound had a big impact, but also the song By the Time was kind of modelled on the sound of the The Beach Boys, so a whole mix. We were just thinking about how to make something that could be played as a four-piece band. 


Finally… aside from the gorgeous new ambient tunes from your touring pal Gia Margaret, what is in your headphones at the moment? Anything new and exciting that you’re listening to, or old favourites that are getting you through? 

Ah Gia’s ambient stuff is so so good! For me it’s mostly podcasts at the moment, I’m not very good at listening to music when I’m working on music. But if I do - Great Grandpa’s album Four of Arrows is great, Squirrel Flower always and Happyness. There’s this website called Radio Garden where you can tune into radio all over the world, which I recommend if you feel like a switch up.

Follow Hailaker - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram. 

INTERVIEW: Geowulf (October 2019)

Always excited to get to do an interview on here - time for another one, this time around with one of my favourite duos, the absolutely dreamy Geowulf, AKA Star Kendrick and Toma Banjanin. After releasing their debut album Great Big Blue at the start of last year, they recently shared the follow-up, My Resignation. Just before they head off on some US and UK tour dates (go!) I caught up with them for a few questions about the album, which you can (and most definitely should) listen to here.

(c) Tom Oxley

Hello! Happy release week! Firstly - who are Geowulf and how did the band come to be? 

Thank you! We’re old friends. Starting writing together for fun four years ago and voila ! 

We’re chatting (via email, it is 2019 after all) because your new album My Resignation was released on Friday. Congrats! How does it feel to have finally made it to release week?

Yeah pretty surreal. Super nice to have it out there. You spend such a long time writing, recording, mixing, marketing etc so just feel really ready to share it. 

As I’m listening to the record I’m hearing some relatable and heavy themes - loneliness, relationships, break-ups and generally trying to figure out the space that you occupy in the world. That’s my interpretation - how would you describe the themes/story behind the record?

Yeah I think you’re pretty bang on. Felt quite reflective I suppose. A lot of coming to terms with things and moving on and accepting things you can’t change. Important themes for life definitely. 

With that in mind, how did you approach the writing process for the album? Is writing a collaborative process? 

Yeah a few songs with different people this album. Justin Parker, Ben Christopher and my good friend Jordan Purvis. Just felt nice to shake things up a bit and let other cooks in the kitchen. Nothing was written with any pressure. We were just real and honest in the moments and got some cool songs out of it. 

Where did the new album come to life, and how did recording differ to your debut record?

Australia! Which was really nice. Being able to record over the summer and with all our old friends around. It differed because we were able to record all at once. Hence probably giving it more continuity. First album was recorded over a period of time because I had a lot of trouble with visas etc.

I absolutely LOVE the Pêtr Aleksänder rework of your breakthrough track ‘Saltwater’ with added strings. Hearing you both sing it live with the duo at their recent London show was a gorgeous surprise. If you could get them to rework a song from the new album, which would you choose? Anybody else you’d like to work with on a remix?

Um maybe Celebrate I reckon. It’s one of my favourite songs on the album. Remix ... hmmm dunno open haha. Hit me up. 

Now that everybody has hopefully fallen in love with the album, where can we see you perform it live in the coming months? 

Ah! US 7-15th November and UK 18-27th! (Tickets here.)

Finally - your chance to recommend us some music. Who is in your headphones at the moment?

The Walters, Flyte, John Myrtle, Aldous Harding, Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Follow Geowulf - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

INTERVIEW: Flyte (August 2019)

It's time for another interview and I am very excited about this one - the lovely Flyte guys agreed to answer some questions about their recent collaboration with The Staves, upcoming shows and what is coming up for the band this year. Dates for your diary: the band's new EP is due for release on 20th September and they headline London's Village Underground on November 11th.

Flyte with Jess from The Staves

Hello guys! It is wonderful to have you back, but for those who were living under a rock when you released your gorgeous debut 'The Loved Ones' back in 2017 - who are Flyte?

Well hello and thank you it feels very good being back. Ha, well that record still seems to be getting discovered by rock dwelling types, in fact it seems to be getting more attention now than it did on it’s release - which is I suppose is a good sign. Well we’re a band from London who all sing and all write and play instruments. I suppose we’ve become known for singing in harmony in an interesting way but that’s not all there is to it. Our influences are primarily from the past but we definitely bring those influences with us into the present day. Much like artists like Big Thief, Whitney, Phoeobe Bridgers, people like that. There seems to be a fantastic wave of music from America and Australia that seem to be coming from where we’re coming from which we’ve found inspiring. 

You released the track White Roses a few weeks back. It was a much awaited and longed for return for your fans and the reception looks to have been incredibly positive. The track features The Staves - harmonies upon harmonies! How did that dream collaboration come about? 

Very kind of you thank you. We love The Staves, we were always in each others orbit but we only properly met recently. They came to see us on our tour with The Lemon Twigs and we hung out in the pub afterwards. We talked almost exclusively about Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and The Office I seem to remember. So we instantly got on. Not long after that they were doing a Christmas show at Earth in Dalston and asked us if we wanted to do a Christmas song with them. That was obviously a wonderful experience. So when we were making White Roses we instantly thought of them. We just knew it would work and people seem to be reacting really well to it, so hopefully it was the right move!

What's next now that you've got this new track out in the world? Should we keep our eyes peeled for album two? 

Not sure how much information we’re revealing at this point but there’s plenty of music coming that much is for certain. It’s definitely a very personal collection of songs. The Loved Ones was very much an album about other people and this time round it's very much a personal thing. It feels strange and a little terrifying knowing how exposed the writing is.

I've seen various videos online from your years of busking and I get the impression that you are definitely a band that thrive off of live shows and sessions (your Arcade Fire cover is one of my favourite session videos to exist, ever.) How has it been getting back to playing live after a break - the recent Omeara gig must have been pretty special? Not to mention BST at Hyde Park!

It was always good for us to do those very simple live videos. You can sometimes go overboard in the recording studio by thinking everything has to be big and ambitious. Those live videos kept us in check and showed us how well people react when we’re just singing a good song, completely exposed. We’ve tried to bring that mentality with us into the recording environment this time round definitely. The shows we’ve played recently have been incredible, our fans are just the most amazing, thoughtful, passionate, engaged people and it makes preforming so easy - sorry a lot of hyperbole but its true! The only thing I will say is this new material is so close to the bone that I’ve felt emotionally drained after the shows, if you give that much of yourself it can definitely take its toll.

Where can we see you live in the coming months? A little bird (AKA some internet stalking) tells me you're heading stateside soon! 

Haha yes it’s true we’ll be touring all over the States and then the UK and Europe this Autumn, that’ll be announced properly in the coming weeks!

Finally - what are you all listening to at the moment, any must haves for the tour bus playlist? For me it's mostly the new Friendly Fires album... 

Weyes Blood's new album is fantastic, we went to see her London show and she was mesmerising. Aldous Harding is also fantastic. Tunnel of Love by Springsteen has been giving the goods recently - a really good divorce album, put it on the shelf with Blood on the Tracks and Graceland. 

Follow Flyte - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

INTERVIEW: Joe Hicks (June 2019)

I've been wanting to start up interviews on the blog for a while and who better to be the first in over a year (oops!) than the lovely Joe Hicks. He recently shared his single Hollow and is touring with the equally wonderful Adam Barnes soon - I'll let him introduce himself!

Hello! First and foremost, for those who aren't (yet) familiar with your music, who is Joe Hicks? How would you describe your sound?

Hi Megan! Lovely to speak to you again! I’m a singer-songwriter from sunny Newbury in Berkshire. I’ve been releasing my music for just over 2 years now and I’d say my sound is kind of guitar led pop with bluesy/folky/indie tinges. Definitely a melting pot of my influences for sure. The main sound is electric guitar based, but I’ve also had a lot of fun arranging and releasing acoustic led versions of a lot of my songs to accompany the fuller band sounding recordings. 

With this in mind - who are your biggest influences? Anybody that we probably wouldn't expect?

How long have you got? Haha. Well it sounds cliché but my parents definitely subjected me to a lot of The Beatles and bands like Squeeze growing up, but also folk music from Fairport Convention to John Martyn. I also had a time of listening to heavier bands in my teens, but nowadays my main influences are anyone who’s done well at keeping the guitar at the forefront of great songwriting. People like John Mayer, Sting, Eric Clapton, Paul Simon. Then again the other day I wrote a chord progression on the back of hearing a Zara Larsson song so I don’t always look to the same sources. I think that’s what’s interesting about people making music over the past 5 years or so. Due to playlists and Spotify and all that, genre lines are completely blurred and we all listen to a multitude of different stuff and draw influence from wherever. Look at that new Bring Me The Horizon album. How do you pigeon hole that? It’s about 6 ‘genres’! 

You released the brilliant new track 'Hollow' last week, your second piece of new music for the year. I'm loving how relatable the track is, which seems to be a theme throughout your music. Is there anything that you can tell us about the writing and production process of the track? 

Thank you Megan! Really glad you are enjoying it :). I can’t say that I set out with the intention of making it relate I just tend to write from personal experience a lot of the time so it’s great to hear it can connect. Although the song is not necessarily about an ideal time in my life so I suppose part of me would love to hear that no one else can relate to that kind of experience. But if it can help those who can then that’s great! 

I wrote Hollow over about a week, just at home on an acoustic guitar. When I started to demo it was when I got the idea to add all the guitars playing 16ths to drive the chorus along. Then when I went into Studio 91 with Sam Winfield we tried to take it even further that way. I had that Friendly Fires song Jump in the Pool in my head as the direction I wanted to take all the percussion and everything, and I think we did well in achieving a similar vibe! My friend Ed Broad played the drums and he’s a mighty man behind the kit, especially his hi-hat work, so it all came together smoothly. 

As we (scarily) draw close to the halfway point of 2019, what are your plans for the rest of the year, musically? More singles? Or dare I hope... an EP?

You’re not wrong with ‘scarily’, I’m still saying Happy New Year to people.. Musically I’m sitting on a little bit more music to put out this year that I’m really excited about! It’s already been recorded and I’m hoping to put something out over the summer. Not sure whether I’ll culminate this years music into anything like an EP yet but we’ll see. I’m definitely keen to release something of a longer form soon having released a string of singles over the past year. Watch this space. 

Talking of the rest of the year... you've got some shows coming up with Adam Barnes in Oxford, Bath and Nottingham in June. Acoustic guitars, gorgeous harmonies and fantastic beards aside, what should we expect from the shows?

Well I have no plans or even biological ability to grow a good facial offering so the beards will be singular on that tour. Really excited to play with Adam again, he’s one of my best friends and we’ve been playing music together in various forms for about 7 years so it always feels very natural. At the Oxford show in particular we’ll both be bringing slightly bigger setups, but the other two shows will be two young bucks with our guitars playing our songs and trying to collaborate on each others stuff as much as possible! Well worth checking out the deer in the background of the tour poster. Possibly my finest photoshop moment to-date.

Is there anything else in the pipeline for the next few months? Any festivals coming up?

I’ve got quite a few shows coming up in June and over the rest of the summer. Readipop Festival on the 13th of July is going to be a lot of fun! They’ve done a lot to try and support artists from the local area, so it will be brilliant to be a part of that. I’m also playing in Southampton, London, Portsmouth, Devizes, Didcot, Bristol and Newbury currently, with more shows in the pipeline. Hopefully going to go back to Europe in the Autumn and do a bit more too. Details on all my confirmed shows can be found here.

Finally... here is your chance to recommend some music to me! I'm curious - what is in your headphones a lot at the moment? Lately I've been listening to a lot of Novo Amor in anticipation of his headline slot at Bushstock Festival in June, I can't recommend his debut album enough!

Oh awesome! I shall check him out. Definitely a name I’ve been seeing pop up a lot (perhaps a lot on your blog) so I’ll give him a go. I’d love to recommend something super cool but the reality is I’ve been listening to mixes of my next release a lot and very little else. I did however have Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out of My Head on super loud in the car driving back from Oxford the other night so I think everyone should go back and listen to that. 

If you want a more current answer I’d say you should check out the band LongDayLateNight from Newbury. Very good, lovely gents, annoyingly young. 

Follow Joe Hicks - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

INTERVIEW: Hazey Jane

It was a joy to catch up with the wonderful Hazey Jane chaps this weekend at The Great Escape. They're launching their new Lifeboat EP with a show at The George Tavern this Friday (last few tickets for that here) - I'm loving the title track which they released last week, especially the acoustic video I've embedded below! Check out my interview with the band below and keep an ear out for the EP this Friday. 

Hello! First up, introductions. Who are Hazey Jane and how did the band first form?

Hello! We are Bobby, Laurent, Connor and Paul. When in the same room, we make harmony driven, indie-folk tunes and work out. None of us work out. The band met at University in Southampton although Bob and Laurent started crafting Green Day enthused post-punk hits when they were 14.

From the name it’s clear that the likes of Nick Drake may have an influence on you - who else influences you as a band?

Nick Drake was indeed the greatest influence on our songwriting growing up. We emerged into our twenties from the particularly melancholy but inspiring haze he cast over so many Folksters of our generation. We place John Martyn, Joni Mitchell, John Prine, Judee Sill, CSNY (the list goes on) on the same pedestal, but Hazeyjane-Solidair-Blue just wasn’t snappy enough. Recently, the careers of Ben Howard, Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling have offered a lot of motivation and insight. Seeing bands like Bon Iver & War On Drugs live has certainly steered us too.

I was honoured to premiere the video for your brilliant tune Mother’s Lie back in November (and it proved quite the hit on the blog - it’s the fourth most viewed post on there!) What’s been happening in the world of Hazey Jane since then?

Fourth? Who’re those other three punks? Thank you for helping us get it out there! Hearing that people respond to any of our songs is a massive privilege and keeps us plugging away. Since November, HJ released Mirror View (our second single) - we played a sold out launch show for that one which was incredible. We recently got our mitts on a keyboard so have been writing a bunch of new tunes on that. Otherwise we’ve been keeping it real, preparing for our EP release and looking forward to a busy old Summer.

Your new Lifeboat EP is due for release this Friday - how does it feel to finally get it out into the world? How did the writing and recording process for this EP compare to that of your 2016 EP Us On A Wire?

Really quite good yeah. This collection of songs means a huge amount to us and we can’t wait to get them out there in the open. Us On A Wire was a folk EP. We recorded each song live with the help of two phenomenal engineers and mixed using analogue gear that we had no right to access. Lifeboat is our first step towards a bigger sound. We organically went for bolder chorus’s during the writing process and Jamie Dodd at The Animal Farm did a sublime job making the best of those in the studio. We owe him alot for the soundscape on the first three tracks. Rees Broomfield and Edd Thomas worked wonders on Grow and Losing My Mind respectively. We’re very fortunate to be working with such talented people throughout the production process.

You’re launching the new EP with a launch show at London’s George Tavern this Friday - what can people expect from the gig? (Beyond the brilliant support acts Me and the Moon and Dessie Magee!)

We couldn’t have hoped for stronger openers than Me and the Moon and Dessie, they’re both doing brilliantly at the moment and we can’t wait for their sets on Friday. We’ll be playing tunes from our acoustic, harmony driven catalogue before delving into heftier instrumentals and of course all the tracks from the new EP! The keys will be in tow so everyone will get a taste of the music we’ve been piecing together very recently … there might even be a couple of surprises in there.

What else do you have planned for Summer beyond this gig - any exciting festival appearances?!

We’ve got a couple of great festival opportunities this Summer. The absolute cream of the crop will be our headline set on The Den stage at Cambridge Folk Festival, where we’ll be sharing the bill with John Prine, First Aid Kit and Patti Smith. It’s always been an important festival for British Folk music and we’re very fortunate to be invited in. We’ll be at Greenbelt Festival in August too, another huge weekend with a couple of stonking headliners. Principally Pussy Riot! In terms of the very near future, we’re really excited to be at Hope Festival on Sunday 27th May! These are all firsts for us so we’re genuinely happy to be playing.

Talking of festivals… it was lovely to catch you for the first time in almost a year at The Great Escape last week in Brighton. What else did you get up to down at the seaside? Tell me some Hazey Jane go-to things to do when you’re playing shows out of town!

What a weekend. TGE was so much fun on Saturday, we played East Street Tap where we discovered top band after top band. Great to see our label mates Little Brother Eli live for the first time, they were sublime. We also played at The Brighton Fringe the following day, Dessie Magee was running a stage there so it was great to catch up with him. We stayed in Hastings overnight, classic fish and chips on the beach Sunday morning (Pam’s Chippy, represent). Fell asleep by the sea, woke up beetroot red. Plenty of beer garden action … I’m afraid the rest of the bands activities were far too moronic to elaborate here.

Finally, who’s in your headphones at the minute, who should I be listening to? If I could recommend you one EP at the moment it would be Franc Moody with ‘Dance Moves’ - 31 minutes of pure funk.

Too right, that is 31 mins of pure funk. You aren't lying! Right now we’re gladly accepting each installment of the new Ben Howard album as it comes. Three gorgeous songs so far, cannot wait to hear the whole thing.

INTERVIEW: Little Brother Eli

Alongside the likes of Catgod who I interviewed recently (read that one here) Little Brother Eli are one of my favourite local musical discoveries to emerge from my time in Oxford over the past few years. They've got a new song coming out on the 18th May as well as a bunch of festivals this Summer so I interviewed them to catch up with everything LBE, check it out below and keep an ear out for the single!

First things first, introductions! Who are Little Brother Eli and how long has the band been going?

We are a 4 piece disco rock outfit originating from Oxford. We started the band wayyy back in 2013 (back when we all still had hair…)

You’ve got a brand new tune called Our Kind Of Love coming out on the 18th May. Tell us a little about the story behind the tune… was the writing and recording process any different to your previous releases?

We really just wanted to try something totally new this year. We’d done the blues rock thing to death and it was time for us to be more of ourselves in a recording. The song was originally a piano ballard, but Josh funked it up on the bass, Adam added the chorus harmonies and all of a sudden it turned into a real dance track. We went into the studio and recorded it just as we played it at rehearsal - we’re really excited about showing the world this one.

This is the second new single of 2018, following up Tooth which seemed to be received really well with a sold out hometown launch gig and lots of positive reviews from blogs and fans alike. Do you have an EP or album in the pipeline? I certainly hope so!

We don’t have any album plans yet, but we have recorded a heap of singles and deciding which ones to put out is hard. The reasoning behind why we don’t want to put out an album quite yet is purely creative - there is often a long gap between recording and releasing an album because it’s such a large body of work. We wanted to keep things fresh by recording the music we’re into right now and releasing it quickly (not what we were into 8 months ago).

I’m really enjoying the video of you performing the track live at a Sofar Sounds show in Bath earlier this year. (For those who don’t know, Sofar Sounds is a series of gigs in spaces you wouldn’t usually expect to hear live music, where the audience signs up without knowing which artists they’re going to see.) You guys seem to get around to lots of Sofar shows - what do you enjoy about playing them? Personally, I think that in comparison with a traditional gig the more relaxed environment really helps to highlight Alex’s incredible vocal range and the beautiful harmonies you guys have!

Why thank you! You’re not fighting the sound in the venue at a Sofar Sounds show and you get a intimate atmosphere with the audience - so yeah we love them! However, there’s nothing like having Benji on the drums at an electric gig driving us forward.

Talking of gigs - what festivals plans do you have for the next few months?

A fair few: Truck Festival. The Great Escape. Lechlade. Woodstock Live. Smithdown Festival. Greenbelt Festival. There are a few still in the pipeline as well.

I know just as well as you guys that Oxford is a wonderful place to be, for many reasons and perhaps especially for its fantastically rich music and art scene. Which are your favourite local artists at the moment?

We’re super lucky to be where we are. Check out Chris Barker & The Premium Leisure! They played one of our monthly Eli Nights at The Monarch in Camden and were fantastic. Willie J Healey was on bass too (another Oxford monster musician).

Finally - what’s in your headphones at the minute? If I could recommend you one record at the moment it would probably be Empty Handed from Christof van der Ven - it’s beautiful!

Last rehearsal we were digging Superorganism’s self titled album. There are some pretty huge songs on there.

Follow Little Brother Eli online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

INTERVIEW: Catgod

Another week, another exciting interview! Caught up with my pals in Catgod to chat about their stunning new tune Heartbeat In My Hand and their plans for the rest of the year. They headline The Islington in London this Friday and Oxford's The Cellar on 23rd June - I implore you to get along to a show if you can, they're a very talented bunch and always put on a fun live show!

(c) Milly Cope

First up, who are Catgod and how would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t discovered your music yet? 

We find it hard to describe our sound, probably because we’ve been experimenting with lots of musical styles over the past year, and finding ours in the process. We think the newest single is closest to it. We’ve definitely been influenced by legends like John Martyn and Bob Dylan and have morphed this into an ambient folk/indie sound with an edge. We hope it sounds like going to a calm familiar place in your mind and having new thoughts about who and what you are - which can be scary and dark at times. 

The band centres around the vocal harmonies of brother and sister duo Robin and Cat (I miss you guys!!) - when did you first start to sing together? 

(We miss you lots toooooo!!) A year and a bit ago Cat moved back to Oxford from London. We’d been quite detached because she’d been there for years. We started singing together to help her through a difficult time when she moved home - it felt like something positive to focus on. I’ve always been focused on music and this new relationship/connection combined in a beautiful way. 

You’ve got a new tune called Heartbeat in Your Hand coming out this week. What is the track about and how did the process of writing and recording this tune vary to others you’ve released in the past?

It started off as a love song I sent my girlfriend Iman for her birthday. The idea for which started when I noticed a pulse in my hand whilst I was running. I’d been thinking of how I can forget or take for granted the good things in life and sometimes the people close to me; and how I couldn't do without them. It marks the first single Cat is singing the lead vocals for as well as the new addition of pianist Patrick Bolton to the band. 

To celebrate the release of the track you’ve got a show coming up at London’s The Islington on 13th April and Oxford’s The Cellar on 23rd June. What can fans expect from the shows?

You can expect some impassioned air grabs and emotional, ethereal vibes. 

Talking of live shows - which of your tracks are your favourites to play live? Why? 

We enjoy playing Someone Love from our last EP - I particularly enjoy dancing with my flute. We also enjoy playing I’m Innocent which has some funky Egyptian tabla and Talking Heads-esque vocals.

Beyond these two shows, what are your plans for the Summer - any exciting festival slots lined up?

There are a few coming up. We’re very excited about playing Cornbury. 

You’re pretty well integrated into the music scene in Oxford with Robin regularly producing for local acts. Who are you favourite local artists at the minute? 

Premium Leisure - with our moonlighting guitarist Chris Barker. Le Feye - with another moonlighting drummer Caspar Miles - not that we’re bias! + of course Self Help! Soooo many more. Makes us feel very passionate about the Oxford scene. 

On that note and finally - what’s in your headphones at the moment? 

Oxford band Death of the Maiden’s new single Soldier, and our fab cousin Poppy Ajudha's new EP Femme.