Give us a potted history of yourself
When I was younger I was always fascinated by pitches. My dad often recounts a moment when I was four when he found me trying to play happy birthday with his chain of keys; I realised the keys each created a different note when I hit them on the table. Though music has always been very central to my life, I only became truly passionate about singing at the age of fifteen, and shortly after I realised I could write my own songs.
I started off writing about the lives of everyone around me; my family, friends and even characters and celebrities. In a way I think I was using music as a way to run away from my own problems. However when I turned eighteen I started to acknowledge my own mental health issues that I had been neglecting, and I quickly found therapy in converting those feelings to both music that wordlessly described my story and meaningful yet interpretative lyrics. Writing and hearing a song that so accurately resonates with you is the purest form of catharsis.
Who inspired you to start making music
Naturally I was influenced by my favourite artists in the early stages of my songwriting (Billie Eilish, Lewis Capaldi etc), however the first song I wrote was a result of misheard lyrics in the song ‘Praying’ by Kesha. When I found out that the lyrics I had been singing were wrong, I thought they were still decent lyrics and didn’t want to let them go to waste, so I got home, sat at my piano and wrote the entire song in about an hour. Safe to say that song will never see the light of day, but it helped me discover a creativity that I hadn’t felt since primary school, and I fell in love with writing. Since that day I’ve written once a week at the bare minimum, and I believe I’ve truly discovered my own style and sound.
And the one or maybe two records that inspired you artistically
When I first started writing I was hugely inspired by Billie Eilish’s album “When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go?”, specifically the songs “i love you” and “listen before I go”. I really admired Billie and her brother/producer Finneas’ ability to incorporate more diverse sounds in their songs to further capture the emotion they are trying to convey, for example they have inserted police sirens at the end of “listen before I go” to complete the storyline. This inspired me to use some less conventional sounds and instruments in my songs; for example, the only percussion in my upcoming debut single “Distance” is a heartbeat, which changes tempo throughout the song to represent anxiety.
If you’re trying to explain who you sound like to someone that’s never heard you, what do you say
There are hints of James Arthur and Lewis Capaldi in my voice and music genre, however we are vastly different in vocal range and instrumentation. Though the tone and mood of my music isn’t even slightly similar to that of Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande, I do like to add whistle notes to many of my songs, so I would likely mention this resemblance as well.
Tell us about your debut single ‘Distance’
I wrote this song from the perspective of two of my best friends that were in a long-distance relationship; one of them lived in England and the other lived in Canada. I was really interested in the correlation between physical distance and emotional distance, as when they spent too much time apart, one of them would pull back and become avoidant whereas the other always became more anxious and clingier. Though this song isn’t directly about me, I was essentially the therapist in their relationship. I often received phone calls from both of them where they would be crying or angry and I would be the one to comfort both of them, so their relationship was emotionally a big part of my life, and one of the reasons I am so attached to this song is because I channelled my own emotion into the music and the lyrics.
In terms of the process of creating the song, I am in the most privileged, lucky position; my dad is a producer who owns a recording studio. I grew up in a very musical family – my mum is a classical piano player, my brother and I have been taking music lessons in various instruments for our entire lives, and my dad plays the bass guitar as well as being a recording engineer, so music has always been central to our family dynamic.
Though I do all the writing myself at my keyboard at home, my dad is a huge part of the production elements and also provides advice on structure and instrumentation of my music where he thinks it’s needed.
Working with a parent on sad music always feels strange. Though we are blessed to be a really open and honest family, some of my lyrics can be very dark, with in-depth representation of my mental health problems, so letting people who are close to me hear that is always difficult for me, as I don’t want anyone else to worry about it. In essence, for me sharing my music is like letting everyone read your diary. However, he is an amazing producer and we always truly connect on a spiritual level when we’re in the studio.
Where can we get hold of it
My debut single ‘Distance’ will be out on all streaming platforms on the 15th November.
Tell us how you write
My process of writing music varies from song to song. A lot of the time I’ll be on a walk and have a little musical brief pop into my head, then I consult my ideas page on my notes app to decide what lyrics I feel are best implied by the music. It is really important to me that the music and lyrics are sort of ‘speaking’ about the same concept, for example, anxious lyrics must have instrumentation that feels anxious or induces that sense of tension.
I also have a physical notepad titled “Useless Things to Overthink” that felt appropriate to use to brainstorm song lyrics, but I’ve recently been adding drawings to my notes and they’ve really helped me convert my feelings into lyrics with deeper meaning and that feel more authentic to me.
My writing also tends to be very fragmented. I’ll usually try to write a verse, pre-chorus and chorus in one sitting, then move on to the next song because something else feels more important for me to write about, then after anywhere from a week to a year I’ll come back to the song when I’m back in that headspace. This started out as unintentional, but I’ve recently started to appreciate the longitudinal feel this gives my music; I like the extra depth and dimension added to songs that would otherwise be frozen in one moment of time.
Tell us about your live show What would be your dream gig
Honestly, and I’m sure this is a cliché answer, but it really doesn’t matter to me who or how many people I’m playing to. I’d love to say that I’ve always dreamed of performing for stadiums of people but it wouldn’t be true. All I want in terms of performance is to make every person in my audience feel something, no matter how many people are in the audience.
In terms of my current live show, I’ve only really had the opportunity to perform acoustic sets with myself and a piano, however once I have my own music out I would love to include more elaborate instrumentation, and an ultimate dream of mine is definitely to perform with an orchestra.
What can we expect from you in the near future
After my debut song “Distance” comes out on the 15th November, I will be working hard on creating an EP or an album for release within the next six months or so, whilst likely releasing singles every couple months. I have already written most (if not all) of the songs I plan to release for this project, so over the next few months I’ll be working hard in the studio to create a complete piece of artwork.
Tell us your favourite records that are rocking your headphones/tour bus/stereo
At the moment I’ve really taking a liking to Gracie Abrams, specifically the song “Long Sleeves” from her debut project. Though we have very different styles, I feel like my writing intentions are similar to hers; writing just to tell a story that properly encapsulates all of my emotions about a specific situation.
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