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WHAT'S INSIDE DIRECTOR Tony Ereira (he/him) tony@cpwm.co
LONG READ 06 JOHN GRANT 14 YARD ACT 22 KATY J PEARSON 28 LP 32 SYLVAN ESSO
MAGAZINE Andrew Benge (he/him) andy@cpwm.co LABEL Eva Davies (she/her) eva@cpwm.co
INDUSTRY EXPERTS 41 SAM AIREY / HANGLANDS
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT Scott Lewis (he/him) scott@cpwm.co
AWAY FROM THE NOISE 12 SPROUT 25 NIA WYN
DIVERSITY PROJECTS Antonia Lines (they/she) antonia@cpwm.co DIVERSITY EVENTS Lily Sturt-Bolshaw (she/her) lily@cpwm.co
SPECIAL THANKS
and in no particular order... Matilde, Dean, Elle, Eva, Eve, Ria, Dorian, Fiona, Ben, Harry, Jasmine, Sam, Kamarna, Emma, Janelle, Amy, Jamie, Paddy, Luke, Louisa, James, Jay, Gem... all of the artists, industry representatives, other contributors and everyone else who took the time to tell their stories and helped make this happen.
NEWS 04 FROM THE TEAM
DIGGING DEEPER 18 LOOSE ARTICLES 37 A.O. GERBER THE KIT LIST 25 REGRESSIVE LEFT PHOTO BOOTH & ART WALL 20 SNIFFANY & THE NITS / SISTER SNIFFANY'S CHAMBER POT 39 JEMIMA COULTER / FOUR PAINTINGS 5 QUESTIONS 31 AS WE LEAVE
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This publication may contain personal views and opinions that are not representative of Come Play With Me CIC. It may also contain language some readers may find offensive.
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NEWS
FROM THE TEAM You Do? at Sheaf Street and Beyond The Melodies at Hyde Park Book Club last month. Our next one We’re well into the swing will take place on August of summer over at the 4th so be sure to save the CPWM office – the iced oat date! lattes are flowing while the sweet sounds of Jamie XX’s We’ve also just launched In Colour blast through a brand-new call out for Scott’s speaker. West-Yorkshire based artists, offering the After a big month of music opportunity to release a conferences and sheep digital single with us (and herding (yes, you read the potential to feature that right), we’re all super on our next Side by Side excited to head to Deer vinyl compilation!) You Shed to catch some of our can find more details on favourite artists, including how to apply on our label CPWM alumni Bored At My Instagram @cpwmrecords. Grandmas House, Treeboy You’ll also find news about & Arc and Van Houten. all of our latest releases, Despite the relentless including Sunflower heat and our even more Thieves’ gorgeous debut relentless social schedule, EP 'Someone To Be There we’ve been working just as For' – the perfect indiehard as we play. The events folk soundtrack to your team kicked off the newest summer (and still available series of Come Platform to purchase on splatter Me events with How Do Hello and a warm (29 degrees to be precise) welcome to our 21st issue!
vinyl). We’ve got loads more coming on the label side later in the year, so be sure to drop us a follow to keep up to date… Finally, we celebrated a couple of team birthdays, seeing in our mag assistant Matilde’s quarter century with techno and tequila in Manchester. Our label manager Eva’s birthday bash saw some of our favourite local bands take the stage at Oporto, including post-punk quartet Pop Vulture. This issue features words from Deer Shed headliners John Grant, Katy J Pearson and local heroes Yard Act and as well as a Kit List feature from Regressive Left and loads more. Enjoy! Elle Label Assistant, CPWM
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JOHN GRANT 6
The American musician and singer-songwriter explores how his identity has been shaped through dealing with trauma and sobriety, and how he feels more at home out on the road as he settles into a full summer of touring. 7
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Discussing some of his favourite album covers, John Grant fondly remembers the first time he set eyes upon the 1982 debut Nina Hagen album NunSexMonkRock. “When I was a kid, I used to go into the record store and stare at this image for hours. I was such a protected, isolated church boy. I was just like, “what ungodliness is this?” Growing up in Michigan, Grant was raised in a conservative Methodist home alongside his three siblings. Seeing this provocative artwork and listening to such an avantgarde piece of music that still professed faith in Christianity offered a much-needed outlet for Grant. “I can only dream of creating things that affect people the way that music affected me when I was growing up. I really, truly believe that it saved my life on thousands of occasions.” Moving to Colorado when he was 12, his journey into adulthood is something he has never shied away from in his music. After struggling to accept his homosexuality until his mid-20s, the honesty in his music and lyricism in confronting his past experiences has led him to consistently release critically acclaimed albums over the past decade. Both fans and peers in the music community admire him for this, and the journey from his self-loathing to coming to terms with his own life began on his debut, the 2010 crooning folk-pop album Queen of Denmark. Encouraged by former label mates Midlake to return to music after his decade with Denver alt-rockers The Czars in the mid-90’s on the Bella Union label, the latest part of his career emerged through Grant’s newfound sobriety.
His writing would go on to cover everything from drugs and alcohol abuse, depression, sex addiction, shame about his sexuality as well as religious guilt. With his openness, it is apparent how much he introspectively faces up to these topics all the time when chatting to him.
"I CAN ONLY DREAM OF CREATING THINGS THAT AFFECT PEOPLE THE WAY THAT MUSIC AFFECTED ME WHEN I WAS GROWING UP. I REALLY, TRULY BELIEVE THAT IT SAVED MY LIFE ON THOUSANDS OF OCCASIONS."
Having any sort of idols growing up in the gay community was something lacking for Grant too. “There was nothing. I was so indoctrinated that even if somebody knew about my sexuality, I would have been like, “fuck you, what are you talking about? You can't fucking decide who I am.” In high school, there was one teacher that I could have come out to who would have embraced me, and I knew she knew I was gay. But I was never able to have a conversation with her.” His latest album Boy From Michigan released in 2021 explicitly details the denial of some of his experiences whilst growing up. The spacey, synth-heavy monologue of ‘Mike and Julie’ depicts Grant’s first sexual encounter with a guy who he met at church, and how he couldn’t confront his feelings afterwards. The trauma of hiding and being unable to accept who he is remains.
His lack of shame and embarrassment in sharing such personal issues is signified by his announcement of the HIV-positive diagnosis on stage in 2012 at Meltdown Festival, and the subsequently released 80’s electro-inspired ‘Ernest Borgnine’ on his Pale Green Ghosts album that details this experience.
“What happened to you when you were younger has a very, long-lasting effect on your psyche. I feel ashamed that I still deal with those issues within myself. But it's quite understandable. It just exists. It is a reality that you must deal with and informs how you are today and how you will interact with people.”
Grant’s ownership of his struggles has not always been present though, especially with the paradox of approaching his sexuality throughout his religious upbringing. It caused immense pressure on his childhood.
Despite going through this in the 1970s and ‘80s, the pressures of finding and owning your identity remain today. He offers his reflections on how to get there. “Eventually you’ll come to a place where you can love yourself. And where you can be gentle with yourself and navigate it all.”
“I didn't want that to be my reality because that literally meant spiritual, emotional, and physical death. Accepting it, and having a dialogue with somebody who accepted me for what I was, wasn't even something that I would have been able to engage in.” 9
When you tell somebody with trauma it's okay for you to be who you are, it almost sounds like it’s an expletive or an attack because it's never been okay for you to be who you are. But it's important for kids to realise you should
talk to people when you have thoughts like suicide and don't be ashamed because that doesn't mean that you're a coward. Of course, suicide is NEVER the answer and the truth is that people who decide to kill themselves are suffering from a complete loss of perspective. But you can regain your perspective and learn to live."
when you give up all that stuff to realise that there's going to be all this empty space. Your friend groups do shift because you don't really feel like you have anything in common with them anymore. They feel the same way too.”
but I know that it's the wrong thing to do.” This change in approach to writing perhaps lends itself to how the more Grant releases music, the more it seems to coalesce a full image of how Grant sees himself and who he has become. This evolution The move to Reykjavík in 2013 in his career has led him to saw a new shift in how people collaborate with some of viewed him though. “People his idols, including Sinéad are totally uninterested in your O’Connor, Stephen Mallinder, sexuality here. That's quite rare Elizabeth Fraser and Elton and sort of bewildering to me John. because I internalise the stuff “I felt invisible for most of my that happened to me. It’s the life. So, the fact that you are first place I've hung out with rated by these people and straight men where I really felt that they would work with me, like the way they treated me is just pretty overwhelming.” didn't change in the slightest.” It’s what excites Grant about getting to do a full, Even in his new home, there uninterrupted festival season is still a pull for Grant to want to finally follow last year’s new to isolate away from people. album. “Although there's lots of community here, I’ve always He performed with another been skittish about that. I like favourite of his this summer, to isolate and go through long Rufus Wainwright, as well as periods of being alone and at Meltdown with Grace Jones absorbing.” During this time, hand-picking the artists for he has seen how he prefers this year’s edition. “She's to be out on tour rather than another idol of mine. And staying at home in the studio I'm working on a Blancmange too, and how those impact on remix right now which is really his songwriting. exciting because it sounds fucking phat. That's another “I think I prefer being on the band that I never thought I road and being on stage. I would work with.” find the lack of trees here in Reykjavík is more difficult for This musical growth mirrors the me than I had anticipated too. journey through a lot of pain, I'm not much of a hippie at doubt and self-critique that all but I can't get enough of Grant has openly challenged trees. There's truly something so he can learn how to not magical about them for me, so hide away from who he is. It’s a the English countryside is just testament to him that through absolutely fucking bonkers.” his music, we can understand how to approach and value our “I remember that about Deer own identities. Shed Festival and really digged that. It was quite small and more intimate, very family community based, and I really liked that aspect of it. But it's funny, I've always sort of baulked at writing music while I'm on the road but that's changing. The ideas flow a lot more when I'm out on tour. I still feel like I'm totally an infant when it comes to music. I feel like giving up sometimes,
"I STILL FEEL LIKE I'M TOTALLY AN INFANT WHEN IT COMES TO MUSIC. I FEEL LIKE GIVING ToUP read the full version of this magazine you can buy print SOMETIMES, BUT I delivered KNOW THAT copies direct to you from our Bandcamp or support IT'S THE WRONG us via Patreon for even more exclusive goodies! THING TO DO."
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“But we often make the mistake of talking to the wrong people about these things. It doesn't mean that those people aren’t open, and don't take that as a signal that it's not okay for you to talk about these things. It's simply that that person is not capable of processing that thing with you. And we need to not judge them for it.”
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He partly dealt with this trauma through various addictions after moving out of the US at the end of his teens to study languages in Germany. His time spent living abroad over the past four decades in other countries like Sweden and Iceland has helped him to eventually try and learn how to live all over again. It’s been testing for him though since he went sober in 2006. “There's definitely periods I go through where I think some people are thinking, “God, I wish you fucking would have a drink again, you were much more palatable.” It's important Words by Ben Lee
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Photography by Andrew Benge
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THE PERFECT GRILLED CHEESE... I’m Sprout! I make sad music to silly costumes. I was born in Burnley, put together in Liverpool, and newly live in the big smoke. As a creative with lots of feelings and a hyperactive brain, the world we’re living in can sometimes feel really rather overwhelming. And, whilst I love an intense chat or a dive into the deep pool we all have to swim through about who we are, why we’re here, what’s this all about, and how on earth do we deal with the endless injustices we face(!?), I think sometimes it’s easy to miss the importance of enjoying the small things
AWAY FROM THE NOISE
SPROUT and seeking pleasure in the day-to-day. Specifically, when it comes to food. I pondered if talking about how to make the perfect grilled cheese would seem insincere or juvenile, but the facts are that to live, we have to eat. Food in its truest form is a core need for human survival, and yet so much of the time, it feels like an inconvenience. But along with music, making meals for myself has proven to be one of the best outlets for my hang-ups, my woes and my worries, and brings me back to just simply existing. I make music because it makes me feel better, and I’d perhaps even quietly hope 12
PATREON
that it might make someone else feel better too. So what better way to represent that than to share with you a recipe for something that warms your soul, as well as your belly. When I was writing my EP, I was in the throes of the 2020 lockdown, having an identity crisis, and going through a breakup. And it is this combination of perfecting the grilled cheese and writing music that saw me through it. So this is my gift to you, I hope you indulge and treat yourself! It’s easily accessible, only needs a few ingredients and takes up 15 minutes of your time from start to finish. At the end, you’ve got a hearty meal and hopefully, a lighter disposition.
THINGS TO NOTE: The most salient point, and one that I cannot stress the importance of enough… The soundtrack to the ultimate feel-good and grilled cheese glorifying film, ‘Chef’ must be played throughout both the cooking and eating experience for maximum pleasure and glee. After all, this is an indulging experience for the senses, and one to be revelled in and respected. Dancing is encouraged, but not required if one would prefer to make less of a mess. Nothing in this recipe is to be applied ‘lightly’ or in halves. As aforementioned, this is a recipe to feed the stomach and soul, and in order to do so, one must allow themselves to apply, spread, and layer up freely and fruitfully. Your body is a temple, but so is this sandwich. Run wild and free with all the bread, cheese and butter your life (or your fridge) has to throw at you! In complete contrast to the previous point, whilst this is a medicine for a much-needed pick-me-up, it’s not so much meant as a daily dose to sustain your physical health. Let it be a special occasion, a cheeky treat, and if not, know that I take no responsibility for the clogging of any arteries. If you want it GF, use GF bread. If you want it vegan, grab yourself some vegan cheeses. Adapt as necessary, you wear the sailor’s hat to the boat of your own life. YOU WILL NEED: 3 cheeses (when I’m feeling fancy I go for Edam, Gouda, and a spicy cheddar. I prefer slices because who can be bothered to grate? But, this is your cheesy fantasy, pick whatever you want, it’s easy to make good decisions when there are no bad options). Words by Sprout
Warburtons toastie thick white bread (fine, go brown and seeded if you really want to) • Butter (a fair bit) • Cherry Tomatoes (chopped in half) • Dijon Mustard (negotiable) • Worcestershire sauce (non-negotiable) • Black or mixed pepper • A grill pan (ideally) • A toaster • A musical device (to play the soundtrack to ‘Chef’)
both slices of bread (you make the call there, I personally know no bounds when it comes to Worcestershire sauce).
INSTRUCTIONS: Get two (or four if you’re feeling a double-down) slices of bread and pop those babies in the toaster. A light toasting is required to prepare for the main grilling event.
Add a more than reasonable sized dollop of butter to the grilled pan, set at a medium heat, and wait for the butter to bubble.
After the light toasting, butter one side of each bread and add a cheeky layer of mustard on each side. Apply a slice (or two) of one cheese on one piece of bread, and a slice (or two) of a different cheese on the other piece of bread (variety is the spice of life). Take your halved cherry toms and layer them on top of one slice of bread. Toms on both sides of the bread is simply too much, we’re not building a tower here and we want the toms to grill too. I said have fun with it, I didn’t say be reckless. Also, keep a couple of centimetres free around the side of the bread, we don’t want them slipping out at the vital grilling point. Add some pepper onto each slice and on top of the toms (as peppery as you feel that day) Add a slice (or two) of the third variety of cheese on top of the non-cherry tom’d slice of bread and drizzle some of the Worcestershire sauce on 13
Delicately put the two slices of lightly toasted bread together and give 'em a light squish down. Butter the outside of each size of the sandwich (you didn’t think I was a rookie in this did you?)
Add your grilled cheese to the pan. Here’s where it gets serious! We only want to turn the bread once, there’s been many trial and errors and the sandwich undoubtedly glues together and tastes most scrumptious when it’s not fighting to fall apart. If it looks like the outside is going to burn, turn your hob down to a low heat and wait it out. It’s usually just under 5 minutes each side for me, and I know that can feel like a while but this is where the chef soundtrack really comes in to help you out. Besides, ‘trees that are slow to grow to bear the best fruit’ and all that. Elegantly flip your grilled cheese over with a spatula and repeat on the other side. When the cheese is starting to seep from the sides of the butty. You’re good to go. Add to a plate, eat, dance, be merry, get cheesy. Voilà! Things coming up (or have happened)! Debut EP came out on June 15th, debut gig in Liverpool was June 25th.
Photograph by Marieke Macklon
YARD ACT After conquering the States, reaching No. 2 in the album charts, and earning themselves the title of one of the hardest working bands in music, it only felt right for us to sit down with Yard Act to talk about how wild this year has been, and how good it feels to be back on home turf… 14
Playing countless shows critically acclaimed debut no puppet pulling the across the UK, Europe album, The Overload, strings. A high charting and the United States which saw the band reach position never really and getting a number 2 number 2 in the album was a desire for us, until in the album charts with charts. ‘Sometimes I want about two weeks before their debut album, The to bring us down a peg and the album was released, Overload – it’s all been say that it was January and and we realised what boxed off by Yard Act, not a lot of albums were could be possible.’ Album and now they make their being released – we had release weeks always show return to the UK festival no competition!’ laughs the amount of strength circuit. ‘Festival season Sam, ‘however the effort that can be found in fan this year is all about that went into getting us communities, and this was celebration for us,’ chimes there was unbelievable.’ no different for Yard Act, the band’s guitarist, Sam ‘what stood out the most Shjipstone, ‘it’s going to be to us during all of that was so different from previous how loyal the fans are, we "WHAT STOOD OUT years, especially now we read posts every day from THE MOST TO US have played more shows people buying multiple ALL OF read the full version ofDURING this magazine you can print andTo have experienced copies ‘justbuy to help us out’ THAT WAS HOW what we, as a unit, have’. – and it was or mad, we never copies delivered direct to you from our Bandcamp support LOYAL THE FANS thought we’d get to that us via Patreon for even exclusive goodies! Yard Act found themselves point’. ARE,more WE READ gaining traction on POSTS EVERY DAY YouTube between The success of The FROM Just click on the PEOPLE links below: lockdowns when a show Overload has enabled Yard BUYING MULTIPLE of theirs in London was Act to find a new home, BANDCAMP PATREON COPIES ‘JUST TO posted and picked up by high up on festival linetheir now ever-growing ups, with one of those HELP US OUT’ – AND fanbase, with the band festivals being North IT WAS MAD..." not playing together from Yorkshire’s Deer Shed before England’s second Festival – which is set lockdown in November During the album’s to be taking place from 2020 to July 2021. On release week, Yard Act 29th – 31st July. This year’s reflection, Sam speaks played shows at venues Deer Shed sees the festival fondly of the 2021 festival up and down the country, return to full capacity, for season, ‘we honed our sometimes multiple a day, the first time since COVID craft last Summer, 2021 sometimes at midnight – with 2021’s festival being festival season was the and had new physical tokened Deer Shed ‘Base first time that we felt releases up their sleeves Camp’ which allowed the that we had really cut our for each day that went festival to go ahead with teeth live – playing to big by, ‘some people thought a reduced capacity with audiences (especially at we were doing that restrictions still looming festivals) is how we know because we were receiving over last Summer. we have made it’. pressure from the label,’ Shjipstone continues, ‘but ‘It is going to be the Since last year’s festival it all came from within us. biggest celebration this season, a lot has changed We wanted to be able to year’, says Sam, comparing for Yard Act. In January say that we did absolutely this year’s festival to the of this year, the band everything that we could last, ‘this year it feels as released their now have done – there was if we’ve all got through it. 15
It’s such a good feeling James is getting slick at Shed festival this year, the to know that we have got it now; we’re doing more band have some advice through everything that and more radio show for watchers who may has happened in the last performances where take influence and get into couple of years – this year James isn’t allowed to music because of them, it feels more vital than swear so perhaps, we ‘get into music because ever to celebrate what should do that to mix up you love it, the best part we have all got through.’ the Yard Act experience’. about being in a band like Excitement for festival ours is having the ability season is not just found to make mistakes, there is within festival-goers, but no pressure to be perfect, "IT’S GOING TO BE within the bands too, we are allowed to make BIG FOR US, AS A ‘We’re more excited than a few mistakes here and BAND WE OFTEN ever for the UK festival there because we love it.’ PLAY VENUES THAT season this year. We’re Shjipstone reflects, ‘that’s ARE RESTRICTED more confident as a band what I want to tell anyone now and that’s what we’re who has an interest in TO OVER-18’S ONLY, intending to show to the getting into music – do it THE APPEAL OF To read full you can buy audiences thatthe come andversion of this magazine because you loveprint it!’. DEER SHED IS THAT see us at festivals’, he direct to you from our Bandcamp Returning fans of Deer copies delivered or support THIS ISN’T THE continues, ‘the thing is Shed and complete us via Patreon for even more exclusive goodies! CASE..." with tour shows is that newcomers alike are in the people there already for a treat from Yard Act have some interest in you, at this year’s festival. A Just click on the links below: whereas at a festival it is musical celebration of completely open – there’s With Deer Shed having what everyone has got BANDCAMP PATREON going to be a large number such a wide appeal, Yard themselves through in of people who are going Act find themselves in a the past couple of years, to come and see us who position where they are mixed with a few surprises won’t know who we are destined to appeal to a – you don’t want to miss it. and we want to win them new audience – something over.’ that Sam is quite excited The debut album "The about. ‘It’s going to be Overload" is out now on Deer Shed finds itself big for us, as a band we all formats/ The band will renowned for being a often play venues that be touring extensively in family-run, independent are restricted to over-18’s the UK, Europe and USA festival made with families only, the appeal of Deer throughout the rest of the in mind. A relaxed, Shed is that this isn’t the year. calming atmosphere with case’, Sam explains, ‘music something to do for all the being accessible for family, Deer Shed brings everyone is something we some of the finest names should all strive for, and in music, science, comedy, we can’t wait to introduce cinema and so much more a new audience to Yard Act together into one space. – hopefully they will want Joking about playing to see us again further such a family-friendly down the line’. With a new, festival, Shjipstone laughs, potentially impressionable ‘maybe we should do a audience set to see Yard set without the swearing. Act’s performance at Deer Words by Katie Macbeth
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LOOSE ARTICLES MISOGYNY IN FOOTBALL...
Specialising in discord, repetition, tails of boozy nights out and radical politics Loose Articles are a Punk quartet hailing from Manchester. Self-described as ‘Feminine & Threatening, Their music speaks to all those determined to get through the age of austerity with tongue in cheek, pint in hand and two feet firmly on the dancefloor. Their new single ‘Kick Like A Girl' takes its title from the misogynistic slur often used towards male players who're not performing as well as they perhaps should be. “It suggests that women can’t play football,”
explain the band, “but we’re reclaiming that slur and throwing it back in people’s faces. We want to take these stereotypes in football and turn them on their head.” Commenting on the single, vocalist Natalie Wardle says: “‘Kick Like A Girl’ tackles the narrow mindset of some men towards women and football, as well as a sprinkle of footballing references ranging from Duncan Ferguson to Beckham's Mohican. With our music, we like to raise awareness on issues like misogynistic slurs and attitudes towards women in sports. With this said we still make the tunes fun and comical to grab the 18
attention of people first, before they then realise the tune is making more of a statement on a deeper subject.” The band's drummer Louise Rivett has been playing football since the age of 10 and held a season ticket for all of David Moyes’s managerial career at Everton. A fantastic decade for the blues. "Back when I was in school I played in all the sports teams but there was never an option to play football. Not even in PE—the lads had the luxury of getting to play that in lesson time. I loved going to watch Everton
and think I gained a great understanding and passion for the sport from a young age. I was so lucky to go and watch a premiership club every other week. I thought it was really unfair the lads got to play it in PE lessons and we got stuck with netball and hockey. I was desperate to try out all the new skills I had watched over the weekend. Instead, I joined a team about 30mins drive away as there weren’t many local girl’s teams to join. Once again I was so lucky, my parents drove me to practice in the week and Sunday matches—it meant I could play the game I loved so much." "Football definitely wasn’t as popular then for girls because it simply wasn’t made available to us and schools just didn’t give
girls an option to play it. This was only 15 years ago. When I speak to people now who have kids and hear how heavily girl’s football is being pushed and made available from such a young age, I think it’s absolutely fantastic. Shame it wasn’t sooner, but great changes have been made and hopefully, it will help kick out all these stereotypes of women and football as it will become the norm instead of a little bit alien to people. If someone saw me kicking a ball about they would comment they were shocked how good I was, then most of the time followed with a '…for a girl' as well! They didn’t even mean to be patronising, it was just not what they were used to." "I’m so excited to see how the younger generation will
Words by Loose Articles
change football in the next 10-20 years, it’s so exciting. The quality is already going up. It’s also starting to become more of a realistic full-time career like the men's game has been for so long! Who knows, maybe the leagues will merge one day! How interesting would that be?" The band’s new single 'Kick Like A Girl' arrives just in time to slot into the soundtrack accompanying the fever-pitch excitement of the UEFA Women’s Euros 2022 this July. The track is the latest to be taken from their forthcoming second EP, titled Chaos and set for release on 16th September. 2022 on Alcopop! Records. Photograph by Andrew Benge
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ART WALL
SNIFFANY & THE NITS SISTER SNIFFANY'S CHAMBER POT I am Sister Sniffany of the band Sniffany & The Nits. We are made up of 4 BFFs, one hysterical or unhinged or strange lady with three calm and supportive Welsh dragons who are fantastic at making evil music. I'm more of the artsy-fartsy type who takes the creative reigns to screech and be an attention seeker. The Nits make a rumbling, cycling, inane backdrop while the girl sings about living hell. I've been an illustrator and cartoonist since I was 16 and it has always been my primary art form as I got into music pretty late. My drawings all 20
have a similar theme to my music,
narrative-based and often involve a large amount of anxiety. One of my favourite things about being in the band is that I love making stuff for my friends' bands and now I can do WHATEVER I WANT for my own thing, no matter how offputting or alienating. I've had a couple of things published,
my favourite thing being The Will-O'-The-Wisp which was put out by Breakdown Press, wherein a girl finds herself tied up in a field and suspects that whoever tied her up there must see her as an extra special thing to keep a hold of, so she decides to find her love who must be
heartbreak and romance, So Girly! Find my work at JMKEWORLD.COM, and please enjoy our new album THE UNSCRATCHABLE ITCH, released by Prah Records.
waiting at the other end. Oh yeah, most of my stories and drawings involve
Main photograph by Maria Cecilia
Words & images provided by Sister Sniffany
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KATY J PEARSON 26-year-old Katy Pearson is a West Country singer-songwriter who is still riding the success of her first album neo-folk and infused indie-pop ‘Return’. She is also someone who sounds very chilled out in her sunny garden in Bristol, where she confesses she prefers to take all her calls. We catch up on all things wellness, authenticity and ‘Songs of the Morning’ sophomore scares. 22
26-year-old Katy Pearson is a West Country singersongwriter who is still riding the success of her first album neo-folk and infused indie-pop ‘Return’. She is also someone who sounds very chilled out in her sunny garden in Bristol, where she confesses she prefers to take all her calls. We catch up on all things wellness, authenticity and ‘Songs of the Morning’ sophomore scares.
overall…I think there’s a painful joy” she tells me while talking openly about the upcoming album. She navigates the turmoil-filled waters of everyday life with an equal balance of soaring optimism and anchoring melancholia. It makes for a curious, new and tender mix of emotions that level each other out to result in a must-have for every modern-day stoic music listeners collection.
surreal introspection about navigating success against a small-town background. The accompanying video provides Stevie Nick’s twinged main character energy while providing a quirky understanding into the visual world of Katy J Pearson.
Our conversation continues towards moving from the countryside to city life. She has flirted with the idea of London in the past but the passion for Bristol is Pearson is also a great hardwired as her exclaims example of the discovery "I DON’T THINK I of “Lush!” ring through. of true self-expression COULD EVER TRY She reels off The Ill Repute, through creativity when Louisiana Hillgrove To the full version of this magazine you canand buy printas there wasn’t much else to TOread BE SOMETHING her favourite local haunts. do in the world at large. THAT delivered I’M NOT…I’M copies direct youlo-fi from our Bandcamp or support The conversation continues As ato result, aesthetics A LOT MORE away goodies! from preferred living and nostalgic comfortsexclusive us via Patreon for even more spaces towards inspiration have been championed COMPOSED ON as she tells me about her across releases. These STAGE THAN I AM IN passion for exploring the are things Katy plays with Just click on the links below: UK and further afield. “I REAL LIFE." and embraces, “I don’t love Pembrokeshire, so I’d think I could ever try to be BANDCAMP something that I’m not…I’m lovePATREON to go back to St Davids. I really want to explore a lot more composed on Pearson is someone Dungeness in Kent too. I’m stage than I am in real life. whose realness beams going to Crete for a week When I perform, I wouldn’t out from the stories that with my friends after a few say I’m a comedic genius she tells in her music. big festival weeks. I’d love or I have loads to say, all And why wouldn't she to go live in Athens for a bit I have to say is to play the be, she’s experienced songs that I’ve written. I just if I could. But it all depends all the roughness of an if I have the time.” get on the stage wearing a early music industry prairie dress and play the experience gone sour and We move onwards to songs.” She sounds totally managed a resilient come upbeat and at ease with this discussing the writing of back during lockdown realisation and we continue ‘Songs of the Morning’ as a critically-acclaimed which commenced after to talk about the value in breakthrough star. As a six-month break from just doing what you want a result, there’s often to do and not serving other the pen. Pearson assures something familiar about me “all came together people once in a while. “I her songs and you can think for ages you think you quite quickly” starting never quite be sure if it’s need to be a certain way on in March last year. She the nostalgia, timelessness stage I but I think just being continues to tell me about or authenticity. her preference for writing myself has connected way in spring as a season as we One of the factors that adds better.” relate about the perks of an immediate relatable giving winter and summer a ‘Talk Over Town’ was the quality to Pearson’s music miss for the most part. first single released from is the value she places on the new album and doesn’t the balancing of different There is a definite dance around the duality emotions. “It’s kind of inspiration and love of of Katy’s music. There’s a a bittersweet emotion 23
she explains how working penned by Paul Giovanni more collaboratively has and the Magnet Collective helped her work through which Katy tells me was new more structural shown to her by her dad tracks and grow further and is a personal jamming confidence. This is favourite of her and her something that she is brother. She wanted to include it on the album so it cautious about undermining her experience as a female went on the album, simple artist. But with this record, as. she assures me everyone There’s a natural difficulty from Orlando Weeks to in releasing a second Morgan Simpson from Black album, especially after Midi and the producers such a successful debut. Katy sets it straight “I think Ali Chant and Dan Carey every record is bloody scary have been “great spots and lovely guys.” to be honest…When you start something you want The album gently unfolds When asked what’s next she to keep creating the best even more layers to tells me “Well, I just found work that you can create. Pearson’s artistry allowing I’m buy doingprint Jools To read the and full version of this magazine youthat can Every record is like a puzzle. out for a more personal Holland which is madness!” Sometimes you’re in the eclectic mix of influences copies delivered direct to of you from our Bandcamp or support She is also taking a little middle tracking four refreshing break from songs and you’re missing us via Patreon for even more exclusive goodies! "YOU COULDN’T songwriting until she's fully three things and have no REALLY DO ready to start again and idea where they are going says “I just don’t have any come from. It’s a real ANYTHING WITHJusttoclick on the links below: challenge getting everything free time at the moment.” YOUR DAY SO TO It’s clearly been busy and together. Making a body of BANDCAMP PATREON HAVE ACHIEVED exciting for her and I think work that feels cohesive there’s a lot more to come. and consistent is not an GETTING IN THE Katy J Pearson is definitely easy thing to do and to FREEZING COLD not the new face of country make an album that feels WATER AT LEAST WE music, she is in fact so authentic you can’t rush much more than that. it. But, creating something HAD SOMETHING that comes from inside WE’D DONE..." ‘Sound of the Morning’ you is never going to be is out in early July on an easy road. This record Heavenly Recordings with was easier than I expected and stories to shine a UK tour penned for later but just because it was through. From Arcade Fire in September as well as to Crosby, Stills and Nash to easier doesn’t mean it was a full summer of festivals less hard. There’s a lot of “lots and lots of Freedom including Deer Shed self-doubt. You’ve got to by Amen Dunes”. The sonic Festival on 29th July. power through because you palette is deeper than can tweak one thing and before and it shows in her change everything.” There personal favourites like have definitely been some show ‘Float’ an Americana positive learnings for Katy indie-pop beauty to ‘Alligator’ which juxtaposes as she elaborates to tell me about understanding which with jangly anxieties all the songs don’t fit, how to take way to ‘Confessions’ which vents anger and frustration risks and becoming more chilled out with age. at patriarchal elements of the music industry. There’s also a rogue cover from the When asked about the production process, 1973 classic Wickerman’s generally across the record soundtrack originally nature in her music. Wild swimming was an important grounding process for the writing of the album during a world in flux as Katy candidly tells me “It really made me feel a bit more sane. You couldn’t really do anything with your day so to have achieved getting in the freezing cold water at least we had something we’d done and didn’t have to beat ourselves up for feeling like we hadn’t achieved loads.”
Words by Callum Ritchie
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Photography by H Hawkline
AWAY FROM THE NOISE
NIA WYN A PASSION FOR WOMEN'S FOOTBALL... I’m Nia Wyn, and I'm a soul singer from North Wales. Currently living in London, I write and perform neosoul music and I enjoy story-telling in my songs.
atmosphere was electric, with over 68,781 people in attendance and a peak TV audience of 3.7m. Whilst England secured the win, this game demonstrated how competitive the Euros will be - another sure sign investment and Outside of music, football an increased profile is has been a lifelong passion. progressing the women’s A loyal follower of Man game. United Women, it's no surprise I found myself I've loved football from at Old Trafford for the a young age. I remember Euro's opening game going to a Llandudno (England Vs Austria) on 6 community centre and July. Sadly, Wales narrowly being the only girl amongst missed out on qualifying a bunch of boys who were for the competition so I'm taught they owned the supporting the Lionesses game by default. There on the first home Euros was a woman coach and the opening game at the sessions I found didn't disappoint. The particularly inspiring 25
Cheryl Foster. She is now an international referee, having previously played for Liverpool Ladies and Wales’ national team. Struggling to make proper friendships in school, I
took a lot of solace in not just music, but kicking the ball about in the back garden, and playing in girls’ teams across North Wales every Sunday. I am also a football video game enthusiast, so to have my song Who Asked You on FIFA 21 was a dream come true. It feels incredibly emotional and inspiring to see the profile of women's football, at home and internationally, rise exponentially, finally getting the recognition it deserves. Girls growing up now can see role models showing that football is a career and a passion they can follow. For the above successes, we have to show gratitude to the
trailblazers of women’s football around the world that came before - those who grafted to pursue their love for the game, often working multiple jobs and coming up against discrimination and disregard. If anyone questions whether anyone cares
Words and images provided by Nia Wyn
about women's football following the 68,781 at Old Trafford, I'd suggest they ask the 91,648 who turned out at Camp Nou for Barca Femeni in the Champion’s League. Nia Wyn's EP "Magical Thinking" is out now on all streaming platforms.
Main photograph by Christopher Hargreaves
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LP The artist who finessed the art of songwriting to explore the depths of self-expression.
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As soon as LP appears areas of the industry they out of the need for LP on my Zoom window, never thought they'd get to organise the jumbled they exude an aura of the chance to explore. thoughts that result from understated cool. The the human experience of conversation kicks off with being in a relationship. a discussion of festivals "It's just a way of me to "I THINK WE ALL HAVE and, of course, a mutual kind of like figure out A CHURCH INSIDE OF mini-bonding moment what I'm feeling, what US, YOU KNOW, AND over the global fact that I'm thinking, and that's THE THINGS THAT this is the first summer not always easy for me," WE HOLD SACRED with proper music festivals explains LP. after three years. They AND THINGS THAT casually mention they just The artist organised their WE BELIEVE ARE came back from a festival thoughts in San José del IMPORTANT." during which they played Cabo, Mexico, where they right before Sting - which wrote most of the album. immediately highlights The final track list consists how esteemed LP has "I just figured I'd have of songs written before gotten over the past like a little indie career, and after the pandemic couple of years. you know, and I'd write which happened to be a To read the full version of this magazine you can buy print songs for other people creatively fruitful period The Long Island native direct andto maybe a little bitBandcamp for LP. "I feltor like, you copies delivered youtour from our support started their career as here," they say. "Having a know, the pandemic was usfor viabigPatreon for even exclusive a songwriter pop world hit like more that really a verygoodies! inspiring time to acts such as Rihanna changed my life, you know. write. I mean, inspiring and Christina Aguilera. It was like the pinprick into usually has more of a Justthe click on of the links below: However, LP explains that bubble reaching positive connotation. But this was a chance career many more people." Two what's more interesting born out ofBANDCAMP necessity. years after being a big hit than going through a PATREON "I got signed as an artist in Europe, "Lost On You" global experience with first. And then I just wrote made its way to South people?" so many songs for myself, America, leading to the as an artist, that after my strong fan base LP has And why "Churches"? second major label deal there. Thanks to "Lost On LP explains that it was got lost, I got a publishing You" and LP's work ethic simply a way to reclaim deal and started writing leading up to that hit a word that has so many songs for other people." single, they're now on tour connotations for different eight or ten months out of people. "Organised LP views songs as twelve. religion, you know, not the "currency of the to sound like...I know, it's profession." There is Their latest album, solace and great for a lot undoubtedly an inherent "Churches," released of people too, but it's, you connection when writing late last year, shows a know, it's very smothering songs for yourself, they true artist with an innate and controlling." For LP, explain, but there is hunger for self-expression giving a different meaning also "another level of through music. Described to a heavy-loaded word satisfaction" when these by The Independent as was important. "I think we end up with other people. "confidently genre-fluid," all have a church inside One song, however, the album shows an of us, you know, and the resonated over the rest on artist who can play with things that we hold sacred radios all across the world. different genres while still and things that we believe The 2015 single "Lost On putting their signature are important." You" catapulted LP into mark on them. public consciousness, LP's congregation while enabling LP to access "Churches" was borne writing this album was 29
composed of esteemed However, the couple know, get my point across creatives, such as Mike simply serves as a muse quicker, like, penetrate Del Rio - who worked with for LP, who uses their someone's heart as Kylie Minogue, Selena relationship as a vehicle quickly as possible. So, Gomez and Eminem to express the concept that's what I'm trying and Dan Nigro - who of saying "yes" to things. to do, and also, just to recently exploded into "I just thought it was like, mine my own interior for public consciousness you know, an extra little commonalities [between] after co-writing Olivia anecdote into the thing myself and other people, Rodrigo's "Sour." "It's of, like, you know, saying as comfort to myself and nice to have a bunch of yes to things, saying yes other people." different people," they to new things, because say. "I worked with some sometimes we stick The album "Churches" is new people that I hadn't around with something a out now on all formats and worked with yet. And I little too long." streaming services. LP will worked with, like, you also be touring in Europe know, people that I have With five albums and extensively until October. had a lot of success with, hundreds of tracks under so it was nice, you know, their belt, I was curious to mix up a bit." to ask:of does each new To itread the full version this magazine you can buy print piece of music still bring Speaking successful direct LP joy? They paused to Bandcamp or support copiesofdelivered to you from our musicians, one of the think for a second, before us was via inspired Patreongiving for even exclusive goodies! tracks, "Yes," a reply:more "I'm just by none other than John always trying to become Lennon and Yoko Ono. a better songwriter, you Words by Janelle Borg
Just click on the links below:
BANDCAMP
Photography by Andrew Benge
PATREON
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5 QUESTIONS
AS WE LEAVE WHO ARE YOU? We are ‘As We Leave’: Caine Entwistle, Kyle Abram, Tom Gardner & Kit Joliffe. WHAT DO YOU DO? We write, record and produce all our own music! We have also branched out into video making, painting and journalism. WHY DO YOU DO IT? We make music because we are creative souls and we are compelled to! It’s part artistic ambition, part selfhelp therapy. Being creative is part of our DNA, what brought us all together. In a world where ambition is tied up with contacts, money and hypocrisy, music is always universal, a language Words by As We Leave
all humanity can speak and understand. Make music for yourself, make it for others... just don’t make it to be famous!!… make it because you have to! WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW? We have just released the second single ‘Wood for the Trees’ off the new EP, the 2nd with Abbey Records. We are currently excited about writing new material that’s a bit different to what we’ve done before. Caine is always painting and Kyle has just put together a little magazine with his brother-in-law. WHAT'S THE HOT TOPIC? The hottest topic for all of us collectively has to be Andy Shauf (Kit went to watch him 31
recently in London - great gig, nice guy) and the Beatles documentary ‘Get Back’. All of us love the Beatles, I mean it’s the wellspring of life for any songwriter and to see that footage, their processes (especially at that point in time) was utterly compelling, inspiring and vindicates all our own hard work. We have our new EP ‘Stop Making Plans’ available on the 24th of June as a limited edition cassette tape and download but all our releases are available to buy on Bandcamp and there’s a 10” vinyl of our first EP ‘Everything to a Point’ available as well. Photography by Tom Flower
SYLVAN ESSO ‘That’s how I feel when I listen to the record - the world is creeping outside and you try to make space for yourself, try to plant the garden again’ - Sylvan Esso on Sylvan Esso’s new music. 32
Last week I was nervously waiting on a Zoom call, checking multiple times that I got the right time zone for the meeting. It’s not everyday that you get to interview a band that has become a household staple, soundtracking countless breakfasts over the past few years. Sylvan Esso captured my attention from the very beginning - ‘Coffee’ showed up in my Discover Weekly the year I moved to England and I guess I never stopped listening.
Amelia’s family house in Massachusetts - she tells me she’s quite happy to be doing the interview, delaying the inevitability of going downstairs and dealing with typical family-gathering chaos. A truly universal human experience.
things. We were supposed to do sessions with a bunch of people, do interviews and go to the Grammys. Then everything got cancelled, no one wanted to hang out’, Nick adds. They’re so casual about the Grammys, literally a passing comment - I can feel the level of my Sylvan Esso fandom skyrocketing.
"HEARING THE AIR CONDITIONER KICKING ON (IN A We chat more about RECORD) PUTS A PIN the creative process of ‘No Rules Sandy’ - you IN THE EMOTIONAL can sense the memory CHRONOLOGY OF To read the you buy print it iscan still so fresh in Amelia and Nick, thefull version of this magazine of YOUR LIFE, ALMOST their minds. They tell me two halves of Sylvan copies delivered direct to you from our Bandcamp or support LIKE A DIARY about Amelia’s morning Esso, turned out to be runs around Silver Lake exactly how usI imagined via Patreon for even more exclusive goodies! ENTRY."
Reservoir, how every them; relaxed, funny and morning they’d sit down extremely intelligent. For and try to write something asking a couple of days before JustI start clickbyon the them links below: new, something cool. ‘It about where they were the interview I had been justPATREON kept happening’, they when they wrote the listening non-stop to their BANDCAMP album. ‘The record was said. new album ‘No Rules Sandy’ - what I found most made in the most special I finally got a bit of of circumstances - we interesting about it was insight on those tracks the number of really short made it faster than we’ve I mentioned at the ever done - on the first tracks, between ten and beginning too (you of January this year we thirty seconds, capturing remember the yodelling, loaded a mini-studio into all sorts of things. You right?). Nick talks about the back of our Prius and can hear a kid screaming, drove from North Carolina how this record wasn’t the crackling sound of made in a soundproof to Los Angeles, where we floorboards followed by space, and that’s why you Amelia yodelling, a woman rented a house in Silver can hear construction Lake. We wrote all of the asking if people who are sites, birds, kids and songs on the record in astrologically compatible three weeks’, Amelia says. all sorts of other things can actually succeed in a buried in the production. relationship (probably?!). I ‘I love records that feel just had so many questions It takes me a second to like that - where you realise how amazing that - so I asked them. hear the space they must have felt - a whole were made in. Not that record, a new chapter of When they dial in the call that’s anything wrong your musical career, all in I immediately notice how three weeks. The musician with vacuum-packed pop bright the room they’re music, but we wanted to in me is half in awe and in is - sometimes I forget bring the pop idea to this half jealous. not everyone lives in way more ‘trashy’ place… West Yorkshire. It’s early hearing the air conditioner morning for them, around ‘We originally went there kicking on puts a pin in to do all sorts of other ten. They’re staying at 33
the emotional chronology of your life, almost like a diary entry.’ I love that. Amelia nods in agreement, sitting next to him.
with someone on the other side.’
"I MISS THE CHAIR THAT I WAS SITTING ON. IT WAS A REALLY WEIRD CHAIR, A COW-PRINT CHAISE LONGUE ACTUALLY"
Amelia. He tells me how at one point he moved the mics so that she could record from the chair. ‘I was lying down like a tiny queen the whole time’ she echoes.
He also remembers the Before the interview, I got moment when the album a bit of information on started taking shape: the record from Amelia ‘The first two songs we and Nick’s team - it said made were ‘Sunburn’ and this album was going to ‘Moving’. With both of be ‘wilder and stranger those, we sat down, trying As I’m sitting in my and more cathartic’ than to make something and it room typing this article, their first three releases. was just bad. The beat was dangerously close to my The concept of catharsis just ridiculous… and then editor's deadline, I listen is one I am overly familiar that magical thing started with - as a teenager, I used to ‘No Rules Sandy’ one To read full version of this magazine you can buy print happening, we made one more time. It’s true what to study Greekthe theatre, they’re saying - this record decision and the whole where play writers talk copies delivered direct to you from our Bandcamp or support thing started being really feels like a collection about it endlessly. In good.goodies! Feeling that sense offor amber crystals, theexclusive a postmodern era,Patreon I us via even more of light-switch creativity ones that you see at the wondered what catharsis together felt so validating may mean or feel like for a museum as a kid, with and surprising - I just trapped inside. It’sbelow: band like Sylvan Esso. Justflies click on the links hadn't had a moment like not trying to do anything that in so long.’ else other than capturing ‘Right nowBANDCAMP there’s a PATREON massive sense of catharsis a moment - a beautiful, Three weeks, a Prius, the chaotic, a quiet one - it when the record still isn’t doesn’t matter, as long as ultimate creative spark out, but we only get to and a cow-printed chaise it’s transparent. keep it for the next few longue - if you are Sylvan weeks. Then, other people Esso that’s all you need We’re at the end of the will get to decide what to create a remarkable interview - Amelia’s dad it means. In the moment fourth studio album. walks into the room (of making it) it feels and she gently tells him cathartic’, said Amelia. ‘No Rules Sandy’ is out on they’re gonna be down in August 12th via Loma Vista a minute. I’ve only got one ‘It was such a cathartic and I highly recommend question left - of those time’, adds Nick, ‘the it for all your breakfast three weeks, are there any record revolves around soundtracking needs. moments that stuck with the last couple of years, you? trying to re-evaluate and find what’s next. I still A - ‘Not really…I miss the feel the way I felt when chair that I was sitting on. we made it and I think It was a really weird chair, if you do that right, that a chaise longue actually. translates to the person Every time I hear that that is listening and Wet Leg song it makes me they can feel like that laugh now. It was a fake too - there’s less lost in cow-print chaise longue.’ translation. We’re just trying to say how we feel Nick is giggling next to and hope it can resonate Words by Matilde Mirotti
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Photography by Bobby Strickland
THE KIT LIST
REGRESSIVE LEFT INTRODUCTION Regressive Left are a three piece dance-punk outfit from Luton, featuring Simon Tyrie (vocals and electronics), Will Crosby (guitar) and Georgia Hardy (drums). With influences ranging from the cyclical rhythms of EBM to the freedom and expression of the London Jazz scene, the band have been compared to everything from Post Punk heavyweights Talking Heads and Devo to modern art-rockers Squid and dance outfit Scalping. Formed during lockdown, the band burst onto the live scene in 2021 which saw them tour the UK with New Yorker’s Bodega,
make appearances at a string of UK and EU festivals and sell out their debut headline show. The group released their debut EP ‘On The Wrong Side of History’ on 15th July via Bad Vibrations Records, recorded and produced by Ross Orton (Working Men’s Club, Amyl and The Sniffers).
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ELEKTRON DIGITAKT Nearly everything we’ve written started out on the Digitakt, so in that sense it’s been the main sketchbook for all our ideas. I actually bought it to play the role of ‘bassist’ in the band but that was before I really knew anything about making electronic music and so it wasn’t really the most logical purchase in that respect. I didn’t even know the difference between types of synthesis like subtractive vs FM or really what a sampler did. But it was the most money I’d ever spent on gear at the time and so I invested a lot of time into learning it – I put my laptop
away and just focused solely on making music with hardware. It’s such a unique piece of equipment and even now I’m still finding new ways to use it. You can do crazy things with the LFOs like assigning them to the sample slot, which can make really unique percussive sequences.
GRETSCH ELECTROMATIC G5122DC Will has only ever played Gretsch guitars and his black Gretsch is kind of infamous at this point. I think he basically modelled his entire rig, if not his playing, on George Harrison, so he’s always played a Gretsch into a Vox AC30 (though he insists on playing through two at a time, in stereo).
He uses really thick strings but sets his action super low for shredding, which is very unusual on a hollow body, and he’s always played a lot behind the bridge and with the Bigsby, though he mostly uses a Boss PS-5 pedal for more extreme pitch bends now. SYNCUSSION SY-1M So this isn’t technically ours, but it definitely deserves a mention because our producer Ross Orton went to town on it for the EP. I think he built his from a kit. It’s all over ‘The Wrong Side of History’ and, if you’ve got a keen ear, you might notice that there’s a Working Men’s Club track called ‘Widow’ which has the same tuned squelchy sounds – those are the Syncussion. Apparently Behringer are making a clone. ARP ODYSSEY This is another one that belongs to Ross. He actually has an old ’70s ARP Solus and a newer Odyssey, but it’s easy to just say Odyssey because the circuitry is
so similar and they sound nearly identical. It’s just an amazing synth, especially for bass lines. It has a super rubbery quality that I think is difficult to get out of other famous analogue mono synths like the MS20, which can be a bit buzzy, or a Moog, which has a much creamier filter. I actually use a Moog Minitaur for bass when we play live – the low end on it is amazing but I’ve never been able to get it sounding as good as the Odyssey.
The debut EP, "On The Wrong Side Of History” is out on Bad Vibrations on July 15th.
Words by Regressive Left
Photography by Luis Kramer
Portrait & Press Photography @andrewbenge andrewbenge.com
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DIGGING DEEPER
A.O. GERBER TRUSTING YOURSELF SO YOU CAN TRUST OTHERS... As a kid, I never played music with others out of insecurity. So, when I was 14 and my singing teacher offered to arrange my songs and put together an album, I nervously said yes. Hearing the final product was a moment I’ll never forget. He’d turned my folk songs into cringey pop— bursting with drum fills and searing guitar solos. I hated every second and I couldn’t articulate why. That experience solidified in teenage me that collaboration was dangerous. It was the only
time I’d let anyone touch something I’d made, and it had gone wrong. It seemed easier to work alone even though I didn’t know the first thing about recording or arranging. Then, in college, a friend asked if he and a project partner could produce a song of mine for an assignment. It seemed low-stakes enough, so I agreed despite myself. On the floor of my friend’s apartment, I plucked away at a song as they noodled quietly on their instruments. My eyes grew wide with recognition— the power of creating 37
something new that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Over the course of the next year, those friends helped transform my songs into landscapes I couldn’t have envisioned on my own, and taught me what’s possible when you trust the right people. But once our project ended, I felt frustrated by my dependency on them. I wanted to show myself I could do it on my own if I had to. So, I recorded, produced and mixed an EP alone in my bedroom with very little
knowledge about how to do any of that. The process of muddling through it— reaching for sounds I didn’t know how to create—was painstaking. None of the songs ever sounded how I envisioned them. I released the EP but eventually took it off the internet.
"THAT EXPERIENCE SOLIDIFIED IN TEENAGE ME THAT COLLABORATION WAS DANGEROUS." By the time I moved to LA, fresh off recording those songs, I knew I didn’t want to suffer alone anymore
just to prove to myself I could. But I knew the only way collaboration worked was if I found the right people—people I felt safe with. I wanted the music to always feel like playing on the floor of that apartment. Time has shown me I’ll always find myself there if I pay attention. Music is joyful, and there should be joy in the room when you’re making it.
how other people transform them. A.O. Gerber’s sophomore album ‘Meet Me at the Gloaming’ comes out October 14 on Father/ Daughter Records and Hand in Hive.
Though I don’t love those first recordings I made, I realize now that I had to make them. I needed to give myself the experience of trusting myself, after years of only trusting others—to learn how to hear the sounds in my own head so I could appreciate
Words by A.O. Gerber
Photograph by Nina Raj
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ART WALL
JEMIMA COULTER FOUR PAINTINGS
My name's Jemima Coulter, I’m a songwriter, producer and sometimes carpenter. Growing up, creating music came second to making things out of wood and drawing, for me, these things feel like the most immediate and dangerous forms of ideas, they are a lot more tangible than music which can feel daunting. With physical objects, the product of your imagination is very much in front of you and immovable, even rubbing out a line isn’t quite as finite as deleting a part on a track. Making things outside of music centres me in my intuition, for example, painting is very low pressure, it allows a space where I can express in limited dimensions
with a limited palette. For me, it feels analogous to producing a song. Working with colour and arrangement is like working with time,
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space, timbre and pitch but with less to worry about. Designing and making things feels like a totally separate skill-set in lots of ways, it requires more structure, planning and accuracy in a way that doesn’t really occur in anything else that I do. But I think pickiness/ precision is still relevant in music making - the brain that trains in on a hit that’s slightly too late is the same one that makes sure my fingers don’t get chopped off. The interesting thing about carpentry is that foresight is incredibly important, problems are always going to occur, but building escape routes into the process can allow for you to easily amend anything you’ve fucked up without it
being too sacrificial in time or materials, this basically involves not committing to any serious details until you’ve 100% worked out all of the structure and joining of everything. I don’t know if I’ve managed to transfer this thinking into music making yet lol.
when it is the same. This I found really rang true to what I’d experienced in looking at paintings and trying to paint myself - there always seemed to be a disconnect between the colour you were seeing in the thing you were painting and the way it sat on the page. I also think it is to do with colour layering which is a more serious colour theory that I haven’t read about and will maybe get to later in my life when I am painting my way into old age. Anyway, this theory led me to a) start playing around with paintings where the entire point is to play with how colours sit next to each other while creating something vaguely visually harmonious and b) think about frequency as analogous to colour in music.
These four paintings I wanted to share because I mostly paint in order to experience colour and these get to the heart of that, and also because most of them aren't really of anything and so pictures that I wouldn’t deem very good or special - they are just mindless paintings. But I chose them because I felt that one of the key links between any visual art that I do and music, especially painting, is to do with colour and role of colour in art and what I feel like is ‘colour’ in music.
When I’m creating a song, I try and think about frequency space, where instruments sit in the song in terms of I read ‘Interaction of Colour’ pitch but also length and by Josef Albers a few years repeats of the part. The idea ago, which is about colour is that when you close your theory - primarily that colour eyes, you can hear things in is relative and exists as we see 3 dimensions sitting in front it only in the context of the of you and things pop up like colours around it. There are little spots of lighter colour lots of illusions in the book and underneath there’s a bed where a certain colour placed of swirling darker colour that next to two other colours gradually changes through the looks like two different shades song with the overall image Words by Jemima Coulter
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becoming clearer as time passes. There are flashes of moments moving from left to right and slow progressions in the space. Kind of like you’re inside a painting or a room and the whole thing is unfolding in front of you. I guess thinking about the mixing of the song with an almost architectural quality as well as balancing the music itself. I like to keep a lot of imperfections in my songs because they create moments that only occur once in a track and with the belief that, amongst anything else, I’m trying to create something like a room, the details and imperfections make it a more curious and less predictable space with more movement. It’s the same with adding tiny little specks on a painting or I think one of these has black ends of a match stuck into a yellow blob - it takes it from being a painting that’s up in hypothetical colour space to being one that is grounded.
Jemima will be touring the UK supporting Wyldest, September to October.
Photograph by Christina Russell
INDUSTRY EXPERTS
SAM AIREY / HANGLANDS WHO ARE YOU? Hi! I’m Sam - I work at Hanglands in Leeds; a creative communications agency specialising in music PR, events, social media and marketing. I’m also a songwriter and musician, DJ, and terrible pun enthusiast. I moved to Leeds many moons ago from Ynys Môn (the isle of Anglesey) in North Wales. It’s a beautiful part of the world and since living in the land-locked county of West Yorkshire I definitely miss being by the sea, but Leeds is ace - I really fell in love with the sense of community in the local music scene and that was a big part of deciding to stay put here. Oh, I also like otters, writing
sad songs and eating pasta. WHAT ARE YOUR JOB TITLES? At Hanglands, my loose title is Creative Lead. There’s 3 of us here now; Harry, myself and Jasmine. As a client-facing agency, our work tends to vary a lot from day to day, which tends to keep things pretty interesting! I’ve worked a bunch of other industry roles over the years too across labels, promoting and repping, artist management, and some other bits. WHAT DOES THAT ENTAIL? At Hanglands our clients include UK music festivals such as Deer Shed Festival and Long Division, an evergrowing music roster that includes brilliant artists like 41
Low Hummer, Elanor Moss, Far Caspian, Jake Whiskin and more. We’ve been lucky enough to work with some brilliant labels too, both locally in Dance To The Radio and Come Play With Me Co, but also further afield including Secretly Canadian, Dead Oceans, and more. On the music side, PR is a big part of what we do here. We’re mostly office based but we get out and about a fair bit too - we’re all looking forward to being at Deer Shed Festival this summer, where we’ll be on hand to look after press and socials for the duration. HOW DID YOU GET INTO IT? When I started out as an artist I began to release my music via Hide and Seek Records, a
DIY label/promoter I helped to run with my friend Dan O’Dell. Dan is a great guy who has always been super passionate about platforming and supporting new music. It began as a means to release compilations for festivals and as a way of putting out my early releases, but soon grew into something bigger - we got to release some truly amazing records, and put on some shows I’ll never forget. Alongside all that, I’ve had some great experiences as an artist, getting to play shows and festivals in the UK and Europe and tour with some of my musical heroes. With Hanglands I started freelancing for Harry in 2019, and since then I’ve been able to play a part in growing the business and bringing in new clients. We’re still a very young company which to me is really exciting - it means
there’s real scope to shape the business from the ground up in the exact way we want to, which I think is a really cool thing. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OTHERS? First and foremost, try to be nice! On a local level, speak to as many people working in music as you can - if there are visible pathways available to you that can lead you into the industry roles you’d ideally like, then great. But if not, try starting something of your own you can build yourself. Setting up an independent label is a great way of understanding the mechanics of releasing music. There’s a lot of trial and error involved but it’s really rewarding and means you quickly learn to work in house across lots of aspects of the industry, whether that’s artist management, product
Words by Sam Airey
management, PR, radio, A&R or elsewhere. I think having a ‘portfolio career’ is a good way of describing my route into all this stuff - I’ve always had to have multiple income streams but working multiple jobs isn’t a bad thing; often those different roles can overlap and benefit each other, so try not to worry too much if that’s what you have to do to get by - it just means you have more to offer!
Photography by Tom Martin
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