INTERVIEW
MUSIC
CAMERON SCOTT
Image by Lucy Oldfield
JAKE ANDERSON TALKS TO THE NORTH EAST ARTIST ABOUT HIS CINEMATIC APPROACH TO SONGWRITING AHEAD OF THE RELEASE OF HIS NEW ALBUM Releasing a follow-up record is always a daunting task, however Cameron Scott’s newest album, Spiral Into Nothingness, seems to have overcome the sophomore slump. It’s a stark contrast to the upbeat indie pop of his debut, The Big Sulk, and instead manifests its sonic environment to be one of gloom and despair, with the semantics of the album tackling nostalgia and vulnerability. It’s an album that Cameron best recommends for a “Late night last-drink-on-your-own listening session” vibe. Cameron explained how his approach was different for this record: “I go through phases of being inspired by certain things and then write about them and the inspiration informs the lyrics and the sound. I exhaust this route until I feel I’ve addressed the inspiration and I can’t get anything else out of it. Once I look back over these periods, I see a clear pattern and then it presents itself to me as a concept and only then do I dare say it’s an album. I worry that if I set out to make an album, the pressure will sour the quality.” Cameron sees it as crucial to keep his discography fresh, and as a result Spiral Into Nothingness has a melancholic tone. “It can be daunting to change but once you embrace it, you’re continually improving by swimming in the deep end. I find it very exciting to constantly challenge myself into doing something different. I don’t want to be predictable, so get ready for my third album – Broadway
IT CAN BE DAUNTING TO CHANGE BUT ONCE YOU EMBRACE IT, YOU’RE CONTINUALLY IMPROVING BY SWIMMING IN THE DEEP END
musical with hip-hop elements infused!” But until we get that game-changer of Wicked meets Nas, there’s plenty to enjoy in Cameron’s back catalogue. One of his most interesting releases is the video game soundtrack inspired The Last Laugh EP. “I really wanted to make electronic music – I was obsessed with Thom Yorke, Kraftwerk and Brian Eno in lockdown. I got about three songs in and exhausted the inspiration – hats off to anyone that could make an album’s worth of that stuff because it’s hard!” He cites Radiohead and The Smiths as recent influences, but there has been an emphasis on non-musical influences too. “This record is mainly derived from memories. The approach was usually a session of sitting and thinking or going for a walk around places I’ve been a hundred times, remembering certain times in my life and then becoming inspired to capture that feeling of that specific era.” Cameron mentioned how his Super-8 camera influenced Super-8 Soundtrack, one of the standout pieces from Spiral Into Nothingness; beginning with a gorgeous ambient piano piece it quickly descends into a haunting vocal array. “It’s one of the pieces I recorded a while ago before the record was conceived. I added it to the record because I feel it’s a true capture of the way I felt in the moment. I always seem to write about events in retrospect, but Super-8 Soundtrack was recorded at the time when I felt a completely different way and it overloads me with nostalgia. I added in the ghostly ending because it’s kind of a goodbye to that feeling and that era. If I developed the Super-8 film and made it a music video, perhaps it would make more sense, or just ruin me – it’s an avenue I am debating.” Cameron Scott releases Spiral Into Nothingness on 7th January www.facebook.com/cameronkscott
41
