East End Review

Category: MUSIC

Old Spitalfields to host Independent Label Market

Dolan Bergin / Electric Minds

Has your East London location played a part in the story of your label? Would your label be the same if you were based elsewhere?

Very much so as until very recently I lived in East London for the last 10 years. The label started shortly after a series of warehouse parties I produced in and around Dalston, Shoreditch some years back, so I think it was a reflection of the music that was being played at the time.

How has the independent landscape changed in London since you started the label?

When it comes to the parties / events / festivals so many people have set up their own independent version which I think is something that’s always happened in London. There are so many different scenes that evolve so quickly that it’s part of London’s personality to have many independent parties and labels.

Quinton Scott / Strut

What do you think about the music scene in East London – has this had any impact on the kind of acts you sign?

Strut started life in Shoreditch back in 1999 when it was a particularly influential hub for music – there was a very strong and varied music scene within the clubs and labels based there. The guys at Nuphonic Records were our landlords and their album projects with people like Faze Action and Femi Kuti complemented our early Afro and disco compilations. It was an inspiring time to be there during the heyday of the Blue Note and the 333 too.

What kind of benefits do you see from taking part in the Market?

Loads of benefits – it’s great to talk to customers face to face, it’s a lot of fun and it’s often one of the few times in the year we get to see some of the other labels and have a catch up. We also generally sell a lot each time we’re there. For me, it’s a really good barometer for the label overall. You get to compare your wares with the other stalls and get a good feeling for what you’re doing right and what you could be doing better.

Dom Mentsh / Greco Roman

Has your East London location played a part in the story of your label? Would your label be the same if you were based elsewhere?

We never were meant to be a label just a party, and our first ever one was in Belfast Road in Stoke Newington – so I suppose in that way it the East has played a massive role. The label has been until that last 6 months located between East London and Berlin.

What would you recommend for people wanting to start their own label?

Enjoy the process, it’s much more complicated than you imagine. We have learned so much and continue to do so.

Adrian Hughes / !K7

How has the independent landscape changed in London since you started the label?

Over the last ten to fifteen years the London landscape has changed dramatically. Independent distributors and record shops have closed left right and centre and the internet has been the primary reason behind this as people can get whatever music in whatever format they want at the touch of a button. From a clubbing perspective I think it’s fair to say that there are far less medium size and large branded clubs programming quality line-ups (The Cross, Turnmills, The Key, Cable and many others have all closed). These have been replaced by promoters working in different non-fixed locations – primarily East London warehouses.

What kind of benefits do you see from taking part in the Market?

We get to catch up with friends in the business and get a snapshot of the whole independent sector under one roof. It’s also great to roam around all the stalls and be inspired by the creativity and incredible range of music being represented. There is a real feeling of unity in the air throughout the whole day and plenty of opportunity to swap records!

Leo Belchetz / Fabric & Houndstoouth

Has your East London location played a part in the story of your label? Would your label be the same if you were based elsewhere?

The mixes we release on the fabric label are representative of the music played at the club, so whilst the music comes from a huge range of international artists, it is rooted in what has been going on underneath the streets of Farringdon every weekend for almost 15 years…

What would you recommend for people wanting to start their own label?

Be prepared to work hard and play hard! You have to be an expert at a million things – it’s as much sales spreadsheets and marketing meetings as it is late nights and backstage passes!

Tom King / No Pain in Pop

What do you think about the music scene in East London – has this had any impact on the kind of acts you sign?!

It definitely has – we often book acts for shows before we sign them, or get recommendations/introductions to friends of friends etc. – but I enjoy working more with artists who create their own personal world through their music than with those who fit in stylistically or geographically with other acts. Having said that, nothing beats being able to hit the red wine with someone who lives 10 minutes walk away and you’re working with.

Bullion / Deek

The Independent Label Market at Spitalfields seems to keep growing – what is it about independent labels that makes people so loyal?

I imagine it’s just a bit closer to the ground people actually walk on. People know there’s a slightly stronger chance they’ll get something interesting to hear through an independent.

Saturday, 12 July 2014, 11:00am – 6pm, Free Entrance, Old Spitalfields Market, 16 Horner Square, Spitalfields, E1 6EW

www.independentlabelmarket.com
www.oldspitalfieldsmarket.com/events
www.facebook.com/oldspitalfieldsmarket
@oldspitalfields

July 11, 2014
Sam Lee’s Campfire Club takes live music back to its roots

Sam Lee of the Nest Collective (left, in shorts) stokes the passions of crowds. Photograph: Eleonore de Bonneval

The smell of fresh firewood burning is one of the most nostalgic smells for me. It instantly evokes my childhood, camping and fun. So when I heard that renowned folk music impresarios the Nest Collective, led by the Mercury Prize-nominated musician Sam Lee, had started a Campfire Club, it immediately captured my imagination and I made sure to join them at their next event.

The Campfire Club is hosted by art and botany project Phytology in the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve throughout the summer. According to records, the location was a market and nursery gardens in medieval times, and in 1846 a church with active social functions was erected there before being totally destroyed in the Blitz. “The land was left dormant for 50 years and only just being used as a community space” explains Lee.

The old Second World War bombsite now feels like a little gem hidden away in buzzing London. Lee points out that “as a species we’ve existed every night for thousands and hundred of thousands of years around a fire. It is only now that we don’t do that anymore. I think people see the romance in it and are connected in a way that we don’t get an opportunity to do.”

On entering the nature reserve for the first time, I was invited to take a seat on the log benches of this intimate amphitheatre. Without amplification, the performers began to sing by the fire and their voices sounded timid. The sounds of the city seemed to override theirs: people talking in the street and cars passing with their horns sounding, constantly reminded me I was in East London.

But as the sun set and the night came, I leaned closer to the fire, and listened better. The city seemed to have calmed down and the performers’ voices became more audible. By that point I was captivated by the music, mesmerised by the flickering flames and – just as I was as a child – enchanted by the smell of the wood smoke.

Next Campfire Club with Bridie Jackson and the Arbour and Daniel Green Saturday 12 July at Phytology, Bethnal Green Nature Reserve, Middleton Street, Bethnal Green, E2 9RR

www.thenestcollective.co.uk

July 11, 2014
Living the highlife: Ibibio Sound Machine gear up for Walthamstow Garden Party

Eno Williams of Ibibio Sound Machine

How did the band get together?

We were experimenting with some ideas and found the sound of the Ibibio dialect was very well suited to musical interpretation. We wanted to find a sound that not only looked back to the past of African music and Western styles like funk and disco. We wanted something that captured a bit of ‘now’ too. That’s where the electronic element of the music came in.

To what extent is the group’s album, Ibibio Sound Machine, one that actually reflects London?

I think it’s an album that could only have happened with the diverse combination of influences you find in London – the sound of so many different cultures coming together. Just in our band we have Nigerian, Ghanaian, Brazilian, French, English and Australian backgrounds. London has a unique set of cultural influences these days and it’s that interaction between them that interests me the most about being a musician here.

Can you tell us a bit about the folk stories that make up the lyrics?

They are generally about morals and cultural lessons – things told by elders to young ones to teach certain life lessons. They generally involve animals and mystical happenings but all have a serious message. I think the prodigal son is a special one because my Granny told it to me before I realised it was a Bible story about a parent’s undying love for a runaway child.

What is your relationship to these stories and why was it important for you to sing them in Ibibio?

They mean a lot to me as they were part of my childhood growing up with my grandparents in Lagos and elsewhere. I had never really thought to sing in Ibibio but once I started it seemed like it was something I could offer that was uniquely me.

What can an audience expect from an Ibibio Sound Machine live show?

Energy and musicality. The band is sounding great right now – we never do things exactly the same way twice and always try to keep the life in live music!

Walthamstow Garden Party is at Lloyd Park, E17 5JW from 26-27 July.

July 9, 2014
Viv Albertine: ‘If I’m not passionate I won’t do it’

The Slits’ Viv Albertine lights a cigarette next to Sid Vicious

“You, you’re a careerist generation basically. Always want an answer and a goal,” insists Viv Albertine, the punk musician turned writer. “I grew up without any goals, which may be terrifying or unusual for people today. That film came along, that book I had to write, that album I had to make: if I’m going to go through another fallow period, so be it. I’m not just going to churn out creative work to keep myself in the public eye, or to earn a few hundred quid, or for ego reasons. If I’m not passionate, then I won’t do it. I don’t give a fuck what does or doesn’t come next.”

Despite the message, it doesn’t come across at all anachronistic, heavy-handed, or preachy. In fact, as far as accusations go, I can’t help but feel swayed. Now 59, Albertine has carved out her entire life from a fierce, yet wholehearted independence: from her days as a teenager, haphazardly venturing off to Amsterdam with a mere five pounds, her significant role in the formation of punk with her band The Slits, to vetoing the suggestion of having her recently-released autobiography ghostwritten. Even today, she refused to give up on our interview. “I shifted and became the rock,” she tells me serenely. “My husband was my rock until then, but when I had a daughter, I became the strong one.”

The day before we were originally scheduled to speak – and the evening of her book launch – Albertine’s mother passed away. A flurry of overwhelming admin meant a second date was cancelled, while on the day itself even her venue of choice was closed. Undeterred, we amble across to Hackney Picturehouse and take up residence in the cafe.

Albertine was actually born in Sydney. Her parents had moved to Australia because “in the 50s there was this thing where people could move there for 10 shillings”. When she was four, the family took a boat back to England, and set anchor at a North London council estate. “Muswell Hill wasn’t as cool as it is now,” she explains. “But at the time, young Communist families lived there – there were a lot of very forward thinking people and their children in the area.” Albertine was fortunate enough to attend one of the first comprehensive schools in Britain, with other sonic luminaries such as Rod Stewart and the Kinks her fellow alumni.

It was while studying fashion and textile design at the Chelsea School of Art that she met Mick Jones, who went on to form The Clash. As punk began, the art connection proved fertile: “Art schools back then used to put on brilliant bands – Bowie was first put on by art schools, Roxy music and Pink Floyd too,” says Albertine, between sips of steaming green tea. “Don’t forget that punk didn’t exist. I was the scene, I was part of making it. Through Mick I met John Rotten, he was just a kid in a band, and Mick knew Malcolm [McLaren]. It was just people who knew each other around the same time. By the time it was called punk, it was already dead – it only lasted 18 months.”

In her autobiography, Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys, Albertine writes candidly, almost brazenly, about the scene at the time. Johnny Rotten supposedly complained that she was “trying too hard” when attempting to fellate him, while Sid Vicious apparently was still a bedwetter despite his hardman persona. As a devotee of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s fetish-influenced clothing, she claims many guys at the time “didn’t know whether they wanted to kill us or fuck us”. Her bandmate Ari Up, the 15-year-old singer of The Slits, was stabbed twice by strangers on the street within a single year.

In 1978, Albertine became pregnant by Mick Jones, and decided to have an abortion to continue with the band. It’s a decision that haunts her to this day. “I didn’t regret it for 20 years,” she writes. “But eventually I did. It’s hard to live with.” She explains on the day: “Up till I was in my mid-30s, I couldn’t bear the thought of being a mother. It absolutely revolted me. It made me feel nauseous to see someone pushing a pram, because to me it represented the end of all opportunities. Then, when I fell in love, whether it was biology or age catching up to me, I had to have a daughter.”

What followed was “seven years of absolute madness”: attempts to get pregnant via IVF, diagnosis with cervical cancer six weeks after the birth of her daughter and an ill-fated attempt to become an obliging housewife. Albertine became so ashamed that her daughter initially grew up unaware that her mum had been in a band, but she eventually resolved to be honest. “I decided to let her know who I am, and trust that she will love me anyway,” Albertine enunciates in her lingering North London drawl. “I was a very natural mother. It surprised me. I knew what to do. That may be a legacy from my own mum, who was a very strong woman.”

Since The Slits disbanded in 1981, Albertine has variously been an aerobics instructor, a filmmaker, a ceramicist, a solo artist and the co-star of Joanna Hogg’s art-house movie, Exhibition. Now, she lives in an artist community in Hackney, and in a way, there’s a sense of completion. “I’ve lived in North, South, and West London, but never ever East. But a year ago, I had to move, with my divorce and all that, and I just got absolutely drawn here. It’s so funny, but now I actually feel like I’ve come home.”

Albertine is one of several music icons now residing in the borough, alongside the likes of Thurston Moore, whose label released her EP Flesh. “I absolutely adore it. I love getting the bus home, and I start hitting East London. I love the old warehouses, and the higgledy piggledy.”

The title of the autobiography actually comes from her mother, who once said that clothes, music and boys was all her daughter was interested in. What advice would she give herself as a young girl, I ask. “You’ve got to live your life as if you’re not going to have a tomorrow. Of course I’m still scared and feel like a twit, and know I can’t play very well, but I’m going to live my life how I want live it, because when I go, no one’s going to give a shit that I’ve made a fool of myself here, there or anywhere.”

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys is published by Faber & Faber. RRP: £14.99 ISBN: 9780571297757

July 9, 2014
Chick Corea jazz review: ‘panoptic interpretations yielding plenty of complexity’

Chick Corea

It’s hard to introduce Chick Corea without getting mired in hyperbole or desiccated by lists. Briefly risking both: he was a key figure in Miles Davis’ electric excursions of the late 1960s, was at the forefront of the ensuing nascent fusion movement with his band Return To Forever, and has continually innovated in both solo and group contexts since then, bringing to bear flamenco and twentieth century classical influences onto both acoustic and electric jazz. He has also won twenty Grammys in the process.

At the heart of all of this has been his relationship with the piano; no matter how many analogue synths and MIDI patches he used over the seventies and eighties he is principally a pianist, and it was a solo piano date that brought him to the Barbican. Solo piano was good for two reasons. Firstly when multiple jazz statesmen take to a stage together the result can sometimes be stifled by their collective reputations as much as the audience’s stratospheric expectations. Secondly, given that much of his oeuvre has been electric, it was an opportunity to hear him in an unadorned and relatively transparent context.

Despite the gravitas of solo piano in a big concert hall, he was keen not to make things too formal. An impish Chick mounted the stage, his Saga Holiday issue beige velcro trainers belying his seemingly perpetual effervescence. Having exhorted us to imagine we were in a small club, it wasn’t long before he’d shown us some jazz hands standing on one foot, played Bartok over the PA from his mobile phone, and invited audience members up for duets.

The theme for the solo gigs, Chick explained, was a revisiting of various pieces he’d found influential, either in themselves or through being connected to him by the musicians who had popularised them. In doing so there would be an inevitable reinterpretation as he filtered them through the prism of his musical life over the last 50 years, together with a night-by-night re-honing during the series of solo gigs.

Things started with Van Heusen’s ‘It Could Happen To You’ – a tune popularised by Miles Davis. This saw lithe right hand lines shimmering on maudlin chord inversions. The right hand strand kept afloat in Jobim’s ‘Desafinado’. This had a non-brittle delicacy and almost holographic iridescence, as loud pedal releases created staggered, slowly decaying harmonics. Ellington’s ‘Sophisticated Lady’ saw some dense reharmonisation but with Chick circumventing the knots with trademark playful exuberance. This is Corea’s genius. He can present dense harmonic ideas and abstruse chord voicings, but 99 per cent of the time things are entirely digestible. He leaves enough space for the peaks and troughs of tension/release to settle and be fully absorbed.

This carried on in the next piece: Bill Evans’ sublime ‘Waltz for Debby’. Only partially resolved left hand chord inversions built up an ill-defined wanting, before the right hand salve instantiated the famous melody. All this was given time to crystallise and the resolution button wasn’t pushed too soon. We got there, but after a slow ascent and a sustained subtle release.

There was then a percussive nod to Thelonius Monk – with his right foot audibly keeping time through Monk’s ‘Work’ – and an unexpected liaison as Stevie Wonder’s ‘Pastime Paradise’ segued into Chopin’s ‘Opus 17 No 4’. Muted staccato runs and harp like glissandos were allied in Corea’s own ‘Yellow Nimbus’, a piece dedicated to flamenco legend Paco De Lucia and quite possibly the cigarettes that eventually killed him. His own ‘Children’s Songs’ then got an airing – somewhat subdued given that they were to encapsulate children’s energy – before two London locals Hossam Ramzy (darbuka) and Tim Garland (sax) joined for an encore.

None of the evening was marred by any of the aforementioned high expectation. In being condensed into a succinct form, Corea’s omniscient content saw him focus half a century of jazz history into nuanced and articulate pieces that were all highly digestible. This by no means meant a lack of substance, and his panoptic interpretations yielded plenty of complexity to ruminate on, just without the need for the slug of Gaviscon that a lot of jazz with meat on it requires. It was a privilege to be in the same room as this man and a piano. History is still being made, fifty years on.

Chick Corea played the Barbican on 19 May 2014.

June 17, 2014
Lore Lixenberg: a breath of fresh aria

Opera singer Lore Lixenberg

The Beyreuth Festival in northern Bavaria is a mecca for opera lovers and a pilgrimage destination for fans of Richard Wagner, who himself conceived the idea for a special festival to showcase his own works.

So when in 2011 the experimental Opera singer Lore Lixenberg stood outside the Beyreuth Festspielhaus to give a rendition of John Cage’s ‘Aria with Fontana Mix’ to a crowd of opera purists, it was something of a bold move.

Lixenberg, originally from Brighton but who has lived in Stoke Newington since the mid-1990s, is a risk taker and iconoclast, operating in arguably the most change-resistant artistic form there is.

“With opera the boundary is very clear, you’re either a composer or a singer,” she says. “I make pieces but I don’t see myself as a composer – it’s just an extension of singing. There’s an interesting movement I suppose of opera singers who are moving more into creation not just interpretation.”

Lixenberg leads a cosmopolitan life. With her boyfriend she has just opened a gallery space in Berlin, and when we meet she tells me about a new project that involves streaming performances live from Berlin to Stoke Newington, and vice versa.

“I’m really interested in combining opera with things like physical theatre and visual arts – that’s why I like John Cage because he started that all off,” she says.

Opera may forever be be considered traditional, but this doesn’t bother Lixenberg. In one of her pieces, ‘Bird’, she undergoes a metamorphosis, speaking before making vocalisations, which finally evolve into full blown bird song. Another recent project is about an opera singer who finds herself at the end of the world, gathering all the bits of opera she can to save them from oblivion.

Lixenberg blurs the boundary between composition and performance, but there is no mistaking her operatic voice. She describes her voice as “a bit of a synthesiser”, and gives me a quick blast – leaving me momentarily startled.

‘Startled’ also describes the audience who heard her that time in Beyreuth, though they were soon won over by her chutzpah and originality.

Props such as a roll of sellotape, a toothbrush and even a packet of crisps were all part of the performance. At one point she even cries theatrically on the shoulder of an audience member. Is this how John Cage would have wanted it? Almost definitely, though what Wagner would have made of it is anyone’s guess.

www.lorelixenberg.net

June 16, 2014
Brazilian songwriter Maria Gadu to perform at the Barbican

Brazilian songstress Maria Gadu. Photograph: Gabriel Wickbold

As the sporting masses prepare for the World Cup, there has never been a more fitting time for Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist and twice Latin Grammy nominated Maria Gadú to cross the Atlantic in preparation for a highly-anticipated performance at the Barbican this month.

Celebrating much success in many countries after her self-titled album went platinum in 2009 both in Italy and Brazil, she has since become something of a household name amongst her peers. “Maria Gadú is a popular phenomenon for her own generation,” famed Brazilian composer and songwriter Caetano Veloso has said of her. “[She is] someone with an authentic musical vocation.”

Singing in her native Brazilian Portuguese, Gadú’s voice is a distinct combination of jazz and soul; a voice that brings an uplifting aura that surrounds lyrics of peace and love. Her impressive guitar technique backs her up with a powerful edge. It’s this vibrancy that makes her stand out from other artists that fall in the ‘world music’ bracket. The sunny track ‘Shimbalaiê’ exudes every bit of this talent.

At 27, Gadú knows who she is which gives her music a kind of strength that many pop artists struggle with today. Her traditional yet blended style does justice to the original Musica Popular Brasileira movement to which she and the other artists such as Chico Buarque and Jorge Ben are associated. This classic and quintessentially Brazilian genre originated in the 1960s and has become the foundation on which Gadú and other more modern artists such as Maria Monte’s music is formed.

Whether you enjoy football or not, her performance will certainly be a welcome break from all the hustle and bustle of World Cup fever.

Maria Gadú is playing at the Barbican, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS on 28 June.

tickets@barbican.org.uk

June 10, 2014
Counting down to Field Day

Field Day is gearing up to kick off the summer festival season in style, with an impressive array of established artists, as well as the cream of new talent, signed up to play at the weekend festival on 7-8 June in Victoria Park.

This year’s Field Day is to be spread over two days, with the inaugural Field Day Sunday featuring a headline set from Pixies, who are set to play their only London show of the year.

Other main acts confirmed for Sunday 8 June are psychedelic-adventurers The Horrors as well as act of the moment Future Islands, who in April wowed the US with an astonishing performance on David Letterman.

The line-up for the Saturday looks strong, boasting the icons such as 80s Swedish artist Neneh Cherry and the legendary Thurston Moore, formerly of Sonic Youth, who now resides in East London.

Headlining the main stage on the Saturday are melancholic electronica outfit Metronomy, who will no doubt be playing songs off their critically-praised new album Love Letters. Other acts joining them on the main stage will be Mercury Prize nominee Jon Hopkins and Seun Kuti, the son of Afrobeat creator Fela Kuti.

Although larger than in previous years, Field Day still has a village fete-style aesthetic and will be providing ample entertainment for those looking for respite from the music in their Village Mentality area.

Expect traditional side stalls inspired by country pastimes and fete games, from classic tug of war, sack races and egg and spoon races to more unexpected and fantastic ones like tea bag tossing and even winkle-picking contest.

Field Day will be at Victoria Park on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 June. For tickets visit www.ticketweb.co.uk/fieldday

May 13, 2014
Sofar so different – the gig movement coming to a living room near you

Benin City, fronted by Joshua Idehen play at a Sofar Sounds gig. Photograph: Sofar Sounds

Songs from a Room, or Sofar, is an East London-based start-up with a strong vision: to bring good music to eager fans.

Born out of a frustration of background noise at gigs, Rafe Offar and two friends set out to develop a concept to curate gigs in unusual settings. “You don’t connect with musicians at large gigs and stadiums and at smaller ones there are often dingy bars where people talk and text throughout performances,” explains Offar. “For me, hearing a trumpet or sax in a living room adds so much excitement and depth to the music.”

Sofar aims to bring unsigned and unknown musicians and artists to a wider audience. “We wanted to help new musicians get a boost by inviting people who love to spread the word about what they discover to our houses. The result was an atmosphere where you could hear a pin drop – an intimate connection between music and fan. It’s quite ‘pure’ and about the music rather than selling stuff,” says Offar.

Sofar is managing to hold 50 gigs a week hosted in spaces such as basements, living rooms and residential warehouses in over 60 cities around the world. According to Offar though, being based in East London does have its perks. “The music here is considered amongst the best in the world so it helps Sofar have impact,” he says.

There are two rules when attending a Sofar gig: firstly, you must listen thoroughly to the music that’s on offer and secondly, you have to stay until the end of the evening. These rules are gently emboldened at every gig out of respect for the music, but also for the audience to broaden and enhance their experience.

Offar gives the example of virtuoso cellist Oliver Coates as one of the favourite Sofar gigs so far. “I was moved at how he wowed an audience who do not hear classical music often at a Sofar gig. He showed us classical at its most dynamic.”

But in an ever-changing music culture where fast-paced, mainstream pop is ever more the norm, how is Sofar reacting to today’s current state of industry? “We involve art and music students and find a range of local community members and leaders with an appetite for innovation and encourage them to debate who is right for us.” Offar enthuses.

Plans to develop the concept are also underway with a festival under their belt in May last year which attracted over a thousand people. Offar adds: “We like to find music that is just plain good – and worry later about the buzz factor.”

sofarsounds.com

May 13, 2014
Yo Zushi to return with single launch and album

Yo Zushi examines a rollie. Photograph courtesy of Yo Zushi

Folk music is so ingrained in Yo Zushi that the man once described by Marie Anne Hobbs as “the spirit of Bob Dylan for the twenty-first century” no longer feels the need to call himself a folk musician. “It’s just how I think – I don’t feel I have to say it,” he explains, when we meet on a bench in Clissold Park.

Zushi was born in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1981, and came to Britain as a child with his family. Some of his relatives still live in Hiroshima, and he has grandparents who survived the atomic bomb.

He found success ten years ago as a singer-songwriter, and has shared bills with Joanna Newsom, Scritti Politti and Micah P.Hinson. This month sees the release of single ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’, taken from his new album It Never Entered My Mind, which comes out in July. It’s Zushi’s first album for five years, which suggests he either takes these things slowly or that a lot of effort has gone into it.

“If you’re independently making music you have to take the compromise of basically pacing yourself so you can afford to eat some food at the end of the week,” he tells me. Zushi is a journalist by day, and recounts interviewing the song-writer Liam Hayes and asking him a similar question. “He just said: ‘Well that’s just how long it takes if you don’t have any money and you’re relying on favours’.”

The album is named after a recording of Miles Davis playing an old American show tune. “There is no overarching idea behind the album, it was just this feeling that I wanted to create in a bunch of songs. So we ended up recording about 100 songs and whittling it down to nine,” he says.

Zushi is as much a listener and fan as he is a performer and writer. Certain artists fixate him for long periods of time: Elliot Smith, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen.

“If you get really into a thing you kind of start thinking in their language,” he says, “and when anyone writes a song you automatically inject it with a lot of yourself.

“If something appeals to you on an emotional level, whatever it is you feel becomes part of your experience. So it’s not really an invalid thing to use it in your own music. That’s what everyone does really.”

Zushi’s current obsessions are with Alex Chilton of Big Star and Elvis Costello. On the press release he gives me It Never Entered My Mind is described as: “A story album about love in stolen moments.”

“It means absolutely nothing but it kind of gives you the gist,” he says. “I like writing that is open ended and if you get the guy who wrote the song to say it’s about this … it might not be about that for whoever’s listening.

“The job of someone writing the song isn’t to make mini movies where the songwriter is the main character – you need to make mini movies where the listener is the main character.”

‘Bye Bye Blackbird’ single launch is on 8 May at Powerlunches, 446 Kingsland Road, E8 4AE. It Never Entered My Mind is to be released in July.

http://yozushi.tumblr.com/

It Never Entered My Mind album cover by Zoe Taylor

May 8, 2014