Cult following: The Black Lips at a Fluffer Records pit party. Photograph: Carla Salvatore
Fluffer Records started out as a pub conversation but is slowly developing a bit of a cult following in East London.
This independent label promotes local rock and roll, and helped the likes of Virgin Kids get signed with US label Burger Records.
But for those in the know, Fluffer is the architect of the chaotic ‘pit parties’ held in secret locations, where bands play in the centre of the room with the crowd surrounding them 360 degrees.
In May, Hackney Wick venue Shapes hosted the biggest pit party to date. Ten bands played a one-day festival, with The Black Lips jetting in from Atlanta to headline.
With the stage in the centre, the PA system consisted of four speakers running around its perimeter. Support came from East London-based Japanese expats Bo Ningen, a beguilingly facetious Spanish group The Parrots, and Heck, a stage-diving, thrash-metal four-piece from Nottingham.
The drinks were expensive, the music was loud and cathartic. And the audience got into the mood with moshing, punching inflatable fruit, attempted stage invasions and giant panda costumes.
The Black Lips have a reputation for energetic and raucous shows, with stage invasions and drunken nudity not uncommon. Pulling off a gig like this required diplomacy, as both band and venue were concerned things could get out of hand. But on this occasion their set was a relatively civil, albeit sweaty, affair.
Dancing to Heck at Shapes. Photograph: Carla Salvatore
Last month I spoke to label boss Al Brown after Fluffer’s DJ set at Field Day. I was curious to find out if the carnivalesque atmosphere of their pit parties was intentional.
“The fans are part of the performance,” he confirmed. “Because, let’s face it, the more energy you get off the fans and the more people watching, the better the bands tend to play. It’s all part of the same puzzle and both feed off each other.”
New River Studios, in Manor House, held the most recent Fluffer pit party of the summer, on 18 June.
With Chichester’s Traams headlining the bill, it was a more modest affair, though equally as rewarding. You could stand behind the drummer and watch the sweat roll off his back as he kept time to energetic garage rock.
As the sun began to set in Victoria Park and PJ Harvey took to the stage, Al Brown would not be drawn into revealing details of future parties, though it seems likely that something will be offing soon.
“If people carry on coming, then we’ll keep putting [the parties] on,” he confirmed. Perhaps by next year, Fluffer will have a Field Day stage of its own.
Merry dance: two festivalgoers combat the rain. Photograph: Carolina Faruolo
In the ten years since Field Day first pitched up in East London the festival has gone from strength to strength, growing in size and status, but never failing to live up to its reputation for fantastic line-ups.
It’s a humid start to Saturday, but an afternoon downpour brings festival-goers running for cover in the Shacklewell Arms tent where Meilyr Jones is thrashing about in time with his baroque-pop stompers.
When the rain clears it’s a slippery walk over to Skepta on the main stage, and judging by the state of a few of mucky bottoms the mud has already claimed its first victims.
Aside from some initial technical issues, Skepta plays a blinder. From opener ‘Konnichiwa’, the mosh pit is heaving, singing every word in perfect synchronicity, and ‘Shutdown’ threatens crowd collapse.
Main stage follow-ups Deerhunter seem in high spirits as they crack on with a varied setlist from records old and new, including ‘Dream Captain’ and ‘Snakeskin’.
By tea time the Moth Club tent is bursting with bodies getting their early-evening boogie on to Ata Kak, and as twilight settles over Resident Advisor, Holly Herndon’s set is in full flow.
With a moving dedication to Chelsea Manning, it’s a compulsive, moreish performance from Herndon, full of bass and hungering voices.
James Blake’s headline slot manages to maintain the songwriter’s trademark intimacy – no mean feat given the size of the crowd that has gathered to watch him.
It’s a quiet start with ‘Limit To Your Love’ and ‘Retrograde’ both making early appearances, but the tranquillity is soon overhauled by the arrival of Trim for an intense performance of ‘Confidence Boost’, before the set winds down into a rapturous ‘The Wilhelm Scream’.
Headliner: James Blake. Photograph: Carolina Faruolo
By Sunday afternoon, the park has been transformed into a mire. Where yesterday trainers and plimsolls were de rigeur, there’s been a clear shift into the Wellington boot camp.
There’s much squelching afoot at a frenetic Parquet Courts show on the main stage where Andrew Savage’s staccato bark manages to shake some life into the rain-fuddled field, and over at the Shacklewell Arms, Cass McCombs’ stylistic shapeshifting manages to draw out some lunchtime sunshine.
Fat White Family achieve an incendiary blowout, cleaving their way through ‘Whitest Boy On The Beach’ ‘Is It Raining In Your Mouth’ and ‘Touch The Leather’ like a pneumatic drill through concrete.
A bellowing Lias Saoudi plays master of ceremonies over a flurry of dancing, shrieking and ripped t-shirts, in nothing but a pair of navy y-fronts.
Brian Jonestown Massacre’s set turns similarly surreal when Newcombe’s desire to hear the crowd shout “Pigfucker” in unison brings out a rainbow across the stage.
The Avalanches was a rather disappointing affair. What was billed as a show turns out to be a DJ set during which more than a few confused audience members can be heard asking when The Avalanches are supposed to be on. Air on the other hand are sublime.
Godin and Dunckel are on fine form, playing an intoxicating mix of their essential tracks, with ‘Playground Love’ and an elaborate ‘La Femme D’Argent’ inciting a head-spinning euphoria that could turn bones to butter.
Sunday night headliner PJ Harvey is every bit the spectacle, bedecked in black feathers and backed by a nine-man band.
Harvey plays some truly transcendent renderings of ‘Down By The Water’ and ‘River Anacostia’ before bringing the weekend to a thundering close with a glorious encore of ‘A Perfect Day Elise’.
It’s a fitting end to a triumphant decade for Field Day, and a great foot upon which to start the next ten years.
PJ Harvey’s only London appearance and a headline slot from electronic maestro James Blake await festivalgoers at Field Day. The festival returns to Victoria Park on 11 June for its tenth edition, a milestone that hasn’t escaped the organisers, who have brewed their own limited edition pale ale in celebration. Here, we take a look at five acts set to light up East London this month.
PJ Harvey
Fresh from releasing The Hope Six Demolition Project, PJ Harvey’s Field Day Sunday appearance is her only London show this summer. The enigmatic vocalist will be playing songs off the new album, (which was recorded in public as an art installation at Somerset House) as part of a career spanning set.
The Avalanches
The Avalanches
Joining Polly Harvey on the Sunday line-up is Australian electronica outfit The Avalanches, in what will be the group’s first appearance in the UK since 2001. The three-piece found success in 2000 with Since I Left You, regarded as one of the best Australian albums of all time. Its protracted follow-up has been in the offing since 2005, but is rumoured to be close to completion.
Gold Panda
Gold Panda
Essex boy and electronic producer Gold Panda is on the bill for Saturday and is currently enjoying the buzz around the release of new long-player Good Luck and Do Your Best. The album, inspired by the quality of light in Japan during spring and autumn, has received positive reviews from the likes of Pitchfork, who called it “refreshingly unfashionable” and “unlike any electronic music being made in 2016”.
James Blake
James Blake
The London-based singer and songwriter first came to attention in 2010 with an R&B-infused dubstep cover of Feist’s ‘Limit to Your Love’. The subsequent album nearly won him the Mercury Prize, and the 2013 follow-up Overgrown achieved just that. This year, Blake has resurfaced with new album The Colour in Anything, so expect a set of new material and classics for his headline set on the Saturday night.
Tourist
Tourist
East London-based Will Phillips a.k.a. Tourist has made a name for himself as a producer and remixer of some of the most anthemic electronic music around. He has worked on remixes for Chvrches and Sam Smith, as well as his own productions featuring the likes of Lianne La Havas and Years and Years. His sound is perfect for big spaces, so the scene is set for him at Victoria Park on Sunday.
PJ Harvey’s only London appearance and a headline slot from electronic maestro James Blake await festivalgoers at Field Day. The festival returns to Victoria Park on 11 June for its tenth edition, a milestone that hasn’t escaped the organisers, who have brewed their own limited edition pale ale in celebration. Here, we take a look at five acts set to light up East London this month.
PJ Harvey
Fresh from releasing The Hope Six Demolition Project, PJ Harvey’s Field Day Sunday appearance is her only London show this summer. The enigmatic vocalist will be playing songs off the new album, (which was recorded in public as an art installation at Somerset House) as part of a career spanning set.
The Avalanches
The Avalanches
Joining Polly Harvey on the Sunday line-up is Australian electronica outfit The Avalanches, in what will be the group’s first appearance in the UK since 2001. The three-piece found success in 2000 with Since I Left You, regarded as one of the best Australian albums of all time. Its protracted follow-up has been in the offing since 2005, but is rumoured to be close to completion.
Gold Panda
Gold Panda
Essex boy and electronic producer Gold Panda is on the bill for Saturday and is currently enjoying the buzz around the release of new long-player Good Luck and Do Your Best. The album, inspired by the quality of light in Japan during spring and autumn, has received positive reviews from the likes of Pitchfork, who called it “refreshingly unfashionable” and “unlike any electronic music being made in 2016”.
James Blake
James Blake
The London-based singer and songwriter first came to attention in 2010 with an R&B-infused dubstep cover of Feist’s ‘Limit to Your Love’. The subsequent album nearly won him the Mercury Prize, and the 2013 follow-up Overgrown achieved just that. This year, Blake has resurfaced with new album The Colour in Anything, so expect a set of new material and classics for his headline set on the Saturday night.
Tourist
Tourist
East London-based Will Phillips a.k.a. Tourist has made a name for himself as a producer and remixer of some of the most anthemic electronic music around. He has worked on remixes for Chvrches and Sam Smith, as well as his own productions featuring the likes of Lianne La Havas and Years and Years. His sound is perfect for big spaces, so the scene is set for him at Victoria Park on Sunday.
James Blake at Øya Festival 2011, Norway. Photograph: Kristoffer Trolle via Flickr
James Blake will be joining Field Day’s most electrifying line-up yet, as they ramp up celebrations for the Victoria Park festival’s 10th birthday.
Blake, an British electronic musician, will be headlining the Saturday night at Field Day, news that is likely to send his fans into a feeding frenzy as they await Radio Silence, his new album, which is set to feature Kanye West.
Field Day’s announcement is cleverly timed, since only yesterday (Thursday) Blake premiered new single ‘Modern Soul’ during his BBC Radio 1 residency.
Blake last graced Victoria Park in 2011 on one of the smaller stages. Now, with the Mercury Prize-winning album Overgrown under his belt, and the promise of many more soulful tracks, he’s preparing a triumphant return.
With the likes of PJ Harvey, Beach House and Sleaford Mods already confirmed, Victoria Park is set to be transformed into a music-lovers’ paradise this June, and although four months away, with this line-up it’s never too early to start looking forward.
Field Day is at Victoria Park on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 June 2016.
Ticketlink: http://fielddayfestivals.com/tickets
New York band Yeasayer, confirmed as one of the acts for this year’s Field Day festival in Victoria Park
Some of the most signifiant breakthrough acts of 2015 have confirmed as playing at this year’s Field Day – proof, if it were needed, that it’s never too early to start thinking about which summer festivals to attend.
Sleaford Mods, the Nottingham punk duo fronted by Jason Williamson, are the most eye-catching addition to the line-up. The group came to the fore last year with their album Key Markets, a collection of scathing and witty portraits of contemporary Britain that take aim at everything from politicians to the very idea of alienation itself (“no one’s bothered”).
With trademark cynicism, Williamson said the festival “always houses a great deal of interesting new music and not the usual bland array of star employees from big labels. Should be a right laugh!”
Other additions to the Saturday line-up include New Yorkers Yeasayer, noise-rock quartet Girl Band, whose recent album Holding Hands with Jamie was included in Time Magazine’s 10 Best Albums of 2015 poll and producer Gold Panda, who is receiving considerable acclaim for his album Half Of Where You Live. They join already confirmed acts Skepta, Four Tet, Deerhunter, Floating Points and Youth Lagoon.
Meanwhile, neo-psychedelia The Brian Jonestown Massacre have signed up to play Field Day Sunday. They join the likes of Beach House, John Grant, Molly Nilsson, GOAT, Optimo and the Thurston Moore Band.
Field Day takes place in Victoria Park on the weekend of 11-12 June, with advance tickets available at www.fielddayfestivals.com/tickets.
Anticipant crowds at Field Day… Photograph: Carolina Faruolo
PJ Harvey is to perform an exclusive headline slot at Field Day 2016, as the first wave of acts for the East London festival were today announced.
The ground breaking artist, who has won the Mercury Prize twice and received an MBE in 2013, will be headlining Sunday night at Field Day, in what will be her first UK live, full band show since 2011.
The weekend festival will be returning to Victoria Park next June for its tenth edition, with an impeccably curated line-up of new talent, old favourites and internationally renowned acts to celebrate the milestone anniversary.
This year PJ Harvey released a volume of poetry and recorded her ninth studio album in front of live audiences inside an installation at Somerset House. So whatever she has in store for Field Day, it’s almost bound to be special.
Baltimore duo Beach House, fresh from releasing their alluring fifth album Depression Cherry, will be joining the bill for the Sunday night, with Ben Watt, of Everything But the Girl fame, performing with his band featuring none other than Suede legend Bernard Butler.
Festival favourite Four Tet will be leading the decade celebrations on the Field Day Saturday main stage, while grime superstar Skepta will also be in attendance, hopefully with a brand new album to show off.
The enigmatic Deerhunter, with their shape-shifting approach to genre and sound, will also be gracing Victoria Park, as well as Floating Points, whose full band live show promises to be full of warm electro and delicate euphoria.
Rising star SOAK will also appear on the Saturday, which veers into corners as diverse as Cass McCombs, blending rock, folk, psychedelic, punk and alt country, plus Yorkston Thorne Khan, comprising Scottish folk titan James Yorkston.
With the full line-up to be revealed in the months ahead, it already looks as though Field Day 2016 is going to be one almighty celebration.
Patti Smith at Field Day. Photograph: Carolina Faruolo
Tights were joyfully stripped from sun-starved legs, sleeves rolled up and dungarees donned as a week-long smudgy cloud hanging over East London made way for glorious blue sky to welcome Field Day to Victoria Park.
Acoustic treats greeted punters as they flowed into the festival to the pacey parp of trumpets and trombones from local lads Hackney Colliery Band, kicking things off on the main stage. They were later followed by father and son duo Toumani and Sidiki Diabaté from Mali, playing the kora – a traditional West African instrument.
Glamorous hordes swanned by as a couple lay face down on the grass near the stage, their cheeks pressed against a cling-wrapped copy of Saturday’s Guardian, the sound of the world’s best harp players the perfect lullaby for a quick power-nap.
So far, so sedate. But as the sun began to set as dancing feet tossed dust into the air. Some reckless rapping from teenage hip-hop trio RatKing, who have been touring with Run the Jewels higher up on the Field day bill, got bodies shifting on the i-D Mix stage.
Ratking (not to be confused with Rat Boy, another Field Day act). Photograph: Ella Jessel
Sneaking under the awnings of the Shacklewell Arms tent came the bewitching vocals of Tei Shi, moniker of New York-based but Bogota-begot singer/songwriter Valerie Teicher. Her atmospheric electronic R&B left the crowd shouting for more.
But as with previous years, bigger acts seemed to struggle with sound. In the Crack tent, Chet Faker could hardly be heard, though the crowd seemed more than happy to sing blithely along to ‘No Diggedy’ all the same.
Punters crammed the main outdoor stage eager to hear Caribou – the perfect choice for the headline slot. But the sound on the Eat Your Own Ears stage was also weak. “I feel like I’m watching this on TV”, one chap said to his friend, staring glumly up at the video screens beaming images of crowd-surfers and girls hoisted on shoulders.
Sunday
If Saturday night was all right for partying, then Field Day Sunday put music firmly back in focus. A more seasoned festival crowd gathered to see the likes of Patti Smith, Ride and Mac Demarco on the main stage, with the weather gods once again looking kindly on proceedings.
Feeling disorientated in your local park by the array of tents, stalls and stages is a strange sensation at first, though wandering between them all to discover new acts whilst grazing on some of the stellar street food offerings is no bad thing.
Gulf were an early find, a psychedelic guitar-pop group from Liverpool playing to a modest crowd in the Moth Club tent. For a new band, festivals are like a shop window, a place to find new fans, and Gulf’s lilting, melancholic melodies and full-throttle guitars are sure to have won them friends.
Walking between stages it was surprisingly easy to be distracted by the sight of adults sack-racing, or in the words of the bawdy announcer, showing “athletic prowess in the sack”. Silly but actually rather fun, the ‘Village Mentality’ area is an enduring feature of Field Day that makes it stand out from its festival brethren.
Napping: A couple snooze while revellers flit between the bands. Photograph: Ella Jessel
Packing out the Verity tent were Leopold and His Fiction, who wowed the afternoon crowd with a high tempo set of vintage rock, complete with singing drummer. “This song is about Detroit,” declared frontman Daniel James, the crowd roaring their approval. “Has anyone ever been to Detroit?” he followed up, to a more muted response – though enthusiasm for this all-American blend of Detroit rock and soul was well placed.
In an early evening slot, Patti Smith and band played Horses in full, with punk poet Smith showing she’s lost none of her energy or stage presence in the 40 years since the album was released. From the snarled opening line of “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine,” it was clear Smith meant business.
Smith railed against governments and corporations and implored everyone to be free, to whoops and cheers. By the end, audience members were calling out the names of lost loved ones during an emotional rendition of ‘Elegie’, dedicated to all those people “who we have loved and are no longer with us”.
Those who left after Patti Smith must have felt there was no room for improvement, but the remaining faithful were rewarded with a serene set from headliners Ride. Playing songs from across their four albums and various EPs, the reformed cult act and original ‘shoegazers’ have lost none of their intensity, their guitar ‘wall of sound’ thankfully still intact.
With cruel punctuality the curfew was reached. Happy, sunburnt and a little worse for wear the crowd filed out, leaving only glimpses of grass under a carpet of plastic cups, broken sunglasses and crushed cans of Red Stripe.
Could the sound have been better? Probably. But Field Day has all the elements for a great party and emerged with its reputation for devising an eclectic line-up unscathed, though a few decibels short of fever pitch.
Halloumi man: Joe Taylor with ‘intergalactic’ stall front. Photograph: Ella Jessel
Asked who this year’s Field Day headliners are, would you say Caribou, Ride and Patti Smith – or Street Feast? For at next’s month festival, held as ever in Victoria Park, food and drink will be as big a draw as the music.
Or if not, it will certainly be as eclectic. Faced with a sudden craving for cold biltong, churros and chocolate or just a plain old soft shell crab burger, you won’t be found wanting. Street food, needless to say, is experiencing something of a boom in East London.
Joe Taylor is a 28-year-old from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, who came down to London to seek his fortune as a street food vendor. “I don’t have another job or career as such that I want to do specifically,” he says. “So setting up my own business gives me the freedom to tie all my interests together: having fun, going to festivals and events and working outside.”
The parameters set, Joe needed an original idea – not easy in an already crowded market. As a vegetarian one food he found himself drawn to at festivals was halloumi cheese.
“A lot of other stalls might use halloumi as vegetarian option but I thought if I was just doing a vegetarian stall there I could do something a little bit different with it.”
As well as halloumi wraps, Joe was soon thinking up new cheesy products – all guaranteed to make you dream at night. Deep fried bread-crumbed halloumi, pieces of halloumi in a cone and salad boxes are all on the menu. But after premiering the idea at Winterville in December, he realised something was missing – a snappy (or even cheesy) name, an identity. Soon Moony’s Halloumi was born.
“I wanted to find a bit of an angle that would help me engage with people, so there’s a little mascot which is Mr Moony, and he’s basically made out of cheese,” Joe explains.
“The stall front is a bit of an intergalactic space theme comprised of recycled 12 inch records. In front of the records we’ve got space mountains which have got a volcano plume where the menu boards can be written on that. And there’s a few halloumi people and bits of artwork.”
The strength of the street food competition means some kind of hook is a sensible idea. Kate Greening is this year overseeing all the food at Field Day and has been bringing vendors to Field Day for five years under the Venn Street banner.
“When I started we only brought in 10 metres of food then, and now we’re filling the whole site,” she says. Kate explains that as well as including well-known street food traders such as Street Feast, they are trying to bring less established traders with new and exciting ideas into the site.
“It’s very niche, very specialist, rather than have people who can do everything, we want traders who do one specific thing and really specialise.”
Kate reels off some of the highlights on ‘food stage’ as though they were her favourite bands. Crabbie Shack, of crab burger fame, apparently put a whole crab in a burger bun. “It looks like a croissant but it’s not, it’s a crab,” she assures me.
Churros Bros will be frying up dough – Spanish-style – with specialist chocolate, a new Filipino trader Kusina Nova looks set to impress, then there’s hog roast, sushi wraps and, I’m told, “killer” mac and cheese from Anna Mae’s. There’s enough, I’m assured, to take a trip around the world in different street foods.
“We know what the food culture is in London, and this is a great way of celebrating that by bringing as many of the high quality traders together as we can,” Greening adds.
You don’t need to be a talent scout to hear something special in the voice of Denai Moore. It’s soulful without affectation, powerful yet at times restrained … In short, this 22-year-old from Stratford has a gift. She writes her own songs too, about timeless themes – heartbreak and hard times – doing so with a rawness and emotional honesty that sets her apart. Moore has collaborated with the likes of Astronomyy and made several acclaimed EPs. This month sees the release of her debut album, Elsewhere, produced by Rodaidh McDonald.
Denai, congratulations on releasing your first album. Do you see it as a defining point in your career so far?
Totally. It feels really strange now having spent the last year living with it. I’ve seen the album grow and it’s weird that it’s out of my hands now and out in the world. I’m mostly excited because I’m super proud of it and I feel like it’s turned out just how I wanted it to be.
I’ve been watching the video for your single ‘Blame’, which is set in Iceland. The sparse beauty of the landscape there seems fitting for your music in general, don’t you think?
It’s crazy beautiful up there. We were wanting to capture an epic scene from a film, and I think the video conflicts being caught between love and lust, and the danger of putting blame on other people, or blaming yourself. The whole idea was to make it really ambiguous so people are left wondering what happens and you get a different idea each time.
The album follows I Swore, your EP from last year, which really showcases your voice and song-writing ability. Is it a good primer for the album?
I think I Swore is definitely a good introduction, sonically, for the album and that’s why it was important for me to put it out, as I felt it was showing a different direction. I got such a good reaction and so much support from it that it made me look forward to the album coming out even more.
Both the I Swore and Elsewhere were produced by Rodaidh McDonald (who’s worked with The xx and King Krule amongst many others). How important is he to your music?
I think he’s brought a lot out of me that no one else has done before. When we met he helped with ideas for songs and I felt really safe creatively with him. When we work together I feel we’re bouncing off each other. Like with the song ‘I Swore’, the demo was shorter than the version you hear now. He pushed me to make the song better and I felt like he was that extra 30 per cent that pushed my songs and everything to what it is now.
Another champion of your music is Ben Drew (Plan B), who produced your 2013 EP The Lake, as well as co-producing ‘Blame’ and ‘Feeling’ on the new album. What does he bring to your sound?
I feel every time I work with him he surprises me even more. He’s so underrated as a producer. With the last song we put on the album, literally a week before I handed it in it was just this demo. We got in with Ben and he had all these ideas that really made me excited about the album again. I really value his opinion on just about anything really. Even as a mentor he’s really important.
You’ve done quite a lot of work with other artists, collaborating with the likes of SBTRKT on single ‘The Light’ and the track ‘All I Need’ by Astronomyy. How do collaborations help you creatively?
I really like working with people outside of what I do because I think it makes me a better songwriter. The song ‘All I Need’ came about the first time I sat in with Rodaidh and we started working with Astronomyy. He has a really fresh sound to him with surfy guitars and hip hop and R&B beats. I feel he’s super talented and he’s someone people should look out for.
Will you be joining him at Field Day in June then?
Yes, I’ll definitely be at Field Day. I’ve been there for the last two years and this year the line-up looks really amazing. Before then I’ll be doing a show at Electrowerkz the same week of the release, so I’m really looking forward to that – last year I spent a lot of time supporting other people, and while it’s really amazing touring with other people it’s even better seeing how their shows work and taking inspiration for your own live shows. I’m really nervous but it’s really exciting to be playing new material.
You were born in Jamaica and came to Stratford when you were 10. What was it like when you first arrived, was it hard to adjust?
I wouldn’t say it was hard to adjust really, I’d been there for holidays about three or four times previously and I had relatives there already. I think I definitely identify more now with East London than Jamaica. Of course there were a lot of cultural differences, but I didn’t really notice them as I was really young.
And growing up in Stratford were you always musical?
I guess. When I was younger my dad was working as a musician in Jamaica and America so I experienced what it was like to be in a studio. And I’ve always been around instruments at home. I suppose my musical development started when I got my first guitar when I was about 12 in Year 7. It was where a lot of my first songs came from.
And what was your first song?
It was a song called ‘Changes’ I wrote when I was 12. I’ve got a recording of it on an old laptop and hearing it now it’s so crazy how different it seems. That’s why music is really important to me. I write about what I’m currently going through, what my opinions are, and I put that out in my music. There’s a song on the new album called ‘No Light’, which is one of the oldest songs on the album, from two years ago. When I wrote it I was in a dark place and when I listen to it now it feels so different, like it’s taken on a different meaning. Even already, I look back at some of the songs on this album and get a feel of the time I wrote them in, like when I was turning 20 and and dropping out of uni and having all these new experiences for the first time. I think that’s what’s the album’s all about.
Was dropping out of university a difficult time for you? How did it come about?
To be honest it was just a bad experience anyway. I was studying songwriting and before, when I was just writing with no really kind of real method, it was just natural and I was just writing in my own time. I found that studying it, so you have to write so many songs in a week, just took the joy out of it so I had to stop. I think that’s the same for a lot of people. When you’re being told to write about four songs a week about this or that it all starts to feel tired and mechanical.
How were you discovered?
I started taking song-writing seriously when I was doing my A-levels. It was my last year but instead of focusing on my exams that were in a few months time I was more excited about the new songs I was writing and just wanted to get out there. So every week I was going to all these open mics and all these little gigs and that’s how I stumbled on the singer Clare Maguire. She saw me and asked me for my email. A couple of weeks later I was at her house making demos and we literally have the same manager now.
Listening to your first EP Saudade you can hear a lot of Bon Iver in there. Who are your big musical inspirations?
I feel like the staple ones are Bon Iver, like you said, then Lauren Hill, Feist and Kanye. These people to me are artists in the sense that they are people who are super uncompromising and write music for themselves. I think a lot of people get lost jumping on a trend and trying to create a ‘moment’. I think the main thing is to make yourself happy. That’s what I try to do every time.
What’s the next step for you and what are your ambitions?
I’m not ambitious in a traditional way. I’m not the kind of person to be like ‘I’m going to go after that Grammy’. I think in a sense what’s important for me is to keep growing as an artist and as a songwriter, get better in the studio, be more comfortable trying out different instruments, and more confident as a performer. After these first few shows hopefully I’ll do a few festivals, then hopefully write again, get into the studio and work with a few other artists. That’s the idea.
Denai Moore plays at Electrowerkz on 9 April. Elsewhere is available from 6 April denaimoore.com
