Page 50 - ION Indie Magazine JanFeb 2021 Issue

MW: That was the good thing about buying vinyl albums. Looking at the sleeve notes, reading the
lyrics off the back sleeve or booklet/insert, and appreciating the artwork -- the whole thing was a
culture package. You don't seem to get that these days with CDs. You need a magnifying glass to
be able to read the writing and the smaller pics don't seem to have the same impact. Talking of
albums, how's yours coming along?

RS: We recorded it last October at Tesla Studios and Paul Blakeman and Michael Eden have been
recording and producing it. We were working on it right through until March when everything became
locked down. And of course, as we all live separately, we were all isolated and we couldn't do anything
with it. I couldn't hear it and they just couldn't work on it. At that moment, I was a bit frustrated because I
wanted to be working on it and progressing because I had loads of free time. But as it turned out, the gap
was the best thing that could've happened. Having not listened to it for four months, when I eventually did
listen to it again, it sounded much better than I'd remembered. It's fine, it's great, it's almost ready. I think
we're going to be working on one single at a time; just keep releasing singles throughout the next few
months or year or so. Because of the way we're working at the moment, it's only what we can practically
manage.

MW: I suppose if you wanted to release it as a full album, it could take another year or so,
depending on what restrictions there are and how long for.

RS: Yeah, there's no time pressure on it, so it could take up to another year, but that'd be fine. I think this
album has gone more electric, you know, synths and drum machines and more pop in terms of production.

MW: I've read that your style is described as ‘Neo Folk.’ Synth doesn't sound like it goes with Neo
Folk, does it?

RS: No, I know, right? Exactly. I've usually played solo acoustic gigs, which is why Google has described
me as ‘Neo Folk.’ If there's an acoustic instrument in the room, I can usually pick it up and get a tune out
of it, or at least get the gist of it. But with synths and keyboards and gadgetry, they kind of elude me. So,
I thought I'd like to get to grips with it. By the way, there's also a song on the album that has a string
quartet on it.

MW: So, these tracks are quite diverse then, are they?

RS: Very much so, yeah. So much so that we were even wondering whether they should belong on the
same album together. We also thought of maybe having -- and it was a nice idea -- an album of two
sides…with a ‘good’ side and a ‘bad’ side. Like a chronological journey of how my sound has changed
through the album. But then after four months of not hearing it, all three of us listened to it again and they
sounded fine.

MW: The order the songs go in is pretty important though.

RS: Yes, massively so. I think that will be a big challenge…putting them in an order that makes sense. In
fact, I burnt them onto a CD in a random order and thought that I'd give them a blast while I'm bombing
about in the car today and see if anything jumps out. You know whether one particular song shouldn't go
next to another one and so forth. But they fit together pretty well.

MW: These tracks that you've got at the moment, are they actually finished?

RS: Most of them, yeah. I would say eight out of eleven are done and just need mixing and the other three
tracks just need pulling into line really, with a bit of cleaning up. I don't think there's any more recording
to do, just editing and tweaking.