“I didn’t get any daylight for three days once and I went a bit mental…”

Tell us about the sound of the new album.

I think I react against whatever I did last time, for some reason. The second album should’ve been an EP, it’s more of an EP to me. That’s more of ten beats together. I just had loads of fun making the second album; it was a really short period of time, like three months. There was a particular mood, a particular moment, and I just had a bunch of beats I’d made ‘cos it was well fun. I’d just got my [Korg] MS10 synth and was messing around with that, making crazy Doctor Who sounds. I get into little bubbles where I don’t know what’s going on with the world. On reflection it’s more of an EP to me, I don’t feel like there’s a journey or particular narrative to me, which is how I react to albums.

On the subject of narrative then, how do you feel that applies to the first album?

I think the first album does have more of a narrative, yeah, probably because that had been pieced together over time from older beats. I had more to choose from so I could make a shape. So with this album, my third album feels like my debut album, my first album. Because my first album was old beats and an exercise; the second album was a moment in time and getting more confident in mixing. This album is the first time where I’ve felt musically and technically confident to do something I was going to be happy with. Also conceptually I felt like I knew what I needed to do to make an album like the ones I’ve grown up on, the whole 40-60 minute journey where you go to different places. So in my mind the first two albums are learning experiences and this feels like I’m ready.

Do you feel like you’ve invested the most in this album then?

Yeah definitely. It was quite easy to do though because I had a clear vibe, it wasn’t difficult.

Do you feel nervous each time an album comes out?

Erm….no…. because I sort of feel like I’m honest with myself. So I know before I put something out, what’s right and wrong with anything I release. I get kind of hopeful that people will get it or it will help me take another step up. Every time I bring an album out, it helps me take a little step up, it’s a building process. So I just hope it will do its thing and people will dig it.

How does it work with the label? Do you send them tracks as you go along or deliver the whole thing in one go?

Because First Word are friends of mine, Aly just lets me do what I want to do, completely. This album is 100% exactly what I wanted to do. I just get lost in a bubble and lose sense of reality and go a bit mental, just making music. This album was mostly written last Christmas, about two or three weeks over Christmas. I was watching loads of Japanese movies from the sixties, and it snowed- the snow was a big deal for this album. I was sleeping during the day, staying up all night working. I didn’t get any daylight for three days once and I went a bit mental…so yeah that was the vibe for the album. It was funny, ‘cos I wrote it then but ended up finishing it off and mixing it in the summer, which was really weird, because I was in a different mood, a different frame of mind entirely.

That must’ve been quite hard to revisit it then?

Yeah. It’s quite a dark album…y’know what? I’m gonna stop saying it’s a dark album because it isn’t to me, I just think that other people are going to take it that way. I think it will be seen as a dark album maybe. It’s more kind of a weird Samurai, snow…innocence thing to me as well. But yeah it was definitely a winter album, so mixing it in summer was quite odd.

It’s coming out in January when everyone’s depressed so it’ll come out at the right time though?

Yeah it should tap into the public mood and make everyone more miserable (laughs). It’s not supposed to be like that really, but what can you do? I just find it really interesting how people interpret your music.