I started getting into music when I was 15, there were free 30-minute piano lessons at school and I signed up because it got me out of ‘boring’ classes like History and English, so I thought it would be a skive and went for it. Little did I know the amount of work that was to come and how much music is so married to those ‘boring’ subjects - now I’m all about language and history.
For a long time, I was only writing and playing instrumental music. I wasn’t even that interested in the lyrics but with my new album, The March Onto Forever, and my last, Cowboys and Africans, I’ve been totally focussed on songwriting and lyrics. That’s opened a whole new musical world for me. A few words would inform an entire album and in full circle fashion, it gave me inspiration to write as much music than ever. I originally started making jazz and funk instrumental music and I’m now creating 80s-inspired art pop-rock songs, so it’s been a real evolution.
The new album is quite synth heavy, that’s a world I’ve not ventured into too deep up to now, but there’s a call back to Bowie, Talking Heads and Beck - to name a few - that’s shaped the music. I’ve always been told how cinematic my music sounds, so we made a music video for the title track ‘The March Onto Forever’. It feels like a short film, with the story running through it showcasing Glasgow, and showing why our backdrop is why Hollywood keeps coming to town.
