Despite both of his parents being musicians, it wasn’t until his mother died when he was in his early 20s that Dominic Gore tried his hand at songwriting, realising that he was the only one who had the words to describe precisely how he felt. “I just wrote this song to perform because I didn’t really know what else to do,” he says. “And then afterwards it was like: ‘OK, I’m a songwriter now: that’s what I do.’” He honed those songwriting chops in London three-piece Little Cub, only embarking on a solo career when they disbanded last year.
Gore’s blend of warm, at times euphoric synthpop and live instrumentation owes much to Pet Shop Boys (the melody of the title track on his debut album echoes that of Rent), a touchstone for him since he heard Discography as a child. His upbringing in an unspecified M25 dormitory town, meanwhile, has led to a fascination with suburbia (particularly “all the sort of weird shit that happens there with people just living to procreate”, he has said). This has informed his lyrics and earned Gore comparisons to Jarvis Cocker. Elsewhere, as on I Like You, he can be as archly funny as Stephin Merritt. He might have come late to songwriting, but he’s making up for that now.
All These Things is out now on Domino. DC Gore tours the UK from 29 October to 16 November, starting in Manchester
