Who are you listening to at the moment?
I’m going to try my best to whittle this answer down, but I can’t promise anything. I’ve been really getting into post rock recently. There’s a band called We Lost The Sea that have an album called ‘Departure Songs’. It has no lyrics but I’m a huge fan of building a song with repeated melodies and making it really intense. I believe simple phrases are always just as effective.
Other than that, I’ve had Elena Tonra on repeat, Orla Gartland, Ólafur Arnalds (I saw him live recently and he was incredible!), Dodie, Sam Fender, Bryde, Sufjan Stevens, Florence and the Machine, Mahalia and Hunger Moon. A close friend of mine also recommended O MATÆUS. He has a song called ‘Open Letter’ and it just makes me cry every time I hear it, it’s beautiful.
What do you love about Birmingham?
I mean, I love that there is a pub right next to my uni. But really I love the people. I have met some amazing people from all different kinds of backgrounds who I would’ve only met through Birmingham. I’ve been introduced to new music, new art and honestly it’s been so inspirational. To be a part of it is pretty cool. (Also we don’t have a HMV store in my home town so that’s pretty nifty as well).
Why Songwriting?
From the age of eleven, I’ve been writing my own songs. Yes I did start writing because I wanted some attention from my parents but we’ll just brush over that. I realised a few years ago that music could actually be my job, as I performed my very first paid gig at fifteen (I still have the pay-cheque from it).
I’ve never been hugely academic and the only thing that actually keeps me sane is music, so when I found the songwriting course at BIMM, it was perfect. I never knew that there were so many avenues you could go down with songwriting and I feel like I’m becoming more adventurous with the music I create. I’m really looking forward to what comes next.
Discover more about BIMM in Birmingham here.
