Kaeto’s INTRO to alt-pop stardom is just the beginning

Eszter Vida interviews London-based artist Kaeto on her debut mixtape ‘INTRO’ as she navigates us through her songwriting process, working on its visuals collaboratively and infusing different genres, as well as touring the UK with The Last Dinner Party.

O2 Academy Leeds, early autumn. The eclipsed sun sets over the tranquil sky. The air begins to bite you, turning colder by the second. The wind pulses intrusively in your hair, and the streetlights prematurely beam into the colours of a certain je ne sais quoi, only comparable to a scene from Blade Runner. Wearing my heavy blue headphones, Bob Dylan-style leather jacket with hands mimicking his Freewheelin’ album cover, I am shuffling down the hill from Hyde Park towards the city centre, until a little old me finds herself in the dressing room of O2 Academy. It was one crazy alternative way of pre-ing for the recently Mercury-nominated The Last Dinner Party’s headline tour, sharing an ephemerally short quarter of an hour with the opening act, Kaeto.

As Brat Summer fades into a distant dream, your playlists may be looking for something slightly more ambient, something more sombre, as we approach the colder months. Enter ‘Sad Girl Autumn’, a phenomenon brought to life by our generation’s self-indulgent collaging of itself through Pinterest boards and Instagram posts, but mostly for the obsessive purpose of repurposing and recycling the cultures of the past. There’s a heavy sense of this feeling attached to Kaeto’s debut mixtape INTRO, an all-embracing example of collaging and feeling through music.

The rising London-based artist recollects her memories of her school years and growing up in Leeds, using the internet as an outlet to share her passion for music before moving down to the big city, aged only 15. ‘I spent a lot of time singing in school productions and uploading videos of myself singing to YouTube’. The formative years of an artist, especially today, showcase the different experimentations of style and changes from childhood influences. ‘I did a Kelly Clarkson cover where I was moving my hands, and then everyone at school found it’. A generation defined by social media, what feels like the apocalyptic death to identity as a teenager expressing herself so early on, has since built the foundations of Kaeto’s genre-fluid style combined with elusive performance art at her live shows.

Creativity and freedom of expression becomes the core of her musical ventures, one that is aided in connecting with your surroundings. ‘We would write a lot on the rooftop amongst all these sunsets and colours in the sky.’ She says this, as she shows me souvenir snapshots of Sevillian lilac skies that acted as a studio space during her mixtape recording process earlier this year. The geographical landscape and music swiftly blend to form her aesthetic, illuminating the euphoric imagery of joy and self-reflective memory. Thanks to the intricate layers of soaring synths and low droning, there’s an element of cinema attached to the reeling quality of her songs, echoing the personal moment of an introspective train ride. ‘There’s a thing that happens to your brain when you look closely at something and disengage on a creative loop. We came away from that trip with so many more ideas than we would really, because you write in a studio.’

Both the music and visuals feel inherently interconnected, and Kaeto cites her collaborative partners who help capture her visual ideas. ‘I’ve ended up with a lot of friends who are talented cinematographers.’ This is just another layer to the importance of being part of a particular supportive hub of musicians, as she recounts the opportunity of being able to make endlessly content, amalgamating into a sort of musical treasure chest because of this networking. She speaks less about the opportunity to tour with The Last Dinner Party and more on the gratitude and excitement of forming friendship with lead singer, Abigail Morris, through the sheer coincidence of rehearsing at the same establishment. ‘First time we met we were both rehearsing in Premises, and we knew we were both going on tour together, so we sent each other messages like ‘Yay, you at Premises today?’ and we grabbed lunch together.’

Image Credit: Chuff Media

Quintessential is this theme of the personal and emotion, both conveyed in her new release INTRO; a raw, expressive take on trip-hop, electronic and dance music that was born from the idea of solely making music, without thinking about making an album. Albums and the releasing of music has changed, and the music of our generation has held this collaging status, specifically as her take on genre aligns with the idea that ‘the way we consume music is no longer genre bound.’ It’s almost as if her music’s intention is achieving this boundaryless feeling, not by design. She quotes the greats like Caroline Polachek and David Byrne (Talking Heads) on how album artwork used to signal genre and how music develops in the space it is played for. So where and how exactly would you listen to Kaeto’s music if we were to apply her personal philosophy?

‘Music is a communication of emotion, and so it’s by virtue that’s what music is to me, it’s how I feel.’ The opening track ‘U R Mine’ felt very Fiona Apple in a way, the bright reverberating pianos open with a dramatic, yearnful tone to her mixtape. A lover of unusual voices, if you tried fusing the of trip-hop and shoegaze you would only be cracking the surface of her sound. We discussed our love for the latter genre as she cited some of the artists, who we both gushed over. ‘Slowdive. Anything 90s shoegaze or like The Cranberries, The Sundays, that’s my shit.’ Her vocals always feel very soft, free and playful like they do in these genres, yet she doesn’t leave you with a predictable take, with the production style being also comparable to the likes of Portishead. The mixtape later flourishes into tracks like ‘KISS ME’ and ‘CARRY YOU’ that showcase more duality and flirtation, closing with the grandiosity of a dance track like ‘YOMM’. There is a lot of heart and heavy inward introspection, but also with the desire to party and enjoy youth. She comments on this duality and the purpose of making music; ‘It’s how I enjoy myself, it’s how I indulge in my morbid sadness, it’s definitely the lens through which I experience the world.’ Feeling through music becomes intangible. ‘Sometimes a song or a sound has encapsulated how you feel in a way that there are no words attached.’ There’s no overthinking when you are being authentically yourself, something we can marvel at with Kaeto’s ethereal stage presence and bold, individualist identity as an artist.

With the recent resurgence to dance music, Kaeto’s mixtape couldn’t arrive in a timelier fashion as an alterantive, adding to the wave by infusing electronica, bedroom-pop and eclectic lo-fi sounds that you couldn’t pin down to one lonely genre as the outcome of her writing process. ‘I would love to do more concept storytelling, but at the moment the way that I write doesn’t really call for that, because I very much write what comes from my subconscious.’ There’s clearly more to come. Afterall, an INTRO is foundational to the other parts to accompany an artist’s story beyond the ephemeral horizon she has begun to paint in hypnotic colours, reeling us into her world of nostalgia and writings of self-exploration.

TikTok Star to Pop Icon: How Addison Rae transformed into the internets It Girl

Emma-Jane Bennett dissects Addison Rae’s single ‘Diet Pepsi’ and the pop phenomenon behind how a short 15 seconds of TikTok fame propelled her into a successful music career and frequent collaborations with Charli XCX.

In July of 2019, a cheerleader from Louisiana, Addison Rae, rose to fame through her trending dances, dating troubles, and internet scandals. The ex-honorary Hype House member amassed a whopping 88.7 million followers on the platform, making her the fifth most followed influencer on TikTok. However, like many viral TikTok creators (and I mean many), Addison endured much scrutiny and was eventually labeled as ‘cringe’ and ‘famously talentless’, specifically after starring in the Netflix film He’s All That. Caught in the age-old debate of style and substance, Rae has been thrown under the microscope of the general population to be scrutinised or scrap-heaped.

2021 rolled around and Addison stunned in all black latex for her first single ‘Obsessed’. Though the LP wasn’t released until 2023, ‘Obsessed’ had everyone, well, obsessed! Referred to as “the new Britney”, Addison’s solipsistic debut surprised the internet with pop girlie vocals and a Madonna-esque music video. Now, online fanatics know the pipeline from TikTok influencer to ‘serious’ musician too well, seen with Dixie Damilio, Loren Gray, Chase Hudson, and more. Backlash, consequently, was present rising up against ‘Obsessed’ and her reputation suffered.

The bizarreness of her single surprised all as she was never really known for her vocal talent, more so for her dance moves. This shaped the way for her as she then collaborated with the biggest brat of them all, Charli XCX, on new song “2 die 4” (2023). Now this tune, let me tell you, absolutely changed the game for Addison, with Twitter lauding the sardonic pop seductress aesthetic it enjoyed. Addison Rae Tumblr It Girl Era? In the summer of 2023, AR’s summer, the edgy, eclectic, and alternative aesthetic took Tumblr by storm. Lana Del Rey was reviving Americana with the single “A&W” (2023), messy eyeliner and smudged lipstick was smeared on everyone’s faces, and cigarettes became a three-meal-a-day diet plan (what’s new?). The pop girlies were killing it and Addison started to carve a space in the pantheon, claiming the title of the internet’s newest It Girl

A group of people on stage

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Image Credit: Henry Redcliffe via Addison Rae’s Instagram

Flash forward to 2024, Addison Rae entering her brat era featuring on Charli xcx’s “Von dutch a.g. cook remix”. Neon green (specifically #8ACE00) had (actually still has, because brat girl autumn is here) the gay sons and thought daughters in a chokehold. The SWEAT tour was announced with Charli xcx and Troye Sivan, and fans hoped and prayed for Rae to appear as surprise guest. And well, she did!

But “Diet Pepsi” (2024), Addison Rae’s breakout single, skyrocketed to #50 on the charts and shows no sign of slowing down. With the song’s Lana Del Rey-esque energy, the track has captivated those on TikTok. Fully embracing herself in her newfound artistic path, Rae has confidently stepped into the spotlight as a pop girlie, defying critics with her effortless and nonchalant cool on social media. Now, her unreleased track ‘Give Me More’, is doing numbers on TikTok, SoundCloud, and YouTube, with fans eager to hear more (they are taking the title of the tune quite literally).  

Her transformation to cool girl has been a big change for the TikToker-to-popstar pipeline and, on behalf of her fans, it’s safe to say that everyone is glad that this has worked out for her. The writing is on the wall: the world is finally prepared for Addison Rae to dominate the pop scene.

I want to take The Substance that makes me Margaret Qualley

On paper, a 2.5-hour body horror featuring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley was destined for my Letterboxd top 5. I expected body horror, but my god- this one would send anyone who found Saltburn too extreme to an early grave.

It was an innocent 8pm volunteer shift at the Hyde Park Picture House. “Enjoy the film!” I said to my fellow brave soldiers who unknowingly embarked on the journey that is The Substance. The film focuses on Demi Moore, who plays Elisabeth Sparkle, and Margaret Qualley—who, in some ways, also plays Elisabeth Sparkle. I won’t spoil the plot too much, as I think it’s best to go in fully blind, but all I can say is if you’re squeamish—sit this one out hun x.

Image Credits : MUBI- The Substance

The shrieks and squeals from the audience made the whole experience even more enjoyable, and the long runtime feels like five minutes due to the film’s fast pace and increasingly shocking visuals. The first two hours reel you in whilst simultaneously keeping you quite disturbed and unsettled -like dating a Hyde Park man. It’s the last 30 minutes that stop it from being a five-star masterpiece in my eyes, but I do feel this is a particularly subjective opinion—so see it for yourselves and decide what you think. Demi Moore gives the performance of her career, and Qualley continues to establish herself as a movie star. Her character, Sue, is perfectly written and constructed to represent the horrors and desperation of fame today and is perfectly accompanied by Demi Moore’s Elisabeth in a narrative that literally switches in and out of these characters in a nearly-three-hour anarchic horror ride.

The film is playing at the Hyde Park Picture House until next week, and then will be streaming on MUBI—but this is one that should be seen on a big screen, surrounded by equally traumatized viewers.

I personally want to take The Substance that makes me Margaret Qualley, and you should too. I’ll make sure to switch back in time, I promise!

Smitten: An Album You’ll Fall Head Over Heels For

Joseph Nozedar reviews the Manchester indie-pop band’s 4th album as Smitten captures the hearts of fans with their nostalgic return to an 80s jangle pop sound.

Smitten (2024) is an ambush to the ears, a genre bouncing haze of nostalgia. The album harks back to past lives and past loves in both lyrical content and artistic pastiche. Somewhat nostalgic, yet refreshingly modern, with a lot of things I love sprinkled into the mix. Initially, I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but on my second listen, the infectious, euphoric energy radiating from the record took hold and a smile crept onto my face that stayed for the entirety of the album.

Written between the US and UK over a two-year period, Smitten finds Pale Waves reflecting upon their Northern roots and adolescent memories. Deviating from the rebellious pop punk sound of the 2022 album Unwanted, this new record is a melting pot of past influences. It draws inspiration from the synths of the ’80s, jangle pop of the ’90s, and the pop-rock scene of the mid-2000s.

The album begins with the explosive and hypnotic single, ‘Glasgow’, a track that singer Heather Baron-Gracie has proclaimed her personal favourite from the album, it offers a glimpse of the nostalgic energy and artistic growth present throughout the album.

But Smitten isn’t purely a walk down memory lane. Modern pop hooks on tracks ‘This Is Not a Love Song’, ‘Gravity’ and ‘Kiss Me Again’ showcase the definite influence of contemporary pop. It manages to marry the catchiness of modern pop with intimate and personal lyrics and instrumentals that speak to you.  Smitten does not dip into modern pop’s soulless sheen; songs like ‘Thinking About You’ offer a warm, authentic humanity that feels ingrained in the album’s DNA. 

Image Credit: Kelsi Luck

This emotional depth is encapsulated by lead single ‘Perfume’.  An excellent choice for the band’s first single and a personal favourite. Lead vocalist Heather sings about being totally enamoured with a person: “My mother says that when I want something I never let go / Call me obsessed but I don’t mind just as long as it’s all mine”.  ‘Perfume’ is an infectious 1980/90s-leaning anthem reminiscent of bands like The Cure and The Cranberries. 80’s synths and 90’s jingle jangle guitars pull at the indie heart strings to create a joyous sound bath for the listener.  

Encapsulating a beautiful, fleeting, youthful summer in under four minutes, ‘Last Train Home’, is a homage to the sound of The Sundays and The Cranberries. Heather’s bewitching siren-like vocals transport the listener back to the nineties. It’s indie pop at its finest, showcasing the album’s transportive power and reminding me why I first fell in love with indie music as a teenager. 

While the band has deviated from their earlier sound, there are still shades of their pop-punk prestige and fierce attitude in track ‘Miss America’. This defiant attitude coupled with the honesty of Heather’s openly queer lyrics and the band’s increasing visibility within the LGBTQ+ community, serve to deepen the emotional resonance of the record. When interviewed on the album, Heather stated that Smitten aims to capture the excitement, euphoria, and even confusion that come with early queer relationships. The band integrates their personal experiences into the music in a way that feels empowering for their LGBTQ+ fans.

With Smitten’s melting pot of influences, Pale Waves have crafted a multifaceted sound that can only be considered their own.  Smitten will add further depth to their live setlist and another edge to an already sharp and versatile band. As Heather has said: “These will be the best Pale Waves shows to date. The UK is home for us, so these shows are even more special and we’re so excited to get to play songs from Smitten live.”

US Open verdict:A poor end to the year

James Blackburn discusses his verdict on the US Open; ‘Tired players, low quality matches and boring winners made this renewal one to forget

Arthur Ashe stadium is the largest in all of tennis and is so often the booming soundtrack to iconic matches: think Kim Clijsters’ comeback win in 2009, Andy Murray breaking his major duck in 2012 at the fifth time of asking or deafening boos during the controversial 2018 Williams-Osaka final. This year, though, you could be forgiven for thinking this was a 500 event, such was the lack of enthusiasm from the crowds.

The men’s tournament in particular was disappointing. Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic’s shock second round exits were indicative of a post-Olympics burnout, unsurprising given the emotional toll of that epic gold medal match on both men, clearing the way for a fresh Jannik Sinner to claim his second hard court slam of the year. 

That Sinner would play just days after being embroiled in a doping controversy for having a trace amount of Clostebol, a steroid, in his system (he has been ruled not at fault by an independent tribunal, though the World Anti-Drug Agency is still investigating) meant that his own celebration was understated and left a cloud hanging over the tournament. 

Sinner’s straight sets win in the final over Fritz felt inevitable, despite Sinner rarely reaching his mercurial best throughout over the fortnight, which left fans struggling to engage in what was already an historic match given Fritz was the first American man in a slam final since 2009. Jeopardy was scarce in this contest save for Fritz going a break up in the third, before Sinner quickly reestablished his authority to win. 

Working backwards from the semis, what should’ve been a feast of tennis — the All-American showdown between Fritz and Francis Tiafoe — ended on a down note after Tiafoe crumbled in the fifth. You had the bizarre Sinner-Draper match where the Brit vomited a number of times on court in what felt like the longest three-setter ever due to Sinner’s forehand going missing. 

Tiafoe-Dimitrov in the quarters ended with a heartbreaking retirement for the Bulgarian; we were robbed of a contest between Draper and Alex De Minaur owing to the reoccurence of De Minaur’s hip injury; Sinner-Medvedev didn’t live up to expectation… I could go on.

Why were all these matches not up to standard then? I think the answer lies in the gruelling schedule on the ATP and WTA tour in 2024. Several players have expressed their frustration with the non-stop tennis season, such as women’s World No.1 Iga Swiatek who has voiced concerns about the impact of the schedule on players’ physical and mental wellbeing, stating that “we don’t have time to work on stuff or live peacefully.” Olympic silver medallist Donna Vekic echoed Swiatek’s sentiment, saying that “the schedule is absolutely brutal” and that “you don’t have time to relax, get rest before you start training again.”

Words by James Blackburn

Cover image credit : The Standard/ Reuters

For Your Sins Debuts Dea Matrona’s Entrance into Rock Scene

Eszter Vida reviews irish rock duo Dea Matrona’s debut album as they are venture into the territory of pop and rock music with their stellar debut album For Your Sins.

Let me introduce you to your favourite band: Dea Matrona. The duo, composed of Orlaith Forsythe and Mollie McGinn, plummeted into the country-rock industry with their eagerly anticipated debut album For Your Sins. The catchy pop-rock album makes a sweeping statement on its themes of intoxicating love and frenzy with a passionate blend of their indie-rock, pop and disco influences, topped off by their individuating Irish identity.

I stumbled on them, as you do with most rising acts nowadays, through their Instagram reels, specifically a viral clip of them covering fellow Irish heroes The Cranberries. It seems this identity becomes a foundation in many of the songs, along with their mythological name derived from the Celtic goddess depicting the alluded divine femininity of their aura. While their style is very derivative of classic rock, the duo equally boasts their love of country legends like Dolly Parton and Shania Twain soundtracking their coming together many years ago as friends and in constructing this passion project.

The opening track lures you into a brooding 90s Matrix vibe. ‘Stuck on You’ as an apt opener kicks off the LP with an unapologetic attitude of wanting somebody and feeling the unshakeable urge in being lured into an existential questioning of passion and sin. It’s a catchy, femme-fatale type of track with a trilling guitar and bass riff that mirrors the apocalyptic zeitgeist of the album, which becomes even more evident in songs like ‘Red Button’ with the impending doom of staccato guitar, especially in the fiery lyrical imagery of the bridge section. They certainly embody the idea of having nothing to lose and layer up with a smoky demeanour on the bold follow up ‘Stamp On It’. This shapes the album’s more classic 70s rock side of glimmering Beach Boys-esque backing vocals and distorted guitars. Declarations of ‘just like a treasure, you belong to my collection’ and ‘you’re my religion, baby come and put a stamp on it’ don’t suggest but scream desire while songs like ‘So Damn Dangerous’ offer a heavier, grittier take, with influences of their more modern contemporaries of Arctic Monkey’s AM era coming through.

The best way to absorb somebody’s music for the first time is to see them live, which is why I went down to Vinyl Whistle on a Saturday morning to see their acoustic set before their headline at The Wardrobe. Their spirit performing live really shone through as you get to experience their unique inspirations of stories behind songs like ‘Did Nobody Ever Love You?’, a funky and biting response to Mollie “being pissed off”, as put it in their own words.

image credit: Sonic PR

Something else that was great to experience live was what we hear on the informal B side of the album. Their more country-folk, ‘breeze in your hair’ type of road trip songs that bring their harmonies bring together in a stunningly symbiotic way echo the vibe of California girl rock groups like HAIM. ‘Glory, Glory (I am free)’ represents the duo’s togetherness with a country-folk, There’s a good mix of easy-listening and breezy tracks on this record, like ‘Won’t Feel Like This Forever’, which encapsulate the humble campfire nature of how these songs are carefully crafted with heartfelt stories on the trials and tribulations of youth and entering a whole new realm of life and music. Their success comes after years of busking and their musical progression from obsessing over their country influences, a key signal found among the bluesy riffs in the likes of ‘Dead Man’s Heart’. The whimsical pop track ‘Every Night I Want You’ is another stand out that is definitely a song reserved for the summer, with 60s style backing ‘doos’ and ‘woos’ sang in a more upbeat disposition.

My favourite track on the album must be their dark, moonlit closer ‘Black Rain’, which rounds off a gloomy yet suggestive nod to the uncertainty of the future. If ‘Stuck on You’ represents dusk, this song is the moonlight after sunset as the significant duality of these tracks ties up the broody imagery, which is effervescently witchy and Stevie Nicks coded. Lyrics like ‘the weather’s changing and my body’s changing’, the song feels almost transformative and paranormal as the band described in other publications that its meaning resembles “that feeling when your heart sinks”, leaving us on a narratively ominous ending.

Already touring venues like Leeds’ Wardrobe and opening at BST Hyde Park shows for Sheryl Crow, success is on the sunny horizon for this group. For fans of Heart, Fleetwood Mac and potentially Abba, this is for people who enjoy fun and fearless experimenting with the blending of genres, which has helped shaped the duo’s roaringly distinct sound, enriching the sound of today’s indie-rock spheres. 

Dea Matrona’s debut album For Your Sins is out now on all platforms for streaming and purchasing.

Words by Eszter Vida

Interview with JAMES’ Saul Davies

Written and edited by Millie Cain.

Sat outside his home in a pair of Ray-Bans and a denim shirt, he looked so classically rock.

How are you feeling about playing the First Direct in June?

Of all the arenas we play in the UK its my favourite, its really powerful sounding its great to be on stage in there, being under the lights just feels amazing. I don’t know what they did right when they built that place, but it was something right – because playing arenas can feel quite soulless. But actually, I love it. What were the iconic venues in Leeds that are probably gone now? It’s a bit like in Manchester, all of our towns had these amazing venues and a lot of these venues have gone.

We’re lucky, we have a real, across Yorkshire really, an amazing audience and an amazing connection to our audience, so that venue always sells out when we play there, and it always sounds amazing, and we always look forward to playing it on our tour. A lot of people say that, but it is actually true. There are other venues that fall into that category, like in London, Wembley is a belter, it’s quite different really to Leeds, its older and it just sounds amazing. It’s a tight and powerful sound, just everything sounds hyper in there. A lot of these sheds are horrible, but I suppose with music, it’s not where its natural place is to play. I always feel like it’s a bit of a shame, to pay (so much quid) but we’ve nothing to do with it, we don’t get anything from the bar or the t-shirt prices.

There are definitely special places to play though, recently you’ve played the Apollo in Manchester in aid of Music Feeds Live, and how was it organising such an event with so many other artists?

That was my initiative, my (something?) where I am now. We did it online during the pandemic and donated the money raised to food banks and then we thought we want to do – (interrupted by dog Nell “alright Nell” laughing) we wanted to do something physical, you know on the stage. So we decided to take on that venue, and we had an amazing crew, The Farmer, Star Sailor and Chicane, Simon Armitage and it was amazing. It was difficult, hellishly stressful, we got some money from to the Trussel Trust that came, people brought food on the night, food parcels, made donations. It was really worth doing but hard you know. But it also was a good reminder that there isn’t many of those kinds of events. So we should do this, its difficult and a bit tricky to pull off.

Yeah, it’s really worth it for donations but raising awareness as well is so important.

Yeah, and showing and being able to say well look we’re gonna show solidarity for those who need that support, and it doesn’t go unnoticed that people do that work and support and it doesn’t go unnoticed that people need that support. No one person or one organisation, of course, is ever going to sort that out, I think that’s a mad spaghetti junction of problems and issues that we wont ever really be able to solve I don’t think any time soon. At the same time, I do think its right that people who feel like they’ve got the energy to do something, do it.

The new album is coming out in April, there was 86 jam sessions in the course of 3 weeks and there is a bonus CD ‘Pudding’ coming out, in your experience how are the jam sessions used creatively, and which track was most enjoyable to make?

Now there was a period in the late 90s where we did things slightly different, we’d all work on stuff at home and send it off to Tim and he would come up with vocals and stuff and they would become our songs. But that was short-lived, For us in James, it’s been 42 years, we just do it that way, we just get together and jam and it’s a bit of a mess and its inefficient and its hugely invigorating at times.

Yeah, it sounds pretty intense…

It is very intense yeah; we go into a room, and we don’t know what to do and we just do stuff. Some of it, a lot of it, is shit. Oh, that doesn’t work or that one sounds like it does, and sometimes you go back to the ones that were really cool, and it turns out the one we thought was shite was actually really good. And then we try to make a structure out of the racket that we’re making. Its cool you know, it’s not very efficient or an easy way to work but it’s the way we do it. Its not an easy way to work. But it’s the way we do it, its hugely challenging and hugely rewarding. I think on this record I had a big hand in a few of the songs on the record, finding them in jams in the first place and identifying bits of them that I thought could work and putting them together in a way that then we presented to the group as a possible. And they made it all the way through to the end. There’s a song called “Shadow of a Giant” that I really like on the record, which I didn’t put the jam together, but it was always very fast, and its now a very slow song, but it was originally a double tempo, twice as fast, and my suggestion was to half time it and give it this fatally kind of feel about it, and they put violin on it, which I was very happy with that performance. A guy called Jon Hopkins who’s known a lot for his electronic music, he played piano on it, so it was cool. There was another song called “Butterfly” which I really liked and I kind of put together really, but it’s a bit of a mad piece of music, but I do really, really like it.

And our fans will let us know if they think its shit,

Well, considering you’re still selling out arenas, there’s obviously still that audience there

I think its really interesting because I think there’s been a little bit of a resurgence of interest in a period of music where we certainly were very active in the mid-90s, and probably in a nostalgic way, looking at that era, but also in a way that you can look at any era of music and you can still inadvertently, unconsciously or even perhaps consciously, steal ideas from that time. In seeing that happening with new artists that are coming through, they’re looking at that period of time, thinking ‘it was really cool!’ and we were there when it originally happened, and I’m sure it was that cool but whatever! (laughs) You know so, I do think there’s a little resurgence of interest in that period of music, and a lot of the music that was around at that point way guitar music, so I think it also brings a little bit of focus on guitar music which I think is good. Kids getting into rooms together with instruments, just bashing out noise, I think is a great thing for people to do, it brings people together in a really nice way. And that’s more difficult to do when you’re a solo artist or you’re very electronic or whatever, but I do think its very good, there’s been a long long history in the UK, across the world, but in the UK, especially people who come from a particular social background and thinking “fuck you, we wanna be heard”.

One of the songs on the album “Rouge” tackes ageism, at the minute do you feel a lack of respect for the older generation of bands and for James as an energetic band, do you feel like there’s a point to prove while you’re touring?

No, I don’t think so, although I think people around us and the audience might think there is, and I can understand that, it is understandable, but no I don’t think we do. We can’t deny or hide the fact we all get older, one thing you get while getting older is your perspective changes quite a lot and I think there’s a tendency to believe that people get a lot more right wing and conservative as they get older but obviously, I feel like we aren’t exactly doing the opposite but we’re definitely not falling into that trap.

There was a show in Athens last year where you played with a full orchestra, what kind of experience was that?

 We do feel like a mini little army as a band anyway, we could be an 11 a side football team, a mixed football team that is.  But that was really special, very stressful too, we were aware of where we were and that place is just insanely special, its really something right. Its also quite controversial, being British with the Elgen Marbles, as we call them, and the rest of it, and that was all raging last year, a lot of debate about what the UK should do and what Greece wanted the UK in terms of returning those artifacts, so it was interesting to then go in there and play. I think it was viciously hot that day, its hot anyway but its 40+ degrees down there in the bowl, as the marble holds the heat, even into the late night its boiling. It was a very special night, it was a privilege to play there, I made a quip that night about standing where Plato stood and they actually were there, Thucydides and all those guys. And I know not everyone had a classical education but nonetheless we all know who Plato is. I have to say, its really magical, a lot of movement and noise around, you get towards those steps and get towards it, and you just go “wow”. For us to play there, it was just beyond special, it wasn’t an easy gig, technically, for us to pull off, because of the space, but we did it, we did a great show. It was one of the highlights of our career, we filmed it and recorded the audio, to I’d like for us to put that out.

There’s been a lot of activity recently with AI in music, would you guys ever want to get involved in that and what do you think about it?

No, my opinion is actually, well I was talking to Tim the other day and he doesn’t get my opinion at all, but I actually think Ive seen a little crack in the debate surrounding this, I think AI just another change, a technological advance, and like so many potential advances they have good and bad things happen, like every single thing that we do we enjoy the positives but create dangerous and difficult moments throughout history as humans. Artificial intelligence isn’t a thing, its not a robot, we can make a robot and AI could guide that to take over the world but that’s very much sci fi to me. I think what people are saying is the threat to our creative culture. A lot of music that has been made for a long time, back into the 50s has been very formulaic. Theres always been teams of writers, people like Elvis and Ella Fitzgerald would walk into a room and be handed a song that conforms to a certain type of style. A lot of our pop music is already very formulaic, and it is across all genres, into hip hop, rap and even grime has its own rules, and they need to follow those rules or things won’t happen when the ear needs it to happen, and it won’t work. In my opinion, this is just another tool, I think people have been cheating anyway by being formulaic and AI is just another form of cheating in a sense, and I can see that as an extension to the formulaic way that music has been made for a very long time. Some hugely brilliant songs though, just because they’re formulaic doesn’t mean they’re not good, like ABBA, almost invented their own formulaic and we have to admire it because its so well done. Some people might say that about The Beatles, I don’t because I think they’re geniuses, but some people might say that. I just don’t buy it really; I think we need to have a much more nuanced view and we need to embrace the change or then we will get fucked by it. In creative industries, if there’s one place, we should embrace change surely its in a creative industry. How do we embrace it and make it good? How do we change the narrative. And I’m fed up of reading the guardian, a bunch of tossers  whining, where’s the level of intelligence surrounding this debate? I’m just not seeing it.

This album is very light, there’s hope and joy, after a few negative years, there seems to be a change in more positive music.

I agree, I think you’re right, we’ve got that song called “Life’s A Fucking Miracle”, and I think that a really good statement that Tim’s made there, that’s quite a clever one I wanna see that on a t-shirt, I want a bucket hat, to see a bunch of yobbos wearing it. But I’ve got to go, thank you so much, it was really nice to meet you, bye bye!