Interview: Lucy Rose

        Sitting three doors down from Elektrowerkz, the basement venue in which she played one of her first London headline shows in 2010, Lucy Rose is talking about her debut album. Recorded in her parent’s basement, but mastered at Abbey Road studios in London, Lucy describes the album as “Lo-fi, with tons of character”, and admits that she is terrified of releasing it.

        Since featuring on Bombay Bicycle Club’s critically acclaimed acoustic album Flaws, Lucy has been talked about on just about every platform going, and her brand of husky, atmospheric folk has even been picked up by Radio 1. Not fazed by the increasing word-of-mouth excitement generated over her debut, Lucy insists she doesn’t buy into the hype, and is more excited to hear her fan’s reaction to the record.

        Since 2010, Lucy’s been touring the world with Bombay Bicycle Club, whilst simultaneously doing round of solo tours, with increasing venue sizes each time. This autumn she sets off on her biggest tour yet, playing The Electric in London, a 1,500 capacity venue which is almost double her last London show. Soaking up the last of the sun in London, Lucy chatted about what the last 2 years has been like for her.

Your album’s been a long time in the making, how do you feel now that it’s about to be released?
I feel like I’ve gone through a lot of different stages of emotions about it coming out. When we first started recording I was so excited for people to hear it, and once I got signed I was really pushing for it to come out soon, and then the last few weeks I’ve been like, “Oh god, am I really ready for this now? Am I in the right place for this to be coming out?” and now I think since this morning, I’ve just thought that it’s coming out, it’s happening. Whatever happens happens, and it would just be a waste of energy to be worrying about it now.

Does the album sound as you hoped it would when you started recording?
It’s exactly what I wanted it to sound like! Songs like Shiver, I just thought I’d never be able to capture it as it should be, and I think it’s perfect. Obviously there are always things you’d change if you could go back, but we were doing it in my parent’s house, and it was never going to be perfect. That’s the reason I love it, it’s lo-fi and it’s got tons of character. I think you can really tell when an album’s been made in a glossy studio instead of your parent’s room, and I think that character is perfect for the first album.
Did you feel the pressure of so many people having high expectations? 
I think if I’d been on BBC sound of 2012 or something along those lines, there would be serious pressure to deliver, which can be a curse in itself. I don’t really buy into hype, but what’s nice is that the hype this album’s received is just people excited to hear it. All the radio stations have been really helpful in picking it up, and supporting it. It’s just my first album, and hopefully I can grow on it, and get better.

It was recorded in your parent’s basement, but mastered at Abbey Road studios. What was that experience like?
That was a bit weird, because I wasn’t really involved in that bit. I didn’t know it was going to be Abbey Road until that morning, and it seemed quite ironic because the rest of the process of the album was so different!

A lot of the songs on the album were demos on your myspace a while ago, what was it like to have those recorded with a full band? 
The demos were so rough, it was exciting to do it properly and exactly how I wanted them to be. The worst thing is making a perfect demo, and having this kind of demo-itis and not being sure how to make it any better. Even if I was writing new bits on the day, I wanted the whole band to be playing them so they felt like they were really creating something with me. There were a few moments where it was like “shit, this song doesn’t sound right anymore” but they were the best moments for me, because when you get the right guitar part or the right vocal, it just all makes sense again. I knew exactly how I didn’t want the album to be, I think I’m probably my producer’s worst nightmare, being like “I hate this and this, we have to change it!” but then I’d make him a cup of tea and we’d be fine.

The lyrics on the album are very personal, was that intentional or just the way you write? 
I don’t think about what I’m writing, it’s just a release for me. All those years when I was writing songs and nobody was listening to them, it was just a release for me to say how I felt. I’m such a closed book in all other aspects of my life, I don’t talk to people about my feelings, and song-writing is the only time I do. In Shiver there was a moment where I was feeling what I was feeling, and I wrote the song in my bedroom, and it was nothing more than that.

Do you find it weird having such personal lyrics available to the public? 
Yeah! I think I’m more used to it now, but especially when you’re singing new songs that are really personal, and mean a lot to you, it’s difficult to do that without feeling totally embarrassed the whole time. The first time I played a lot of these songs was scary, to say the least. Especially when it’s a new song, it’s more of a fresh feeling as well, so you’ve just written it and you’re still feeling it and you’re about to sing it to people, it can be quite an overwhelming feeling.

You’ve played a couple of festivals this summer, have there been any highlights for you?
Yeah, there have been tons of highlights! Just before Green Man our van broke down in Cornwall, which is a seven-hour drive from the festival, and we had to hire two cars. Only two of us had driving licenses, so I had to drive for seven hours, more than I’d ever done before, and we got there about half an hour before show time, and we just didn’t know what we were doing. If that show had been bad, I would’ve just jumped off a cliff, but it was so good. It was one of the best festivals of the whole summer, and we got an encore which was really bizarre. Reading and Leeds was really good too, because it’s a rock festival so you don’t expect the crowd, and they were unbelievably special.

How does playing smaller solo shows compare to playing massive crowds with Bombay Bicycle Club? 
They’re totally different. Playing my own music is a different feeling. I much prefer the smaller crowds. In the smaller tents, I love the crowd interaction, whereas in the big tents the gap between the stage and the crowd is so huge, it’s weird. With Bombay, I get to sing on all of their brilliant songs which is lovely, but I’ve had to stop touring with them now, Ally Pally was my last proper show.

Has touring with them inspired your writing and sound, do you think? 
Definitely! Jack’s just such a brilliant songwriter, I’ve definitely been inspired by him at some point or another. The band themselves are just so tight, it’s probably pushed me to make sure me and my band were equally as tight.

Do you take inspiration from any other artists when writing and recording? 
I’m sure I do subconsciously. I’m sure that deep down the music I listen to inspires me, because it’s what I love and what I listen to. At the moment I’m listening to the Maccabees new album, Feist, Cat Power, Kurt Vile. When I first started writing this album I was listening to a lot of Neil Young, which I think drove the direction of this album.

Do you think that playing with a full band now has given you more confidence performing live?
I think I just enjoy it more, because it’s exciting. When I used to play in the school orchestra, it was 40 people picking up instruments and making this amazing sound together. I love that feeling with the band, everyone’s playing something and together you make a noise. Playing music with your friends is so exciting when you’re creating this wall of sound.

Do you have any songs that are your favourite to play live?
I think the band and me love to play Watch Over live, because it’s exciting and it changes. Lines is also a lot of fun to play live, when the chorus kicks in that’s really fun.


The video for Bikes is so different to any of your others so far. How did that come together?
We were in a meeting and the record company asked if I had an idea for a video for Bikes, and I was like “Actually…I kinda do” and I said that I want to be on a bike, in the American desert, with lots of Hell’s Angels biking with me, and a bar fight. They were just like “Alright, let’s do it.” Some of the label wanted to do it in England, and the whole idea was the desert and the whole American dream concept, and I didn’t know if we could do it in the Lake District, so the main debate was getting them to fly me to LA for two days. It sounds like a bigger deal than it was, I just sat on a plane for my own for two days!
Do you still have your tea and jam onsale at shows?
Yeah I do! The next tour there’ll be lots of tea and jam, and I’m trying to get tea towels. And maybe t-shirts

You’re about to tour some big venues this autumn, does that make you nervous?
Massively so. I don’t even want to think about the difference in venue sizes, I’m dying! We play our hardest every time, and it’s quite hard to make it different each time, but everyone will have the album this time, so they should know all the words! Hopefully the shows will be more upbeat in places than people imagine, we can make a serious amount of noise together!

Album Review: Lucy Rose - Like I Used To

For long-time fans of Lucy Rose, the track-listing to Like I Used To reads pretty similarly to her old MySpace demos. Old favourites such as Be Alright, and Don’t You Worry make an appearance, having seemingly disappeared into internet nothingness when Lucy started to gain attention. What separates the album from the early demos is the flawless production, including new backing vocals and a slew of new instruments. Recorded in her parent’s basement, and mastered at Abbey Road studios, the album has a polished roughness to it. The vocals are still as husky and recognisable as ever, and contrast superbly with the crisp, clean production.

From opener Red Face, the tone of the album is set. In previous interviews, Lucy has spoken of how she wants her music to be “atmospheric” and to sound “very close.” She’s achieved exactly this, with her voice being the undeniable force guiding the album, with backing vocals, harmonies and instrumentals fading somewhat into the background as her voice distracts. Previous singles Middle of the Bed and Lines are reminders of why Lucy attracted such a huge following so early on, she knows how to write a beautiful song. Accompanied by guitars, violins and heavy percussion throughout the album, the old songs take on a new life of their own, and memories of early demos pale in comparison.

Lyrically, the album is much of what fans have come to expect from Lucy. Eschewing the distant, metaphorical lyrics favoured by her folky counterparts Laura Marling et al, Lucy’s lyrics are personal and honest, notably in heartbreaker Shiver,  “I loved the way you looked at me, and I miss the way you made me feel when we were alone.” By not keeping the listener at arm’s length lyrically, Lucy manages to further emphasise the “closeness” of the album and really give the listener a sense of involvement. 

After playing enormous venues with Bombay Bicycle Club since 2010, whilst simultaneously working her way up the London basement venues as a solo act, Lucy has gained the confidence and the experience to produce a beautifully written, recorded and produced album. 

Review: Latitude Festival 2012

Performers in the Comedy tent are all too quick to point out how middle-class Latitude is. The festival, now in it's seventh year, has a long-running reputation for being overrun with families and posh folk from the neighbouring Suffolk towns. It's probably fair to say that's it's a little more polite and pretty than festivals like Reading and T in the Park, but I struggle to see why that would put anybody off.

As well as being set in the middle of a forest and offering the most scenic festival camp-site of them all, the line-up this year was one of the strongest yet. Headliners included Bon Iver, Elbow and Paul Weller, but the most exciting acts were on the smaller stages, especially the Lake Stage and i Arena. This year saw performances from Twin Shadow, Alt-J, Splashh, Tall Ships, Weird Dreams, Peace and Perfume Genius on the smaller stages, and proved that Latitude are just as good as getting up-and-coming bands as well as established headliners.

These were my highlights.

Lana Del Rey

After so many mixed reviews for Lana's live performances, my expectations for her set at the Word Arena were muddled. Having thoroughly enjoyed her album, I really wanted her to be brilliant live. Instead, Lana sashayed from one side of the stage to another, trying but somewhat failing to sing in time to the music, and looking incredibly nervous. The silence and wait between each song was hard to ignore, and cut into the set quite awkwardly. Her descent into the audience mid-way through the set left a huge gap, and didn't do much to excite the people further back in the crowd. However, the set list definitely showcased the best of her album, and her nervousness and confusion was actually weirdly quite endearing. Ending the set on current single National Anthem, Lana gave her strongest performance and just about managed to win the crowd over (those of them who had stayed long enough, mind).

Metronomy
Metronomy's slot just before headliner Bon Iver could've proved tricky for them, considering they don't necessarily share a fanbase, but even oblivious audience members seemed to be quietly tapping their feet. Frontman Joe Mount reminisced about the first time he played Latitude, and how good it felt to be playing "at the top of the hill, now." Since his first performance there, all the way back in 2007, Metronomy have gained a bassist and a drummer, and songs from latest album 'The English Riviera' fit perfectly with tracks from their first two albums in a career-spanning set.

Bon Iver

Taking to the stage just as the sun began to set, Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon and his massive band (including two drummers) launched straight into Perth. At this point, a devoted (read: drunk) fan next to me burst into tears, and didn't pause for breath until the end of the set. Her reaction was obviously over-the-top, and should have been irritating, but I think everybody in the audience could sympathise with her. Songs from both Justin's debut, and Grammy-winning eponymous follow-up are transformed live, with his full band giving a thickness and a fullness to the songs that couldn't quite be captured in a studio environment. Predictably, mega-hit Skinny Love garners the best audience reaction, inciting a deafening singalong.Other highlights include fan-favourites Holocene and Beth/Rest, again both from the second album. However, the encore is comprised of first-album tracks, The Wolves (Act I and II) and For Emma, Forever Ago. Whilst the size of the band threatened to overpower the more sparse songs, instead they served only to emphasise them, and this is where Bon Iver gave their strongest performance of the night. 

Summer Camp
A last-minute cancellation meant that Summer Camp were booked to play in the Film & Music Arena directly after Bon Iver finished. Backed by their usual footage of 80s films and dance sequences, Elizabeth and Jeremy played a set of songs from the Young EP, debut album Welcome to Condale, and new EP Always. For a band who only released an album last October, they have an impressive amount of material to play, and were given a generously lengthy set to show it off. The band seemed genuinely thrilled to be playing the festival, claiming they were big fans of it (Jeremy had also previously played there when he was still a solo act) and it might have been excitement about their booking, or excitement about their latest release being so critically praised, but Summer Camp gave one of their most energetic and brilliant performances to date.

Theme Park
Sound problems aren't uncommon at festivals with a high turnover of bands, and unfortunately this time it was Theme Park that suffered. Their set, which was comprised of very promising sounding songs from their upcoming debut, was interrupted a few times by harsh feedback sounds, and the vocals were somewhat lost under overpowering guitars. Regardless, the band played an excellent set, and the audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy it, it's just a shame their performance was interrupted by something they couldn't control.

Laura Marling

With a back catalogue of three albums (and a fourth in the making) to choose from, it must be difficult for Laura Marling to choose a set list. Having seen her a week before at Royal Albert Hall, where she played her entire third album in full, as well as a selection of old and brand-new songs, I was interested to see what made it to the festival set list. By some miracle, the crowd (largely comprised of Elbow fans - AKA dads/drunks) stayed completely silent for the entire set, which is exactly what you'd want at a Laura Marling gig. Playing songs from her second and third album, and a guest spot from first album bonus track Alas, I Cannot Swim, Laura was quiet between songs, but her minimal interaction included a thanks for the audience for coming, and an appreciation of the lovely weather and setting for her performance. Laura also introduced the audience to her band, before revealing that this would be her last gig for a "very long time", before ending on an encore-worthy trio of Do Not Ask Me Why/Salinas and I Speak Because I Can.

The Horrors
Playing on almost the year-anniversary of the release of third-album Skying, the Horrors set was a perfect way to round off a year that saw them tour the UK multiple times, and win the NME award for Best Album. The Word Arena was looking pretty empty as the band took the stage, which could've had something to do with them clashing with headliners Elbow, but as soon as the opening bars of Mirror's Image began, a stampede of people came flocking up the hill to the tent, which filled out considerably. Playing a set of songs from both Primary Colours and Skying, including newly-added You Said, The Horrors filled their headline slot perfectly. Strongest were the singles from Skying, I Can See Through You and Still Life, and the would-be encore 15-minute version of Moving Further Away. 

Lucy Rose

"I know exactly who I'm clashing with, and I can't thank you enough for coming" says Lucy, mid-way through her set. She was talking about a very ill-thought-out clash with Ben Howard, who drew one of the biggest crowds at the Obelisk Arena for a daytime slot. Despite the clash meaning the audience at Lucy Rose was about half of what it would have been otherwise, Lucy was still heckled with marriage proposals and admissions of love. Her set was made-up of songs from highly-anticipated upcoming album Like I Used To, which has just been mastered at Abbey Road Studios, and is set for release this September. Highlights were fan-favourites Night Bus and Bikes, which Lucy has been playing for the longest, but the newer songs suggested what we can expect from the new album, and it's very exciting stuff.