Feral Love from Liverpool have been rightly tipped for great things in the coming year. Their first single, the passionately evocative and dream-weaving Like the Wind, has received a whole array of plaudits and been extensively played across BBC radio stations. I was fortunate to catch up with lead singer, Adele Emmas, at their second gig on the Festevol bill earlier this month. Her answers reveal an acutely intelligent and perceptive co-songwriter with Christian, whose craft is influenced and inspired, yet highly intuitive.
So Adele, if you were interviewing yourself, what question would you ask?
I’d probably ask: ‘What books, films, music have influenced you most?’ I always like seeing recommendations from other artists on what has creatively inspired them. There’s that piece of scrap paper (I think it’s a hotel invoice) that Nick Cave wrote down all of his influences on, I love going through stuff like that and looking other people’s recommendations up.
Is there one question you are already fed up of being asked? (I will probably ask it!)
It’s pretty early days for us so we haven’t been asked that many repetitive questions just yet!
Is your music feral or just your love?
I think our music has both elements to it, it’s feral in the sense that it’s come from a very wild and natural place, we haven’t tried to sound a certain way or like or anyone else so in that sense it feels like it’s come completely from us and is very organic. Our music also tends to be quite emotive and hopefully makes people really feel something, so that’s where the love part comes in to play.
When you write music do you write to a visual image in your head or to create real sounds in nature, like wind and fire? To me I hear lots of elements: Into the Fire really sounds like a fire being lit, raging and then dying out again. I hear wind in Like the Wind and water in Swam.
We don’t write to a visual image initially but I guess that just happens along the way, when the lyrics are forming that conjures up what the song is about and the imagery is reflected in that. But all songs come about in different ways, like ‘Swam’ for example, I remember one day just knowing that I wanted us to write a song by that title, so with that initial spark that song came together in the studio a few hours later. That one creates a lot of imagery for me personally, the image of being in a swamp, feeling pulled under by things.
Do you accept that people will interpret your songs, like paintings, in different ways?
Definitely and we’re happy that people interpret them in different ways. We like the fact that the listener may relate it to something they’ve experienced or see it in a completely different light than we do, that’s what makes a song special to each individual person.
Does the musical history of Liverpool have any influence on you or your sound?
The Liverpool music scene is always thriving and it must be engrained in us to a certain extent because it’s the environment and history that we’re surrounded by, but I wouldn’t say it had a direct influence on our sound. I don’t really know where we sound like we’re from but we quite like that.
How did it feel playing live again? That first secret gig in Manchester and then Festevol?
It was really nerve wracking but it felt great to be up there after hibernating for so long! A friend put us on for a warm up/secret gig at The Castle in Manchester and we didn’t announce it until the last minute but it ended up being a great night and people actually showed up! As for Festevol we felt so overwhelmed by the response, we got there and we thought that we’d only be playing to a few people as it was relatively early on in the day but I remember looking up at one point and the room had filled up, it was such a lovely feeling that people had flooded in to see us.
Who is Peter that Ruins was dedicated to?
Peter was a dear friend and close member of my family. He sadly passed away last year and I wrote Ruins in dedication to him. It’s probably the only time I’ll ever make that dedication but it just felt right in that moment as it was our first gig and it holds a lovely memory of an absent friend.
And finally…Stay in, or leave Europe?
Stay in, I think leaving would be a step backwards and although I feel we don’t know enough on what the impact will be either way I don’t like the idea of putting up boundaries, I’d rather we break them down.
(It’s appropriate that Adele should end with this comment because you can’t help feeling that their music is transcendent and free from any attempt to pigeon-hole it or put limits and boundaries on it. It is liberating and uplifting, although it is captivating too, in a paradoxical way. You listen once and find your heart and soul trapped and liberated by a glorious freedom of expression and musical imagery)
Feral Love are: Adele Emmas, Christian Sandford with Grace Goodwin on drums.
Follow them on Facebook and Twitter @Feral_Love
They are playing at: Sound City, Liverpool ( 28th-29th May, 2016) and are supporting Icelandic band, Samaris at Leaf Tea Shop on Bold St, Liverpool (9th June, 2016)
Words and photos by Si. ©Cre8ivation
