It’s been too long since we last had Zoe Graham for a gab – 5 years! – but the wait has been well worth it. With the release of her debut album, TENT, to dive into, Louise Holland caught up with Zoe on a chill Sunday – chill, except for the small matter of some Glasgow high-rises being demolished – for some music chat, writing chat, touring chat, and who the heck is Evilin? chat.
So, the debut album is finally here! Your sound has evolved quite a bit over the years. Is the album like your flag finally being planted?
Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I think partly that. I think also, I’ve never, ever wanted to put myself in a box with anything. So I always feel like when I come to the end of a project, it’s a nice opportunity for me to try something new. I felt like I had a lot to prove.
The album is titled TENT. Where did that come from?
Whatever I feel like it’s going to be in the moment. It’s kind of an ever-shifting acronym and meaning. So, TENT could be ten songs about therapy, which is like, super literal, or it could be the eternal navigation of truth, which is another thing that I thought just sounds cool. Otherwise it’s just a physical, literal tent. Because when I was writing and recording the album, I was in a lot of therapy; being in therapy often feels as vulnerable as sleeping in a tent at night.
TENT has been likened to being on a therapist’s couch with the door flung wide open. Outside of personal experience, where else do you draw inspiration when you write?
I don’t know, to be honest. I think I’ve always found that writing songs almost feels like – this is going to sound quite wanky – but it’s like a biological function. It’s something that either happens because of fate or happens because my mind’s got to that point in its little thought process where it needs to, or something just happens. With this album, I removed myself as much as I could from it. Instead of just using ‘me’ or ‘I’, I used a lot of ‘we’ and ‘us’ – like a communal kind of thing.
You’ve been touring around Europe with some of the songs from this new album. What’s the reception been, outside of the UK?
It’s been really nice. I noticed that playing in Europe is a whole different kettle of fish from playing in the UK. Well, actually, every gig is always different, and every audience is different, no matter where you are. Playing Germany seems to be like a rite of passage for musicians from the UK. They’ve got so many different radio stations. Their radio thing is so much bigger and broader than it is here. We have just a couple of big stations while they’re really into independent radio and community radio. There’s thousands and thousands of radio stations, and they’re really into finding new music, which is less of a thing I think in the UK.
I found that people are really passionate and excited. They’ll come to the shows and they’re engaged with the music: they listen, they really interact. I love playing in the UK, obviously; it’s not like one’s better than the other. I think people in the UK get my sense of humour more. My kind of silly Scottish sense of humor does not translate. I had to explain to the Germans what a jobbie was, and they thought it was like a cigarette.
How did you feel when you knew, just 100 percent knew that the album was done, after all the production of writing the music, all of the stress and graft?
Well, I remember we had a two-week stint down at Ben’s [Christophers, album co-producer] place to kind of just get through as much of the last parts as we could. I remember leaving him at the train station for the last time. And it was like a scene out of a wartime film or something. I’m waving him off on the Northern line. It was really funny, because we got to the end of this big journey together, but we hadn’t really finished at that point. There was still quite a lot to do. It wasn’t until we had the last masters back, that I thought: Okay, this is done now. I think that’s the thing with our art and all creative things, it never really feels done.
One more question. There’s one character that stands out in the album; I need to ask, Evilin, is she real?
Hmmm…good question. I think there’s many Evilins in life. I think we all have an Evilin somewhere among us, even if we know her or not, she’s there lurking. For me she is a real person, whoever that person may be – and it’s not my mum! This song’s not about my mum: just because it’s her in the video everybody thinks it’s a song about her. I think she’s real. We all have an Evilin lurking, imaginary or not.
TENT is out now on Bandcamp and in record shops.
Zoe Graham will play at Clyde Chorus alongside Lucia And The Best Boys at The Savings Bank, Glasgow on 31st May. Tikets here.
Main Photo Credit: Cameron Brisbane
