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Envy & Other Sins play guitars (and keyboards and drums), but not in the way that has come to define British guitar-pop in the last year or two. They do just what it says on the unique Envy tin: proffer Englishly thoughtful, singular lyrics wrapped in succulent three-minute melodies. Their musical references are Roxy Music and The Kinks, their visual guideposts Art Nouveau and Charlie Chaplin, and what they strive for is an experience that “takes you out of the everyday” and into a world of “faded glamour” - in other words, a life less ordinary. They have just been signed to A&M Records and are about to release their debut album 'We Leave At Dawn' on 31 Mar. |
Q1 How did you start out making music?
Our parents' record collections, old 45s and LPs at first, and then progressing into playing in bands at school, and realising that making music was all we wanted to do...
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Our latest (and first!) album, We Leave At Dawn is inspired by that sense of not quite belonging, of being just on the edge of things, and watching the world from that perspective. There are quite a few lyrical themes running through the album, although the songs are individually about a range of subjects. We like people to listen and draw their own conclusions, the same words can mean very different things to different people. We don't take ourselves too seriously all the time, so some of our songs will be fun to listen to, but there are darker moments in everything we do, because that's what life's like!
Q3 What process do you go through in creating an album?
Everything starts with songs for us, writing them, arranging them and playing them live, and finding the sounds to complement them. As this is our first album, it's been a few years in the gestation, so the process is likely to change...
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
We listen to quite an eclectic range of music, all of it influences us one way or another, even if some of our influences are harder to hear in our own music than others. We identify with bands like The Kinks and Roxy Music, but between us we listen to a lot of Dylan, Bowie and more recent bands like Arcade Fire, Midlake and so on. We don't feel that we're terribly similar to many bands around at the moment, which is fine by us.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Enjoy it, and think about it as much or as little as you like!
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album/single, and for the future?
We just want people to listen to our music and want to hear more. As we're recently signed, we're really excited to be releasing an album, and looking forward to playing live to people who've already had a chance to listen to our songs. Beyond that, to make more music that we'd want to listen to if we weren't in the band.
published feb 2008
