London/Aarhus-based alt-folk-leftfield rock band The Little Unsaid head to Durham this month so Lee Allcock caught up with them to find out about their new record and more.
Your new album, ‘Atomise’, is released this month. How did the recording process go? Did you have any issues working in a remote, rural Pembrokeshire cottage to record the rough demos too?
I live in South London and found I wasn’t getting any time or headspace to write amidst the chaos of my life there, so I chucked some recording gear in the van and fled to the middle of nowhere on my own for a week to try to get the album written. My friend’s grandparents needed someone to look after their cat at their cottage in Pembrokeshire, and they had this lovely old upright piano I could hammer away on long into the nights without bothering anyone (except the cat).
The new album reflects upon an atmosphere of division and unrest that has crept into everyday life, but the lyrics seemingly seek to explore those little pools of light in the darkness. Why do you feel that it’s important to have faith that things will get better amidst the chaos?
I think music can create sparks of beauty in some of the darkest depths of human experience, and if a song resonates it can give you a feeling of hope; that feeling that you’re not alone in feeling the way you do. It’s important to me that The Little Unsaid’s music doesn’t shy away from that, because the way I see it so many of us are struggling day to day both within and without, and it is hugely important to reflect that. But the songs are, I think, always looking for specks of light and hope because that’s what keeps us going, keeps us connected to each other and makes the world feel like home no matter how twisted it seems to be getting when you look out the window or at the news.
How has the transition been from producing records on a DIY basis to now working with Reveal Records?
The DIY basis never really leaves; I think it’s just a fact of being any kind of artist in the current climate if you want to make the work you’re inspired to make on your own terms. Reveal is a great independent label that the band and I have been fans of for a long time, and we signed with them because of Tom Rose’s ethos in how to put music out and connect with people really resonated with how we’ve been doing things up to now.
And finally, you’re set to play the rather quirky Old Cinema Laundrette in Durham on May 7th. What can gig-goers expect?
I played a solo gig there quite a few years ago and thought the place was wonderfully bizarre and intimate. As a band, we love playing in spaces where the audience is right up close and you can really embellish the tiny details in the music without it getting lost over a massive sound system.
Tickets for The Little Unsaid’s date at the Old Cinema Launderette, priced at £12.00, are available from oldcinemalaunderette.uk.
