BLAKE

Q: It’s really a quite broad emotional spectrum, from your album Louder Than Sound. How would you describe the emotional journey which you wanted to take listeners through with this work?

The album is a sort of diary of the last eighteen months of my life. I write songs about what is going on for me, sometimes using a persona but not often. Louder Than Sound is emotionally truthful. There has been an enormous amount of change in my personal life and the lyrics reflect this.

Q: There’s a recurring theme of love and longing in the album. Songs like She’s Inside My Heart and Love x Forever, for instance, depict love as something offering wholeness. What inspired these themes of devotion and enduring connection?

A person, someone with whom I have fallen deeply in love. The strange thing is that this has also led to lots of challenges and I have had to face some inner demons. I think this is what happens when one experiences an authentic relationship; things that have been kept hidden are exposed and need to be confronted.

Q: Against the warmth of love, there is also a sense of disillusion, particularly in songs like Sharks and Business Hours. How do you balance these opposites in songwriting?

While there is an overall theme to Louder Than Sound, which could perhaps be characterised as emotional catharsis, some of the songs deal with external rather than internal conflicts. Sharks was written about unscrupulous traders but it could apply to anyone who exploits for personal gain. Coming In From The Cold is about society at large taking advantage of the vulnerable. Business Hours, in contrast, is about the end of a relationship.

Q: Sharks, for one, has an intense metaphor, comparing people to sharks. What made you adopt that imagery in criticizing selfishness and deceit in relationships?

It’s not the most original analogy. Unscrupulous people are often referred to as ‘sharks’ or ‘cowboys’. I just wanted to carry it further and think about why that metaphor is used – what is it about the actions of these people that associates them with sharks? I concluded it was the predatory instinct that overrides any other consideration. Sharks have been around longer than the North Star, and yet despite all these years of evolution some human beings can display similar, animalistic, amoral behaviour.

Q: Emotional boundaries are touched upon in some of the pieces in Business Hours. Can you talk a little about setting boundaries, how that works both in relationships and in life?

I have received feedback that I am hopeless at setting boundaries in real life, so I’m probably not the best person to ask, haha! The guy in Business Hours is much better at it!

Q: In Disguises, masks are used to figuratively hide real human identities. Have you experienced that in your life, or is it more of a comment on society in general?

Yes, it reflects my experience that when you meet somebody new, you don’t really know them and you might get hurt or let down as a result of taking someone’s ‘disguise’ at face value. The protagonist in the song is cautious about embarking on a new relationship but implores his partner to trust him. I suppose, ultimately, one must step out in faith.

Q: In Slippery Slope, you address very personally your struggle with addiction. How do you address writing about such a raw and vulnerable thing in a manner that feels honest yet accessible to listeners?

This is an example of me using a persona to an extent. I don’t have addiction issues but there was a short period in my life when I suffered from anxiety and I was prescribed anti-depressants. Elements of my past and present are mixed up in the lyrics of this song. The despair I am attempting to convey comes from real-life experience. However, I have learned that awareness of pain is the first step on the path to healing, so the self-consciousness revealed in the lyrics is meant to imply that this is not the end of the story; although it is vital to acknowledge wounds.

Q: You sing about finding light in Lighting Up For You, especially when somebody pulls you from a dark place. How significant is the idea of human connection and support in your own life?

You are right, human connection and support is essential, but this song could also be about divine intervention. I like to leave lyrics ambiguous sometimes so people can choose their own meanings.

Q: On Strawberry Way, the lyrics paint a picture of clarity and find a way. What does “Strawberry Way” mean to you on a personal level?

Strawberry Way is the name of a road in the beautiful cathedral city of Wells in Somerset. It has significance for me in my personal life because I associate it as a place of fresh beginnings and new-found love.

Q: There are certainly elements of change and growth in many of the songs. How do you feel you have personally changed with this work?

I am not sure how the work has changed me, although I have certainly encountered a lot of change recently. I didn’t have a master plan with the album. I just wrote lots of songs about what was happening in my life and these reflected my experience. It was only when I compiled the songs that I wanted to record from the demos that I had made that I realised that there was this overarching theme of change and growth. It seems that, as with children, you don’t immediately notice that they are growing!

Q: Louder Than Sound feels as though it’s both reflective and forward-looking. Were there any specific moments during its creation when you felt some sort of breakthrough with how you were expressing yourself?

Strawberry Way was written very quickly and very soon after the events that the song reports occurred. I think this immediacy makes it one of the strongest songs on the album. There was very little getting between me and the expression of feeling. A similar thing occurred with Love X Forever.

Q: The album mixes upbeat, catchy melodies with deeper, introspective lyrics. How do you balance making the music emotionally resonant and sonically energetic?

Thank you. I take that as a huge compliment. I think I am a half glass full type of person so it’s probably natural that the songs I write are, overall, positive and energised. I think lyrics are important and, for me, they are the easiest part of the songwriting process. I studied English Literature at university, and I wrote poems for years before I learned how to write decent songs. My favourite poets are William Blake (hence the name), Walt Whitman and Charles Bukowski. I imagine that studying poetry is helpful in learning how to condense expression, employ good diction and utilise metaphor and ambiguity.

Q: Many of the songs feel like they are about reclaiming or rediscovering control-whether it’s love, self-worth, or freedom. Was this a conscious goal in the writing process?

Wow, that’s an astute analysis! I hadn’t thought about it, but, yes, I agree that an attempt to regain control does characterise much of what has happened in my personal life over the past eighteen months. It’s just surprising that not only was this (subconsciously) contained in the songs I have written but that you have been able to identify it. Reclaiming love, self-worth and freedom – you’ve put it better than me! The title of the album is designed to get people to consider what is louder than sound, or bigger than the universe. Perhaps it’s love?

Q: Your lyrics are full of visual imagery, like the “feeding frenzy” in Sharks or the “heavenly show” in Something About You. How important is the goal of painting a picture with your words within a song for you?

I think using imagery is central to bringing lyrical ideas to life. I tried to incorporate nautical images as a means of depicting salvation in Lighting Up For You, inspired after watching the Pirates of the Caribbean film series with my son. Something About You is written about Pete Ham and Tom Evans from the group Badfinger who tragically both took their own lives as a result of being exploited by people in the music industry. I like to think that one day I will see them performing in heaven. The words to this song are taken from Badfinger song and album titles.

Q: One by One appears to be a reflection on love and how it slowly fades. What do you hope people take away from that particular song, in terms of message or feeling?

One by One is a very sad song about the ending of a long relationship. The dissolution of the partnership that it is based on was unanticipated but in writing the song it was revealed to be inevitable. There is a lot of heartache packed into that one. My hope is that people in that situation will relate to the pain that I attempted to express. I suppose one of the key values of art is empathy.

Q: The album delves into personal and social issues, such as in Coming In From the Cold, which seems to be a critique of social systems. How do you think music can act as a vessel for social commentary?

I admire a lot of artists that have been moved to write songs about issues of social justice, such as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Bob Marley and Paul Weller. It comes quite naturally to me. In this song I wanted to pervert nursery rhymes to emphasise the cruelty that society inflicts on its poorest and most vulnerable members, even now in the 21^st century. When I say ‘society’, I really mean the government, of course, and all those who are complicit in the solidification of an inequitable status quo. I’m also taking aim at those whose response to injustice is passive, who opine that things are inevitably this way – “some might say it’s best to live for today for it’s the same now as ever after…” – and pointing out that “it’s the people at the top” who perpetuate this self-serving myth. One day, the last shall be first and the first last.

Q: In looking back, how do you feel this album truly represents you on both a personal and an artistic level? Has it changed the way you approach your music moving forward?

Thank you for this excellent question and all the others. Louder Than Sound is about as authentic an expression of the events of my recent past that I could make through song. In this respect, it feels like a valid artistic achievement. In terms of whether it has changed the way I approach my music, I think it has confirmed the need for authentic lyrical engagement with my life experiences. I guess the proof of the pudding will be in the next album. Cheers!