16/01/15
This lady is surely on the up and up. Longlisted for the BBC’s Sound of 2015, with a new album out and a tour on its way, Rae Morris is about to hit the big time. Her track Closer was the soundtrack to 2015 and her latest single Under the Shadows is getting hella lotta airplay. Plus she’s the Rachel with the best hair since her out of Friends. I chatted with her ahead of her gig at Norwich Arts Centre, and she filled me in on that time she wanted to be a crime scene investigator and how she’s learning more about making music every day. God speed, Ms Morris!
You’ve been playing music since you started the piano aged 4. Did you always feel like music was going to be a massive part of your life?
Yeah I did. I went through a stage when I was at school of being really interested in crime scenes and wanted to be a crime scene investigator. I was watching a lot of Casualty at the time! Apart from that brief obsession, I could never imagine doing anything else. I’m actually not good at anything else; I’m OK at the arts, I did A Level in art. I always knew I wanted to do something in music but I didn’t know what. At one point I thought I might do music therapy, which I’d still like to do, but it’s always been music for me. I’m so lucky that I get to do it every day.
Karima Francis mentored you in songwriting and BBC Introducing helped you out in your early days. What have you found most useful to you so far in your career?
I think meeting people that I admire along the way has definitely been one of the most helpful things in my learning process. That’s what it’s been for me over the past three years of making music, because people expect you to know exactly what you want to do straight away and that’s quite rare. In every other industry you’d do an apprenticeship or go to university and study. In music you are expected to be great from the start. Having peers and people to talk to around me and learn from was my way of doing work experience. I’m really lucky that some of my favourite artists like Bombay Bicycle Club and Lucy Rose have been incredible friends and helped me to figure it all out.
How do you start writing a song?
It’s really different every time. The early songs I wrote I didn’t even think about it and that’s the case for a lot of musicians. At the beginning you’re so unaware of what you’re doing and where you want to go and are free of the constraints you get as you along. I used to just sit down at the piano and just play things. Melody is always there for me; always in my head at all times. I’d just play the music on the piano and think of lyrics that would work with the melodies. More recently I’ve been making more electronic music and thinking of the production more, which is a whole new avenue for me.
For me your new album Unguarded seems like an album of two halves; one side dancey electronica and the other more just you and piano. I wondered if that was a conscious decision, and where the more electronic side has developed from?
It’s interesting you say that. I don’t really sit around listening to my own album a whole lot as people would think I was crazy! I would say there are more than two sides as like anything there are different shades and colours and tones and feelings. The electronic thing stems from when I was finishing the writing process before going to America to record the album. I wanted to explore rhythm and tempo before I went into the studio. I started to do things on Logic not really knowing what I was doing. For example, I programmed most of Do You Even Know myself and we ended up using the original parts. It felt like a door opening for me; learning how to use technology to express emotions and feelings through beats and electronic vibes.
Unguarded was recorded with producer Ariel Rechtshaid who’s now working with Madonna! What was the recording process like for you?
I didn’t realise ahead of time how big a deal he was, and I’m quite glad because I would have been absolutely terrified to talk to him! I went out to America to meet him because I was quite wary of making what I feel is a very British album over in LA, and I didn’t want to just go without knowing it was the right thing to do. We had a coffee and he told me not to be fearful of the process; that’s when things go wrong, if people are scared. After that moment I relaxed and we worked really well together; I felt I could just do what came naturally to me in the studio. It was wonderful!
I was listening to Under the Shadows and I noticed a lot of people had commented on its likeness to Kate Bush’s sound. Has she strongly influenced you?
Kate Bush is actually one of my biggest inspirations and subconsciously that does seep through; it’s bound to happen when you spend so much time listening to someone. For me it’s not about trying to do something that’s already happened, but more about how you take that inspiration and change the way that people hear music in the future. I’ve got posters of her on my bedroom wall! I got to see her live last year on my birthday and cried through the first three songs and then managed to pull myself together.
Which song on the album means the most to you?
It changes a lot. For You was one of the first songs I ever wrote and it’s become a bit of a family song. We actually played it at my grandma’s funeral, which was sad but incredible. That’s a song I’ll always cherish. There’s also a song I added to the album at the last minute, Morne Fortune and I love that because it’s so new.
Cold feat Fryars is almost like an argument and a break up conversation in song form and he’s supporting you on your new tour. How did you guys meet?
I met Fryars through my label. I thought he was too cool to meet me, but we met in Hackney and did a session together and wrote Grow together which shaped the direction of where I was going; it felt like a whole new thing for me. His production introduced something to me which I’d never experienced before…it was a really significant moment for me. He’s one of my good mates now and we are honest with each other in the studio. It’s been wonderful working with him.
Closer is a big track that got a lot of radio play last year; I feel like it was everywhere! When you write a song, do you get the sense that it’s going to be a hit or not?
I really don’t! I don’t know whether it’s because my self confidence is lower than ordinary humans but I wrote Closer with Kid Harpoon and it was one of the first writing sessions like that I’d done and I was used to writing alone. I was really happy with it.
You’ve done a track called My God. Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?
It was going to be on the album but sadly it didn’t manage to get on in the end. I wrote that song in America, one of the first times I’d been there, and I was having a terrible time. I felt a million miles away from Blackpool and everything I knew and I think I had to find an inner strength just to get through that weird time. I was brought up to think everything happens for a reason and I needed that at the time. I think all of us have our inner superstitions and spiritual things and it’s a good thing.
What does 2015 hold for you Rae? Will you playing lots of festivals?
I hope so! There have been a couple starting to come and in and I guess there’ll be last minute things. I’m really excited and I just want to get out on the road!
Rae Morris plays at Norwich Arts Centre on 16th February. Tickets from www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk