Soul Fire (2024)
Nothing Is Real, Let Love Destroy You
Formally entitled Nothing Is Real, Let Love Destroy You, this was the first EP I released after moving to Brighton, though it was entirely written and produced during my time in London.
Moving down to the coast marked a massive shift in my life and sound. It was during this period that my perspective on making music completely changed - I realised that production and mixing are two entirely different skill sets. Previously, because I didn't fully grasp the mixing process, I mistakenly assumed I couldn't produce. In reality, I could produce - I just needed to understand how to finish and mix the tracks properly.
The release of Notice Me coincided with my old friend Umberto organising a fantastic 5-date tour for me in Northern Italy - my first proper tour abroad since my days in Peyote, and one I’ll never forget.
Track Listing:
1. Ordinary
Written in West Ham (2014/2015) | Recorded at North Acre Studios, Cambridgeshire (2017)
This song truly reflects a specific time and place in my life. Between the ages of 19 and 22, while at university and playing in my rock band, Peyote, everything I’d dreamt of as a teenager seemed to come effortlessly. The band saw huge success in a short space of time - we toured Europe, performed live on French television, and became the go-to band for fashion shows and celebrity parties across West London and Chelsea.
After Peyote broke up, I realised how hard it was to recreate what we’d built. I panicked and broke up with my then girlfriend - a decision I instantly regretted - and suddenly found myself with no band, no money (working as a line cook in a dive kitchen in the East End), and no love. I didn't help my situation by leaning too heavily into whisky and substance abuse, frequently feeling on the edge of existence. This song was written in the middle of that dark, transformational two year period.
[Read more about what happened during the Peyote era here]
2. Notice Me
Written in Hackney (2021/2022)
My writing process often starts with picking up an instrument, jamming until I find a chord or riff that triggers an emotion, and then ad-libbing whatever comes out over the top before then structuring it into a song. Experimenting with Drop D tuning on my guitar for this track (and Greenfields) felt incredible - super nostalgic, heavy, and super indie.
[Listen to the original home demo for 'Notice Me' here]
3. Greenfields
Written in Clerkenwell (2020) | Recorded in Hackney (2022)
Written using the same Drop D approach as above. Writing this song in particular felt facilitated transcendence. It’s a song about stepping bravely and naively into the unknown with blindly positive intent, and capturing the beauty that comes with that risk - for better or worse.
4. 24
Written & Recorded in Hackney (2022)
Like Always, this was another excavation into sensitivity and intimacy. Originally written on an acoustic guitar, I eventually shifted the arrangement over to a deep, heavy synth line that made the track feel twice as grounded while tracking it. For the gear heads: the synth patch was built on one of my favourite free plug-ins, the Tyrell N6.
5. Tonne
Written & Recorded in West Ham (2015)
This track - and this exact final recording - was written and tracked in the my living room during a burst of peak inspiration an hour or two before a kitchen shift at All Bar One Canary Wharf, where I worked a total of two and a half years. I wasn't happy with where my life was at the time, but I was still able to scrape together whatever magic was left inside me to create this.
Release Credits
Released: 4th October 2024
Recording Locations: Home studios in London
Recording Timeline: Tracks cut between 2015 and 2022
Songwriting: Joe Little
Artwork Photography: Dasha Torohova