Sandtimer
I’ve known Sandtimer for a little while now and I am always very happy to support them. They’ve always been so kind to me and they’ve always supported this blog so it’s always a pleasure for me to spread the word about their music. Today they’re releasing their new record titled Running in Sunlight and we decided to do an interview to talk about the songwriting/recording process. Sandtimer’s music is beautiful, soothing and inspiring. They always had great topics in their songs and that’s one of the reasons why I really like what they do. The topics on this album are important and worth telling.
“A lot of the songs address the growing divides in society: the entrenchment of inequality, myopic nationalism, climate change and so on. It’s about feeling politically isolated in a country that is taking a very different route to the one you’d hope for,” says the band.
I’m really hoping I will get to see them perform very soon because I think they’re one of these bands you MUST see live.
Running in Sunlight is now available worldwide :)
Hi ! How are you? What have you been up to?
Rob: Hi Virginie, we’re all doing alright, thanks. It’s not been an easy year for anyone, I guess, but we’ve all felt very fortunate to be safe and fairly secure during the pandemic. Rachel and I have moved to the coast, which is a nice change of scenery!
Simon: Hey Virginie, it’s great to be back and I hope you’re doing good! It’s been a weird time for sure, lots of ups and downs to be honest, but overall I’m doing well thanks. I’ve recently found myself doing lots of woodwork and taking far too long on each project, but it’s also an opportunity to listen to lots of music, maybe that’s why I like it so much.
You're about to release your new record titled Running in Sunlight - what was the inspiration for this record?
Rob: The album was written over the course of 2019 and was our response to the political turmoil the world’s been going through. We didn’t know what was just around the corner as we crafted the songs but the pandemic has made a lot of the lyrics resonate more.
Could you describe the songwriting/production process for this album? When did you start working on this project? Who helped you create it?
Rob: Our previous album, everything is on hold, was quite a large scale undertaking. Quite soon after finishing work on that I wanted us to create something that was a lot more laid back and mainly acoustic. Using sparser instrumentation made the writing process feel a lot more immediate, with less second guessing, rearranging and so on. Normally we have very clear delineation between demo recordings and final versions but, on this record, we bypassed the demo stage completely. This has meant that some of the material is a bit more angular than what we normally do and some of it is a lot more straightforward!
In terms of people who we worked with, we had some amazing violin contributions from Hamilton Gross, a longtime friend of ours. My good friend Giles Thomas gave me lots of advice with the mixes. Terry Waker from Tonalex Mastering did an amazing job of mastering the songs and bringing them to life.
What was the hardest part about making this album? And what was the best part?
Rob: In many ways this has been the easiest album to make so far. Because we chose to approach the recording with a spirit of recklessness, it all fell into place quite smoothly. Remote collaboration, necessitated by the first lockdown, did make things trickier towards the end of the process. We used WeTransfer a lot to chuck vocals, guitars and euphonium back and forth. I think the most enjoyable part of the process was playing around with the production, just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what happened.
What did you learn about yourselves after finishing this project?
Rob: That is a tough question! I think naturally we are all learning stuff about ourselves as we go through life, so I couldn’t say if there was anything specific that the project taught me. Perhaps a general learning experience was to be less abstract with lyrics and just say what you want to say!
What can you tell us about the artwork?
Simon: The artwork was a collaborative effort between myself and my good friend Photini Knoyle. The design is open to interpretation, but also fits in somewhat with the album title “Running In Sunlight”. It portrays the sun beaming down on a luscious road filled with nature. Surrounding this road is a seemingly endless mass of uniform, grey, gawping houses, creating a jarring juxtaposition. Depending on how you interpret it, this could conjure up ideas of focussing on the beauty of life, or defining your own path in a crazy world. Alternatively, it could also reflect our destructive relationship with nature, or the pressure and isolation of modern society.
What made you want to name your album Running in Sunlight?
Rob: Long distance running has, since I was a teenager, always been a really positive and enlivening thing for me- it can be euphoric on a summer evening when your mind is focussed and the weather is good- worldly concerns can momentarily vanish. That felt like something I wanted to celebrate in its own right, as well as a good analogy for the joy of playing and writing music.
For those who don't know, how's it like to release an album in 2021 as independent artists? What different steps artists need to take to release a project like this album?
Rob: Releasing new music as an independent artist can be incredibly demoralising! We live in a world where things are evaluated by numbers, statistics, comparisons and this trend is only getting worse. We never stop to wonder why, precisely, Spotify publicly displays artist statistics- who exactly is this information useful for? It encourages us all to commodify art in a very mechanical way, and to view our own work like this too. Streaming services, and algorithms in general, compartmentalise music into categories based on perceived style or function. For example, if we write a song like ‘Yongo / 四五’ about the rise of authoritarianism but play it on acoustic instruments, where is it going to go? It’s not necessarily going to fit onto a coffeeshop compilation. The truth is, it’s probably not going very far at all. One is left with the commercial temptation to just sterilise everything so it’s free of any uncomfortable topics, a compromise we don’t feel comfortable making. It’s much easier said than done but I think the more that artists can build direct connections with audiences outside of these centralised tech ecosystems, the better.
What are your thoughts on today's music industry? If you could change one thing, what would it be?
Rob: There are too many things for me! The genie is out of the bottle as far as the internet is concerned. We’ve gone from a situation with loads of local scenes spread out geographically, all with a few decent bands, to a world of everyone competing for the attention of the same global audience, with an inevitable ‘winner takes all’ result. I’d love to see more collective efforts and solidarity in the music industry to tackle the online giants. Positive changes for musicians, or artists of any kind, will not come from our benevolent tech overlords.
What biggest life lessons have you learned so far?
Rob: That love and friendship are the most important things for the soul. It feels super corny to say it, and most of us already know it deep down, but it can be easy to forget in all of the daily chaos.
Simon: To always be looking to improve yourself and the world around you, and to be excited about where you hope to get to. I think it can be easy to feel that something is the way it is and can’t be changed, but this pandemic has shown how quickly the world can change. Although in this case it hasn’t been a good change, it shows how all the norms of our lives and society can, and could, quickly evolve for the better.
What message do you want to deliver to the world?
Rob: Look out for each other and approach the world with a generous spirit!
Simon: Embrace the variety in the world, and listen to the scientists.
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