Interview: Sun Sone - Patience (Earthly Measures)

If you've been out and about in the New Year, you'll have heard about the forthcoming release on Earthly Measures, Sun Sone's 'Patience' and the wait is nearly over but what can he tell us about the release?

Earthly Measures, they are "an independent label based in London - focusing on music from all corners of the globe" which means that they couldn't be more ideal for London born Luke Martin (aka Sun Sone) for his album release, 'Patience' but we couldn't wait to dig a little deeper:

YATM: We're told the album took 10 years to make, did you have an original vision for 'Patience'?

SS: In a sense, but I think what I meant by that was it took around 10 years of making music to finally get over myself and get out of that perfectionist loop of creating stuff and then binning it.  I like the word ‘patience’ because I think it’s a good mantra for life in general. I guess this is a roundabout way of saying ‘the vision was the process’.

YATM: The opening track 'Train' has obvious origins, but it sounds to me like a steam train that could be South African. Peruvian, North Indian or a combination of all – was there a particular train journey on which it was based?

SS:Y’know when you need to get a train at night, and you look out the window and it’s just a sea of black with little lights floating around? It was inspired by that feeling. Listening to music on train rides or bus rides at night is really nice. It’s a particular vibe, like you’re trapped in this box in this liminal space but you’re listening to music from somewhere else. Gives a lot of space for the imagination.

YATM: Your influences include FlyLo to Sakamoto – and would it be fair that 'Cascade' is the closest to that warped LA period of DNTEL/Gaslamp Killer/Dub Lab?

A - ‘Cascade’ and probably ‘Body’ are running with those vibes I reckon. I guess ‘Cascade’ leans a bit more towards Sakamoto in the sense that it’s quite orchestrated in its structure and with all the flutes and saxophones. I like pinching loads of little bits of inspiration from all over the shop and cramming them into one track. Now that I think about it, maybe Cascade is more influenced by David Byrne’s stuff.  

YATM: The track 'Just Be' seems to be the James Blake influence – any coincidence with the initials JB of 'Just Be' - and it seems a long way from the Soul-Jazz-Afro-Harping Temple of 'Inhale' 

SS: HA! I actually hadn’t clocked that! Good spot, maybe there was some influence from the subconscious there.  I liked the idea of taking this phrase “I just want to be with you” and then forming two meanings with the different parts “I just want to be” and “be with you”.  Almost opposite meanings, depending on how you interpret it. It felt like there was something bittersweet and tragic about that double meaning.

I think there’s a lot of different vibes and styles on the album - but it wasn’t really an intentional thing, it’s just that I draw inspiration from loads of different stuff.  ‘Inhale’ to me sounds like some weird dark Michael Jackson sort of thing mixed with a bit of Mr.Oizo.

YATM: There's a strong 'world' sound on singles 'Body', 'Apogee' and 'Echo' are you still involved with Me Gusta, the multicultural collective based in Manchester

SS: It’s funny the whole ‘world’ or ‘global’ label thing, because I think what people want to say is “music from non-anglo places” but then saying “world” music sounds like we’re creating a separation between ‘the west’ and everyone else, which feels really negative. We need a new word I reckon.

I’m not still involved with them musically, but I still hang with them from time to time. We live in different areas though and you know how life is. I think that time I spent with them was so informative to my music. Their nights were just filled with amazing music from all over the shop, they would dig so deep, and it inspired me to dig deep as well. It was really inspiring. 

I’m really grateful for that experience, especially as someone who’s an introvert - getting up on a stage and DJing in front of a crowd was a whole thing to overcome. I owe quite a lot to that period of my life.

I think that’s why there’s a strong ‘world’ sound on this album - I love this idea of grabbing some percussion from Brazil and then mixing it with a vocalist from Kenya and then having some Japanese bamboo flutes on top, because you’d hear all of those sounds over the course of a Me Gusta night. It was really beautiful.

YATM: The 'World meets electronica' seems like a natural fit for you and Earthly Measures how did that meeting of the minds come about?

SS: It was thanks to Léna C. who sent them a link to my previous EP ‘A Colour Under Blue’ which I put out on Sprechen Records - shout out to Chris Massey, bloody lovely supportive guy who also got the ball rolling with me making music! Earthly Measures reached out to me soon after and then yeah - here we are!

YATM: Have you got any favourite Artists/releases on Earthly Measure you'd recommend.

Yeah so there’s El Búho and Joaqu​í​n Cornejo who I actually met many years ago. Me Gusta booked them for a show at Hidden in Manchester, and they were both bloody lovely. I saw Joaqu​í​n’s set from the stage, and he was playing a lot of it live with an APC 40 MK II (or something similar). That was really impressive and they gave me some tips on setting up tracks for a live show. Both of them have amazing vibes both in personality and music.

Ëda Diaz is incredible, discovered her through Earthly Measures. I’m honestly really honoured to be on the line up because all the artists are really good and putting out really interesting stuff.

YATM:  What's up for future plans – a 'Patience 2' or is 'Nothing Happens Twice' a Sun Sone mantra?

SS: Ha! Yeah I’ll make another album called ‘Impatience’, where I’ll make an entire thing in 5 minutes, export it without saving, and then just put that out immediately. 

Jokes aside, that's actually kind of an interesting concept. I have a few other creative ventures, I like making art and writing, so for some time I’ll explore those now that I’ve finally got the album finished. It’s certainly not the end of making music, but I need some time to decompress and get new inspiration!

YATM: Is there going to be a launch night for 'Patience' ?

SS: Haven’t got a solid date yet, but I believe so! 

So I'll keep you up to date with news on that and don't forget to check out the review of 'Patience' (see review HERE) and Luke would like to add, "Big love and sincere thank you’s to Léna C., Chris Massey, the Me Gusta crew, and Earthly Measures for being so supportive" and my big thanks to Sharon at Shine for organising the interview.

It's not often that you find an album of 8 tracks that touch the leftfield 'global' electronica all the same time whilst touching a jazz-house audience at the same time; we do like 'Echo' and 'Inhale' – if Luke's aim is to be between “a bit weird and experimental but always with a groove” he's hit as many bulls as all of the other numerous Luke's in the recent World Darts from Ally Pally.

Earthly Measures · Sun Sone - Patience LP