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 Joaquín 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 Joaquín’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.
It was only this week that Gilles Peterson mentioned worldwide jazz amassadors Ezra Collective and Nubya Garcia in the same breath, so it won't be long before he's championing MATTERS UNKNOWN and new release, 'Silhouettes: A Dream Sphere Journal'.
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