Beauty is a fairly abstract, ephemeral concept.
After all, it's in the beholder surely? Yet no one who has heard London newcomers Still Corners could argue with the beauty of their songcraft. Releasing just a handful of seven inches, the band have already generated an impressive amount of hype.
Shy and retiring types, Still Corners only recently emerged from their collective bedroom. Playing a series of live shows, the band have won acclaim with a mixture of stunning material and striking visuals.
Preferring to remain anonymous, the London group flood the stage with powerful images. Shades of C86 abound, but the spider-like guitar lines lead the group into far more unsettling territory.
Suitably impressed, ClashMusic sat down with Still Corners for a quick Q&A...
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How did the band get together?
In early 2008 I released the 'Remember Pepper?' EP. Shortly after that Leon and I got together and gradually added members over time.
I’ve heard you took ‘Still Corners’ from a Robert Frost poem, what prompted this?
I read a lot of Robert Frost, I love his work. His imagery evokes the wonder of nature and I wanted to do that with the band. The name Still Corners seemed to evoke that as well.
There seemed to be a gap between ‘Remember Pepper’ and the new singles, why was this? How did your sound evolve in this time?
After the first EP I wanted to take some time to let the well re-fill, write new material and see where it could all go. As more material started to bubble up to the surface we thought it was a good time to start releasing again. The newer material has a lot of the same big drum organ dreamy sound, maybe more guitars this time around and more focus on vocals.
Influences such as Slowdive, Cocteau Twins get mentioned with Still Corners – is this fair? Who do you see as your influences?
Yes we like those bands very much. To that list we would probably add Ennio Morricone, Broadcast, David Axelrod, Yo La Tengo, and Nancy Sinatra.
There is an almost soundtrack quality, do you allow visual influences to inspire your music?
Very much so. We're all big movie fans, from older Italian horror to film noir to 60's stuff, westerns, Hitchcock. These types of films evoke certain imagery and make you feel a certain way that's unique to those time periods, we try to incorporate this into the music.
I’ve heard you use film when playing live, what prompted this? How does it intersect with the music?
With the music we're trying to make you feel something and trying to expand that visually by using film projections. We want to turn the lights down on stage and create an atmosphere and some intimacy - something you don't always get in your average venue. Also we aren't too active on stage, we're not jumping around or doing knee slides (yet) so hopefully it's a little more interesting to look at with the projections.
How does songwriting actually work in the band? Is it a group effort or does someone take the lead?
Usually I'll come in with a song and we take it from there. We sometimes like to have a few instrumental bits to let loose and see where those take us as well.
You get mentioned in the same breath as other new indie pop groups such as Veronica Falls, do you feel much in common with those contemporaries?
A lot of the bands we've been playing with are wonderful, however, we'd like to think we have a definitive sound that sets us apart a bit.
You’ve been shy in playing out, what has the recent burst of touring been like?
It's been amazing, really. We love playing out. We've recently played Berlin in a castle at the Let's Kiss and Make Up festival, Manchster at In the City, and Cardiff at the SWN Festival, all fantastic.
You’ve released a string of great sevens this year, what emphasis do you place on the single as an object?
It's a very concise way to release material and an easily digestible little piece of art, these two attributes fit in very well with the modern age. It's fast too because instead of worrying about a whole record you can spend more time and energy thinking about 2 songs and a cool art for the cover. Quality above quantity.
Who produced the singles? Did you have a determined idea of what you were to sound like?
We don't use any producers, everything is handmade with us. We've always had a very strong idea of exactly what we wanted to sound like and where we wanted to go with it.
Have you attracted much interest from labels? Will a deal be signed soon?
Yes and no, there's chat here and there. We're no strangers to self-releases. We're working on a full length album now and would like to find a good home for it. We'll just have to wait and see!
Photo by Alannah Ashworth