Interview – Fuzzy Lights

It’s no secret that we love Manchester’s own Little Red Rabbit Records here at the office (aka, Quinto’s shed, which, strangely enough, is also James May’s). Anyways, we loved Twin Feathers (shameless plug for review) and we got our own PM to drop them a few questions…


WOW. Wow. So Twin Feathers is pretty epic sounding; it is beautifully uplifting and delicate in places and then quite noisy and dark in others. At Sloucher it’s been described as ‘dense with dread’. How would you describe it and what do you think of it?

First, thanks! It is tricky thing to describe something so personal, almost like trying to describe yourself to someone else… In some ways we feel “Twin Feathers” was more accomplished than its predecessor “A Distant Voice”. We took more time to write the tracks, sometimes going through different versions and deconstructing them to start again, where on “A Distant Voice” the songs were more spontaneous with room for improvisation. Somehow the result is maybe something which could be taken as being quite dark and menacing, but we think if it almost as a “fragile uplifting”.

Where do you go next musically after making such a huge sounding album like Twin Feathers?

We’re working on 5 or 6 new songs at the moment, and exploring different sounds and styles. We wouldn’t want to make the same album twice! We’ve also had a baby just before Twin Feathers was released, and it’s maybe contributed to the fact most of the new songs are quieter, but this may change who knows?

How are the songs written and who writes the lyrics?

Usually Rachel and I work on a song and write lyrics and then present it to the rest of the band. We then all work on it together, deciding on the structure, etc. Sometimes the lyrics come after.

What lyrical themes are there within Twin Feathers?

Although Rachel and I have different ways of writing and styles,  the themes explored are similar, and are about experiences and stories which have touched or affected us, whether it’s someone’s destructive relationship (Through Water) or someone remembering past loves (The Sea & The Heather).

When/how did you form?

We formed in 2004 as a two piece (Rachel and I) then went through various line ups but the current one has been since 2009.

You sound like you have a lot of folk music influences?

We do! Early Fairport, Pentangle, Nick Drake, Comus, Trees…Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, CSN, Linda Perhacs… to name a few.

How does the album translate live? Are your live shows a pretty heavy going experience?

The album was mostly recorded live in the same room, so you could say shows have a very similar atmosphere. We can be very loud indeed, as we sometimes add linking freakout noise sections between tracks.

Is there anywhere you’d really like to play or tour where you haven’t been able to yet?

We’ve only played outside Britain once, so we hope to go to Ireland and continental Europe some time soon. There’s quite a few cities that we’ve missed over here, like Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, and we always like playing to new audiences. As for venues, the Deaf Institute in Manchester looks nice, as does St Giles in the Field in London. We always wanted to play at the Luminaire in Kilburn, but I guess we’re a bit to late for that. North America might be fun too.

Are there any other British bands you really like at the moment?

The list is too long…Drum Eyes, James Blackshaw, Voice of the seven Thunder/woods, Philip Jeck, Trembling Bells, Dead Rat Orchestra, Alasdair Roberts, The Clientele, Felix, Eagleowl, and of course other bands on Little Red Rabbit…

What are your plans for 2011?

Write new songs for our next album, record, tour. There’s also a live soundtrack we did for Chris Marker’s film “La Jetée” that we’d like to record. There might also be something special coming up in regards to a live show, but we can’t tell anything at the moment…


You can download Fuzzy Light’s Fallen Trees (aka the song you’ve been listening to) from our free Mix CD.

One thought on “Interview – Fuzzy Lights

Leave a Reply


You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo


Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Connecting to %s