This is the track that launched the label – a real pop traditional for the ages.
Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey have been each in Heavenly — and fairly just a few different good bands — so they’re fairly aware of the workings of Sarah. They’re working a label known as Skep Wax and simply put out an thrilling assortment titled Below the Bridge. It is a tribute to the continuing affect of the Sarah sound and the bands who recorded for the label. Lots of them – the Wake, St Christopher, Secret Shine, Whilst We Converse, the indefatigable Boyracer, and my private favorites, the Orchids — are nonetheless making music and despatched alongside new tracks.
The document additionally catches up with members of Sarah bands to see what they’re doing now. Beth Arzy of Aberdeen has two actually good teams, dream pop favorites the Luxembourg Sign and noise poppers Jetstream Pony; members of Secret Shine and Motion Portray! teamed up in Ineffective Customers; Peter Momtchiloff of Heavenly leads the pleasant Tufthunter; and Josh Meadows, half of the Australian duo the Sugargliders, reappears in Leaf Mosaic. Additionally on board are Paul Stewart of Blueboy as Sepiasound, Simon of the Sweetest Ache making noisy shoegaze as Soundwire, and Amelia and Rob of their wonderful band the Catenary Wires. The album is a smashing success that carries on the joyous custom of Sarah whereas staking out an area for Skep Wax to comply with of their footsteps in the event that they select to. I assumed it will be a good suggestion to shoot just a few questions over to Amelia and Rob they usually have been variety sufficient to reply them!
AllMusic: What was the impetus to make this mission occur now? Was there a degree at which a obscure thought turned a concrete plan?
Rob: I feel lockdown has so much to reply for… We all of a sudden had plenty of spare time on our arms. We spent most of it on music. We began a brand new band (Swansea Sound) and we began a label (Skep Wax). And, for me, personally, it was making ready pictures and sleeve observe info for the reissue album of the Heavenly singles that made me marvel what all our previous Sarah Information labelmates have been as much as. It did not take lengthy to search out out that numerous them have been nonetheless making nice music. Some we knew fairly properly (we’re mates with Beth Arzy of Jetstream Pony, for instance) however there have been others I might hardly identified in any respect.
Amelia: What was clear was that, for all these bands, the dream and the ambition was completely alive, even when lots of them had change into extra subtle musically. The factor that united bands on Sarah Information wasn’t a dogmatic thought of what impartial music ought to sound like. It was a decided insistence on prioritizing creativity over industrial success or fame. Not one of the bands had “grown out” of that.
Rob: That is what made me suppose a compilation can be good, and would sound as contemporary as something these bands put out within the Nineties.
AllMusic: Have been there any bands that have been onerous to become involved within the mission? Anybody who stunned you by saying sure?
Rob: To be sincere, I obtained 13 good surprises, as a result of that is what number of bands stated “sure.” Not all the bands have been ready to supply brand-new unreleased tracks – this was in the midst of the pandemic, and recording collectively was not straightforward. So just a few of the tracks can be found elsewhere. However that is okay: we weren’t making an attempt to be unique, we simply wished to prioritize the brand new over the previous.
AllMusic: What do you suppose it’s about Sarah Information that also captures individuals’s creativeness after so a few years?
Rob: That is a very good query. I feel that it could be to do with the purpose about prioritizing creativity over industrial considerations. So Sarah did not die a horrible gradual demise as an unloved faux company indie imprint. It simply determined to cease, by itself phrases. So it nonetheless appears pure, at all times will. Additionally, the label was forward of its time politically. It did not use photographs of girls to promote its merchandise. It stayed away from London and the “music enterprise.” It ignored the music press. It created its personal house, and thrived. In some methods it anticipated what impartial music would change into in a digital world – no-one wants London and the “official” music press is lengthy gone. What appeared like weak point become power, and I feel that is what lots of people respect extra on reflection. The draw back of the label’s ongoing recognition is that information that have been designed to be low-cost are actually fetishized and offered for many cash. There’s nothing to be performed about that: and I suppose it is a back-handed tribute to the brilliance of the label.
Amelia: I feel individuals additionally appreciated how a lot Sarah truthfully mirrored Matt and Clare’s style in music. They by no means put something out as a result of they thought it’d do properly. They solely put issues out as a result of they favored them. Additionally they created an actual group of people that beloved the music as a lot as they did. Working our personal label now, I’ve renewed amazement about all of the letters they wrote to individuals who have been shopping for information, however I feel it was all a part of constructing a group of like-minded people.
AllMusic: What retains you going – what nonetheless excites you about making indie pop information?
Rob: It is onerous to say, however I feel that making music retains you in contact with a greater, extra naïve model of your self. All of us have needed to endure day jobs of varied sorts (that is the draw back of sticking to the impartial route together with your music!) and we have taken on duty, in all probability made compromises, needed to do issues we did not need to. However the music (and the label, and the entire scene) is a extra optimistic place. With the label and the gigs you may get a deal with on a special world: one which is not profit-driven. The actually deep unhappiness about Indietracks pageant ending is as a result of that weekend gave you a really sturdy sense of a greater, extra beneficiant world. So there may be positively a political facet to all of it, but it surely’s additionally enjoyable. It is nonetheless as a lot enjoyable because it was after I was 17, to be sincere.
AllMusic: Are you able to speak a bit in regards to the Catenary Wires monitor? I really feel prefer it’s probably the most Heavenly sounding track you’ve got performed underneath that title. Is {that a} course you may pursue additional or was it simply to make a monitor within the Sarah spirit?
Amelia: “Wall of Sound” was written and recorded similtaneously the opposite songs on our most up-to-date album Birling Hole. But it surely did not fairly match. Quite a lot of the songs on that album have been fairly intense, and in a technique or one other they have been in regards to the state of the U.Ok. “Wall Of Sound” is lighter in tone, very poppy, however with lyrics that conjure up the poisonous relationship between a male producer and the feminine singer he has energy over. It jogs my memory a little bit of Heavenly songs like “Hearts and Crosses,” the place a darkish message smuggles its approach into an apparently upbeat pop track. So it positively felt at house on “Below The Bridge.”
AllMusic: Other than a number of the bands on the gathering, are there any new indie pop bands you could have heard just lately which are carrying on the Sarah custom of good pop combined with just a little little bit of righteous thriller?
Rob: I just like the phrase “righteous thriller!” There are plenty of actually good new bands round, notably ones with ladies taking the lead. I like Panic Pocket and Nervous Twitch proper now – they’re actually entertaining, write nice songs, however aren’t scared to make use of these songs to convey anger, scorn, sarcasm and contempt. All the perfect pop feelings.
Amelia: There are an entire bunch of nice bands on Slumberland for the time being who’ve clearly listened to a good few Sarah Information, such because the Jeanines and Chime College. We additionally had a enjoyable t-shirt swap just lately with the Linda Lindas, after they nicked (with permission) a Heavenly t-shirt design. However in all probability my favorite indie pop band as of late is the Simply Joans. I spend days on finish with their songs caught in my head.
AllMusic: That is kind of corny so you’ll be able to completely skip it, however I am questioning what your 5 favourite Sarah songs are?
Rob: OK, I will strive. My selections are naturally skewed in direction of early to center Sarah bands – those we overlapped with on the time.
The Sea Urchins – “A Morning Odyssey”
The Orchids – “One thing For The Longing”
Whilst We Converse – “Falling Down The Stairs”
The Subject Mice – “The Autumn Retailer (Half 1)”
The Wake – “Firestone Tyres”
Amelia:
One other Sunny Day – “You Ought to All Be Murdered”
Whilst We Converse – “One Step Ahead”
East River Pipe – “Helmet On”
Secret Shine – “Temporal”
The Subject Mice – “If You Want Somebody”
Tim:
Would possibly as properly sneak in my high 5! (topic to vary in the event you ask me once more tomorrow…)
Motion Portray! – “These Issues Occur”
St Christopher – “Say Sure To The whole lot”
Heavenly – “Shallow”
The Orchids – “Carole-Anne”
The Sea Urchins – “Pristine Christine” or “Please Rain Fall” (cannot determine!)
The compilation album Below the Bridge is obtainable from Skepwax on CD, digital obtain, and restricted version vinyl LP, with the CDs and LPs together with a 16-page coloration booklet.
