Sennen Chat To Stereoboard About New Album ‘Lost Harmony’ (Interview)
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Written by Rob Sleigh
Next week, London-based alt-rock quartet Sennen are to release their new single ‘Vultures’, the first to be taken from their upcoming third album ‘Lost Harmony’. Ahead of its release, the band’s frontman Larry Holmes spoke to Stereoboard to tell us more about Sennen’s music…
Your new single ‘Vultures’ is due for release next week. What’s the song about and what can we expect from it?
It’s about theft. You can expect one chord. For four and a half minutes. Am I selling it to you? It’s dark and pretty relentless.
Your new album ‘Lost Harmony’ is also due for release in the next few months. Does ‘Vultures’ provide a good taster for what to expect from the album?
Yes, in that it sounds very real, although the album as a whole is less brutal and more subtle. The whole record was recorded to sound as real as possible. No doubling guitars or vocals, no autotune and lots of live takes.
How are the band feeling ahead of its release?
We’re really looking forward to it. I know most people would say that, but we’re genuinely very fond of this record. We had a really good time writing and recording it. It’s a pretty bleak record in places, but it’s also got a warmth to it and I think that comes from the fact that we enjoyed making it.
For fans of your music, how does this album compare with your earlier releases?
We’ve always valued songs and tunes above almost everything else in our music, so you can expect more tunes. There’s less noise on this though. There’s still some weirdness - arguably more - and noise in places, but as I mentioned before, we haven’t thrown 18 guitars on any of the songs on this.
Are we in for any surprises?
Perhaps. We feel it’s quite different to our previous stuff, but everyone else will have to be the judge of that. We've also made a special limited-edition CD that pops out of the CD player at unexpected moments like a jack-in-the-box. That's not going to be a surprise to anyone anymore, sorry about that.
What other lyrical themes do you explore on the new album?
We tried to reflect the music as much as possible, which on the whole has a pretty bittersweet feel to it. There’s a lot of disillusion and darkness on this one lyrically, but also some humour and warmth.
Where do you find inspiration for your lyrics?
From the music. Maybe you create some music because you’re in a certain state of mind, but once that music is created, you need to get back into that frame of mind that created it and let the lyrics go from there. If that makes any sense whatsoever.
When and where did you record ‘Lost Harmony’ and how did the experience compare with work on your previous albums?
In August 2011, at Lynchmob studios in Northwest London, above a scrap metal merchants. Dave Allen [producer] was doing some deals with them while we were there. It has a view over a huge graveyard, where Joe Strummer is buried, I think. We were recording while the riots were going on last year so you could see the smoke coming up over the graveyard. I remember it being very peaceful, strangely. We've always had a good time making records, but this in particular, there was a really good atmosphere in the studio. I think we all felt we were making our best record yet, it felt kind of easy. Nothing was too forced or hard work.
Who did you work with this time around and how did their input help to influence the album’s sound?
We recorded this with Dave M Allen. He really understood what we wanted to do and made it happen in a way we never could have. He was a big factor in the atmosphere in the studio being such an enjoyable one.
After 10 years together, what have you learned that has helped you out on this occasion?
Well, after 10 years, playing together feels very natural now. It only took 10 years, but we’re actually pretty good at playing together. We’ve also learned to embrace the mistakes. There’s plenty on this record, but it makes it sounds all the more real. You don’t want it to sound all perfect and polished, do you?
For anyone less familiar with Sennen, how would you describe the band’s overall sound?
We write pop songs, sing harmonies and play around with your regular rock instruments to make some interesting noise and melody on top of our songs. This album is full of bittersweet melodies that we hope will destroy you. In the nicest possible way.
Please can you give us a quick history of the band – When and where did you first get together, how did you all meet and what led to the decision to form Sennen?
Rich [Kelleway, guitar/vocals] and I have been in bands together since school, along with our old bass player, Rew Horner. We all went to university together and wanted to start a new band, when we met Brownie [James Brown, drums] and another guy called Phil through some shared love of Spacemen 3, I think. As a five-piece, we wrote longer songs that had more in common with Mogwai or Godspeed You Black Emperor. Lyrics played less of an important part than they do today. Tim [Kelleway, bass], Rich’s little brother, joined a couple of years ago when Rew left.
What did you hope to achieve when you first started out and how has this changed since the beginning?
I don't honestly think I had expectations when we started. I don't think most people with genuine love for playing music do. If I'd known we would release three albums and play some of the shows we have done and get played by people like Steve Lamacq, I would have been pretty pleased, I guess. But what changes is that your ambition moves upwards every time you achieve something. Once you've done it, you're anxious to experience something new with the band. It can be quite an addictive thing being in a band.
Where does the band’s name derive from?
Phil named us when he was in the band. He was a big Ride fan and Sennen is on the ‘Today Forever’ EP. Sennen Cove is a beautiful place.
What has influenced Sennen’s music over the years, musically and otherwise?
Musically, we've listened to a lot of Neil Young, Yo La Tengo and Dean and Britta/Luna recently. Mercury Rev have always been an influence. This is stuff that probably shows up in the new record more, but has always been an influence on us. I think the environment that you write in influences your music too. We wrote a lot of this record sitting in my front room with not much equipment and we wanted to preserve that feel in the studio.
How have your new songs gone down at your recent gigs?
We've only played these new songs a couple of times and no-one threw anything at us. You've really got to nail how to play the quieter ones. I love it when I get blown away by a beautiful quiet song live – ‘Our Way to Fall’ by Yo La Tengo or Portishead when they do ‘Wandering Star’ quietly, for example. An onslaught of noise is great as well, which is what we're more used to doing, but I think it's harder to really get to people live playing pretty songs.
What can people expect from the upcoming dates?
Hopefully a show with subtlety and impact, whether it's driving and loud or pretty and quiet. And some good chat on stage from Rich, he's been working really hard on his one-liners.
What else have you got planned for 2012?
We played and filmed all our songs in an old church a few weeks back and covered the place in lights. We would really like to recreate that, maybe in a few places as it was a good experience. We are hoping to get to Europe, the US and Japan this year too as the record is out there.
‘Vultures’ is due for release on 5th March. Sennen will be performing a London show at the Camden Barfly on the 8th March.
To find out more about Sennen’s music, visit them at Bandcamp.
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When and where did you record ‘Lost Harmony’ and how did the experience compare with work on your previous albums?
