I have been joined by Aleutians who has answered some questions about their musical career so you can find out a bit more about their music!
Welcome to Totally Music would you like to introduce yourself?
Hey, so this is Aleutians, I’m tempted to just put what’s in the EPK verbatim but it just sounds so fake doesn’t it? I make little emo adjacent indie pop songs about love, loss, and missed chances, and I always try to include some vague reference to the Wirral peninsula or a local bus route or something in them. I like to think if Death Cab were from a slightly faded, little, English coastal town they’d sound like this.
What got you into music?
My older siblings were really into 80s stuff so The Smiths, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order etc were always playing in the house. My sisters gave me a Lightning Seeds CD and that really shaped things, just catchy, simple songs with no pretension. They’re not in my rotation so much anymore but Pure is still a great little pop song. My dad was heavily into the Beatles, Kinks, Johnny Cash, Travelling Wilburys so that was on when my older siblings’ stuff wasn’t. He played guitar and sang a lot too.
I met guys in school who were into Promise Ring, Weakerthans, American Football, Death Cab, Postal Service etc, copied CDs and mixes and stuff, so it went from there. Picked up a guitar, then a bass, got synthesisers and xylophones shoved under my nose in various projects and told to play them.
What inspires the music you create?
I suppose at the core it’s that kind of bittersweet nostalgia, longing for places and times that won’t come again and hope for the future. Old friends, missed chances and so forth, but also a desire to make the best of the time we’ve got. I think a lot of the themes all revolve around the idea of home and that, for me, always seemed to be a word and a concept that resonates with everyone.
I think personally the actual major inspiration is just to make something again, to create, and that’s enough. It’s a bonus if anyone listens to it it or likes it, so if anyone does, that means a lot. Thank you.
You’ve just released your new song “Only this time” would you like to tell us about it?
Yeah, so initially I really didn’t want to release anything at all this year. I’m very much still learning and I get bogged down in the details, overthink things and just generally worry. Anyway I started working on this as just something to noodle around with and it sounded alright, better than I expected, so I thought fuck it let’s just put it out and see. The song is essentially about the desire to repeat a time in your life, try to fix the things that went wrong even if you know it inevitably would all fall apart, you still cling on to the idea that perhaps you could have done something more.
What was the hardest part during the creation of the song?
I had a really bad few years from 2018 and struggled with anxiety and depression massively, I’m still not back to where I really want to be but improving every day, so putting anything out there is always the hardest thing. So yeah the decision to release I suppose. Sitting here thinking about adding a glockenspiel part or a synth line or whatever is easy and fun, actually having people listen to the song and the glockenspiel part is terrifying!
How did you come up with the art work for the song?
Well initially I started putting together ideas from pictures I’d taken of landscapes and stuff around here with the 3 line overlay I’ve put on all the releases so far, and a whole bunch of filtering. It just didn’t seem to fit the feel of this one, so I started hunting round for other ideas. I really enjoy sci fi and that kind of mildly clunky, old 1950s serial rocket ship thing grabbed my attention. The theme kind of fits as well, looking to the future, but so obviously stuck in the past. Which admittedly sounds very cheesy now I’ve read it back.
If you could play it at a gig anywhere in the world where would it be and why?
Oh wow, I don’t know. Maybe one of those house shows that you heard about from decades ago and the line up was ridiculous, like huge bands just about to break, the Get Up Kids, the Promise Ring or Mineral or someone and they’re just playing in someone’s basement. Nuts.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Oh God….don’t! Haha.
You should write what you what, write what you like, do it as much as you can, use whatever instruments you can get your hands on, don’t worry about what anyone else thinks of your work, just do what you enjoy. I guess from my old bands, I’d say do it while you’re young as well. I had some fantastic times touring,?meeting people, supporting our favourite bands, and just hanging out together making music we liked. Real life catches up quick and things change rapidly. This time it’s different this is just for me and that’s also fine. Just be creative and don’t chase what anyone else is doing.
If you would like to check out 'Aleutians's' Music you can find their music here:
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