Fuzzy Lights produce beautiful and tender dustbowl swoon. Their lo-fi, acoustic sound sways between earthy rock and delightfully ethereal fuzz and are launching their brand new album, ‘Rule Of Twelths’ at Sacred Trinity church on the 15th February. I got together with the band to find out more.
How did you get together as a band?
Rachel and I (Xavier) started playing together as a 2-piece. We were next door neighbours and we used to play semi-improvised music on violin and electric guitar. Over the years we went through various line-up changes and additions, and our music has evolved into what it is today. The current line-up (with Chris, Dan and Mark) has been constant since we released our second album, “Twin Feathers” in 2010.
Can you tell us about your new album?
“Rule of Twelfths” is probably the most ambitious album we have recorded so far. We drew inspiration from early 60s pop music and used that as way to rethink our previous way of writing. Rachel wrote string arrangements, and we hired a string quartet (Iskra) to play them, it was a fantastic experience to hear what she’d written come to life.
Before we would have often allowed a song to progress in a fashion that seemed the logical way, perhaps the easy way, we now make decisions to go for something that we don’t necessarily expect.
How has your sound developed over time?
I think we have become more nuanced in our approach – where before we would have often allowed a song to progress in a fashion that seemed the logical way, perhaps the easy way, we now make decisions to go for something that we don’t necessarily expect. An element of restraint has now become key.
Who created the cover artwork? Can you tell us about it?
A very talented artist called Melissa Castrillon (www.melissacastrillon.co.uk). She lives and works in Cambridge and I saw her work for the first time on the day the artist who was working on our design at the time sadly had his computer stolen with all the files. We had to act fast and she did a fantastic job. She drew most of it while listening to the album.
What songs will you be releasing from your album?
We released “Summer’s Tide” as a single and “Fever Dreams” as a free digital download. We are planning on releasing another single later this year.
Are you looking forward to going on tour?
Always! Sharing the energy of the songs with the audience on stage is just magical, so we hope we can share them with as many people as possible.
What can people expect from your show?
These songs are made to be played live, so we hope people will enjoy listening to them as much as we enjoy playing them. What we’ve noticed about the last couple of gigs is how much we play with the dynamics of the songs. It helps when you’ve got quiet audiences, but for instance we really enjoy trying to do things like play the beginning of Blind as quietly as we can. The audience should feel they can have an influence on how we play.
What do you like best about touring?
Visiting new places, meeting new people. A lot of people who organise shows for us are passionate and only driven by enthusiasm for great music, and sharing that enthusiasm with the people of their town.
Find out more about the band and buy tickets here.
https://soundcloud.com/little-red-rabbit-records/sets/fuzzy-lights-rule-of-twelfths
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