Influences: Stealing Sheep

The sounds which inform their second album...

Stealing Sheep is a universe unto itself.

Formed by three musicians while studying in Liverpool, the band's debut album 'Into The Diamond Sun' was a bewitching fusion of folk melodies, choral harmonies and off kilter rhythms.

Setting to work on a follow up, the trio began absorbing new sounds, exploring fresh directions.

New album 'Not Real' will be released on April 13th via Heavenly Recordings, with Stealing Sheep gradually revealing a plethora of new influences.

Check out their guide below.

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1. Tinariwen – 'Imidiwan Afrik Tendam'
Tinariwen's music reminds us of a united procession evoking the sense of both a physical and spiritual journey. We love the peaceful and meditative pace, the linear repetition of chords and melodies and the constant drum patterns building up gradually on basic sounds. Their soundscape combines arabic scales with modern, western and bluesy roots, they weave these styles together creating the sense of old and new.

We like the low, chanting and high shreiking voices singing in unison with the strange therapeutic rhythms and melodies. When we were writing our track 'Greed' we also wanted to create a visual landscape that reflected recurring daily cycles, we wanted to slowly build a dynamic with subtle changes but with a committed atmosphere.

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2. The Pointer Sisters – 'Automatic'
True pop mentality at it's best! We love the clean conciseness of all the parts, there's so much going on but it all has a place, they have the ability to multilayer different musical hooks without overloading or distracting from the song. All of the parts integrate in a way that feels sophisticated and considered.

The mechanical programming of the drums and plastick-y drum sounds definitely infiltrated our subconscious when we were beginning to write for our second album. We sampled lots of yamaha and casio beats that had this kind of vibe, in our track Apparition you can hear that we've leant more towards programmed drums and those 80's 808 tom and claps! We also love how the structure works in their song, they manage to introduce lots of new themes throughout the song that never get confusing or go off course. Its full of catchy vocals, latch-y guitar parts and that key change is classic!

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3. Metronomy – 'Everything Goes My Way'
We love Metronomy. They have cultivated a great style and have a preciseness to their songwriting. We've listened to them a lot while we have been writing. They know how to convey simple messages that are supported by clear structures. We admire their consistent aesthetic, they have quite honest recordings with low-fi keyboard beats and dry vocals, they're not hiding in any kind of shrouded mysticism.

They've developed a signature vibe and it continues into their visual taste too, this consistency feels conscious rather than naive and you get the sense that they are quite considered about what they are trying to say. It doesn't come across as a pretence or like they're trying to be something they are not and this trueness comes through and feels heart warming. They've balanced cynical humour, melancholia, sensitivity, irony, grooves and nostalgia really well!

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4. Flight Facilities – 'Crave You'
This song has a very light feel and has lovely percussion throughout. It retains a naivety whilst existing in quite a manufactured landscape. It has very effective yet subtle changes and there's a nice contrast between light, sweetness of the vocals and heavy darkness of the beat and bass.

The singing is so soft and feminine. It really feels like how you feel when you're in love with someone when you are young and carefree!. There is a fat bass that brings out a dancey-housey vibe, which is fun. We wanted to create a more dancey feel to our album, more than in our previous. This was a great reference for that as it has nice 'drops' with the bass, drums and percussion around a light and airy vocal-lyrical style.

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5. Dirty Projectors – 'Stillness Of The Move'
This track is quite bare and minimal but still feels big and epic. It's reinforced within us the 'less is more' mentality. It's main focus is the vocal story and melody, which simply repeats all the way through but develops with it's lyrical intention, you can hear real passion in the vocals and the feeling that she is freely meandering around notes but in a controlled way. Her voice is winding and fluid over a solid percussive backbone that supports the vocal without ever being intrusive. There's a light summery guitar lick that loops throughout the song, occasional joined by another guitar harmony, that reinforces it and locks in your head. It feels fresh and summery.

The track slowly builds, only breaking down from it's pattern once to a drop, before bursting towards enlightening strings that flood the ending section. You get the feeling that the song has met some kind of big time realisation and that some conclusions have been made. Lyrically it's really inspiring too, it feels uplifting, it talks about everything being possible 'there is nothing we can't do'. The clear message feels right and everything supports this philosophy in the way it's pieced together.

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