VC Pines only ever releases music when he's ready.
The songwriter's debut EP may have felt self-assured, but that belied the months – years, even – that went into each song.
New EP 'Skully' was built over a six month period, utilising studios in St Albans and Surrey in the process.
Songs that speak of self-doubt and self-reliance in a constantly fluctuating world, it's perfect for these anxiety inducing times.
Clash spoke to VC Pines about his Influences…
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When I started the VC Pines project I was in a state of collecting a load of new inspirations and art forms from people I’d either never heard of or people I loved and needed to delve into their work.
As well as music, I’ve worked with clothes for a long time, be it at Curated Man where I’m the buyer with the owner Henry, or my love for collecting vintage items and clothing. I work with clothing from all over the world but it’s Japanese construction, style and influences that I really love.
I’ve always had a huge interest in Japanese culture, since studying Karate from an early age, I developed a love for the way the Japanese conduct themselves in and out of the dojo. From their ideologies of Wabi Sabi culture, the absolute intricacy that goes into their clothing and the artists and their works coming from that side of the world.
I was in Japan with my girlfriend and we were ransacking all the best vintage stores in Tokyo. I came across a book of Daido Moriyama’s work and started going through his photos and some of them would spark song ideas that grew.
Me and my producer, Hound, always practice Wabi Sabi when recording, sticking to the first or second takes of everything and keeping mistakes in if they’re there to maintain a human and raw element to my music.
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My Dad got me into his music at an early age. He’s a huge fan of anything Motown/Soul and on the other side of the spectrum, anything punk / post-punk. So I was brought up on this mix of wavey melodies and horn sections from Bobby Womack, Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers, with the sharpness and unpredictability of Iggy Pop, Talking Heads and The Clash.
Our go to favourites have to be ‘Once In A Lifetime’ – Talking Heads and ‘Across 110th Street’ – Bobby Womack.
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Then during Primary School I started to discover my own music and came across one of the best albums ever made ever and I dare you to change my mind. It’s an album that could have been released yesterday and would be the baddest thing you’ve ever heard.
This is today’s favourite from OutKast's 'Speakerboxx/The Love Below' – ‘Vibrate'. Although it’d been done before, Andre 3000 introduced the layered vocal and harmonies to me and it’s a go to for me when laying down vocals. The way he does it, it’s like an instrument in itself.
A really recent inspiration of mine came from watching a documentary on the painter Sean Scully. There was a section of an interview that really resonated with me, I recorded it and thank fuck, Scully himself gave the OK and it’s on the intro track ‘Skully’ on my latest EP.
He had been asked about a reaction Ai WeiWei had to one of Scully’s recent paintings and he goes on to explain that he’d never think about another opinion, simply because he doesn’t care enough. And that you have to wholeheartedly believe in yourself and produce art unapologetically.
I had to share it, especially for other up and coming artists, self doubt can be a killer.
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I’ve always been a fan of King Krule’s music, especially the production on '6 Feet Beneath The Moon'. It’s an album full of cigarette songs for me.
I used to hang out my bedroom window and listen to the whole album, filling my room with smoke.
A lot of my songs follow a narrative in some way. Whether they’re literally telling a story or the growth or demise of a relationship or something metaphorical, there’s always some kind of evolution happening.
And that’s something I find in a lot of Tyler, The Creator’s songs and/or videos. There’s always a theme.
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'Skully' EP is out now.
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