Introducing Interview: FOURS

Having received praise from the likes of Clash Magazine, and being playlisted on Spotify, London-based FOURS have just released a powerful slice of soulful alt-pop with new single ‘Even In My Dreams’. Propelled by the soaring vocals of Edith Violet, it’s an instantly infectious, impassioned offering.

We caught up with Edith to find out more…

Hi FOURS, welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about the band?
Hi there! We are FOURS, we spend most of our time sending each other gifs and talking nonsense. Also we sometimes write songs, but mainly it’s the gifs thing.

How did you initially all get together and start creating music?
We initially got together a few years ago. Had no idea what we wanted our sound to be and kind of rambled along for a while. I think when we started writing songs that we liked we started to take it seriously. How we met was kind of random and could very easily have never have happened. I think we’re all glad it did, we have lots of fun.

Your new single ‘Even In My Dreams’ is out very soon – can you tell us what it’s all about?
It’s about f**kboys making you hate yourself. And not being able to stay away from them. Dicks.

You’ve been compared to the likes of Paramore and Lykke Li, but who would you say are your main musical influences?
Soul singers are my idols, Nina Simone is my all-time favourite. I think Florence is spectacular and very clever. My influences are often the people who are different. I don’t take influence from pop that tends to sound the same, even though I can appreciate it.

How is your local music scene? Do you go to see lots of live music?
London’s music scene is mental, it’s rare to see a bad band play because there are hundreds of great ones gigging constantly. It’s quite terrifying but also brilliant cause there’s nothing more fun than watching a band kill it on stage. I used to be better, but I try and go to see live music as much as I can, I take a huge amount of joy from it.

And what can fans expect from your live shows?
I think bands should expect me dancing lots during the show and then about five songs in being quite severely out of breath which is due largely to how out of shape I am. We try and make the shows fun and bouncy… Come see us and you can tell me!

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any new/upcoming bands or artists you’d recommend we check out?
One of my favourite new bands is Childcare, they go on tour this month, so go see them! Also Clean Cut Kid have a new album coming out and I listened to their first one to death.

And how do you feel the music industry is for new bands at the moment – would you say it’s difficult to get noticed?
I think the music industry will always be a tricky one. It’s very fickle and can be quite disheartening but it’s kind of that way with *nearly* everyone so at least we are all in it together. There’s good people too, who are trying to get your project to work as much as you, so you just have to find some good ones!

Finally, what does the rest of 2018 have in store for FOURS?
The rest of 2018 will be very quiet from us. We are continuing to write a body of work that we’ve been writing all year. I’m super excited for people to hear the new tunes, so 2019 will be a fun one!

Huge thanks to FOURS for answering our questions!

‘Even In My Dreams’ is out now via Big Indie Records. Stream on Spotify.

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Track Of The Day: Vulpynes – ‘2 Cents’

Already cementing themselves as firm favourites here at GIHE with previous singles ‘Sublingual’, ‘Silica’ and ‘Terry Said’, Dublin duo Vulpynes are back with an immense new track.

Propelled by the gritty, impassioned vocals of guitarist Maeve, ‘2 Cents’ rages with a seething energy and sublime raw power as scuzzy punk-fuelled riffs are blasted out alongside intense pummelling beats. Reminiscent of the riotous force of the likes of L7 or The Distillers, it’s another storming, empowering offering from Vulpynes, showcasing all there is to love about this duo.

Of the track, the band explain: “It’s a celebration of being liberated from anyone else’s opinion. There are so many people who feel educated on what you should be doing with your life, who will judge you by your age, sexuality, appearance, the music you play, your gender. This song is a triumphant two fingers to anyone who feels obliged to give you their opinion on where you are at in life. It’s about freeing yourself from expectations and how cathartic that feels.”

Watch the eerie new video for ‘2 Cents’ (directed by Vinnie Flynn) here:

Stream ‘2 Cents’ on Spotify now.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

Photo Credit:  Noisiu J Manley

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Five Favourites: Arc Iris

With their new album Icon of Ego released this month via Ba Da Bing Records, Providence trio Arc Iris, fronted by Jocie Adams (formerly of The Low Anthem) have been busy sharing their brand new sounds far and wide. We caught up with Jocie to ask her about her “Five Favourites” – Five artists or albums that have influenced her songwriting technique. Check out her responses below…

1. John Martyn – Bless the Weather
This record is the Five Leaves Left that never found it’s spotlight in America. The simple musicality on this record is wholly inspiring. The interplay between the bass and guitar is moving. John Martyn’s singing is incredibly human and musical.

Bless the Weather is a perfect record minus one. For some reason the British folk artists had a habit of ruining their perfect records with one electric blues tune. John Martyn did it (with Sugar Lump), Fairport Convention did it, Sandy Denny did it….

2. Yes – Close to the Edge 
A classic that we have shared as a band since day one. Zach and Ray had to learn this record as teenagers when they toured with Jon Anderson, but Zach was a die hard Yes fan well before that moment came about. In addition, Rick Wakeman was Zach’s number one keyboard influence as a kid. It’s hard to talk about this record. You should go listen to it, if you haven’t already. You will either love it, or hate it. It might take 2 or 3 tries to make sense.

3. Joni Mitchell – Blue
This year we re-imagined and released all of Joni Mitchell’s Blue under the name Foggy Lullaby. Learning and re-imagining these songs has had a big influence on the growth of our band. Joni Mitchell’s songwriting taught me a lot about the line between loose and tight when it comes to lyric writing and rhythm in singing. She is a melodic queen. Lastly, Joni’s attitude towards creating art as art rather than art as a part of trending pop culture is inspiring. Of course, she wouldn’t like me saying that because I don’t think she takes well to people trying to summarize her opinions.

4. DJ Shadow – Endtroducing….
Our immediate love for the sonic landscape on this record is paramount to the incorporation of samples into our set. Zach uses samples from my clarinet or his or my voice doing whacky things for both live purposes and the writing process. We have also started doubling drums with sampled drums on a lot of tunes.

5. Stevie Wonder – Innervisions
Stevie is another wildly influential artist for all of us. Strangely, his biggest influence on our band is likely his left hand bass playing. Zach learns a lot from his melodic bass choices, groove and tones. This record is undeniably a classic on so many levels. The fluidity and ease that Stevie carries while playing keys and singing and even playing the drums is inspiring for us all as musicians. The songwriting is beautiful. The arrangements are simple and effective. It’s just great.

Thanks to Jocie for sharing her favourites! Follow Arc Iris on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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