Interview with Stables: the emerging alt-folk duo with a stunning sound!

Matthew Lowe and Daniel Trenholme- the creative minds behind Stables- have just released their debut album Beyond Brushes. The album contains eleven tracks that blend poetic lyricism, swelling instrumentals and flawless harmonies. The cultivated and mature sound is suprising on a debut release and reminiscent of quality folk acts such as Fleet Foxes, Laura Marling or Of Monster and Men.

The album's singles 'Meet You' and 'Be Together' have a calm drama to them, the mixing of deep keys, playful brass and a light folk guitar really make 'Meet You' stand out from the typical folk sound. While, lyrically, they maintain the traditional story telling folk style whilst imbuing it with emotion and a touch of panache. While 'Steam' is probably my favourite track off the album, it's infectious riff and rythmn combined with the slightly rougher harmonies really grabs your ears and gets in your head. I've also got a soft spot for the confessional ramblings and powerful rolling guitar of their track 'Foolish'. While 'Doors' and the titular track 'Beyond Brushes' are energetic yet mournful refrains which capture the imagination. In all this is my favourite new folk group and if you get the chance I'd recommend giving their album a good listening.


Having enjoyed the debut so much, I caught up with the guys to find out a little more about them...

Interview:

You both worked within other bands (Matt with Keston's Cobblers Club and Daniel with Lost Cavalry) and have known each other since school. What inspired you to decide to join forces and start making music together?

Daniel and I have been playing together for years, yes. We formed the band Keston Cobblers' Club together with Tom and Julia, but sadly Daniel had to leave to pursue a life of architecture and uni! Last year we were having a drink around Christmas and Daniel had recently gotten back into Music, something he massively missed as soon as he stopped doing it! I told him that I was going to do my own little project on the side of Cobblers, I had a few track ideas and plans and he said he wanted in... We went back to mine, I  played him a new track once way through on guitar, then gave him a Ukulele and a glass of red... Within minutes we were harmonising and performing the track through, the rest is history as they say!

You just had your first tour in France, how was jamming on the continent? 

I love playing on the continent. I've been lucky enough to do a few European tour with The Cobblers and as soon as we started Stables I told Daniel we had to get out of London and just play whenever we can (I love London, but it's easy to get in a bit of a loop playing it every week). A wonderful French Promoter called Freddy got in contact after hearing our album and invited us to go and play. Of course we said yes and had a wonderful time!

 

I like your ethos of being a duo that isn't afraid to expand or play with your sound by incorporating guest musicians and new ways of delivering your tracks. Does this help to keep you excited about your music and keep a fresh approach to it?

I think so - It's hard because who doesn't like adding more musicians and thickening the sound? On our album I've always been a wrriter/producer who likes to add as much as possible, orchestras, electronic elements when needed, lots of harmonies, but with Stables I wanted a project where we could pull off gigs just the two of us, with stripped down instruments as well, it's fun to tread the line between the two. We do have plans to play with more people down the line, but I always want this band to be just Daniel and I at the base of it all, it' keeps it so much fun and we can move so quickly with just the two of us making all of the key decisions, then expand when the gig/opportunity requires it. A perfect example of this is The Tallest Man on Earth, who has this amazing on stage presence as a soloist, but then added a full band recently and changed the dynamic totally - now he goes between the two ideas, or Bon Iver who started gigging just three people, stripped down and intimate and then became an arena ten piece - Who doesn't like variety?!

Who would be your dream artist/s to collaborate with?

 Tough one for me. From a writing/producing point of view, I would say Justin Vernon, or Paul Simon. To perform... It's got to be Freddy Mercury duet or Nina Simone if we're at a sat down concert

I noticed you list Simon & Garfunkel as one of your influences, your vocal harmonies are one of the most striking parts of the soundscape you create, is it a challenge translating them to stage?

I love Simon and Garfunkel as you can probably tell from my last answer. I think Harmonies are such an easy addition to a track that can add so much in terms of layers and variety. There's only two of us most of the time so adding an extra vocal on top of mine is vital to keep a track moving and we love harmonising. I don't think it's hard on stage no, infact it's jumping around and playing enough instruments between us that's harder. I sometimes wish we could have a third harmony for some sections, but we do get guest vocalists sometimes to join us and as I say, we have a few plans for the future...

What's your favourite track to perform live?

For me personally - Meet You, it's the one I can totally let loose with and go a little nuts, I'm strumming guitar so I have no massive picking stresses and it's a great one for me to push my vocals to.

 What advice would you give an aspiring artist or musician?

 When we started Stables at the beginning of the year we had a £1000 loan from my parents to get things going. This mainly covered the manufacturing of the CD and a few bits and bobs so we knew that most of what we created had to be from us two and the help of some lovely friends. We have some lovely friends in the film industry.. We ended up doing the music video for Steam and Meet you on our own with the help of my girlfriend running and most of our sessions the same way, but with Be Together we got our old friend James Poole involved who did an amazing job, plus our film friends David Hayes and Matthew Somorville to do some live footage at festivals. You rely so heavily on friends and favours at this level, our budget is non existent and I don't like not paying people as I work in the music industry in other areas as well and try my best to be paid as I have to pay rent, but luckily we've had some lovely help from people so that we can build up a fanbase, sell some music and tickets and hopefully get more people involved in the future. I love DIY projects and we'll always do a lot of stuff ourselves, but sometimes when you work soley on the writing and production of a track, it's lovely to get someone elses vision for the video.

 What advice would you give an aspiring artist or musician?

Do stuff, don''t just talk about it. Dedicate your time between being artistic/creative and realistic/marketing guru. The industry is made of those two parts almost in perfect balance, you can't just play and party your way to a fanbase anymore, you have to graft and come up with strategies to get your stuff heard. The internet means you don't have to have a major record deal anymore, but it also means you have more competition and can get lazy. Book a tour as soon as you possibly can. We did 2 months after forming just to get on the road, even if you may make a loss, get out of your comfort zone and show people what you can do.

Who are you listening to at the moment? Recommend our readers some tunes!

I'm always 5 years too late, but a band I found a few months ago and sent straight Daniel is Phoria. They're a Brighton based band. Just get their album, put on some decent headphones and listen to the whole thing with a beer, it's a slow burner but when they get you, you become hooked. Also; Clean Cut Kid, we've played with them at two festivals now; a very different sound to us, but I believe they'll be massive someday soon.

Any upcoming projects or events we should be keeping an eye out for?

We're going a little quiet over the winter to work on new material, but we have a couple of gigs in Bedford and Brixton soon after x-mas. We'll then be planning festivals and tours as we thaw out. Keep an eye on our website, Facebook etc.. There's lots more to come.

You can follow Stables on Twitter, Facebook, or, keep up to date with them on their official website.