Minimums and I cracked open a pack of garibaldis and had a chat!

Hello Minimums, how are you?
Tired but happy! I’m still buzzing from performing (last night as I write this) at the first Linking Up event at the Amersham Arms and seeing all three of the other acts, who were phenomenal!   

Congratulations on the release of Away Home, how does it feel?
Thanks! It feels good to finally have something from the forthcoming Bound EP out there after living with those 5 tracks for a while now. It’s available on Bandcamp at minimumsactual.bandcamp.com

It’s an epic track, how did it come about?
It’s a tricky one to answer, this. Away Home is about having the realisation that you’ve been looking for validation in all the wrong places. It’s a song about realising when you’ve taken a diversion when all you needed was a pit stop and a bit of self reflection. The whole of the EP is a journey, and Away Home was the last track I wrote, but is the penultimate one on the EP before the more haunting Kopfkino (a word for people to Google!). 

What was the easiest and most challenging part of putting it together?
The easiest bit was slipping into my comfort zone with the arrangement and I was so happy when one of the audience last night told me it felt like a Zero 7 track – she made my weekend! They’re a huge influence for me so I was on arranging autopilot with this one. I’ve also played quite a busy bass guitar part which seemed to come together in just a couple of takes, which is always a bonus. 

The biggest challenge was making sure it still felt like a Minimums track and flowed with the others, but I think I’ve got the balance right. I know it’s easy as an artist to hyper-fixate on those kinds of things which ultimately only you care about!

Kudos to Siddhartha Says for his amazing remix and being a joy to work with on getting everything ready to release – lovely guy and highly recommend checking his music out!

Tell us about Minimums.
Minimums came about in spring 2020 as a way to make music that’s different to the kind I usually create. It’s an opportunity to experiment under an alias and try things I wouldn’t otherwise.. Some of the material has an adult theme and it felt more natural to externalise that and explore it through a different identity. It took a couple of EPs to find my sound, and in late 2020 I heard a track on the BBC Introducing Feedback Friday thread by an incredibly talented singer and I remember thinking her voice would be perfect for this project. A couple of nervous emails later and she’d done the first vocal for me and we went on to perform at Tomorrow Calling Festival at AMP Studios a bit later in 2021, and it felt like an arrival point.

My first EP has Pippa on all four songs and she’s found the character and tone perfectly for each one, so there’s a nice range. I’ll still be making and releasing instrumental tracks and potentially other guest musicians.  But I’ve felt spoilt working with a vocalist that delivers something magical and makes it look effortless so long may that continue!  

Your identity has stayed a closely guarded secret, has anyone ever come close to cracking the code?
It’s a lot of fun having a different identity, but it also helps to have a bit more separation between my musical output. I also wanted to see what would happen when I released music under an alias and how far it would get on its own merit. I think only about 20 people know who is in the mask and most of those are close friends and musicians I work with. I may do a reveal at some point but for now I’m enjoying the element of mystery!

Your sound is a combination of epic synths and soundscapes, how does a project usually begin for you?
Yeah – I’m a huge fan of Hybrid and the way they mix synths with a huge orchestral sound has been an influence for years (go and listen to I Know, Until Tomorrow, Higher Than A Skyscraper and Break My Soul to hear what I mean). And bringing in live strings at my show last night really lifted the sound. My projects generally start as sketches played into Ableton Live on a Friday night, then developed with fresh ears over the next few days or weeks. Usually I start with layering a few pads and rhythmic synth sounds. It then tends to be a bit tantric in terms of when I inevitably add some string parts! Drum parts tend to be one of the last things I add – it’s the thing I find the least natural.   

What has become an essential part of your set up?
Three things spring to mind. First is a guest vocalist (Pippa) and more recently expanding to include violinists Chloe and Lucia after their debut with me last night. Musicians that are great players, easy to work with and that ‘get’ a project like this are really rare, so I do feel very fortunate! Second is visuals, which I make myself in Premiere Pro from a mix of AI-generated video, imagery and stock footage (I’m aiming to shoot and edit a music video early next year too). And finally, some of the software I use. Ableton Live feels very intuitive for production and I’ve recently been using new sounds from a UK-based company called Westwood. Their instruments are amazing – so good that I went back and re-recorded parts on my EP with their sounds replacing others. . 

You mentioned your live show at Neil March’s Linking Up event last night – how did it go?
Firstly, I have to say how supportive Neil has been for me as Minimums. From giving me my first live slot to reviewing my material as part of his comprehensive round-ups in his blog, the occasional play on his show(s) – it all makes a positive difference, so thanks Neil if you’re reading! 

Last night’s show went really well and it was great to perform with the expanded line up with both violinists alongside special guest vocalist Pippa and I. Lots of positivity and no technical hitches thanks to sound engineer Dan. The audience all seemed to get it and I was on a line up with three other amazing acts. Kudos to Michael Donoghue for flying across from Jersey and debuting his live set up. He was the first person to buy a Minimums track from Bandcamp back in 2020 and has been really supportive, as well as inviting me to remix a track of his last year. it was great to meet in person and everyone in the crowd last night was transfixed by his material! 

What have you learned about yourself in the last three years post-Covid?
Quite a bit on all fronts really. I’ve learned more about what drives me, and the importance of time to focus on a project like this. I’ve come to understand what I want to create and how I want to present it to an audience. And I’ve understood quite a lot about how my brain works and what the relationship is between personality, identity and creativity. I had a lot of electronic music as a soundtrack to my childhood (Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Jarre) but it was a very hostile and abusive environment; it’s taken 20 years and a bit of therapy to feel comfortable going back to that stuff and getting beyond the association. So whatever becomes of Minimums, it’ll always represent a kind of victory and arrival point. Maybe a few other musicians that read this will find that relatable.

Did you pick up any new skills?
I’ve learned a lot, starting with how to independently produce music having spent years paying for studio time. I put it off until I had to learn and the first thing I produced got three spins on BBC Radio 6 Music in a single week! Not a bad start, though I completely agree with Tom (Robinson) about not getting too carried away with spot plays and focusing on guiding an audience. 

And I’ve been pushing myself more with creating the visuals, as they’re a really important part of the identity for me. Recently I’ve been experimenting with some AI video generation as an alternative to editing stock footage for this stuff – it’s a happy irony that it’s inspired me to approach a human artist about commissioning some new artwork for a future Minimums release (so screw you Skynet!).

What are you listening to at the moment?
Save A Prayer by Duran Duran. It’s just got to the middle 8 and I admire anyone that can make “do do do do dooo” sound cool, but it does, right?

I’ve also just listened back to Michael Donoghue’s live set from the show, having filmed and recorded it for him. And recently been listening to artists including Caitlin LM, Alfa Mist (was amazing live the other week!), Retropxssy, Sky Coloured and more!

What are you looking forward to next?
Booking some shows for 2024! I’ve got Berlin, Manchester and Birmingham in my sights, and keen to do more in Minimums’ spiritual home of London. 

I’m excited to release the rest of the Bound EP which will have the option to buy a sister EP of remixes (Unbound) by an amazing collective of artists. And currently trying to cast someone for a music video to support the next single.

I will also be working on an album project called Fewtopia, which is a dystopian tale told through music, visuals and an amazing US based voice actor. I really must stop describing it to people as Black Mirror by Jeff Wayne though (sounds like an aftershave with a scent of red weed and hint of satire, with sandalwood…) but you get the idea.

I’ve promised myself a bit of time in the next few weeks to make progress on that so let’s see what 2024 holds!

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