SEAN MURPHY-O'NEILL OF COURTING
Hi Sean and thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology. Firstly, congratulations on the debut record Guitar Music. You guys took a somewhat novel approach to “record a rock album and then ruin it” which is perhaps a skill in its own right to deconstruct something and for it to still resemble an orderly and considered work. Exactly how did you approach the album and build the tracks up only to tear them down?
We approached the songs with the final product in mind but also wanted to write songs that could work in any format for the purpose of taking them apart. There were tracks that were wrote knowing what pieces would fit in later on, and other tracks like Famous in which we left a lot of space for ideas that could pop up during the deconstructive process.
Your influences as a band range from pop to experimental, how do you bridge these diametrically opposed genres, and where within that spectrum do you consider yourselves?
We don’t try too hard to consider our influences, we just listen to a lot of music and see what sticks. Similarly, we’re particularly unoffended by whatever genre people decide to place us within. We’re trying to do something interesting and move away from where we started and we hope that people understand where we’re trying to go regardless of what they decide to label us as.
As an extension to that, how conscious was your approach towards balancing unfettered experimentation and commercial appeal when working on each of the tracks on Guitar Music?
To an extent, that was entirely the point. We aren’t trying to find untouched ground for the sake of it, but moreso want to explore and create interesting music that could still appeal to a lot of people. I think a lot of modern pop music and rap accomplishes this and I feel like it’s slightly lacking in more rock oriented genres.
Having released your EP Grand National in 2021, has the clarity of hindsight helped in producing Guitar Music considering the substantially re-worked track ‘Crass’ that featured on the EP and now on the LP?
I consider Grand National an important stepping stone and still stand by it. Part of the point of re-working it is so that people can see a snapshot of where we are at currently versus previously.
In terms of the writing and lyrical content, was there an overarching narrative tying the album together or an assortment of topics and inspirations that zig zag throughout the record?
We tried to approach the record as a world-building exercise and wanted to write songs that could create complex characters but also exist as lyrics that people could relate to. I think a lot of the topics that are mentioned multiple times throughout the record (car parks, cities) exist somewhat as easter eggs to connect the stories together.
The record was tracked in Liverpool with Rob Whitely (of The Wombats and Cactus Knife fame) and produced in London with James Dring who has worked with artists including Genesis Owusu, Nilüfer Yanya and Circa Waves. What did Rob and James specifically bring to the table that you feel really shines through on the album?
Rob has engineered and produced all of our early work, he knows exactly how to capture us live so we needed to make sure he was on deck to record the album. We wanted to work with James because he shared our interest in deconstruction and trying to create something weird.
What were some of the challenges in putting this LP together and conversely what were some of the greatest surprises you experienced through the writing / recording process for Guitar Music?
I think that a lot of the songs on this album are more personal and emotional than what we’ve previously released so I think as a writer it was quite difficult to hone in on writing emotional songs without them coming off as naive or cringeworthy. I think writing an actual love song is the true challenge of a lyricist, regardless of how talented you are at other types of songwriting. For example, the appeal of “this must be the place” or even “you and me song”. There is a certain naivety that is difficult to come across and we really wanted to embody that in a few songs. I don’t think we were too surprised, the whole record was very planned out but I think it means a lot more to us than we had expected.
As a part of your deconstruction, reassembly, and sample-heavy ethos that you employ in your track construction, how do you bring that to life in a live setting?
We want to use a minimal amount of backing track but obviously, that presents financial difficulties. We try to keep our live performances completely live as much as we possibly can though, not out of an anti-backing track perspective but more from our desire to be able to change the show up on the fly.
Having performed around the U.K and beyond can you share with us a particular standout show and what made it so memorable?
The other week we performed on the main stage at Community Festival in London which was incredible to actually be on a stage of that size. It makes you feel like what you’re doing is truly worth it in my opinion. We had a similar feeling when we played Paradiso in Amsterdam.
During that time have there been any words of wisdom spoken to you that really resonated and have in turn altered the way you approach your craft?
“Don’t take it all too seriously”
