MANCHESTER singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Julie Campbell goes under the moniker LoneLady and her album Hinterland was one of 2015’s understated gems.
The album featured on many 'best of 2015’ lists and Time Out London singled out Silvering as one of the best tracks of the year. Groove It Out, also on the album, was released as a single in late 2014 and is another fantastic tune.
LoneLady is obsessed with “post-industrial ruinscape, brutalist architecture and psycho-geography” and dreamt up the album in a tower block in Manchester overlooking the Mancunian Way motorway. Fittingly, the record was finished in a remote analogue recording studio in an industrial part of Michigan.
In the last few weeks the album has been popping up on many 'best of 2015’ lists; has that been nice to see and do you think it helps to get your music out to more people?
Yes, it’s great to see Hinterland have a real presence on those lists. I’m aware that people look at end-of-year lists and methodically explore all the music on there. I’m not one personally for list-making but it’s an interesting and useful barometer to see if anyone’s digging the music.
Do you generally tend to read your own reviews and press?
I have done, because it’s interesting to see if it’s making an impact. No-one who works hard on making music wants it to be a secret but I made Hinterland totally in my own headspace, without considering what an audience or reviewer might think. When one person speaks to me after a gig or sends me a message saying how much the music means to them, I’m really moved by that.
How would you sum up the 2015 you had?
To see how Hinterland has connected with people has been really rewarding. All four singles making the BBC 6 Music A-playlist was cool; I got a real sense of the music being ‘out there’. It’s been great to develop the live show too, grappling with samplers, expanding the line-up, using projections and so on. I think Lonelady evolved a lot as a live act over the year. There have been a lot of highlights; I’m still digesting it all really.
It was a bit of a surprise that Hinterland didn’t get a Mercury nomination. Did you half-expect it to be on the list and how did you feel when it wasn’t?
I wouldn’t have even thought about it were it not for people around me making noises about it. Then the bookies offered some pretty good odds on it and, given the response to the record, I did start wondering. It was disappointing in the sense that a nomination would have given me a massive boost compared to say, Florence and the Machine, who doesn’t really need a profile boost.
There are so many great songs on the album; are there one or two tunes that always work particularly well live?
We start with Into The Cave; it helps the band settle and it feels like a murky invitation and gets things moving straight away. Silvering always seems to work well as it’s pretty relentless, and about halfway through the year we started playing a 10-minute extended version of Hinterland. Basically I wanted this live set to be one long, uninterrupted groove.
Which bands and artists were you hugely into as a teenager?
I always loved pop music and I think this had a lasting impression in that I always feel the need to make my music catchy. I have a great respect for the three-minute pop song. An early obsession was early REM; their painterly artiness really resonated with me, as I loved all things to do with drawing and painting, and Peter Buck’s intricate guitar style was a huge influence on me. Later on when I got into post-punk, particularly British post punk, I knew I had found my 'tribe’.
How influential have Joy Division been on you?
I came to Joy Division relatively late on, in my 20s; I’d say Martin Hannett’s production of their records has had a big influence on me; he seemed to capture an atmosphere that seeps into the very fabric of Manchester, and create architectural space within music.
Why was there a five-year gap between your last album, Nerve Up, and Hinterland?
It was totally unintended; I spent a bit too long on other projects then I totally pulled the shutters down and immersed myself in writing; this phase lasted about 18 months. I then needed to find new management and almost learn from scratch how to put a live band together and arrange the record live.
Are you working on new material now and is there any rough timeline for another album and do you have any tour plans for 2016?
I’ve just finished touring and tying up Hinterland loose ends; I think it’s important to kind of re-fertilize the soil, be off a pressured timeline for a while, and recharge the creative batteries rather than diving headlong into another album. I wouldn’t expect anything too soon but it won’t be five years either.
:: Hinterland is out now. For tour updates, see www.facebook.com/LoneLady.
