James Yuill

James Yuill Interview

Mixing melodic folk with banging electro... 2 completely different genres? Such a combination is likely to have already been somewhere in the recent music scenes where anything goes, but surprisingly, I haven’t heard music like this before. Beautiful acoustic guitar melodies and pleasant vocals on prominent songwriting interwoven with dynamic electro beats... all sounds rather new. James Yuill has established his own unique view of the world, which he describes as the happy marriage between the electronic and the organic worlds. Anyone listens to his music, such as his last album ‘Turning Down Water for Air’ will get what he means. East London based James Yuill kindly agreed to have a chat with UK Adapta in his local. He came across as a good decent person at the meeting, in contract with an energetic artist getting on with a massive crowd and dancing hard on the dance floor afterwards.

As well as Fire & Earth versions of his songs, appreciating various different elements made together must be a key factor for his music. Good news for Japanese folks! Yuill is hitting Tokyo for his first Japanese gigs in December. His new but nostalgic music is well worth listening to.

- Can you tell us a little about yourself, who you are and what you do.

J: My name is James. I play music and go all over the world to play my music to people, which is great fun.

- How long have you been doing music?

J: I’ve been playing music since I was a kid, but full time I’ve been doing since July 2007. That’s when I gave up my job to commit to music full time, so 2 and half years I guess.

- Have you always been doing solo?

 J: I first started off in a band playing Ash covers at school because I was a big fan of Ash. We changed the form as our musical taste changed.

I then got into production and electronic music, started leaning towards that way. The band broke up in the last couple of years at school, so from then I’ve been writing my own music. I found it quite easy to work on my own. Sometimes I have to collaborate with other people but I’m a bit of a control freak.

- You are referred to as a ‘folktronica’ artist. How do you find a way to mix the two different genres together?

J: Folktronica thing, I guess it is roughly what I do, although I’m not really, amazingly folky. As for electronica, if people see my live... it’s more house really.

youtube : Over The Hills

Electro-folk would be probably better. It’s not that hard to do in terms of producing as I can write acoustic songs anyway, record them on a computer. When I’m producing I tend to go for more electronic sounds rather than normal band sounds. That’s why it sounds a bit electronic. It works quite well, if you are using picked arpeggiated chords on the guitar.

- You also use interesting sounds like xylophone.

J: Yeah. The software I use is Ableton Live, so you can put a single note into it, which then arranges it onto a keyboard. I also sampled myself playing a Jamaican steel pan that made a weird sound. That’s what I do, take organic bits and put them into the machine.

- What equipment/setup are you using on stage?

J: it’s basically the same as I play in my bedroom, but when I’m recording I’m using Ableton to put down rough ideas and everything I like on MacBook Pro. So I use my acoustic guitar, keyboard, glockenspiel... and random percussion. For live, it’s more about laptop and midi controllers, but I still have my acoustic guitar.

- I think your lyrics are relatively straightforward. Are they from personal experience or do you write from a more observational viewpoint?

J: I tend not to think too hard about lyrics.

youtube : No Surprise

I normally come up with a melody first where the vocal should be and I’d just sing something. As the song develops, I direct it. It normally starts with quite vague without lyrics not being about much. With the new album I’m writing, I’m trying to write more about observational things and about myself as well, but it’s more obvious.

- Choose one word best describes your sound.

J: Bittersweet.

- You are signed to Moshi Moshi Records (whom I spoke last month). How did the relationship with them start?

youtube : This Sweet Love

J: I left my job and found a manager. I was one of the first people who signed to his management label. My manager got Stephen (one of the founders of Moshi Moshi) to listen to my songs, but he first didn’t fully get what I was doing. When he came to my live show, I was really bad, so he was not really into it. I then went to SXSW in 2008 and he saw me there. I went to see Boyz Noise and was dancing and going mental to it. I saw him come around and do exactly the same. We shared a moment, I think. From that point on, he’s been into what I do as he needed to know where I was coming from, whether I appreciate heavy dance music as well because you don’t really get that from CD.

youtube : No Pins Allowed

- I’d like to ask you about your visual identity. When I asked your label, they said they tried to encourage their artists to do their own artwork.I found your sleeve design and promo videos carried positive image as something cute, nostalgic, or nature inspired... Do they reflect your personality? To what extent have you been involved in the design process?

J: I went through my myspace friends for someone who could do graphic design and found this lady in France. I loved her style because it’s a mixture of cartoons and science with diagrams and stuff. I was trying to mix the electronic with the organic worlds, so it was perfect! As for videos, for example Over the Hills, which was the third single, was inspired by the album artwork that we had made in America.

- What about FIRE and EARTH versions of your songs?

J: There was a stage last year we were thinking about whether to release another single from the album to keep me in the public eye, but we had already released 4 singles from the album. Because I can do both elements of electronic and acoustic, somehow my manager had an idea of doing a remix album. I can do different versions not just remixes, but actual reworking, so I re-did 5 of my electronic songs acoustically, and vice versa. As the album has water and air in the title, I thought it’d be quite funny to have fire and earth. It represents the styles because earth is warm and organic which represents acoustic whereas fire is hot and represents more electronic. Although it’s yet to come out from Moshi Moshi, will be available soon in the UK.

You are going to Japan in December! What will your hopes be?

J: I’ll be playing at British Anthems and doing a couple of in stores as well. It seems I get good responses from Japan already. Hope it goes well! Hope there will be lots of people see me live.

- What would you like to do when you're there, apart from your work?

J: I’m expecting it to be quite crowded because I’ll be staying in just Tokyo. My manager is gonna take us to a karaoke box. I’ve never done karaoke before so I’m nervous (laugh), more nervous about karaoke than the gigs really.

- You should hit Shibuya for karaoke! (laugh)

- What else is happening with James Yuill for the coming year?

J: I’m literally just recording for new album and aiming to get a single out in February. I also need to redo my live set, get a couple of guys to do electronics and visuals too. Although I love to do on my own, I need to step up and improve it.

- Finally, do you have any message to your Japanese fans coming to your gigs?

J: Hope you like it. I’m really looking forward to it more than they are!

myspace: jamesyuill

Written by Chika Aoki