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Artist Interviews
Q&A: Rumer
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 11 January 2011
Dusky-voiced soul songstress Rumer, moniker of Sarah Joyce, released her debut album ‘Seasons Of My Soul’ in late 2010 to widespread acclaim from critics, fans and John Prescott alike. Spearheading a fresh take on vintage pastiche, her appeal was such that she became the fastest selling new female artist of last year. Following much-lauded singles ‘Slow’ and ‘Aretha’, Rumer now treats us to her third single, ‘Am I Forgiven’, which was released earlier this month. Currently wrapping up a sold out nationwide tour, Rumer is also due to embark on a string of spring dates which kick off on 21 Mar at Colston Hall in Bristol. We caught up with her to ask the Same Six Questions.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
I have always loved music and from a young age adapted songs by changing the melodies and lyrics so I could understand them, so it was natural to begin to write my own music when I got older. My older brothers had a room in the house which was set up as a band room, with amps and a drum kit, and they used to rehearse in there. My brothers would let me stand on a box to sing into the microphone and make up my own backing vocals at the age of six. Looking back they were really welcoming and friendly to me!
So, it was my family that got me into writing music. Music was a normal part of life growing up. Chris is a great singer-songwriter, and my brother Rob plays piano by ear and is a really really great fingerpicking folk guitarist. Steve played the drums. My sisters Kathy and Liz can pick up the acoustic and play it really well. And while my sister Felix never played, she is the tastemaker, the DJ. To this day even though she lives way out in the country she finds the most unusual music and knows all the hip new bands.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Nature, universal themes of love, loss, grief, hope, everyday life, the people I have met and loved, friendship, desolation, redemption, dreams and ideas of heaven.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
I work like I imagine a painter does. I get a sense of a feeling or sentiment I want to express, and see pictures or moving images in my mind. Then I make musical sketches with vocal and guitar, record them on tape, and live with them, building on the ideas, filling in the colours. Then I record them again and add harmonies til there is form and structure. Then I will share it with my producer and he usually transposes it to piano and sometimes he adds his own arrangement, sometimes not.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
All the great singers, Aretha, Cass Eliot, Dusty, Dionne, Karen Carpenter, Jackie Deshannon, Bobbie Gentry, plus great songwriters, lyricists and composers likie Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, George and Ira Gershwin, Yip Harburg, Jerone Kern, Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Judee Sill, Jimmy Webb. So many people!
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
I would say I hope it makes a good companion, because it’s been a good companion to me.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
I would like to take ‘Seasons Of My Soul’ to the USA, Japan, China, Australia and more of Europe. I always have a variety of different projects on going. I am participating in a sound project with a classical composer and working on two new records.
MORE>> www.rumer.co.uk
