Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: We are all from different corners of the UK, met at university and became close mates. After a year or so our shared passion for music finally came together, we had all had solo or duo projects on the go but we decided to bring all these together to form Harbour Loft.
Q: And what other artists have you found yourself listening to lately?
A: Recently Duncan has been listening to Oscar Jerome, Tom’s been into Sports Team, Niamh’s been streaming SZA, Noah’s been playing LAUSSE THE CAT and Sammy has been tuning into Huron John.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences, and why the name ‘Harbour Loft’?
A: As all of us have varying music tastes, we take ideas from a multitude of genres. Vocally we took inspiration from Clairo and Mac Demarco.
Regarding production that comes from a multitude of people; traditional pop structures like Max Martin, incorporation of other genres like Damon Albarn and more.
Harbour loft was the name of the uni house Sammy and Noah lived in during their second year, in which the entirety of our Loungepop album was written and recorded.
Q: You have just released your new single, ‘Today’. Is there a story behind it?
A: Today was the second track we all made together as a collective. Tom came with the lyrics for the hook and we built the track around that chorus, we all brought something to it and that was when we saw the potential we all had as artists.
Q: Can we expect a new EP or even an album from you in the near future?
A: We recently released our debut project: ‘Loungepop’ on all streaming platforms, it’s a combination of sounds that we feel perfectly encapsulates who we are and the directions we can move in going forward. The project itself has a lot of themes and ideas that will for sure resonate with people and aside from that, the songs are pretty catchy.
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: We feel as though ‘Loungepop’ describes our sound perfectly. Too refined to be bedroom-pop, but not mainstream enough to be regular pop. Our music’s key elements are; a combination of deeply personal words and vivid imagery in the lyrics, jazzy guitar and other clean instrumentation, layered above some glossy production. We can say that after some deep thought, we think this combo sounds ‘pretty good’.
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more?
A: At the moment we are finding the music process incredibly rewarding, seeing our friends, family and our growing audience enjoy our music is a priceless feeling. We have so much more in the works and are excited for everyone to hear what we plan next.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: Unless one of us has a basis for an idea already, our process is more or less the same in most sessions. We’ll start with some guitar played by Duncan, and whilst Noah and Sammy flesh out the rest of the instrumental, Tom and Niamh will come with vocal ideas and we will all move from there. There is always crossover though, we all chip in ideas in all aspects of making music, it’s a very collaborative process.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: Every piece of music, video content or promotional material was created by us. Without support from a label or marketing team, it can be difficult to know if you’re heading in the right direction. As everyone in the collective shares a different creative skill, we have been delegating tasks amongst ourselves to try and promote our album which has been difficult but we have enjoyed the process and learnt so much about promotion.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: We just performed our first ever gig, supporting Max Rad at the Cornish Bank which is probably the biggest venue in our town. The performance ran smoothly and it was amazing seeing all of our friends singing and dancing to our music.
