Sarah Louise Owen is back with her fantastic new album Dream Catcher, which is her fourth studio album.
We caught up with the singer/song-writer to chat about the new album, a change in her sound and what lies ahead in 2013.
- Your new album is Dream Catcher so what can fans expect from your new collection of tracks?
Well what is different to this album compared to other releases is that there are more upbeat songs on this one - I think I would call it folk/pop.
I have tended to write a lot of slow long songs in the past but this time I made a conscious effort to have more of a balance (laughs).
- There has always been a personal feel to your music but I felt that even more so this time with songs like My Heart for example so how conscious a choice was that? Or is it simply the way that the songs played out as you wrote them?
My music has always been something that is very personal to me. I started writing songs when I was fifteen and when you are a teenager and you have got all kinds of emotions and things to deal with and I guess I used music as a way of dealing with personal things like that. And that has carried on in my music I think.
- You are also a visual songwriter so what inspires you to write?
A lot of things inspire me to write but I suppose where I live plays a big part; I live in Carmarthen which is surrounding the Snowdonia Mountains and the sea so it is a very picturesque place to live.
So I think that the Celtic feel of that sometimes comes across in my music. I use to be into making short films and writing scripts so I have always thought quite visually anyway so that is probably where that comes from.
- There is a folk feel to this album but there are some pop elements in there as well but how would you describe the sound of the new record?
I guess I would call it folk pop as there are the folk instruments in there such as the violin and the banjo.
The piano plays a big part in this record and that really is my writing tool - I don’t tend to write much on the guitar - and so it moves away from the folk element when there is so much piano.
I am inspired by female singer song-writers that play the piano such as Sarah Mclaughlin and Sara Bierelles. So yeah I think folk/pop is the best way to describe it as well as singer/song-writer music.
- You have been on the road touring this album since September so how have the new tracks been going down with a live audience?
Really well. I have been doing a lot of acoustic gigs but I have also been doing a lot of full band gigs as well on bigger stages and it has gone down really well.
I have seen people dance to some of the songs and that is a bit of a new thing for me to see people dancing and enjoying themselves to these songs.
I use to play solo a lot and just play the piano and play more listening gigs and acoustic gigs but now I am playing more festivals. It has been going down really well and the CD’s have been selling at gigs so that is good. It is just nice and positive feedback at the moment.
- So how have found playing with a band rather than just being an acoustic artist?
I have loved it. The band has been with me for quite a long time but I knew that they wanted more upbeat songs to play to make it more fun for them - so I made a conscious effort to do that for them.
But as a band we have really grown together and we are just having fun now as we are at a stage where we are pretty tight.
So we are just enjoying it and experimenting with different sounds. It is a lot more fun then being on your own, definitely.
- The album sees you reunite with Rich Roberts who had produced this record so what were you looking for in your producer? And what did you think he would bring?
As you say I have worked with him before and I got on really well with him. He is young and enthusiastic and is up for trying lot of new and different stuff and that is really important to me; I didn’t want to just go with a producer who has a track record of producing folk albums specifically.
This guy is really talented and he is finding his own feet as well. So I didn’t want to go with a folk producer because I didn’t want it to sound like every other folk album. It was just the fact that we get on and he is enthusiastic is really what I was looking for.
- Well you have slightly touched on my next question really how do you find working with him?
Yeah, good. He is only about twenty four I think and he has his own studio and he has some good contacts. So I really enjoyed it.
- So how have you found the response to the record so far?
It has been really good. I have just come back from South Wales where I have done a session for BBC Wales - I found out earlier that they are actually going to make me Artist of the Week during the album release week.
Friends and family enjoy the record and tell you that they enjoy it but when radio producers and DJ’s are telling you that they like it as well that is a good confidence boost.
- This is your fourth album but only the second in English so how do you feel you have developed as both a musician and a songwriter since your debut in 2005?
In 2005 I did an album called Tir na Nog and it was actually the first time that I had even tried writing in Welsh as I had been writing in English for a few years.
A Welsh language label said that they would make a CD with me if I started to write some songs in Welsh and so I did.
I really didn’t have a clue what was going on when I went into the studio and I let them take control; they chose the producer, the musicians and it was all put together for me and I didn’t have much input. When I look back on it now I feel like I was really really young.
But now I have co-produced the last album and as you get old you tend to know what you want and feel more confident in your own voice.
I use to be a bit nervous in experimenting and doing things with my voice and now I just go for ad if comes out and sounds terrible it doesn’t really matter.
I would say that is how I have grown and with this album I have also tried to write about all kinds of stuff and not just love and heartbreak. I have just been more professional about it and have thought a little more about the audience.
- As I mentioned earlier you are currently on tour so for anyone who has a ticket for any of the remaining dates what can they expect?
There are band gigs and there are acoustic gigs so if they want a bit of a laid back evening they can chill out and listen to some music.
If they want to come to a band gig they can expect to be dancing if they want.
It is really nice to have the band to do the ballads because it means that we can have two pianos or more string instruments and it brings out the emotion of the songs. So it is just a really easy going gig and I hope that they will have fun.
- I was reading that it wasn't until you were about 17 that you wanted to pursue singing so what made you eventually go down this path?
I don’t know really. I have always loved writing and I use to write a lot of poetry and I wanted to be a journalist and a film director and all of that creative stuff. I really enjoyed playing the piano and composing tunes and I was in the choir but I never sang by myself.
While I wasn’t very confident it wasn’t something that I didn’t really want as I wasn’t a show off kind of person.
I did a school concert when I was seventeen and I sung by myself and I realised that I could sing by myself and I just started doing it like that really and just fell in love with it.
I just realised that it was what I wanted to do and so I went university and I did my Welsh album when I was there. But when I finished I decided that I wanted to give some more time to it and that is what happened.
- Finally what's next for you heading into 2013?
We have got gigs up until Christmas weekend and then we are taking January off before we start again in February.
All the dates so far the gigs have been Wales based but as of February and into the summer we will be doing gigs in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester - so we are heading over toe England, Scotland and Ireland as well. I am also hoping that I will get into some festival for the summer.
And I wouldn’t mind at the end of next year heading back over to America to do some writing and starting work on the next album.
Sarah Louise Own - Dream Catcher is released 25th November
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw