It has been a while since we have had any new material from VV Brown but this summer she is back with her new single Samson.
Samson is the first track of her long awaited new album Samson and Delilah, and it will see the singer/songwriter take her sound down a different path.
We caught up with her to chat about the new music, setting up her own label and what lies ahead.
- Samson is your new single so what can we expect from this new track?
The new single is called Samson and it is taking a new direction from the first album as it is a lot darker. A lot of the influences are electronic as I have been listening to a lot of The Knife and Bjork.
The video that accompanies the single is part of a fifteen minute short film so it is more conceptual and marries the relationship between music and film; which was something that I really really wanted to do.
- This new single sees you do down a new path with the sound of your music as it is darker and edgier with an electronic element so how did you find yourself going in this direction?
I think I have just changed a lot over the last five years as I have been touring and travelling. I just changed as a woman and I have been listening to lots of different music and just transitioned into this new stage.
It feels really drastic because it is so different but I was just discovering new music, new art and reading lots of different kinds of books. It was just being in the studio and just trying to commit to something that I really believed in as I wanted to make a record that really represented the music that I was listening to in that moment.
I set up my own label YOY Records and since going more independent it has given me the creative freedom to be more experimental and explore this new direction.
- The track sees you hook up with producer Dave Okumu so how did that come about?
Dave Okumu is a really good friend of a guy who works at my management company and I had approached my management company and told them that I love Dave Okumu - he was in a band called The Invisible. When I met him he told me that he had worked on the Jessie Ware record as well; I just think that Jessie Ware is incredible.
Then I think it just happened from there as he really liked the ideas and some of the demos that I had done. So it was a relationship that grew and we just ended up working on the album together. It was very organic the way that it happened.
- Seeing as you do have a new sound with this single how has the track been going down with fans?
I was really nervous about releasing this song because it was so different and I didn’t want to alienate everyone who had supported up prior - particularly with Shark In The Water. So I was really nervous.
But it seems like a lot of people who were interested in the beginning have followed us on this interesting journey. The video is on about eight hundred thousand hits and that was really surprising.
I wasn’t expecting such a great response as I have been out of music for quite a while not. I thought that we wouldn’t get that much traction, so that was a surprise.
I think generally it made me realise that people just likes lots of different kinds of music and they are just attracted to things that they like; so whether you change your sound or your image if people think it is good they will follow you. So I am just hoping that they follow us throughout the second single and when the album comes out in September.
- Well this is the first track to be lifted off the new album Samson and Delilah so how does this new single introduce us to the rest of that record?
It introduces us to the rest of the record because of the darker electronic tones and taking more of a more sound. It is left pop I guess; left, colourful and bright.
Also this track, from a conceptual point of view, is an introduction because this record is about the biblical Samson and Delilah. It introduces fans to this whole project being about this whole story.
The story of Samson and Delilah is about this man who got her hair cut and all of his power was in his hair. It is a symbol of myself as when I left Island Records I was really nervous and I felt really weak and not knowing that I was going to do; it was almost like my hair had been cut.
I guess the moral of the story is that his hair eventually grew back and he regained his strength and he felt empowered and moved forward. The single is the introduction of that story and the short film as well as the music being electronic and dark.
- We have talked about a new sound already but have you found the whole experience of experimenting in the studio during the recording process?
It has been really fun and liberating. I invested some money into a home studio and so it was really nice to wake up in the morning and be able to write and make music at home. It has just been this amazing creative space of trial and error.
But also meeting lots of different people and working with lots of different people that I possibly wouldn’t have worked with prior because the record is so different. We have made a lot of friends and met some really lovely people along the way.
- Who has served as producer on this record?
Dave Okumu was producer but we also worked with Stall, he was a live member from M83, we also worked with Pascal Gabriel, he has done lots of work with Ladyhawke and Marina and the Diamonds, and Liam Howe who has worked with Little Boots.
So there were a lot of interesting and amazing producers on board who have worked with artists that I really admire and I love their music. They really brought me out of my shell as I went into the studio and expressed my thoughts and they were really encouraging and supportive.
- So how much is producing something that you are interested in? How hands on are you when it comes to that side of making a record?
The first record I produced a lot of it. I am very hands on and very much into writing and I tend to do all of the top lines for the melodies on my own.
This second record is a little different as I think I put a lot m ore trust in the producers that I was working with and allowed them to have their way creatively - more so than the first record. I think that I have been a bit of a control freak in the past but for this one I did let go a bit more.
So I am producing less on this album and it is more song-writing. But it is definitely something that I would like to do more of in the future as I think it is part of being a musician and a creator.
But I also think it is really important to recognise when someone can do that better than you and I have learnt so much from the people I have worked with on this record.
- You mentioned earlier that you have sent up your own label so how have you found that whole experience and process? And why did you decide to go down a more independent route?
It is very liberating from a creative perspective. At times it is very stressful because I am investing all of my own funds into my label; there is a side and a risk to it that I hadn’t really experienced before. Being on a major label there is that feeling of being completely supported financially.
So that does bring a lot of stress to the project. But the outcome and the fulfilment that you get when you have a product that you are proud of really does take the stress away.
I started my fashion site VVVintage.com about two years ago and that is breaking even and we are starting to make a profit from it.
So that really gave me a taste of business and spreadsheets and looking at budgets and working out advertising campaigns - that really made believe that I could have a stab at doing this indie label myself.
- As you have said you have developed this new sound on this latest album but how do you feel that you have developed as a musician and a song-writer between your debut album and this?
I have learnt so much. I think when I wrote Travelling Like The Light I was young and impressionable and very excited about the industry and the business, but at the same time quite naïve.
I think with this record, being twenty nine and going into my thirties, there is a maturity about the business and a patience when it comes to the development of the work.
As a song-writer I think my lyrics are trying to be more poetic - I have been reading a lot of poetry and I wanted to write lyrics that weren’t so obvious and a little more ambiguous.
Melodically I was really attracted to the idea of making melodies that weren’t necessarily incredibly catchy and poppy but more about how the record would sound as a body of work from beginning to end; instead of just thinking about singles and chart positions.
Also just enjoying the music rather than the pressure of statistics and hoping that people would connect with it. In the past I think I was worried about all the other stuff such as where it would chart, I validated my success by those things. This time around there is a maturity to it.
- You previewed the new material at a secret gig in East London last month so how was it received by a live audience?
It was incredible; it was such an amazing gig. I was extremely nervous that no one was going to turn up as I haven’t gigged in such a long time. I had visions of just performing to ten people; which would still have been great as it is always good to perform.
But we ended up filling the room; it was a 250 capacity room and we ended up having about 400 people; there were some people that couldn’t get in. I was then worried that it was going to be a health and safety issue - which it was because there was free vodka.
But it was really good and it was really good to be back. Hopefully our fans will continue to more of our shows.
- Well that leads me into my next question really as I was wondering if you have any more live shows planned this summer?
July 16th we have a show at Madame JoJo’s. We have just signed with a new booking agent so hopefully we will be putting together a tour at the end of the year.
The dream would be to do a cinema tour as we spent a good six months making this short film and it would be great for people to come to the show to see a live performance and the movie.
We are hoping to take this to cinemas all around the UK and the world; we are hoping to do one in New York, Paris and London. It will be a different kind of live experience.
- How did this short film come about?
We decided to work with some up and coming filmmakers and then I got in touch with the MET Film Institute and a few other film colleges; I love working with up and coming student and people who have graduated as there is so much talent out there. When people have just graduated they never quite know where to go or how to start.
We got a few thousand people go back in touch and we got an amazing director called Jessica Hughes. We basically directed and producing the film together.
We went to the Lake District and shooting around the hills and the valleys. It was an incredible process and it has really given me a taste for wanting to do film and get involved in the future; even if I am just an assistant on set. A film is so different to making a music video as there is much more of a story line and it is more three dimensional.
- Finally what is next for you going through the second part of this year?
Well we will be promoting the single and the album all the way through until the end of the year and hopefully doing some more shows. So we will just be promoting the music as well as continuing with VVVintage.com and the fashion line; I want to build that into a really solid business.
And then just living life really as I think I have got to a stage in my life where things are very different to what they use to be. I enjoy the quiet life and being normal as I have always found the whole idea of fame quite difficult.
So you will probably catch me in Peckham in my local pub on a Friday night or out an about on Saturday whilst trying to do music and be creative and running my indie label.
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