When I finally met Jo Whitby - the artist and musician known as Laurence Made Me Cry - in person (at Stan's Studio in Dennistoun through our mutual friend formerly known as Sarah J Stanley), it was one of those awkward moments in which she had realised who I was before I realised who she was. In the months and years since though, I've come to realise this is pretty typical of Whitby - who seems to revel in using her multidisciplinary talents to create the unexpected.
Recently, my most regular connection with Whitby's work has been through the daily-ish sketch journal she posts on Instagram - it's usually whimsical, often wicked and always wonderful - but it's very unlike the music she produces as Laurence Made Me Cry, which on her new EP in particular is an immersive experience shot through with mystical elements and dreamy electronica. Working with collaborators including Rachel Sermanni and Chrissy Barnacle, these six new tracks sound like the work of a songwriter who has learned how to capture her fragility in amber.
Titan's Daughters was originally conceived of as a full-length album, and my only disappointment that that didn't happen is based on its only being six tracks in length. "Mneme", which features vocals from Sermanni wrapped around Whitby's, is a gorgeously delicate piece of work while "The Muse", on which producer Simon Parton steps out from behind the desk to provide a perfect vocal counterpoint to Whitby's own feather-soft words and swirling electronica, is so immersive an experience that returning to reality is a painful jolt.
As a confirmed fan, I was happy enough when Whitby agreed to the Q&A thing - but absolutely overjoyed when she told me I'd be getting some of her answers as drawings "if that was alright". Oh, so very much alright.
How did you get started writing music and performing?
I’ve always had a passion for music from an early age but I guess one of the first times I properly sat down and wrote a song was with some friends around their piano. It was Christmas time and we wrote a song about Christmas trees. We also wrote a song to the tune of Iggy Pop’s "Passenger" about criminals (are such a pain, they terrify our world). We must have been about 10 or 11 years old. I just kept on writing after that. I still have my old lyrics. I really liked to rhyme.
When I was 13 or so my folks gave me a 4 track tape recorder of joy. It was the best thing ever.
Over the years I was part of many bands as a drummer. We played lots of gigs all over the South West [of England]. I loved performing but started getting fed up with band politics plus I had lots of my own material that I really wanted to try out on stage. It was also tiring being treated like a novelty. The amount of times I heard “she’s good for a girl” from audience members... I even had a guy come up to the side of the stage during one show and take a photo of me while laughing. It was frustrating.
It wasn’t until 2010 that I actually found the courage to go it alone and perform as Laurence Made Me Cry.
Three words to describe your sound...
This is always so difficult...
Make of that what you will.
What influences you - both musically and otherwise?
I tend to be influenced by what’s happening around me. I love observing life and people. I also find wandering about in nature is good for my creativity. Stories are important to me too.
Getting out and seeing music locally has been very inspiring since I moved to Scotland. Spending time in the Highlands I was able to experience and be part of the traditional music scene which was wonderful. In Glasgow, I’ve been watching many of my friends perform and seeing lots of excellent local talent. It’s definitely influenced my recent songwriting.
Your new EP, Titans' Daughters, was originally planned as an album but will now be the first of two EPs. What prompted the change in approach?
Mainly time. Simon, my producer, is based in Swansea so we work online, sending tracks back and forth. It’s a slow process and it was becoming clear that an album was going to take a while to make. I didn’t want to keep fans waiting too long so decided to split the album in two.
The tracks we were finishing seemed to work really well together. There was an underlying dark and haunting feel about them especially with some of the electronics that Simon was adding. It’s funny, despite my best efforts to be more upbeat in my songwriting, even the love songs on the EP sound slightly melancholic.
I had a whole concept for the album based around the nine muses from Greek mythology. I later discovered three more muses associated with a different mount so there were to be 12 songs related to each muse. It didn’t quite work out like that but there are lots of references to ancient Greek mythology and the muses throughout the first EP, particularly in the song titles.
We’re going to take our time finishing the second EP and also hopefully gain some extra funds along the way to help complete it. Shaping up to be far more folky than Titans’ Daughters. Can’t guarantee it’ll be any less dark though. Hah!
You seem to have wholeheartedly embraced the crowdfunding model, both for your music and for an art book you'll be publishing soon - with some pretty cool rewards on offer both times! What is it that appeals to you about this method of funding?
There’s a great sense of community with crowdfunding. Fans are able to support you directly which I think is really important. It’s also quite a challenge for me creatively, I love coming up with ideas for rewards.
It takes a lot of effort to put together a good campaign and I don’t think crowdfunding works for everyone. I think if you have a good rapport with your followers already, especially with music, it helps.
Something that really appeals to me about your work is the way you forge creative partnerships wherever you go, with collaborators on this release who (I assume!) you met while living in Wales, Inverness and Glasgow. Is this something that's important to you - and how do you keep those connections strong?
I love collaborating so much. It is very important to me as it’s allowed my music to go in directions that I probably wouldn’t have explored working alone. All the musicians I’ve worked with for Titans’ Daugthers I met while performing which is quite different to my first album where the collaborators were mainly connections I made via social media.
I first came across Simon Parton at a festival in Swansea a few years ago. He was playing a set before mine and we struck up a friendship. After he remixed one of my tracks from my first record I knew I wanted him to be involved with the new material! I loved his production and we seemed to be on the same wavelength musically.
It was a similar story with Rachel Sermanni. I supported her at a gig in Cardiff back in 2012. It was a tiny show with much of the audience being made up of the support acts! I was totally mesmerized by her voice. Again, we struck up a friendship during the gig. She was very kind to me when I first arrived in Scotland and gave me lots of tips about making the most out of Glasgow, one of which was checking out some open mics…
…which is where I met the fantastic Chrissy Barnacle. She was performing at the Nice ‘N’ Sleazy open mic. She made me laugh and I thought her songwriting was incredible. I was so pleased when she agreed to be part of the EP. I’m hoping she’ll be involved in the next one too.
EP two will feature some of the artists I connected with in Inverness. I actually met a Glasgow poet, Shaun Moore, at a poetry night in Inverness. He was fantastic and has contributed some spoken word to a song which I’m very excited about!
I think most of my partnerships in music have grown out of friendships. Also having the guts to ask people if they’d like to be involved is a big thing. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. It also works both ways as well. There’s a few projects lined up with some of the artists I’ve worked with on the EP where I’ll be contributing to their music. To me that’s what a music community is all about.
The EP will be released on your own imprint, which is also the name you've used for writing and promotion. Have you had to deal with any particular challenges because of this, and what have you enjoyed the most about de facto self-releasing?
I self-released my first album under the label name Do I Get A Sticker? I’m not totally sure why I called it that but there we go. A friend helped with some of the promotion for the album and I did the rest.
I laid DIGAS? to rest after joining the roster of an independent label called Folkwit. We released a double A side together but it didn’t really make much of an impact. It was lovely to be associated with all the great artists on the label but I felt that it was probably easier to oversee distribution and promotion myself - especially in terms of monetary return.
Stitch In Time, my latest imprint, started life as a blog, promoting my favourite local artists and putting on shows in Glasgow and Inverness. It seemed logical to add a label element to it. I’m hoping in the future that we’ll have a small roster of artists!
Probably the only aspect of self-releasing I’m not fond of is the promotion. I’d love to be able to distance myself a little from everything. It can be disheartening after spending days emailing press to have little response. I do understand, I used to run a music webzine and my inbox would be full to bursting everyday with PR emails. I’ve heard stories from friends who paid to use PRs and had hardly any coverage which is why I do it myself. Of course there are obvious advantages if you’re able to work with an established and respected PR but I think most of the time it’s down to luck.
What else do you have coming up in terms of tour dates, releases etc that you would like to plug?
I’ve been quite poorly recently and had to cancel my upcoming shows including my EP launch which is a shame. I’m hoping to get a UK tour together later in the year and lots more Scottish dates. I do have a slot at Belladrum this year which is fantastic!
I’d love to play some house shows too, I don’t get to do that enough!
And what are you listening to at the moment?
I go through phases of listening to a lot of radio. Normally I’d say 6 Music but recently it’s been Classic FM. Everybody likes smooth classics, right? Haha! Also been enjoying the latest albums from Emmy The Great and Frightened Rabbit. So good. Then there’s Rosin Murphy. Total goddess. Hairless Toys is a sweet, sweet record.
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