The Last Inklings have just released their debut album ‘The Impossible Wild’. Themes of folklore, myths and legends  dominate the record whilst sonically the Cello and Mandolin take centre stage.   Though it may be the pair’s first release they have been playing together for a while now. “We started off with like a covers band with lots of different members,” Leonardo begins. “One day just a few of us showed up for practice and we were trying to decide what to play. We had a shared interest in storytelling and folklore, certain books which we’d all read like Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Tolkien, that informed our own songwriting and then we kind of grew from there as a duo.” Musically the pair have eclectic tastes but meet somewhere in the middle, sharing a love of singer-songwriters and composers. “I first got into music through people like Damien Rice. He had a cellist and a good friend of mine was a guitarist, so we could do covers of his songs. I’ve got a classical background too, we kind of meet in the middle with composers like Max Richter,” Leonardo says.  When it came to writing for this record the pair began searching for stories, “We start off with a story and make the song serve that story instead of coming up with a riff and trying to make things fit that music” David says. “Sometimes we come up with short stories or poetry and we try and match it with a piece of music that we’ve written, that complements the theme of that story.”  One such song that began as a piece of poetry was ‘Sleeping Giants’, “They were sort of based on the theme of using an extended metaphor to describe an emotion and that particular emotion was one of grief. The metaphors were forest creatures. A newborn mouse has very distinct connotations of being fragile. It brought these feelings forward that I wouldn’t be comfortable talking about in real terms. Then we matched that with a mandolin riff we had that was delicate, a little bit whimsical before adding the moving cello parts underneath.” David explains. “ It does fit the the undercurrent for the album, which is kind of one of environmentalism or conservation.”  A stand out track on the album comes from ‘The Unkindness of Ravens’ which perhaps shines a spotlight on their clever lyricism. Leonardo’s face lights up as he begins to tell the story behind that track. “There’s a hill fort near where we live called Badbury Rings, there’s a national trust property nearby and what connects the two is an avenue of beech trees,” he enthuses. “There’s lots of local legends as to why there are a certain number of trees, what might happen if you count them correctly on a certain night of the year and the song is the tale of what might happen if you stumble upon the right night of the year and you managed to count the trees. Live we’ve got two versions of it one where the ending is very happy or the second one they get cursed and they get turned into a raven. A group of ravens is called an unkindness.” David adds with a grin, “We like to stoke the fires of these local legends to keep them alive.”  Their songs are well thought out sonically, with the textures of each track unique. Leonardo – who has crafted some of those interesting, moving Cello parts, explains his influence on that, “I spent a lot of time in lockdown burying myself in new kinds of music theory, getting some jazz under my belt. Quite a lot of the melodies are born out of the chord sequences. If David’s written a chord progression, quite often I’m feeling my way through those chords. As you start to connect those notes up, the melodies sort of come from that. Then they’re mimicking bits of maybe the vocal melodies as well. They’re almost in a gypsy jazz way embedded in to what we’re playing.” David adds, “Almost exclusively, the songs are written with mandolin and cello, and then layered up from there.”  Since their first EP came out just before lockdown, The Last Inklings now have a lot of music to get out and tour with and with the world opening up they’re getting the chance to take this unique record out on the road! 

Can you recall the first moment you knew you wanted to pursue music?  I don’t have a recollection of the exact moment I knew I wanted to pursue music as a career, all I can say is there are unlimited hours of family video footage of me singing and dancing to my own little songs. I’ve always been musical, and I’ve always known it would play a significant role in my life. I just didn’t know how significant. To answer your question though, I knew I wanted to pursue it after I wrote my first song on guitar—I knew I needed to continue on the path of writing, in whatever capacity.   What music did your parents play to you growing up and what are you choosing to listen to now?  When I was around 10 my parents gave me a stack of their vinyl and a little suitcase turntable. In the stack was: Stevie Wonder’s “Song’s In The Key of Life”, Phoebe Snow’s “Self-Titled”, Bob Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline”, The Beatles “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Magical Mystery Tour”…there was a few more but those were the albums I distinctly remember. I have wildly vivid memories sitting in front of that record player reading the lyric inserts and singing every word.   Around the house my parent’s always had music blasting though, they listened to a lot of Folk, old R&B, and stuff off Motown records. It seemed like they were always up on current music as well, like I remember my mom had a huge Erykah Badu and India Arie phase. She also loved Etta James and Sharon Jones—those are the woman who really taught me how to sing.   I listen to everything, I really do. If it makes me feel something I’ll listen on repeat, I’ll absolutely wear it out. My playlist can go from Western Swing to Mexican Ballads in two songs— I study up on it all, because I hold a deep appreciation for music as a whole. I’m fascinated by who’s making what, where, and how. When it comes down to it, I’m just a huge nerd for all songwriting and sounds.    When it comes to your own songwriting do you mainly draw from personal experience? What comes first, lyrics or melody or is it different every time?  I predominantly draw from personal experience, though I have written some new songs that are based in fiction. I suppose those songs are still drawing from my personal well of emotion and seen through the lens of a made up character.   I immediately want to say that when i’m writing a song the lyrics always come first, but when I think about my process that really isn’t true. It’s a very fluid process, always changing in one way or another. Sometimes I’ll write the guitar and lyrics at the same time, through some stream of conscience channel. Other times I’ll be diddling around on the guitar and think, “hey that’s a pretty cool chord progression, I’m gonna remember that”. I can recall the process for every song i’ve written, though I can never predict that process for future songs.    I really like your version of ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’ what does that song mean to you and what made you decide to put it on the record?  During the time period I was writing this album I became obsessed with a video performance I found on YouTube. It was Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge performing ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’ on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1972. The way Rita sings her parts are what initially fascinated me. Then I learned that Sammi Smith’s performance of the song is what gained it mainstream popularity, while also ostracizing her from the Nashville country music scene. I guess folks thought that song was too “suggestive” for a woman to be singing, so she found her way into the Outlaw music world because of that. Anyway, I just love Kris Kristofferson’s writing, and this song specifically is so simplistic and leaves a lot of room for listener interpretation. It made it onto my record because it fits the album’s sentiment completely.  My favourite song on the record is ‘Barbed Wire’ can you tell me the story behind that song please?  ‘Barbed Wire’ is about the trope of the American cowboy. Lonely, isolated, continually heartbroken—but distracted from their hardship with a never ending amount of hardwork.  When you perform are you completely focused or do you let your mind wander, we call it your mid-gig thoughts?  I am completely focused when I’m performing, I have to be or else I stumble. I try to transport myself back to the emotion I felt when I wrote the song, it’s a bit like acting in a sense. I think the day I start writing a mental grocery list during my performance is the day I’ll be reassessing my relationship to my material.    What’s next for you?    A lot of touring is in my future! When I’m not on the road I’ll be at my place in Montana writing a new album and enjoying the mountains.     

Kris James’ debut solo album has been four years in the making after his band, The Scheme broke up when they were on the brink of making it big time. James, heartbroken by the collapse of the project he’d worked tirelessly on turned to music as he always did as a way of getting through. The result is this 10-track eponymous album.  James was always destined to perform from an early age, “The first time I performed, I was a colour in a play in primary school and we had to sing the rainbow song, everybody was a colour of the rainbow but nobody else would sing their colour so I ended up singing the whole song. It’s never been something that I had to be educated on, it was just something that came naturally to me. I got A* in Drama and Music and everything else I was rubbish at.” James begins. Growing up he was in a number of bands and after leaving school he went to drama school. “Whilst I was in drama school I was given the opportunity to go to London to audition for Universal. They said if I could drop drama school they’d put me in this boy band. The drama school said they’d allow me to leave as long as I came back and finished my degree, which I never did because I’ve never really stopped doing it as a job.”  James’ experience as part of The Scheme has been vital in influencing his direction as a solo artist. “I went into that band, we toured the US, we wrote a record in Germany and we had a couple of line-up changes but we’d been going for seven years, writing some great songs, my confidence on stage had improved and we toured with some great US and English bands. We went all the way to America, got signed by a big label and management deal and then they decided we’d make a record out there. So we went to Minneapolis and we worked with a producer called John Fields, who is basically the guy that made the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato – super mega stars. We were out there for three months, and we didn’t know but our pianist had met a girl out there. We recorded half the record and we were going to go back in the new year to finish it with this GRAMMY award winning producer. But Kyle said, ‘you won’t see me again’, he wanted to settle down and have a family with this girl so we ended up getting dropped from the label.”  James channeled his sadness over the breakup of his band into his music and reached out to the label to release some of the songs he’d been working on with Fields under his own name. The song ‘Eyes Open’ featured on this record is one of those songs. “It’s about when everyone says this person is no good for you but you keep trying to make it work and eventually you see that maybe they weren’t great for you after all.” The song was a success on the charts for James, “I didn’t know what to expect and then all of a sudden I was getting messages from the official Top 40 charts!” After the release of ‘Eyes Open’ he reflected on what had happened with the scheme, “Without that happening, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” James says positively.   When it comes to the songs on this album, he focused on making the stories he told relatable. “I’m writing songs as an outlet for me but I’m mindful of other people too because I know the strength of music as a way of helping other people. There’s a song I wrote called ‘Unhappy Anniversary’, nobody ever talks about Unhappy Anniversaries like when you’ve lost somebody, whether you’ve lost a family member or you’re not with that person you thought you would always be in a relationship with, like your first love. So for me it’s personal because it’s somebody that I’m not with anymore who I really miss. But to you it could be about the death of one of your family members or friends. I want to write so people can take something from it, especially at this time, we can help everybody through music.”  After four years of hard work, Kris James is ecstatic to be releasing this record, celebrating with an album launch show this month in his home city of Liverpool and a vinyl launch early next year. His positive attitude and zest for life has paid off and he now plans for the year ahead, teasing some big tour plans. “I can’t really say any names yet, but we’re going to be touring with some really cool people!”