Step inside the indie/shoegaze world of the Scottish singer songwriter
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF FOR US WHO ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH YOU AND YOUR MUSIC AND TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF. I'm Kyle Chatham. I'm a Scottish singer-songwriter based in South London. I've been making music on my own for a long time now that's mostly somewhere in the indie folk style mixed with ambient, electronic and shoegaze textures. TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM OR SINGLE? My most recent single, 'Valentine', was released at the end of March. It's the first thing I've released in a few years and it was refreshing to get new music out. It's broadly about two people trying to hold each other up in the last days of hope. I have a new single out at the end of March called 'Once More Round Your Heart'. WHAT INSPIRED THE ALBUM OR SINGLE? It came together in the winter of 2020 which was a pretty bleak time for everyone. It was the coldest winter I'd ever experienced in Scotland and we were about to plunge into another deep lockdown. I think the cold fragility of the opening guitar and vocal part really reminds me of that time. It was one of those songs that came together really quickly as it was entirely the mood of the time. CAN YOU SUM UP THE ALBUM IN A FEW WORDS? Fragile and mournful. WHAT RECORD CHANGED YOUR LIFE AND WHY? Ben Howard's I Forget Where We Were was seminal for me. I had a feeling before it came out that it was going to be my favourite album ever and to this day it still is. I think it's so well put together in every way and has some of the best songs ever written on it like 'All Is Now Harmed' and 'End of the Affair'. It's beyond a 10/10 for me. A masterpiece. DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE MUSIC VIDEO FILMED BY YOUR BAND OR ANOTHER ARTIST? Unfortunately, I don't have any of my own but I have quite a few ideas for some that I'd love to get the chance to make in the future. Generally, there haven't been too many videos I've really enjoyed over the years, but the video for Czech One by King Krule I always thought was excellent. The 'I Forget Where We Were' video is brilliant too. WHAT WOULD WE FIND YOU DOING WHEN YOU'RE NOT MAKING MUSIC? Worrying about not making music. DO YOU GET NERVOUS PERFORMING LIVE, IF SO HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT? Not really. I find once you have music that's truly your own that you're a fan of you can sort of lose yourself in that and not worry about who's there to see it in a way. HOW DO YOU WRITE? I tend to write music in Ableton and sort of record as I write. I find it's the best way to get ideas out quickly and experiment at the same time. Sometimes it limits your thinking but it's quite an easy problem to solve. WHAT INSPIRES YOU? Anything really. Other music, reading in any way, watching interviews with other artists, watching others make music, my friends' music. WHAT IS NEXT? I have a new single out on the 25th of March called "Once More Round Your Heart". I'm also looking to get back into playing live so that'll be what I'm up to most this year I imagine. PLEASE TELL US ANY SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS SO WE CAN SHARE