Five Minutes With...Eve Buckley
"I like the fact all of it is very DIY and I think that’s what people want to see more of."
Oh hello there person on the bus. Welcome person patiently waiting for the drip coffee to do its thing. And yes, even you reading on the toilet, greetings!
In this week’s ‘Five Minutes With…’ we chat with Leeds-based artist Eve Buckley who has just released her debut EP ‘Some Kind of Solace’, which blends classic song writing, with jazz-pop infused vibes. Eve discusses the scribbles of songwriting and her DIY release strategy.
Listen to the ‘Some Kind of Solace’ EP on your streaming platform of choice here. Let’s Go!
Q: Describe your music in three words…
Vulnerable, sentimental, nostalgic.
Q: What's your musical ethos and your reasons for making music?
It’s all about connection and writing about experiences and feelings that I hope can be related to when I’m writing. What motivates me to make music is the moments I feel moved by a song or a performance or anything actually, and you just completely connect with it. So when I’m writing or recording a new song, every decision I make is always informed by the emotional intent of the song so I can have an impact on people that way.
Q: Who are your main musical inspirations?
The main ones are Lianne La Havas and Jordan Rakei, from when I first listened to them I’ve just been obsessed with the way they write and the energy of their music. And Yazmin Lacey is also just really cool, I listened to her albums a lot when I made the EP.
Q: What’s your songwriting process?
Essentially all the foundations start with me on my own and I’ll write on my acoustic, I usually just scribble loads of lyrics down first when I have an idea of what I want to write about. And then I just mess around with chords for ages, sometimes I already have a melody or it’s the other way around. Really depends from song to song though what comes first. Then I usually take it to my producer Alex Williams and we refine it and finish writing it. From then I just constantly shape it until I’m happy. Or sometimes a rare song comes out all in one go and feels finished straight away!
Q: You’ve just released your debut EP, ‘Some Kind of Solace’. Tell us about the record and how was the writing and recording process?
‘Some Kind of Solace’ is me trying to find my way artistically and in life too. There’s a lot of vulnerability in it and a lot of personal growth that came from writing the songs and making the record so essentially it’s a documentation of that. I think the name summarises what you can expect from it and what it is, it’s a resting place that I’ve made to find comfort and reassurance whilst navigating life in my 20s.
The process of making it was obviously massively guided by my producer Alex Williams. He knows what he’s doing and I very much didn’t at the very start, so it’s been a huge learning journey from the point we started co-writing. And I think you can see that in the EP, having started writing ‘Big Shot’ over two years ago, for me it starts with a more naive, younger version of me with it being the first song I’d ever recorded or released. And I remember doing just way too many vocal takes, because recording vocals for that track was one of the first few times I’d ever done a recording session, so the perfectionist in me came out in full force.
But then with the final song on the EP, ‘Ingrained’, which I wrote the most recently last year and we recorded last, the writing and recording process was completely different and we recorded the majority of it in a live take. Obviously it’s a very different song and really personal and vulnerable, but I feel like I relaxed and became a lot more comfortable in myself as an artist through the whole process of making the EP.
Q: How do you balance your music with the rest of your life (e.g. jobs, family)?
That’s a tough one. I think I’ve seen through the making of this first EP why that’s so important and a hard thing to master, getting the right work/life balance. I’m working full-time alongside music so when you’re in the middle of a big project things can get really intense, and the project is what you’re spending all your free time on. But I’ve learnt a lot through this first EP about what I need to prioritise for future projects, and obviously family and life stuff should always come first.
Q: Do you have a particular marketing strategy/release strategy for the EP?
I’ve been releasing entirely independently so I wouldn’t say I’ve had the strictest plan. But I’ve had a loose plan I’ve stuck to in terms of time frames and releasing the singles regularly and the EP within a certain time frame so that it all kind of made sense. With marketing it’s honestly just been trying to post on social media as much as possible, and I’ve worked with a few really amazing creative friends that have helped me make visuals that have depicted each single. But I think with it being my first release I like the fact all of it is very DIY and I think that’s what people want to see more of.
Q: How important is playing live to help rising artists build their audience?
I think it’s the most important thing for building a real-life audience and connecting with people. And as much as socials like TikTok are a great way of finding people who love your music, it very often doesn’t translate to people that will come to your gigs. I think socials/gigs/releasing music all still need to be balanced, but I think gigging is the really important one.
Q: What song/record by another artist we may not have heard of can’t you stop playing at the moment?
I’ve listened to ‘Glow’ by Alice Phoebe Lou a lot recently, her song writing is really cool on that album, especially ‘Driveby’ and ‘Lonely Crowd’.
Q: If you could change one thing about the music industry what would it be?
Probably how difficult it is to get in the industry and progress as an artist without backing or a lot of money behind you.
Q: What’s next for you in the months ahead?
I’ll be starting to work on the next releases, I’m planning on releasing a few singles, and then just gigging around where I can.
Thanks Eve!