Five minutes with...James Liandu
Grab a coffee and get to know the soothing tones of James Liandu...
Welcome to the first of our ‘Five minutes with…’ articles where we sit down with an artist to learn more about their sound, what makes them musically tick, and how they balance day-to-day life with their creative journey.
Today, we speak to Scottish singer-songwriter James Liandu, who released his beautifully laid-back ‘Turbulence’ EP earlier this year. We featured the fantastic ‘Another Song’ earlier this year, declaring it a “Sunday session version of an emo-rock classic”. You can stream the whole EP on your platform of choice here. Let’s go!
Q: Describe your music in three words…
Soothing, thought-provoking and atmospheric.
Q: What's your musical ethos?
I create music to let people know that they are not alone, and that everyone goes through life struggling with all sorts - you just need to hold onto that light. Things always get better. It may take longer than anticipated but not giving up makes us stronger and more resilient.
Q: What’s your songwriting process?
No process, as ideas usually just come to me and I will note them down as soon as I have an idea. Sometimes if I have a nice guitar riff or lick I’ll build on that; over days weeks and sometimes months. I’ll just come back to it every now and then if a new idea arises.
Sometimes I’ll improvise a song and re-shape the lyrics if they need tweaking.
Q: What’s your music-making process?
I’ll usually record the guitar first, then the vocals. After these two steps, that’s when the experimenting comes in. Adding extra instruments, or sounds to help give the song a more rounded sound. I like to try something different with every single I release, as I don’t want to box myself into any specific genre - I like to constantly evolve my own sound.
Q: How do you balance music and day jobs/other life?
Thankfully I’ve been blessed enough to have a job that works around my schedule, which I am truly grateful for, as I know how hard it is for a lot of musicians trying to balance them both.
Q: Do you go into your releases with a particular marketing strategy/release strategy and has this evolved?
I’ve not really changed the approach, but my motto is, as good as social media is, getting in people’s faces - i.e. playing everywhere and anywhere you can - works best for me.
Busk and gig as much as possible too, as live performances are the best way to convince someone to follow your musical journey. And if people enjoy it, word of mouth will spread like wildfire - you just need to give people an experience they won’t forget.
Q: What are some of your main musical inspirations?
The list is too vast! But I’ll name some artists that really changed my life after discovering them.
Lewis Watson, Sam Tompkins, Col3trane, Giveon, Flatbush Zombies, JID, French The Kid and Roddy Ricch - to name a few!
Q: What song/records can’t you stop playing at the moment?
‘SOS’ by RUOK! (pronounced “Are You OK!”).
Q: If you could change one thing about the music industry what would it be?
Labels who actually cared about the artist and not exploiting their talents for money and personal gain.
Big radio stations who actually played a wider variety of artists and have a selected few hour-long shows that gave local/independent artists a chance to be showcased to an international audience.
Festival slots need to give smaller artists a chance to showcase themselves as well. Instead of having one small act or a smaller stage for the lesser-known acts, they need to put more funding into creating stages to accommodate and give artists a chance to play to a huge audience - an audience there for the music and not just to see the headline acts.
Q: You’ve released singles and EPs in the past, any plans for a full-length record on the horizon?
At the moment, I’m not in any rush to release something full-length as I have a blueprint of what I want and need to release before I think about albums.
Listen to the ‘Turbulence’ EP here.