ENJOYABLE LISTENS: INTERVIEW
“The thing is you can’t be original. The more you try to be original, the less original it seems. I used to draw a lot of inspiration from films and literature but I felt like that was trying too hard. So anything that makes me smile or makes me laugh is something I’ll consider. Anything I’d like to say in front of a group of people which will captivate them and cause conversation, that's what I’ll turn into a song.”
Luke, one half of Enjoyable Listens, is known for two things - his live performances and his songwriting. They are both captivating. With angular Bryan Ferry-esque dance moves and strange, poetic lyrics, it’s hard to keep your eyes or ears off him once he gets started.
“…it’s hard to keep your eyes or ears off him once he gets started.”
It’s been an exciting year for the duo. While they’ve scaled back on their gigs, becoming more selective about their dates, they’ve released two new singles ahead of a new album and hit some pretty substantial festivals. “It’s about quality not quantity. There are only so many nights you can do in the back of a transit in a cold layby in Carlisle before you’re done.” With FarmFest coming up and Glastonbury behind them, they’ve taken their unique, high-energy performances across the country and garnered an impressive new following.
Their newest single, Summer Hits, is a re-recording of an old favourite that “needed to be better.”
“I wrote it at the start of lockdown. I didn’t have any kind of recording software so I found some stuff on Gumtree, collected it and I did a few little demos of old songs. I was driving around feeling sad and listening to The Trip by Still Corners. It's just simple, blissful incandescent music. It's so transportative and I thought I could probably do something like that.”
“It's so transportative and I thought I could probably do something like that.”
With production by the increasingly well-known Joseph Futak, they make a great team. “He’s a real alchemist of sound. I was very pleased I had the opportunity to go over some songs with him.” The new recording feels fresher, bigger and more ambitious with gorgeous strings and purposeful mixing. “It’s got a lot of sentimental value to me. It’s a kind of montage of a dreamscape of semi-romantic/threatening encounters that I didn’t know I was capable of cooking up. The idea that I was capable of doing something like that on my own…it’s obscure enough to make me feel like I… I don’t really know. I’m just pleased with where it went.” Read our full review here.
Summer Hits is an exciting teaser for the upcoming album - a mixture of old and new songs reworked and recorded with Futake. “I’m very confident this is probably the closest representation of Enjoyable Listens so far”, Luke says. “Everything else has been very ambitious but I’ve not necessarily pulled it off.”
“…this is probably the closest representation of Enjoyable Listens so far”
Enjoyable Listens are on track to hit ‘your band’s favourite band’ status. Back in 2019, they supported the cult legends that are Sea Power. “It was a lot of fun playing with a band whose legacy precedes them in many ways. It was a very good show. Very good. And a very good crowd. I mean, it’s Sea Power. It was our first comeback show after reuniting with Jamie.”
Jamie is the silent other-half of Enjoyable Listens. “We weren’t really friends at school until I needed a bass player. I knew that he could play punk and alt guitar so I said ‘This should be easy for you’. After he got a taste of it, he said he was up for it. We moved to London and lived in a big pub in Greenwich and things got pretty decadent pretty quickly.” Their first EP was written during this time, written in a shared room with huge windows. “He had this little keyboard he got from his Nan in Hastings. One of those little children’s keyboards. And I had a guitar. We would busk until we had enough money to go to Spoons and get a few pints in and then once we spent the money, we could go back and do the same thing. It was a very unsustainable lifestyle.”
“A few of our first songs captured that time. We recorded them and they felt good, like we were really onto something. Then things kind of fell apart for me.” Luke had a crisis of priority and dissolved the band. A decision he seems to regret. “Ever since then, we’ve been playing catchup with each other. We really do love each other but we're very different people. He’s my guy and he’ll always be my guy but we do get very sick of each other very quickly. We love each other probably more than anyone else. He’s the silent partner of the band, the boulder in the dark, the snow that covers the mountain.”
“He’s the silent partner of the band, the boulder in the dark, the snow that covers the mountain.”
Their love for each other is pivotal to the band's success. “I won’t see him for months and we’ll get another gig and just pick up where we left off. It's something in that volatility that works creatively. It’s good to work with people who challenge you and don’t see things the way you do. As long as you preserve the joy of being the two of you. I’ve probably written my best songs in the presence of Jamie, that’s just how it works. I just need him to be there. He slowly brings his arms around and stops things from flying around. We need someone to come along and give us enough money to live in the same building for a year and just write together.”
Enjoyable Listens are exciting. It’s hard not to feel like they standing on the precipice of something big. The new album is a long time coming. A culmination of the last few tumultuous years paired with fantastic production - this album feels like a milestone as they sign off the past and transition into who they really want to be.
If you do one thing today, buy a ticket to one of their gigs. They really are something special on stage.
Luke was kind enough to curate a playlist for us! Check it out…
