“My parents bought a vinyl player when Sony started doing compact ‘modern’ remakes, it was funny the disc area was minuscule in comparison to the huge speakers that came with it. I still have the photo of it taking up an entire living room wall in our old house.”
“My mum would take me to a record store in Cambridge (that’s unfortunately shut now) and go in the bargain bin area. I always hated that they called it a bin. My earliest memory was her buying Rage Against The Machine’s Sleep Now In The Fire with the huge coin on the front and as a child I never understood the imagery. We took it home and she played it for my sister and I. Some years later I returned to that record to choreograph a dance for my primary school…looking back it was pretty rogue.
As I got older I moved to London in hopes of working as a ‘real’ singer. I spent many an afternoon alone in Soho record stores (before I made any friends here). Sometimes I would look for classics I loved, and sometimes for the cheapest vinyl or weirdest cover I could find. Rough Trade is still round the corner from my flat and the East End has some great vintage markets selling vinyl.
I did a big clear out last year as I don’t have a vinyl player anymore, and with the little space around me it just didn’t make sense to have records here, but it’s a world I will walk into again some day. What I love most about vinyl is the patience that comes with taking care of records and playing the whole thing through without skipping—it’s a moment in time that’s never rushed and it’s forever missing in the digital age.
There are many records that helped shape the artist I am. They introduced me to real attention to artwork and placing lyrics as just an important factor as the music as a whole. They create the mood before the song has even started. There are so many records I want to collect but I’m forever looking for The Shangri Las collection if anyone is selling?”
—Imogen Mahdavi
“Some Things Are Best Over Said,” the new single from Imogen Mahdavi is in stores now.
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PHOTO: SAM TAYLOR-EDWARDS
