“I’ve always loved the glamour and decadence of lying on my bedroom floor listening to records, and definitely prefer the rich texture of vinyl to the sterile feel of a lot of modern production.”
“There’s something really magical about the character of music which hasn’t been fully quantified, for instance; I’ve always liked to think that the most effective part of the build up to the chorus of one of my favourite records, Bowie’s “Life on Mars,” is the way in which the tempo slows ever so slightly right at the very last moment—it’s a little bit like reaching the top of a roller coaster, and, since you know full well that you are about to rocket downwards, your emotions are heightened even further by the tantalising suspense created as the car slows down just before the drop.
Modern music production can sometimes lack the depth of emotion that a record is able to capture, in fact, I often make a point of saluting the past by putting record static back onto my electronic music.
Growing up, my parents immersed me in their record collection and I happily absorbed and begin to emulate the things I observed which made a great impression on me: Peggy, Nina and Ella’s vocals, Joni’s tuning, Simon and Garkfunkel’s harmonies, Freddie Mercury’s charisma, Fats Waller’s piano, and Bowie’s aptitude for reinvention.
All of this had a huge impact on my own music, particularly the songwriting, since my life long exposure to such a vast breadth of material and genres has certainly developed a useful awareness of how songs have been structured in the past and which chord progressions have been effective before; it’s taught me how to imitate the past but infuse it with the new.
My love of vinyl truly came into it’s own when I was seventeen, and I saved up enough money to buy my own record player. The thrill of finally building and caring for a collection that was mine was unrivalled for months. The beauty of the sleeves had always fascinated me, and the euphoria of finding my favourite LPs or discovering new treasures in record stores has never faded.”
—Alexandra Cheatle
