29 December 2021
What was the inspiration behind the album?
This album came about from a necessity to write and record music, as opposed to any specific inspiration. Hence the album’s name of ‘Soul purpose’ – It became apparent that writing songs is both my sole purpose and a purpose for my soul.
I was dealing with a lot when I began writing these songs and pretty quickly around that time the pandemic also hit, so it was a double whammy of bleakness. I found myself locked down in my flat, bored, depressed, and with no outlet other than making music to be getting on with – gigs were stopped and there were only so many Tiger King episodes to watch.
So, I spent my days writing and recording music. Normally, when the world was normal, I would write some songs, do some basic demos of them, and then take them to a studio and record them with an engineer. However, this was not going to be possible so I decided to do the work myself – writing, recording, arranging, and producing it all. It was this daily attention and direction to my life that cathartically helped me through the dark times, not just of the pandemic, but of my life at that point.
It became beautifully apparent that music, once again, was proving itself to be my saviour. Each day I would take a break from recording and go for a walk around the parks near me in Woolwich and listen to versions of songs I was working on, and make notes on what needed to change and be re-done, and each day I would say to myself that this was my sole-purpose in life, and I would feel immense gratitude for having decided to get into music when I was a kid.
Did the pandemic have an impact when recording the album?
The pandemic totally impacted how I would normally work and I actually see that as a positive. It has made me push my talents and skills and learn more, and it also creatively shook things up for me. I was forced to record in my flat and teach myself how to properly do this and actually attain the sound that I had in my head. It also connected me with an excellent mixing Engineer, Huw Beynon, with who I’ve worked remotely since replying to an ad he put up looking for artists to work with. I’ve never met Huw, we’ve always conversed over email, which I think adds another level of mystery and charm to this story. I write, record and produce my tracks in my flat, get it to the point of mixing, and then I send the stems to Huw and he takes over. Remotely, with some back and forth, we mix the song until it’s finished. It’s been such a wonderfully creative and successful working relationship and is another new way I’ve learned to work.
How long did the album take to create from start to finish?
All in it has probably taken about 2 years.
Which track was written first?
A track called ‘Do One’ was probably one of the first, but that actually didn’t make the album – in fact, that didn’t even make it to being a B-Side for one of the singles I’ve released from this album!
Do you have any personal favourite tracks?
I’m very proud of ‘A Song to Remember Me By’, ‘I Need a Friend’ and ‘Mess With the Best, Die Like the Rest’.
Were any tracks difficult to write?
All of them had their challenges, not least because I was really learning techniques as I went along. ‘Hide Away’ was probably the easiest track to record. It just sort of all came together very quickly, whereas ‘A Song to Remember Me By’ and ‘Mess With the Best, Die Like the Rest’ took a lot of time and patience to get right.
What do you have coming up in the next 12 months?
I’ve got the final single for the promo of this album coming out in January 2022. The single is called ‘My Runway’ and will make it 5 singles that I’ve released from this album over almost as many months.
Then in February, I am releasing a stand-alone single for Valentine’s Day called, ‘My Heart (the Ba-Ba Song).’
March is when the album ‘Soul Purpose’ is coming out.
And then I want to start dropping some more singles that I have ready to go, which may or may not turn into an EP towards the end of the year. I am yet to see if I can get a cohesive number of tracks that work well together.
Genre: Indie-Pop, Indie-Folk, Indie-Rock
Released: 16th March 2022
You can find out more about Mark via Amazon Music, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Deezer, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, TikTok or Twitter.
You can read my Independent Music Monday interview with Mark here, and you can also read my interviews with him about his EPs “Feelings Aren’t Facts” and “Fizzy Beasts“.
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