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Every Monday we will be bringing you interviews with UK or Ireland artists for Independent Music Monday. Recently we caught up with Glasgow based artist Jonni Slater to find out more…

Where are you from and how did you first get into music?
Music has always been an essential part of my life, starting with growing up near Bristol; my parents paid for piano lessons when I was about 8, which at first I was fairly ambivalent about, but as soon as I realised that you didn’t have to play the dots on the page, you could also just make stuff up, that was a revelation. It’s been difficult to prise me away from musical instruments and recording gear ever since.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
I guess it started with whatever was on my parents’ record player, then moved through synth pop to grunge by the time I was a teenager, with bands like Soundgarden still a favourite. Later on, I was introduced to Motown and soul legends, and of course living in Bristol there were genres like trip-hop and drum ’n’ bass in the air, so all of those influences have gone into the melting pot, although it may not always be easy to pick them out in my songs. I’d say the specific artists that have influenced my current music the most are people like Joan As Police Woman, Ainslie Wills, Belgian band dEUS, and So-era Peter Gabriel.

How would you describe your sound?
I love the purity of a voice with solo guitar or piano, but I’m equally drawn to lush, atmospheric arrangements that feel like they belong in a film score and take the listener somewhere out of the ordinary. I recently finished putting together an album, which is out later this year, which has some intimate and heartfelt songs based around a mellow piano recorded in 45/R studio in Glasgow, and other songs that are epic and cinematic, with big drums and many layers of sound.

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
My new single is called Super. It’s a song about the gap between who we would like to be and who we are. Real life doesn’t always match up to imagination and I sometimes find myself caught between the two, uncertain about the right course of action. But as so many motivational quotes will tell you, the first step is the one that matters most – so maybe this song is that first step for me, a small movement towards self-awareness.

What’s your local music scene like?
I moved to Glasgow a couple of years ago and, although times are tricky for arts funding and venues and festivals across the country, it’s a city that still has lots going on to draw inspiration from and to get involved in, and is full of great musicians and songwriters. The scene also feels really supportive – at least the circles I mix in. There’s a great community of songwriters who have grown up around Songseeds, who offer songwriting retreats in cool locations around Scotland, with masterclasses from inspirational artists and most importantly a supportive and inclusive ethos. And there are initiatives like Music Broth, who are a musical instrument lending library and also provide access to learn and play music for communities who might have limited access to that. 

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
My album (called Between the Shadows) will come out in September and there will be more singles from that to come. I’ve also been putting together a book of photographs and lyrics that will be available to accompany the music, as well as videos to project at shows. I’m enjoying exploring different avenues of creativity aside from just the music. Towards the end of the year, I’ll be touring in Becci Wallace’s live band; she’s just released a new record full of fantastic songs, which I played piano on. I also play keyboards for Ant Thomaz, who is about to release a new record too and has various festival dates lined up across the summer. Ant and I are also in a funk-indie-rock band, Dopesickfly, and we’ve just been in the recording studio with that. So there’s a lot to keep me busy!

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
My main collaborator for the last few years has been Maaike Siegerist; under her pseudonym Dora Lachaise, we wrote an EP together which we released in 2023, and we’re still regularly performing together and contributing vocals and instruments to each other’s projects. I’m looking forward to helping with her own EP launch on 10th June,  which is happening as part of the Glasgow Science Festival.

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
Nothing out-and-out hilarious, unless I’ve blocked it from my memory for reasons of acute embarrassment. I’m six foot three, though, so there are some stages that I barely fit onto – the Louisiana in Bristol was always in danger of knocking me out, and my head was reshaping a corner of the tent at Moniaive folk festival recently.

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
If anyone’s in need of a rescue, I think it’s maybe something I could do. (You’ll need to listen to the single for that to make sense, though…)

Upcoming live dates and performances
Sunday 15th June – The Glad Cafe, Glasgow supporting So So Sad
Thursday 26th June – Pisky Sessions, Montrose

You can find out more about Jonni on his website or via Apple Music, Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify or YouTube, and you can find information on upcoming performances here.