Exploring genre, texture, and imagination, Pocket Lint crafts a cinematic sonic world. In this interview, they discuss identity, experimentation, and the curious inspirations behind their album Wunderkammer.
1. Pocket Lint is described as a “genre-hopping musical vehicle”—how do you approach blending styles while still maintaining a cohesive artistic identity?
I’m not sure that it is something I approach so much as something I am. I think regardless of what intent I have with various styles, there is always a core to what I do and that is me. That might be certain keys or chord changes that are favourites, or the palette of sounds that I use. Words or subject matter too. I tend to write in film noir tones. I see the genre-hopping as a way to avoid retreading the same ground in much the same way as I like to change my equipment for each project and experiment with a different way of working. It’s all about keeping myself interested and learning.
2. The origin story involving carving amethyst is quite unique—do you see a connection between that tactile process and how you “sculpt” your music?
Great question and one I hadn’t really considered. I do know that my processes are quite hands on. I don’t really use loops or midi very much. I prefer to play in entire live parts and I use a lot of pedals that help colour or sculpt the sound I am making. It’s not something I had considered before, but I think there is something in the idea as I tend to believe in having an idea of a song and then working to see what comes out, which I suppose it a little similar to Michaelangelo’s idea that the figure is freed from the marble.
3. Your upcoming album Wunderkammer is inspired by a cabinet of curiosities—how did you translate that concept into sound and structure?
This for me gives me the freedom to create different types of songs with different moods. So, once I had the idea of the Wunderkammer, I started to think of things that could fill it. Then what type of song and the sound palette that would represent it. My starting point is always quite conceptual, but I do want to make pop songs, odd pop songs admittedly, but nonetheless, pop and so, how could those ideas be transformed into a song. So it starts with idea, then sounds and that will lead to a song. Lyrics are often the last to be done, but I have often created a word collection for the song or written lyrics, which may or may not end up being used in the finished song. For Cyanometer, the first verse was written around the same time as the music. The rest came a little later. Oddly with this one, the bass part was the last part added.
4. “Cyanometer” suggests measuring the sky—what themes or emotions were you aiming to capture with this particular track?
So, this song for me is about measuring how blue your soul is. So I see some of the sounds as the flickering of the measuring lights on the machine and lyrically it explores that idea of the association of blue with misery and depression. It also references a few pop culture references for good measure.
5. You mentioned drawing influence from Romantic poets like Shelley and Coleridge—how do their ideas shape your lyrical or sonic direction?
Really for this album, it was about the sense of decoration and indulgence. I think the album begins with a bit of a Shelley reference in the opening track and it is this idea of wonder and a sort of heady exploration. Lots of ornate decoration, but also appreciation of beauty. There are pastoral elements, fragments of ancient culture, but also the machine and that was a world they inhabited. Increased movement towards machines and engines. This duality. Within some of their work, there is a darkness and yet there are also daffodils. They seemed a good fit for the Wunderkammer of a genre-hopper.
6. As each song represents an “exhibit,” what kind of journey do you want listeners to experience when moving through the album as a whole?
The whole album is supposed to be an experience. It begins and closes with a narrator. Each song in-between is an exhibit. I suppose I would like it to be first and foremost ‘an experience’. One that hopefully covers a lot of ground. A fever dream that stays with you a while.
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