Evolver 117 - September and October 2020

19 MUSIC FROME 2 - 3 King Street, BA11 1BH 01373 464666 WARMINSTER 5 Weymouth Street, BA12 9NP 01985 213707 ravesfromthegrave.com Isolation is nothing new for Fenne Lily - in fact, she's written an album of songs all about it. “It's kind of like writing a letter, and leaving it in a book that you know you'll get out when you’re sad – like a message to yourself in the future," she says, referring to Breach , her Dead Oceans debut she wrote during a period of self-enforced isolation pre-Covid. It’s an expansive, diaristic, frequently sardonic record that deals with the mess and the catharsis of entering your 20s and finding peace while being alone. “I think this record is proof that I can be emotionally stable, even if right now I feel a little bit up and down,” says Fenne. “There’s the ability to find clarity in that. It’s sobering, weirdly.” Fenne was born in London and moved to Dorset as a toddler, where she grew up in the picturesque English countryside. She was a "free range kid,” as she calls it, after her parents took her out of school for a period at the age of seven. Over the following year, they taught her while the family travelled Europe in a live-in bus. Even after she returned to traditional school at 9, her home education never ended, extending to music. Her mother gifted Fenne with her old record collection, through which she discovered T. Rex and the Velvet Underground and Nico. Soon after she fell for the strange genius of PJ Harvey and came to worship Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, and the richly crafted worlds of Feist, which inspired Fenne to pick up a guitar. On Hold , a tender collection of expressive, open-hearted songs, was Fenne’s first foray into songwriting, written during her teenage years. Writing her own songs was initially a “therapy exercise” for Fenne, who is normally reserved when it comes to talking about her feelings. The album, self-released in 2018, organically found a large audience online, which grew after she opened for Lucy Dacus and Andy Shauf’s North American tours last spring. Where On Hold grappled with love and relationships, Breach digs deeper into Fenne herself. “I tried to write about my inner life, as opposed to how people affect my life as a third party,” she explains. Written after a disjointed experience of touring Europe, and then spending a month alone in Berlin, the album deals largely with “feeling lonely, and trying to work out the difference between being alone and being lonely.” Although its subject matter is solitude, it sounds bigger and more intricate than anything Fenne previously released. Acclaimed producer Brian Deck, who she recorded with at Chicago’s Narwhal Studios, and Steve Albini (Electrical Audio) helped flesh out her sound with vast, rich guitars. It's that journey to find peace inside herself that underpins the whole of Fenne's second album. Its title, Breach , occurred to Fenne after deep conversations with her mum about her birth, during which she was breech, or upside down in the womb. The slippery double- sidedness of the word - which, spelled with an ‘a’, means to ‘break through’ - drew her in. “That feels like what I was doing in this record. I was breaking through a wall that I built for myself, keeping myself safe, and dealing with the downside of feeling lonely and alone. I realised that I am comfortable in myself, and I don't need to fixate on relationships to make myself feel like I have something to talk about. I felt like I broke through a mental barrier in that respect.” Even though it also carries implications of awkwardness, rebellion, and breakage, it's a wide-reaching word, representing new beginnings and birth. deadoceans.com / fenne-lily.com We are a funky, independent record shop stocking a great range of new and preloved vinyl, specialising in Reggae, Hip Hop, Soul, Funk, World, Electronic, Jazz, Blues, Alternative, Indie, Rock, Pop and more 8a Pope Street, Brewery Square, Dorchester, DT1 1GW Tuesday to Saturday from 10am Vinyl Van NO.1 INDEPENDENT RECORD SHOP IN THE SOUTH WEST LONG LIVE VINYL New vinyl releases and re-issues Records of all types bought and sold Wednesday to Saturday 10am - 5pm Official Record Store Day retailer 01308 458077 • clocktowermusic.co.uk 10a St Michael’s Trading Estate, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3RR Drop Dates 26 September 24 October #RSD20 FENNE LILY Illustration by Emma Kingston