Little May have been riding a wave of momentum since the release of their brand new single, Hide, the epic follow-up to their debut single, Boardwalks. The first taste of an upcoming EP due early 2014, the single has so far hit #2 on the Hype Machine charts and #2 on the Airit charts.
Since the release of Boardwalks, Little May have performed at sold-out shows in their hometown and received invitations to play Secret Garden Festival and the Wollombi Music Festival. Now the trio will be taking Hide on the road, as well as joining Mikhael Paskalev on his upcoming tour.
To catch us up on all the happenings in the Little May camp, band member Annie Hamilton took some time out to chat to Music Feeds about the new single, the upcoming tour, Little May’s songwriting process, and what fans can expect from the new EP.
Music Feeds: Sonically speaking, Hide is very different to Boardwalks. What influenced that expansion in Little May’s sound?
Annie Hamilton: During the recording process we were all listening to a lot of the same music; especially Local Natives and Half Moon Run, and that definitely influenced our sound as we were inspired by their use of percussion. Hide was written on acoustic guitars but we knew that it had the potential to be a bit more powerful so we just experimented in the studio with different instrumentation and layers of sounds until we reached the point where it is now.
MF: Hide is very singular just in terms of production alone. How did the sound of that song come about? Was that purely the work of Sam Thomlinson and Michael McGlynn or did the band have input?
AH: Hide was one of the first songs that we recorded so it was a really interesting process for us to go into the studio with an acoustic song and to add the layers of percussion, synth, electric guitars, etc. It was a big collaboration between Sam, Michael and us; Sam came up with the percussion in the chorus which has such a huge impact on the song, and with Michael we worked on a lot of the different layers of atmospheric sounds. We basically decided to just experiment, try everything, and see how it all sounded.
MF: What can fans expect from the upcoming EP?
AH: We’re actually in the process of re-shuffling the EP a bit. We had originally planned to release it earlier in 2013, and we had recorded and mastered five tracks which were all quite different. We’ve now pushed back the release of the EP to early 2014, and we’re recording one or two new songs to replace the older ones with. So you can expect a more accurate representation of where we’re heading with our sound. It’s slightly darker and eerier than where we started.
MF: Little May will soon be heading out on their debut East Coast tour. What has the band learnt so far about performing live that will help them on the upcoming dates?
AH: In the 12 months before releasing Boardwalks (our first single), we played gigs several times a week to build up our live show. It was pretty exhausting and there were some pretty shitty gigs — we played to a lot of empty rooms — but we learnt a lot about performing and it became a more natural thing for us to get up and play in front of a room of people. For me it’s just about getting in the zone of the music and not letting myself get distracted; it’s easy to feel self-conscious about what you look like on stage or who is watching but it’s important to force that out of your mind.
MF: With three singer-songwriters in the group, what is the songwriting process like for Little May? Does one member bring individual ideas to the other two or is it a collaborative process?
AH: It’s generally a pretty collaborative process. We are constantly recording bits of guitar riffs, melodies and lyrics on our phones and sending them to each other, then we’ll all get together and work on a song. Sometimes we’ll leave it for a few months and then come back to it and completely rework it. It’s really cool to hear how the songs progress over time.
MF: What kind of musical experience did the members of Little May have before forming the group?
AH: None of us had ever played in bands before so this is all very new to us. My experience of playing guitar up until Little May consisted of me sitting on my bed trying to play John Butler songs. Liz and Han used to get together to play covers and muck around with writing songs every now and then but they didn’t take it seriously until we all got together in 2012. We’ve definitely learnt a lot about the music industry in the past year.
Listen: Little May – Hide
MF: It’s been said that you’re inspired by the likes of Local Natives and Fleetwood Mac. Who or what are some your other inspirations and what do you take away from each?
AH: I think you can draw inspiration from everything. There are some albums that I’ve had for a few years that I always come back to, artists like Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes, Cloud Control… Then there are songs that I hear on the radio now that might be a completely different genre of music to what I’ve always listened to but inspire me to write differently or create a different sound through production.
MF: On your Facebook page, you actually listed separate influences for each member. Is each member coming at the music from an individual angle? How does that impact the songwriting process?
AH: We all listen to a pretty wide variety of music and have many different influences, so we do all have a different approach to songwriting. As a guitarist who never really sung much before Little May, I’m always trying to think of interesting guitar parts, and the guitar part will always come before the lyrics and melody. I think Liz writes in a similar style to me, but Han is the complete opposite; as she doesn’t play an instrument she writes a lot of lyrics and then we’ll work on songs together.
MF: Another influence is the “fem-folk” of Holly Throsby and Julia Stone. Do you view Little May as part of a larger legacy of women in folk? How does that influence the decisions in the band?
AH: To be honest, these comparisons actually encourage us to work harder to create our own individual sound. We find that quite often we are pigeonholed in the acoustic-folk genre and compared to artists like Julia Stone purely because we’re three females who play guitars. Don’t get me wrong, I think that Julia Stone and Holly Throsby are both incredible artists, but I don’t feel that Little May is following in their footsteps in terms of our sound. I’ve been told before that I’m really good at guitar “for a girl”, which was meant as a genuine compliment at the time. I don’t want people to pay attention to us because we’re girls, I think our gender is irrelevant. I want us to be known as good musicians with a unique sound.
MF: You’ve described your sound as “ghost-folk.” Can you elaborate on what that means to Little May? Is the music Little May makes naturally conducive to that label or do you make music with that specifically in mind?
AH: Ghost-folk is a term that we heard in a review about us a few weeks ago and it’s stuck. I think the path that we are going down musically is definitely a darker one and when we’re writing we consciously try to create music that is dark, eerie and powerful.
Little May are taking their ‘Hide’ tour up and down the East Coast this December and will be joining Mikhael Paskalev on his upcoming debut Australian tour in March. Details below.
Little May ‘Hide’ Tour Dates
Saturday, 7th December 2013
Southside Tea Room, Brisbane
Tix: At The Door
Sunday, 15th December 2013
The Workers Club, Melbourne
Tix: Via The Workers Club
Thursday, 19th December 2013
Yours & Owls, Wollongong
Tix: Via MoshTix
Friday, 20th December 2013
Brighton Up Bar, Sydney
Tix: Via OzTix
Saturday, 21st December 2013
Brighton Up Bar, Sydney
Tix: Via OzTix
Supporting Mikhael Paskalev’s East Coast Tour
Tuesday, 4th March 2014
Alhambra, Brisbane
Tix: Via OzTix
Wednesday, 5th March 2014
Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Tix: Via MoshTix
Thursday, 30th January 2014
Howler, Melbourne
Tix: Via Howler
