Brighton, UK artist NANCY (aka Jamie Hall of Tigercub) makes melodramatic DIY pop that pulls from a large swatch of '70s rock, including gothy, glamy melodrama and English baroque-n-roll. He's just released his full length debut, English Leather, which he descibes like this: “‘English Leather’ is inspired by midnight shadows behind closed curtains in crummy B&Bs, cigarette smoke after hours in seedy seaside bars, and broken bottles that twinkle like stars under platform shoes. The album is a psychedelic portrait of repression, self-denial and introspection, with a perverted underbelly of indulgence and depravity at its core. After all, it’s the English way." English Leather is a lot of fun -- read our review -- and you can listen to the album below.
We asked NANCY to tell us a little more about the specific influences behind English Leather and his list includes some that you might pick up on and ones you might now. Check out annotated list below.
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NANCY - INFLUENCES BEHIND 'ENGLISH LEATHER'
T. Rex - Electric Warrior This album accounts for such a huge part of my identity as an artist, I love the eccentric simplicity of these songs, Tony Visconti’s production is so beautiful and so smart and simple, there is a hushed almost whispered dynamic to these tracks. Impossible to replicate.
Elliott Smith - Either/Or The complexity of this album harmonically and emotional intensity is something that makes it in my opinion, a masterpiece. Either/Or to my ears is dissonant, polyrhythmic and subversive but the songs play like nursery rhymes and are utterly beautiful. Just everything I want to be as a songwriter.
The Shangri Las - Leader of the Pack / 65! The melodrama of it all, the production, the melodies just amazing, I was trying to channel The Shangri Las a lot on English Leather.
Harry Nilsson - Aerial Ballet I love the McCartney esque theatrics across this record, but the track ‘One’ in particular is absolutely stunning and I wish more than anything in the world that I had wrote it.
David Bowie - Hunky Dory Untouchable, iconic, the baroque-ness of these songs is what really inspires me. Hugely important record for me.
