A Quick Q&A With Idle Hours

Aug 19

Aug 19 A Quick Q&A With Idle Hours

Manchester indie risers Idle Hours are fresh off the back of their debut EP 'The Fourth Wall', a four-track mini release that perfectly showcases their sonic adaptability. Renowned for quizzical lyricism of the observational kind, Idle Hours are beginning to garner a reputation for electronic-inspired, motorised rhythms and their dry, Northern wit. On 'The Fourth Wall' release day, we sat down with frontman, Jack Waldron, as he invited us into the interesting world of Idle Hours…

Your debut EP ‘The Fourth Wall’ will be out by the time this interview goes live - how excited are you for the release?

We can’t wait for it to be out in the wild, it’s the first time we’ve released a real body of music rather than just singles so we’re excited for people to have something they can listen through from start to finish.

Could you tell us a little bit about what inspired the title?

The title is lifted from a track on the EP called ‘French Disconnection’, the full lyric being the fourth wall is starting to break’. Breaking the fourth wall is a technique sometimes used in TV and film where the characters acknowledge their artificial environment or speak to the audience directly, it’s something that’s always fascinated me and there are quite a few nods to film and TV on the EP so we thought it was quite a fitting title.

You’ve spoken about the themes on the EP, from extraterrestrial life to religious exploitation, is there anything that’s ever off limits lyrically?

For me, I always try to write lyrics which create a vivid image and combine themes that maybe haven’t been put together before. The only lyrical theme which has been off limits to me so far has been love, but if I find a way of presenting it without being corny and cliche then I might explore it in the future.

You worked alongside Seanda McPhail on the EP, what was it like working with him, and how was the recording process overall?

Seanda is the best. We’ve known him since we were at university and being in his studio is always such a great experience, he completely understands the sound we’re after as well which makes everything so much easier. For the new EP we recorded for four days in total, so effectively a song a day which is pretty intense. It creates pressure to get everything nailed in every session but I think that brings out the best in our performances, we all knew our parts inside-out before going in so it was just down to us to play. Tom and Al got a few parts down in one take which took some of the pressure off.

‘French Disconnection’ stood out for me on the EP as being slightly different from your previous output, it’s a definite dance floor filler. Is this a window into your sonic future?

Possibly! We definitely want to write music that people can move to, at the moment we’re being influenced by a lot of kraut-rock and post-punk but there’s always room for a bit of disco.

You’ve got a lot of live dates lined up for the last quarter of 2022, are you looking forward to getting back out on the road?

Yeah, we’re all buzzing. We’ve got a couple of headlines in Birmingham and Manchester at the start of December and we’re in the process of adding more dates around then to create a little tour. The last time we tried to drive down to Birmingham Jimmy’s Corsa broke down 15 minutes outside of Salford, it’s been replaced by a much more reliable Ford KA so we might make it as far as Stoke this time. We’ve also got slots at Glastonferret and Neighbourhood Festival which we’re super excited for.

You all reside in Manchester. How influential is the city on your creativity and what’s it like being amidst a melting pot of burgeoning musicality?

Manchester is huge for us. We’re all from different parts of the UK but Manchester is the place that pulled us all together and it’s now home for all of us. In terms of music, I don’t think there’s a better city in the UK, possibly the world; the amount of great venues of different sizes creates so many opportunities for bands like us and also means the bigger artists always include a Manchester date on their tours. The cultural history of the city is so rich we can’t help being influenced by it in our writing.

Lastly, aside from your EP, what should our readers be listening to?

Been listening to a lot of Public Body recently, very jagged, frantic post-punk. Soup! are a Manchester band worth checking out as well, their latest single is ace and was also produced by Seanda!