Multi-instrumentalist A.S. Fanning – aka Stephen Fanning – returns with the release of his idiosyncratic new album You Should Go Mad, out now via Proper Octopus Records.
Fanning combines gothic, psychedelic and folk-rock sensibilities on the album in order to create a sound that is richly resonant and eloquently dark. Title track and upcoming single You Should Go Mad uses foreboding lyricism and layered sonic synth textures throughout, creating an assertively endearing sound as a result. Fanning’s impassioned baritone vocal soars effortlessly across the carefully crafted album, sounding instantly reminiscent of the likes of The National’s Matt Berninger or The Horrors’ Faris Badwin.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with A.S. Fanning about the music, the technology, the challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
My previous band, The Last Tycoons, was a much more raucous sort of Rock ‘n’ Roll band, which was a lot of fun. But I often felt I was writing songs to fit in our live show, and there wasn’t as much room for more introspective songs. I often had to sing right at the top of my vocal range just to be heard as well, so when I started this project I wanted it to be something really intimate and to explore that world and atmosphere a bit more, to make something that invites people in, rather than slapping them in the face to get their attention.
I think it was also just an organic development that came from writing and recording on my own. The natural place to start seemed to be to build songs around my voice, but I just found that adding more instruments and sounds didn’t really lift the songs or enhance them in the way I expected, and that instead, to take things away was an approach that suited me better.
What led you into this journey with music? And further, what drives you to push it out to the public?
I’ve been making music since I was about 10 years old, and playing live since I was 12. I’ve never really done anything else and I don’t have a steady day job or any other qualifications, so my options are somewhat limited 🙂
I really enjoy playing live and touring as well, and getting that immediate reaction and interaction with people. Hopefully that can happen again some time soon.
In recent times I’ve become a lot more interested in production and mixing etc, which is something I can see myself doing as a ‘day job’ of sorts, but I think I’ll always write and record music.
Who or what influences your creativity? Have your tastes in music changed over time?
My tastes in music have definitely changed. I find these days that I don’t listen to much music that is anything like the music I make. That isn’t really a conscious decision, I still enjoy well-written songs and that kind of thing, but I think I’ve just become a lot more interested in unusual sounds and production styles, the sonics of it rather than the musicianship or songwriting. For that reason, I wouldn’t really say I’m influenced in my lyrics by other people’s music, more likely from whatever I’m reading at the moment, or from random conversations with people.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
Creatively, I wanted to just let the shackles off, to some extent. The first album became quite heavy work towards the end, not least because of the subject matter. It was a record that had been predominantly written in the aftermath of my father’s death, and then I spent about 3 years recording it, mostly on a laptop or alone in my studio, and it became quite intense to keep revisiting it again and again until the album was done.
So with this album I wanted to have some fun with the recording process. To work very quickly and just throw ideas down and see what stuck. I had some scraps of some of the new songs half recorded, or sort of demos I suppose, but they were enough as a basis to work from. So myself and my band just sort of hammered it out in three days at Impression Recordings in Berlin, sometimes playing live together in the studio and other times experimenting with odd instruments we’d find around the place (Impression is something of a gold mine for that kind of thing), to add bits of texture and character to it.
To me there’s a sort of playfulness to this record that wasn’t there in the first album. That might be influenced by my own subjective experience of making it – and some people might see it as a dark record, which I suppose it is in places – but to me there’s something more mischievous in it than the first album.
What was the last song you listened to?
‘Symphony for a Spider Plant’ by Mort Garson. He was a Canadian composer who did a lot of early experiments with synthesizers etc in the 60s, and this album was supposedly composed and recorded for the enjoyment of plants.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
When I’m at home I listen to vinyl mostly. I’m not really a vinyl purist though, they all have their place, though I can’t remember the last time I bought a CD, or an mp3 for that matter.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Spotify is incredibly convenient so there’s a lot to be said for that. I do really like Bandcamp as well and they’ve been great at supporting artists throughout the pandemic. I recorded a covers album during lockdown and decided to start a subscription on Bandcamp where people could get the songs as I finished them, and various other things that I was working on, or alternate versions of songs that I’ve decided not to release for whatever reason. I like the subscription model as an idea, that the people who are interested can delve a bit deeper if they want to, and give some extra support to the artist.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what is the biggest challenge you face when trying to connect with or find new fans?
The vast amount of music that people have access to is obviously a challenge, just in terms of attention spans. I also make music that perhaps requires a little bit of engagement from people, which isn’t really ideal at a time when most music is either background music that you can switch off from, or pop music that’s designed to infiltrate your mind whether you want it to or not.
But I think there’s also a lot of people who want to dive a bit deeper. Things like podcasts, which often dedicate whole series to a single subject, and TV shows that can last dozens of hours, show that a lot of people are willing to really immerse themselves in these things, if they’re given something worth getting in to.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more music?
Most of what I’ve released is on Spotify. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook and all those places as well. I recently started this subscription thing on Bandcamp as well so you can get everything there, including the upcoming album when that comes out.
Anything else you’d like to add before signing off?
Not really.
