Glass Animals Interview

With the rise of stylish, indie-electro-pop from artists like Chet Faker and alt-J, Glass Animals have become hot property. Their atmospheric grooves can be heard in debut release, ‘Zaba’, which vocalist Dave Bayley describes as another world, with “a tropical rainforest with weird creatures and sub-territories.”

Speaking to us about the experimentation involved, Bayley believes that’s what music is all about, “trying to make sounds that are new and structures that are fresh.” Which is why, when recording tracks like ‘Gooey’, he did things like “changed the lights in the studio, held a pineapple while I sang, danced around the room and then lied down. I also tried different voices and blended them in to sound like a choir, so I’d pretend to be a crack whore from London and then a massive fat chorister from New Orleans.”

All of this occurred in the London studio of Paul Epworth, who has previously worked with the likes of Friendly Fires, Bloc Party and Florence and the Machine. Giving the group their big break, he took them from their tiny studio in Oxford, nicknamed The Shed, and opened them up to a life of synths and amps. “We were really limited in Oxford; it was all done on a laptop, so it was very digital and clinical and overthought. There’s so much stuff in Paul’s studio that we could make a more distorted and raw sound that was more appealing. It was exhausting because we’d spend hours on all these new things, but it was so much fun.”

The birth of Glass Animals might have been unpredictable, but it was in fact Bayley’s studies in medicine and neuroscience that led him to start making music. “I’d get back from studying and I’d be quite wired and wouldn’t be able to sleep, so I had all this spare time on my hands, so I started listening to music, firstly, and then sort of had the idea of maybe making music. It spiralled out of control and now I’m here.”

After placing some tracks online following persuasion from his friends, Drew and Joe, Glass Animals was formed – “I told them they had to be in the band if I put them online” – and they are now making their way down to Australia for New Year. Playing Field Day on 1st January, Bayley expresses that he’d like to see a koala, find some cool beaches, bring some PG Tips for his tea-addict bass player Ed, and end up on a rooftop somewhere for the fireworks.

I’m sure we can manage that, Dave.

Watch ‘Gooey’ by Glass Animals below

By Charlotte Mellor
@cmellor_03