CARLA J. EASTON
WEIRDO
Release Date: 28 August 2020 on Olive Grove Records
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Format: Digital // Vinyl // CD
Track Listing
1. Get Lost
2. Heart So Hard
3. Spun Out
4. Waves That Fall (feat. Solareye)
5. Never Knew You
6. Signing It In Blood
7. Beautiful Boy
8. Over You
9. WEIRDO (ft. Honeyblood)
10. Catch Me If I Fall
11. Coming Up Daisies
12. Thorns
‘WEIRDO’, a defiant pop album written over the course of a year spent sofa-surfing by Scottish artist Carla J Easton (TeenCanteen), is set to be released on August 28th on Olive Grove Records.
Following on from the critically acclaimed ‘Impossible Stuff’, which was shortlisted for Scottish Album of The Year 2019, Easton set to work writing and recording ‘WEIRDO’ with the help of Scott Paterson (Sons and Daughters) in CHVRCHES old basement studio in Glasgow.
The pair met and became friends whilst playing in the live band for The Vaselines 2019 tour and began writing together after playing at The Boaty Weekender by Belle and Sebastian – a festival on a cruise ship round the Mediterranean.
‘Her boldest pop broadcast yet’ -★★★★ THE SCOTSMAN
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'Musically varied, packed full of symphonic strings, brass and synth arrangements, the LP is awash with her signature melody-driven, dreamy pop.'
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY
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'Orchestral blowout'
THE GUARDIAN
Collaboration is a key feature of Easton’s work, the album features appearances from Honeyblood’s Stina Tweeddale, Micah Erenberg and Dave Hook (Solareye, Stanley Odd), though the result is always a sound that is uniquely Easton’s own. These are songs you’ll hear one day and still be humming a week later. Dreamy, lush and inescapable.
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Lead single, ‘Get Lost’, was written in late September 2019 in anticipation of a weekend away to the untouched seclusion of Sandwood Bay in Sutherland, during a blisteringly hot weekend. A euphoric ode to the desire to escape the pressures and anxieties of adulthood. A fledgeling romance and a tale not yet begun.
“It was one of the first songs I co-wrote with Scott in CHVRCHES old basement studio,” says Easton. “I took in my beat up Casio MT 45 and Scott quickly stuck it through some tape loop and echo reverbs over some electronic beats. Everything came quickly after conversations about the first time you go away with someone you are beginning a new relationship with. All we needed was a handful of chords and my lyric notebook that was bursting with ideas about hiring cars and driving to the coast.” The result is almost 3 minutes of deliciously sugary escapism. Carly Rae Jepsen with a dash of New Order.
‘Never Knew You’ is a fiercely, unapologetic earworm that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Taylor Swift album.
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‘Never Knew You’ was written following Easton being diagnosed with anxiety and beginning Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, a therapeutic practice that aims to change problematic behavioural patterns.
“I had a difficult year in 2019 and began CBT after being diagnosed with anxiety, low self-esteem and grief that had been shadowing my life since I was a teenager” explains Easton. “It's important to recognise the people you surround yourself with and the support they can offer you”.
‘Never Knew You’ acknowledges the pedestal you can place someone on – what you hope they will be – and what happens when they crash down from that height. “But, on a positive note, that's ok because you realise you now know yourself through the process,” she says.
Title-track ‘WEIRDO’ sees Easton team up with Scottish powerhouse Honeyblood for an anthemic ode to weirdness.
“I've often been told I am weird – like that's a derogatory word,” says Easton. “Let's be clear – normal doesn't exist. The things that make me weird are the things that make me, me.”
WEIRDO melodically swirls over big beats and bassy synths, Easton a “cherry bomb exploding in a messy situation” and realising she can fly away. The title-track neatly sums up many of the album’s key themes.
This is a pop record for misfits and with ‘WEIRDO’, the self-proclaimed ‘DIY Princess of Pop’ is stepping up to claim her throne.