Emili Pinchi is a Liverpool based singer and songwriter. His work has been described as beautiful, authentic, poignant and poetic and has rightly caused a stir and rave reviews. Previous releases have been picked up by BBC6 Music and his 2018 Ep ‘Holiday’ was followed by an extensive European tour.
I interviewed the man himself to discuss his latest and wonderful Ep release – ‘Absentee‘
Congratulations on the EP, how does it feel to see your Ep released?
Thanks! It feels like passing a kidney stone at long last. Or at least how I imagine that might feel. Not so much emotional as now it’s out at last.
Since the last Ep release ‘Holiday’, it seems to have been a busy time for you with a European tour and recording, firstly how did the tour go?
It was a lot of fun thanks! It was almost like a holiday itself, except on fast-forward, and I was playing for an hour every night. Some dates got added as well, so the tour ended up doubling in size while I was out there, which is a good thing because I probably would never have agreed to go on it if it had been that long to begin with.
Do you learn anything from touring, or is it time to tighten up your craft more playing live?
Always pack way more socks than you think you need, and buy some pyjamas exclusively for long car drives. On the performance front, it was a really cool chance to figure out how to play some of the songs off ‘Holiday’ live. Things even got scientific at one point, when my friend and tour manager Marek made a graph to start plotting how each performance went. I suppose he did have to watch the same show every night for a month.
How does it feel, when you are just about to perform live, in a different country to a new audience?
It varies I think. It depends on all sorts of things, as we discovered actually from Marek’s graph – obvious stuff like the venue, sound on stage during sound check etc, to what I’d had to eat or drink beforehand. If everything comes together and there’s a neat turn out, I usually feel pretty excited. And sometimes at the shows, you are a bit.. .trepidatious before you start playing, these end up being the most memorable ones.
On tour, do you have much time to create new material?
Yes and no, I guess. I didn’t have a lot of time to sit round with a guitar or something, or when I did, it was the last thing I felt like doing. But I constantly jot down ideas and thoughts and lyrics all the time, so being on tour wasn’t any different. Also, I’d say I had more time to sit with my thoughts than usual, so I guess in that sense I was a little more productive.
The recording process, what comes first, lyrics, music or a mixture or both?
Totally varies! It depends more on what I have at hand – an instrument, or just my phone to take notes in. The hardest part for me can be bringing separate ideas together into one coherent song. Luckily, I didn’t have too much trouble in this sense when working on the new EP, which was nice! Also, I bought a drum machine, which was a lot of fun once I figured out how to use it.
Self-reflection, I feel has been a theme of your work. And the Ep I feel does so again, deep, poetic and poignant moments. It feels a level deeper from the ‘Holiday’ EP, is this a true reflection?
I think there’s some truth in that for sure because I had a lot of time to sit and think about stuff, and a lot of those thoughts formed the basis of the songs when I got back; ‘Warsaw’ is a pretty direct example of that, as is ‘Shiver’.
But I don’t tend to sit down and plan out what I want songs to be specifically about – I usually (try to) write a little more instinctively, and see what comes out, and then sharpen it up into something more coherent afterwards, once I’ve figured out what my subconscious is saying. And then after a few months of living with the songs, they end up meaning absolutely nothing to me anymore. And then I find new meaning in them by releasing them and seeing what other people make of them.
And what next for Emilio Pinchi?
The release the record at 81 Renshaw St, on 15th November, then get a good night’s sleep.
From myself and all at Explore-Liverpool, best wishes and hope to see you soon……
Thanks, and likewise!
Emilio Pinchi – EP launch 15th Nov at 81 Renshaw Street
Photo credit: Jazamin Sinclair (Main body image)
