Halls

-

Our current picture of South London musician Halls might be somewhat skeletal – digging around will reveal only a handful of informative snippets that allow you to categorise him further – but it appears that Sam Howard, he who hides behind the moniker, is actually pretty fine with that. What you will discover if you look hard enough is two fine, dreamy, somewhat creepy singles on the ever-ace No Pain In Pop, which have whetted the appetite nicely for a full length, Ark, released this week. It’s hugely intriguing music; dark, desperately sad and wise beyond the tender years of its 21 year old creator. Upon befriending it, it’s only natural that you’ll want to find out a little more about its maker. And so, we did our best – firing off the below questions to Halls in an attempt to figure out just what the hell exactly is going on here.

How do things in Halls’ world differ now from when you first started putting these songs together?

When I was first putting these songs together I felt very focused, driven. Now that the album is finished and ready to be released I feel like I’m floating in some sort of void. I’m trying out different techniques for writing new songs and at the moment it’s a case of trial and error all over again. It’s good though – it feels exciting.

Other than that you’re a “South London based musician”, you have to do a fair bit of digging around to build an even slightly bigger picture of Halls. Is this the result of an intentional desire to keep some mystery to proceedings? Or am I reading way too much in to things?

Well I don’t want to put everything out in the public space, so I guess I do want to keep some sort of mystery around myself. I’m quite happy to let the music be at the forefront, rather than a personality. The trouble with using blanket terms, like “South London musician”, is that people make their own assumptions on what you’re like as a person. It’s odd.

Your music does a great job of sounding as engaging in its most densely layered moments as it does when things are comparatively quite skeletal… it’s gotten me very interested in how your songs initially take shape. Any light you can shed?

For Ark, the writing process involved writing instrumentals first, and then fitting the vocal lines around the shapes of the songs. Many songs initially started out a loose collection of sounds, and would remain that way until I would have a “eureka” moment, and then the rest of the song would just flow in a very short space of time. I was swimming when I thought of the chorus and ending for ‘Roses of the Dead’.

Much of your sound comes across as being ripe for collaborations – guest vocals, remixes etc. – but as yet, you seem to have chosen to keep Halls as a solitary pursuit. Why so?

I have done a few remixes, but that seems like an age ago now, at a time when I was heading in a different direction. After making the Fragile EP I found that my focus had changed, that I wanted to take a different musical path, one that wasn’t limited to a very specific type of electronic music. Since then I haven’t been interested in making remixes, it’s not what I want to be doing right now. As for keeping Halls as a solitary pursuit – it’s because I don’t feel I can work well with other people when I comes to the creative side of things.

Why was it important to you to make an album, when so much music listening these days is done in a piecemeal, track at a time fashion? Is there something to your songs that you feel suits being presented as part of a body of work rather than left to stand on their own?

I wanted to make an album because I feel it is more of a statement, and one that has more potential to have a place in people’s hearts. Releasing songs in EP form or as individual singles is an interesting way of doing things, but it can often feel slightly disposable. People seem to forget about these things and regard the album as their main point of focus. I just wanted to leave something behind that feels more permanent. That and the task of creating an album was something I wanted to engage in. I feel that making the album has given me a greater sense of confidence in Halls.

Are there any lyrical or conceptual themes running through Ark? What binds it as a record as opposed to just a compilation of tracks? And what about any themes it might feature compels you to make music with them in mind?

Ark is a collection of different stories, all connected with a theme of death. Each song is from a different perspective, ‘Reverie’ for example is from the viewpoint of someone who has recently lost their lover and is feeling how lonely it is at night. It can be rather dark I guess.

You’re perhaps the only musician around who I’ve heard favourably compared to everyone from Tim Hecker and Burial to Bon Iver. Are the comparisons flattering, or just a tedious necessity of modern music journalism? Do you feel your work sits closer to one than another, or indeed some other scene entirely?

It’s nice to be compared with people who you admire, but after a while it does feel like you’re reading something that has been part of the box ticking process. It can be rather tedious, some comparisons more than others. I feel that my music doesn’t sit with a lot of what I’ve been compared to, but maybe that’s just because I hear my music differently to other people. I don’t consider myself an exclusively electronic musician.

You’ve talked of how your album launch at Birthdays at the end of the month might be the only time people will get to hear ‘White Chalk’ live. Why is this? Do many of your songs present challenges when it comes to doing live arrangements – and how do you tackle any that do?

I actually played it at Radfest last month but I’ve decided that I only want it to be played when I can have a choir perform it with us. I just want it to remain a special song and having the choir coming in for the launch to perform with us will be amazing. I’m so excited. There are difficulties in working out how to perform many parts of songs live, as during the process of recording songs I don’t think about how the parts can be performed by a live band. I can get around many difficulties using computers, but I’m working towards a live set where everything is recreated properly.

Where do you see your sound going next – more layered, more stripped back, more extreme in all directions? There’s certainly a feeling of hope to much of your music, but some of it sure is sad – are you OK, Sam?

At the moment I have many ideas that cross different styles, so it’s hard to tell how Halls will develop in the future. I’m changing the way I write songs so hopefully this will result in a natural change of style. And don’t worry – I’m fine.

Halls’ debut album Ark is out now via No Pain In Pop.

30 Oct – Ark Album Launch @ Birthdays, London
02 Nov – REWIRE Festival, Den Haag, Netherlands
09 Nov – The Green Door Store, Brighton
10 Nov – Fear of Fiction Festival @ Lakota, Bristol
12 Nov – Soup Kitchen, Manchester