Paul Thomas Saunders

Hailing from Leeds but with his head in much more extraordinary, far away places, Paul Thomas Saunders is preparing to release his debut album this spring.

Away from the ‘traditional’ influences of albums, bands and songs, the young man has taken inspiration from paintings, series’ of photographs and questions about the wider universe and the feelings they give him on his first full-length.

The record is being teased with an EP based around the album’s lead single “Good Women”, an encapsulating, soulful number that seems to complete Saunders’ transition from acoustic guitar-based solo performer to frontman of his own band, with guitars hardly present at all.

With the record finished and the countdown to its release fully in swing, we caught up with Paul at the start of this year to talk about his upcoming plans and how hearing your own old songs is akin to those awful morning after photos from a night out.

Your album’s out later this year – how far along in the process are you?

Everything’s been completely done since last year, but we thought it’d be sensible to wait until the new year to set it loose. There’s a period before and after Christmas where new music just won’t be sought out as much; everyone is too pre-occupied with mince pies and alcohol. We have artwork and other bits and pieces to sort out, but the record is finished, it has a name, Beautiful Desolation, and is coming out in April.

Is the gap something you wish didn’t have to happen?

In a way. Waiting is horrible, but also I want the most amount of people to listen to it, and that won’t happen in January. I’ve tried not to listen to it since it’s finished, or I’ll start questioning my existence. Every time I listen to it from now until its release I’ll nit pick and find something I could have improved on, but the nature of the way I write and what influences me breeds this kind of thing and I don’t want to go back and change what’s already happened.

Did this album end up as a culmination of everything you’ve done so far, or is it its own beast?

It feels like it’s separate. I don’t listen to the old stuff any more, it’s embarrassing. I have to write in the heat of the moment, and with whatever I’m feeling at the time being freshest in my mind. I can’t just sit down and write a song, I have to be feeling something.

If someone plays me my old songs now, it’s the same sort of feeling as the one you get the morning after a big night out, when your friend shows you photos and videos of things you said and did that you can’t even slightly remember and you cower into a ball of embarrassment. The deeply personal nature of what I write breeds this same kind of feeling, and I’m always thinking forwards rather than looking back.

Listening to the old stuff and then new single “Good Women”, for example, it’s easy to see a stylistic shift. Was this a thought out process or simply following your instinct?

I hope I’m an artist that continues to develop with every new thing he creates. That’s where the excitement is. I don’t want to try to “recreate the magic of the old stuff”, I want to push it further and explore more options. As I said, I don’t listen to anything I’ve previously written when writing something new; that’d push me over the edge.

Much has been made of your fascination with space and influences from outside the musical world – how much of an affect do these things have on the music you create?

I have to need to create music before I can – it’s a natural reflex. When I am in need, it’s books and photography and film and questions about the universe that seem to present themselves to me most. It’s not a case of emulating that which I find most inspiring, but using the feeling and emotion that a piece of art or a book gives me and moulding that into something of my own. I want people to feel about me and my music how I feel about these things, and gain the same amount of solace, inspiration and comfort from it. This is a record that I’ve lived, and maybe, hopefully, that’ll translate to the listener.

You toured with Frightened Rabbit last year – how was that for you, and what do you learn from touring with such experienced outfits?

It was great, but extremely daunting. I am not much of a showman in the first place, but even the part of me that it shrivels when I come up against an audience that isn’t my own. There is way more pressure with those kind of shows, but they’re also extremely rewarding. Me and my band have supported many different kinds of artists, and every audience gives you a different response, which is really refreshing, if terrifying.

Finally, what are your plans between now and album release, and then after that for the rest of 2014?

I’m already thinking about new songs, as although the album isn’t even out, the songs that appear on it are old to me now and have been with me for a long time, so new ideas are coming through. Then after the album we’re planning to go nuts touring. At the moment I feel like I’m rehearsing when I’m on stage, and nerves sometimes rule me up there, but hopefully by the end of the year, with the amount of dates we’re planning, I’ll feel as at home as when we’re just jamming.

Beautiful Desolation is out on 7 April on Atlantic Records. Photography by Howard Melnyczuk.