Music Critic Beatrice Lancet sits down to talk to Oli Khan from Sea Girls about their upcoming album
Sea Girls are band that have become a staple in the Indie scene over the last few years, building up a loyal fan-base over 3 EPs and their acclaimed debut album, Open Up Your Head.
The drummer of Sea Girls, Oli Khan, pops into view on my Zoom screen. In the corner, I can see a guitar and a LEGO Tai-fighter. He laughs as I point the latter out, telling me that it did not break despite his house move as it was transported in the front seat of his car in a seat belt. The guitar alludes to the fact that he has just come from writing new music with Rory Young, the band’s guitarist, who has been ‘banished’ into the next room.
From knowing each other at school, to touring and creating a loyal fanbase, Sea Girls have grown together musically and come across as close-knit group of friends. Even before Sea Girls formed the line-up they have today, the band members were in different bands developing their own musical interests. Oli himself was part of two different bands. In one, he was the singer, along with Rory and also with Sea Girls’ bassist, Andrew Dawson. Oli describes the sound of the music they were creating as more ‘folky’ than Sea Girls’ sound, but says in his second band, with Sea Girls’ frontman, Henry Camamile, he was creating ‘psychedelic rock,’ the presence of which has pervaded into Sea Girls’ tracks, most notably into ‘Daisy Daisy.’
Curiously, their band name comes from a misheard Nick Cave lyric. ‘We needed a name in a day basically. We’d won a competition for some studio time and they were like what is your band name?’ Oli says that the band name which has attracted so many fans was really a rush decision made years ago. ‘It seemed kind of a bit mystical and I guess unique, a bit different.’
As a band who have continuously been creating infectious tracks and connecting with their fans, they have come a long way from their first headline show where they got all their friends and family to fill the room. ‘After the first few of those when you start getting people and you are like I don’t know who that is. That is when it started getting exciting. There are actually fans of our music who do not know us or do not know anyone we know.’
Sea Girls’ rise to being signed, Oli sees as a more in-person build up, compared to the way music is being shared at the moment, through live shows, which was where they met their manager. I ask him what advice he would give to a new band and he advocates just going for it. ‘Keep doing it,’ he wisely tells me. ‘Put yourself out there. That’s what we did! If people see you don’t back yourself then how can they be expected to back you?’
2022 looks full of exciting live shows, including Sea Girls’ biggest headline gig at Alexandra Palace in London. Being back recording tracks and being on the road excites Oli, especially after over a year of cancelled festivals and show tours. Their first show back was in Manchester and Oli can only describe himself as grateful for the experience as ‘a feeling we probably won’t have again for a while.’ I ask how it felt to return to rehearsing together as a band after lockdowns apart.
He laughs and says they were thinking ‘Can we play together? Are we any good?’ But in the end, the whole band and the fans were excited to be back in a room connecting over the music that the band have created. Oli tells me it felt odd to go on the road performing tracks from their first album, having just finished the long recording process for their second album, Homesick.
‘This was just totally recorded the opposite way,’ Oli says of the new album, comparing it to their debut. ‘There was a lot of laying down our parts, you know, separately and trying lots of different things.’ Due to the pandemic, rather than the traditional approach of bringing pre-rehearsed material coming into the studio, the band focused on building each song layer by layer and ‘exploring the options and possibilities.’
He tells me about ‘Higher,’ the first song that they went to record, which originally contained a big brass part. This is so curious to me, especially as the song has become a big traditional rock track. Due to the way that the band focused on recording, it meant there was space for reflection and re-evaluation to work on what each song needed. Co-produced with Jacknife, the tracks were sent over to America at night, with the band’s parts recorded during the day. I ask him how this process felt and Oli tells me it felt ‘interesting’ but ‘slightly disjointed’ as it focused so heavily on each individual part.
More streamlined is what we were going for. Not overstuffing everything. It’s all about letting each instrument shine
Oli sees the tracks making up Homesick as ‘less straight up indie-guitar bangers,’ as begun (very symbolically) by the last track of their debut album, ‘Moving On.’ The band have begun to dig into the heart of the music, creating different new textures and highlighting the feelings which shine through the song. ‘More streamlined is what we were going for. Not overstuffing everything. It’s all about letting each instrument shine,’ Oli tells me. ‘The lyrics are very very direct and it was about, kind of, serving that and not hiding it, hiding away from those feelings.’ The recently released single, ‘Lonely,’ feels a beautiful example of this, with the simplicity of the drums, bass line and guitar parts bringing the vulnerability and strength of the lyrics effectively to the forefront.
On which song he is most excited to play back on tour, he muses for a moment, deciding on ‘Paracetamol Blues.’ ‘It has got some fun drum fills. It is fun to play, like, a little bit challenging. I think it’s a big rock song.’ Sea Girls are masters at creating energy in their songs, which creates an air of excitement to see them live. Sadly during their last tour, they could not do signings but Oli tells me they still wanted to interact with their ‘positive community of fans’ and would bring a Sea Girls boom box to play their new music to play to the gig goers. From his experience he wisely tells me, ‘if you’re a Sea Girls fan you’re a good person!’
I come to my final question of the afternoon. A very important one. Which, I ask him, is his favourite ice cream? Oli deliberates and then tells me that his summer go-to is a FAB, an absolute UK classic, with so many exciting layers. For me, the choice of layers seems to beautifully sum up the music that Sea Girls are creating.
Homesick is out on 18th March under Polydor Records.
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