We met Ed Tullet, the twenty two year old singer, songwriter and remixer who has gone from strength to strength these past few years and talked about his album Fiancé, the creative process and Marzipan.
1. How have things been in the run up to the release of your new album Fiancé?
Great – it’s been really freeing working with Monotreme. We’ve got a great team around us and the label are super easy to work with. It’s exciting finally having this record come out – it’s been finished for a long while now, and by the time it’s out it will have been nearly 3 years since I last released something under my own name. At 22, those are a big 3 years. I’ve matured as a writer and as a person, and Fiancé is a completely new direction.
2. How long did it take to hone your current sound?
The record kind of kicked off when I wrote Malignant. These big synth sounds just started falling in together and for the first time it felt like I was making music that I couldn’t really compare to anyone else. Once I had Malignant nearly done the whole record was written pretty rapidly.
3. What ice cream flavour do you usually go for?
Something like honeycomb or butterscotch probably.
4. How did you choose ‘Malignant’ to be the first single off the new album?
It just seemed to sum the record up – it has big dynamic changes, rises and falls, and goes between sounding incredibly huge and dark to slightly more hopeful.
5. How do you start your creative process on a new piece, what are your first steps?
I’ll usually just find a synth sound I like and start messing around. I do a lot of co-writing day to day for other artists, and it’s always a case of just messing around on whatever instrument and going with whatever seems to stick. I’ll often work to a looped pad and just start layering on top of it.
6. Have you ever hid behind a door to scare someone but eventually walked off after getting bored because they took too long?
Everyone’s done this haven’t they? You think ‘this is going be the funniest thing anyone’s ever done’ and then 2 minutes pass and you get bored and pretend nothing’s happened. It’s very Peep Show.
7. If you had to describe your sound to what would you say.
It’s tough because what I like about this record is that it’s actually fairly hard to describe. I guess I’d say it’s dark, lyrically complex, electronic, and has a ton of falsetto harmony.
8. Is there someone you’d love to work with?
I’d love to collaborate with/remix so many artists. I want to try and release music in as many genres as possible, so one that sticks out which might seem strange given the genre I’m currently working in is Jesse Coppenbarger from Colour Revolt – I love his voice and the raw power it has.
9. Did you know Marzipan comes from nuts?
I didn’t, though I hate both!
10. What are your live plans for the future, any dates we can put down?
Not yet, but I’ll likely be doing an album launch show in London around the release date.
11. Any new projects in the works?
Novo Amor and I have nearly finished our full collaborative record after our single ‘Faux’ in 2014. Expect to hear more from us soon.
12. What do you think cats dream about?
They probably dream about someday becoming a dog because dogs are the best.
Saint: from the soon to be released album Fiancé
‘Fiancé does not sound like the work of such a young artist. It also doesn’t sound quite like an electronica album, nor a folk record – it’s its own spiralling, consuming entity. Having stayed under the radar for so long, Ed Tullett has emerged as a fully-formed new voice to be reckoned with’
‘FIANCÉ’ IS OUT VIA MONOTREME RECORDS ON FEBRUARY 19TH
