Interviews

I Blame Coco

Amy Stratton 31/10/2010

Playing a host of festival dates over the summer, including Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party, Wireless, Latitude and Lovebox, Coco is not just a polished songwriter of synth pop anthems but a punch-pulling, ultra-modern performer too. I Blame Coco release their new single "In Spirit Golden" on the 1st November it preceeds I Blame Coco's album "The Constant" which sees the light of day on November the 8th.

GIITTV Amy's Stratton caught up with I Blame Coco figurehead 20 year old, Coco Sumner on her recent UK tour for a brief getting to know you session.

Hello, I'm told that we're tight for time!

Yeah we've got to go and do an acoustic set at Urban Outfitters before the gig.

I believe you just got in to Manchester, have you been here before?

I have many a time, I love it here, but today I went straight to the travel lodge and slept.

How did you get started making music?

From a very early age, I have always been completely fascinated by music. I started playing instruments from when I was about four and then started writing lyrics when I was fourteen.

When did you think this is something I could do for a living?

For me I think it's always been my life. I don't really think of it as a career but as more of a natural progression: something I do every day and if I can make a living out of it then I think that's very rewarding. But yeah I'm enjoying myself, having a lot of fun.

How do you approach song writing?

Without sounding too cheesy, I think songs essentially write themselves. It's the sort of subconscious that takes over when you write songs. They've always sort of been there and it's like: that' is the your song you were supposed to write. Without sounding like a preacher or anything. I think it's very rewarding as a songwriter to make art.

Have any of the songs that you wrote when you were younger made it on to your debut album, The Constant?

No I didn't want to start a body of work until I had a bit more life experience, otherwise I'd just end up writing an album about being at school and just moaning about that. I knew I had to wait, so I started writing this record about a year and a half ago. I flew to Sweden- I needed to get out of England to find this city where I had no idea who anyone was or what the language was, and then sort of isolated myself to write new songs.

How was your experience in Sweden?

I started my life over again and sort of built a family of friends around me. I was there for about 6 months living there and then brought the record back to London, did some additional production stuff on it, technical matters, and then it was finished.
In Sweden it went to number two and in France it did the same, and then I stopped looking at the charts ever since then. I'm just going to see what happens, let it grow I think.





For those who haven't heard the album yet, how would you describe your sound?

I think it's very much a dark pop record. The songs have come from quite a desolate place of isolation and alienation. The music behind it is uplifting and exciting, it's sort of new, and that's the pop end of it I think.

What is your favourite track on the record and why?

Probably the last song 'It's About to get worse'. The reason being that I enjoy playing it live because its quite a slow song and the delivery from it: you can then listen back on it and sort of hear what I'm singing about and gives you a moment to think about it.


I Blame Coco UK Tour:


November

Mon 1st NOTTINGHAM, Bodega

Tue 2nd BIRMINGHAM, Academy 2

Wed 3rd BRIGHTON, Brighton Ballroom