by Hollie Griss, creator

Lottie Brazier is a songwriter, producer and lyricist from Suffolk, whose sound is a scintillating chamber of introspective post punk. Ahead of the release of her debut album, we chat about her musical beginnings, feminism, stark Suffolk landscapes and the growing local scene.

So when did you start making music? 

Lottie: I first started making music around the age of 11. My dad’s a songwriter as well, and I think I was just really inspired by all the music in the house. But I was never taught to make music. My dad offered to show me how to play guitar and I was like, no, I want to figure this out myself. And I kind of just found my own path into it, rehearsing with friends and bands as a teenager, in church halls and places like that. I think when I was growing up, there wasn’t really an infrastructure for music in Suffolk in the same way there is now. So it really felt like a super DIY thing to do.

Yeah, definitely. You’ve got quite a distinctive 80s post punk sound, is that influenced by what you were listening to growing up? 

Lottie: Yeah, very much. I think it’s a combination of probably my parents’ record collection, and then just using the internet to find stuff that I really liked and which kind of reminded me of that. I was also into quite a lot of shoegaze, and bands like Modest Mouse and Pavement. But then I think as I was finding my own voice as a songwriter, I became really interested in Siouxsie and the Banshees and Kristin Hersh and Throwing Muses. They’ve all just got really interesting distinctive female vocals. I think that was the thing that really inspired me to find my own voice.

You’ve recently released a new single, Take A Bow, which is about ‘finding your real people after compromising your values’. Could you share a bit more about that?

Lottie: Definitely. I kind of felt like growing up, I wasn’t really being myself. I felt like I had music and I had this whole life in music, but I don’t feel like I was really sharing it with friends. I was quite a quiet kid and I was trying to fit in with the status quo a bit, I kind of just wanted to blend in. And then when I moved to Brighton to study, I realised I could just be myself and be more outspoken, in my opinions and my values, and I think music was part of that as well. Around that time I really discovered feminism and loads of really cool female role models which I just never had when I was growing up. It wasn’t something that I learned about when I was young and it was something that I really needed as I got older, I think.

As well as writing music, you actually write about music too. Do you think that affects the process of making music for you at all?

Lottie: That’s really interesting. I was writing music before I started writing about it, but I always wanted to write about it too. I feel like I started writing music and then that helped me write about it in a particular kind of way. I feel like my voice is kind of a musician talking about how music works. But then through that I’ve learned so much more about modern composition and electronic music, and that’s really influenced my songwriting as well. So they kind of both feed into each other.

Your debut album is set for release this November, which you wrote in Woodbridge. What was the creative process like for that? 

Lottie: So I finished uni and moved back home with my parents, just to figure out where I was going with my job, and that ended up being a much longer time than I was expecting. I ended up working at the John Peel Centre, and during that time, I think I got to know Suffolk more as a place than I did when I was a teenager. When you’re a teenager, you focus on your friendships and studying, but moving back, I kind of saw it as a whole new place. I really got to know the landscape and more of the Suffolk coastal community, like Snape Maltings. It was also quite an isolating time because a lot of my friends were from London, and moved back to London. The album really reminds me of going back and forth from Suffolk to London on the train, and just looking out the window and wondering what my future was going to be. I don’t think I would have made that album if I hadn’t spent that period just kind of on my own, introspecting.

The music scene has changed quite a lot in Suffolk since then, hasn’t it? 

Lottie: It really has. I think I kind of missed a golden opportunity when I left because I missed out on the start of Brighten the Corners. My friend Caitlin from high school actually runs their comms. But that didn’t exist then. There were no real venues other than the John Peel. So I felt like I was creating this musical universe on my own pretty much. 

How did it feel to come back and play the Brighten the Corners All Dayer earlier this year?

Lottie: It was really great. It was really inspiring just to see how many artists are now emerging out of Suffolk. All these people were probably there before but we just hadn’t found each other yet, it’s kind of bittersweet in a way. It’s really nice to know that there’s a healthy growing scene now.

It really is. Have you been back to play the John Peel Centre?

Lottie: Yeah, I actually went back recently to support Pictish Trail. That was really good. And it’s become bigger there as well, they’ve got a cafe and a little DJ kind of bar area that wasn’t there when I worked there. It’s really nice.

You’re based in London now – does it feel quite different playing gigs in Suffolk compared to there?

Lottie: My experience in general of playing outside London is that people are much more receptive, like people are actually listening. And I definitely feel that when I go back to Suffolk. I played at The Holloway in Norwich as well and that was so cool, I love that venue. Everyone was up dancing straight away and I just don’t feel like you’d get that in the same way in London. I feel like in London, people are listening and they’re paying attention, but are also maybe a bit jaded. Like it’s just one of the many events that you’ve got going on.

Have you got any more single releases lined up before the album launch?

Lottie: I’m going to be releasing another single, ‘Redshift’, alongside the album, and that one is really about Suffolk. That song is about how insignificant the landscape can make you feel because it’s so flat. And in the winter, the clouds hang really heavy in the sky. I’ve been working on the music video and I went to Dunwich to do some filming. So it’s gonna be kind of Dunwich-themed. 

And will you be doing any launch gigs?

Lottie: I’ve got a launch party at Dash the Henge, which is a record shop in Camberwell. That’s on the 21st of November and it’s free! And then I’ve got one on the 6th of November, a little bit before, and that’s gonna be at the Vinyl Tap in Preston. But I’m definitely looking to play more Suffolk gigs. I think I’ll probably come back to The Holloway too.

Are there any other artists from Suffolk or Norfolk that you’ve been listening to? 

Lottie: Yeah, there’s this sound artist from Norwich called e.m.arson, I think she’s really cool. We’ve been talking about trying to get a gig in London together at some point. There were some really interesting people on the stage I was on at Brighten the Corners too. I’d like to give a shout out to Dream Houses, another Suffolk band. Both Aaron and Luke are really cool people, they play kind of like dream pop.

Final question. If you could play a duo set with any musician in history, who would you pick?

Lottie: Oh, that’s a really tricky one. I think it would have to be someone with a slightly different voice to me. So I’m thinking…oh that’s so hard. I don’t know. I mean, I feel like I get compared to Nico a lot, so who does Nico play with? Maybe Lou Reed. That would be cool.