tinyumbrellas interview
A sunny afternoon at Hyde Park Book Club with DT (aka tinyumbrellas), discussing nature, being perceived and their experience of the music scene in Leeds.
What’s your favourite song that you’ve written?
I think I have many different favourites for different reasons, some are really really meaningful, some are great as songs, some are cherished for the story behind making them, or the production, or the experience that you have on-stage, so there are a lot of different things that contribute to how I feel about a song. I think favourite songs released and unreleased are very different, and my favourite songs that I’ve written are definitely unreleased. I have huge amounts of unreleased songs, a bunch are finished but not ready to be released or anything because I don’t think about that when I write. But yeah, if I ever get asked about my favourite song that I’ve written I always go straight to this song on my second EP called ‘actually’, I think it’s my least streamed song out of my whole discography, but it’s really special to me. I wrote it in sixth-form when I was confused about my sexuality and I didn’t really understand what I was going through, but being able to look back on the song now reminds me that I got through it and helped me figure everything out. Other favourite songs- I really like ‘a small village’, it’s just sweet really. Yeah, those are my top picks.
Which artists are your biggest inspirations?
Inspirations that got me into music in the first place- definitely ‘internet artists’ like Cavetown and Dodie and that sort of ballpark, but when I got into what sort of style I resonated with my writing, I definitely took a lot of inspirations from artists like Adrianne Lenker, she’s like a God to me! I saw her live in April, she’s a gold-star standard songwriter so I really look up to her as a writer and creative person, because I think the way she approaches music is really beautiful. Also Clairo, ‘Charm’ has literally been on repeat and during the start of my writing I took big inspiration from Beabadoobee as well. There’s a band called Florist that I love, I really enjoy their music. I think I resonate a lot with how artists like Florist and Adrianne Lenker think.
What’s your favourite music video you’ve made?
Aw, it’s got to be Zombies! 100%, it was the first time I worked with Big Tent, which is a production company started by my friends Ethan, Emmanuel and Teddy, and they’re all from London area, really lovely and creative people. Ethan was looking to start getting into music videos and I has some music videos that needed making, so I went down to London and Ethan created an amazing concept. They’re so professional, but so imaginative, and so kind and the whole weekend filming that music video was so much fun. We got to choreograph a swordfight!
What’s been the hardest thing about building a platform for yourself?
I find it very difficult being perceived, I think it’s difficult because there’s a pressure as a musician to be someone, market yourself in a certain way and have a thing about you that makes you memorable. It was last year when my following really grew, it was great, but very overwhelming very quickly. Since then the growth has definitely slowed down and it’s great that people still care and engage, but I always wonder ‘do you think I’m the person that I was when you followed me’, because I’m not! Laura Marling got Tiktok recently and did a video talking about that topic and I thought yeah, she gets it. It’s a feeling that everyone resonates with in a way, I am so grateful but like anything, there’s good and bad.
There’s a few references in your songs, which is your favourite Studio Ghibli film?
Oh my favourite Studio Ghibli film is Kiki’s Delivery Service. I was talking to someone the other day who said I hate that film nothing happens, but I fucking love films where nothing happens! I really like Kiki’s Delivery Service, but also Spirited Away is kind of the best one. I also love Totoro, but there’s a lot of screaming in Totoro.
When did your love of nature and music start intertwining?
Given you just write about what’s in your brain, I reckon it’s always been there since I started writing, which was when I was about 15. The first song I wrote was for my GCSE music project, I wrote it on my ukulele and was really proud of it. The lyrics in the chorus were all about being a flower and growing with your face to the sun. Growing up I’ve definitely looked at nature differently and experienced it in different ways. I won’t bore you with my facts from studying Earth science at university but I’m really into clouds… and being able to look into the sky and know what’s going on is nice.
What’s your favourite gig that you’ve played in Leeds and your favourite overall?
My favourite gig I played in Leeds was here (Hyde Park Book Club), I did a little tour when I released my last EP and we did London, Norwich and Leeds so it was really small, but two festival dates too. It was really stressful due to some personal stuff going on at the time, but I got to the gig here and it was sold out, everyone showed up, everyone was really happy to see me, and I was really happy to see them. It was the end of the tour, and I was like ‘I’ve done it!’ so it was really special. This one doesn’t really count, but there’s an open-mic night that my friend Theo hosts here too called Things I’ve Been Up To, and the vibe is you bring something new that you’ve been working on so you can try it out and test the waters. I played one in May with a song I wrote about just being really comfortable with the friends that you meet. It was about the people that I lived with at the time, it was a kind of love that I don’t think I’d ever experienced before and I was really treasuring it because I knew that everyone was moving away. So I brought that song to that open-mic and there’s a bit at the end, this little refrain that repeats and I got everyone to sing along, which was so sweet. It was really really really nice.
You released your third EP last year, do you feel like you’ve changed as a musician since your first?
Oh yeah for sure, I had no clue what I was doing. I had no clue who I was, or where I was going, or what I was doing, I just had some songs and then my manager helped me put them out, and I was like ‘great!’. I feel like -especially at this age- you change so much every year, and I can definitely tell how I’ve changed from the music I write. It’s also a bit tricky as well because with EPs it’s music that you’ve written a while ago coming out so you’ve already changed a bit. But it’s been nice to find my sound a bit more since then. I’m really proud of all the music I have out, but I’m still always changing so I’m looking forward to having more music out.
What advice would you give to other local upcoming musicians in the process of building a community?
Talk to everyone, Leeds is actually really small, everyone new that you meet is actually not a stranger. That’s what I’ve learnt. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, because (this might just be a me problem) I find it really difficult to create goals musically because it seems like anything could happen- going from making art because you have an urge to express yourself to using that art to profit off- but I think what the music scene in Leeds does really well is that people do music because they love music. There’s so much of it going on, there’s always going to be something that you’ll enjoy and people to meet, people to work with. Everyone’s also really happy to help. A lot of times I’ve needed some advice and you think this person knows this, but I don’t know them- just message them anyway and they’re always nice. You miss all the shots you don’t take. But also on the other side of that, if people aren’t responding or something goes a bit wrong, don’t take things personally. Setbacks can feel like a huge thing but it’s just a process to learn that nothing’s that deep.
What can we expect in the future from TinyUmbrellas?
You can expect lots of things! There are some top secret things going on… and it’s nature related. You can expect things- in terms of music and nature.