Interview: Larkins

Slanted Press caught up with gritty indie-pop band Larkins during their UK tour.

Slanted Press recently sat down with Manchester four-piece Larkins, comprising Josh Noble (vocals, guitar), Dom Want (guitar), Henry Beach (bass), and Joe Stott (drums). The band, who draw their name from the poet Phillip Larkin, as bass-heavy indie-pop, sounding like the perfect love child of The 1975 and The Wombats.

We discussed their single ‘TV Dream’ that came out back in February. The song describes the surreal romanticized love of frontman Josh Noble’s grandparents, which he says “kind of juxtaposed what you see on TV about rape culture and the #MeToo movement.” Of course, he felt like he was lying by romanticizing it, sparking a conversation of the darker sides of love. “So, I wanted to write a really happy pop song, then, I was like...we need to speak about what’s on the news a little bit, how it’s totally, totally wrong.” It creates the vibe that not everything is what it seems, but this deeper conversation also made it the band’s favorite single they’ve released.

For the video, they gave the director complete creative control, but still provided the context of the song. ‘I tell him what the song's about, where it's come from; and he came back to me with a way he wanted to do it’ Josh tells us. Bringing in heavy aesthetics, featuring a black and white video with TV static and an abundance of light effects, the video is pleasing to watch. It gives an authentic view of the people behind the music, and as Dom explains it, they wanted it to really show all their talents. ‘I think that we wanted to make this one very...because it's our first major single, we wanted it to be very "us-focused" and introducing us as a band and show how we are as a live band. We often see ourselves as a live band.’ This was the Larkins’ first true music video, aside from their song ‘Something Beautiful’ which the band released on ‘a shoestring budget of around £400.’

This is just the beginning for Larkins, who say they’re gearing up to have an album out early next year. They couldn’t share any details of what the album is going to be called, but it’s only looking up for the Manchester band. According to Dom, there’s a new single on the way and plenty of tour plans. They’ve just come back from a run at SXSW in the US, and are ready to play more gigs.

Edited by George Jones |

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