Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Chatting With UnderwaterSun: Bedroom Pop and Rex Orange County

The bedroom pop genre has seen exponential growth in recent years, with more and more artists adopting the sound and an increase in fans consuming it. Artists like Rex Orange County, Dayglow, and Peach Pit have pushed the genre into the spotlight and inspired many emerging musicians. The newest and one of the most exciting is UnderwaterSun. 

The Birmingham-based singer-songwriter is gearing up for the release of his debut single ‘Girl I Never Knew’ on the 28th of May. The track is a combination of popular bedroom pop artists like Dayglow, fused with the guitars of noughties British indie bands like The Kooks. The fusion works really well on this track, combining an upbeat sound and light and airy guitar riff with melancholy lyrics about the regret and insecurities of a teenage holiday romance that was over before it even began. 


In preparation for the release of the track, we spoke with Harry Aidan Sampson, the man behind the project. We found out all about his debut single, his influences, and his love of the bedroom pop genre.


 

First of all, how are you doing? 

 

I'm doing good, thanks for asking.


 

How does it feel to be releasing your debut single?

 

It's quite exciting but it's not really what I expected because I thought it would be this "big thing" but it's actually quite simple really.

 


Can you tell us a little bit about what the song is about?

 

So, the song is about an experience I had on holiday when I was 15. I started writing songs in March 2019 and it got to October and I'd realised I hadn't actually written a "love song" so I tried to think about the only time I had experienced love and that was the first thing that came to my head so I decided I would start writing about that. It ended up just being a little reflection of my life in the last 5 years and just wanting to be in love because it seems like it fixes everything but in reality, it doesn't.

 


What drew you to the bedroom pop genre?

 

I discovered artists like Rex Orange County in the summer of 2019 and I really liked the whole lofi DIY aesthetic and it seemed like something I could do. Then I started listening to more artists in that genre and kind of got addicted at the time, so I ended up starting to produce the song and didn't have much idea of what I was doing as it was the first time I had tried it but it turned out quite good. 

 


How have you been keeping busy during lockdown?

 

To be honest, I've found it really difficult to write music in lockdown so I haven’t done much of that. But I'm at uni studying music and performance in guitar so it gave me some time to actually focus more on that. Overall, I've just been practicing guitar, doing uni work and going to the pub with my mates when I can.

 


And what are you looking forward to most now things are starting to reopen?

 

I'm looking forward to going to gigs again and playing some. Also, collaborating with other musicians and writing songs in the same room, which will be a nice change.


 

Are there any contemporary or older artists that inspired this track?

 

I guess Corduroy Dreams by Rex Orange County was a big inspiration for this song as I started writing this song just after learning that. Originally, I planned for the song just to be guitar and vocals but was convinced by my peers to flesh it out into a full arrangement.

 


If you could describe this release in one sentence for our readers, how would you do it?

 

Youthful, British sounding, melancholy fun.


 

Lastly, is there anything you'd like to plug?

 

Just go follow me on my socials and I'll be releasing another song I wrote at the same time a couple of weeks later.


SOUNDCLOUD

Matthew Codd

@matt_codd

Image: Provided by the artist

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comment Here;