Eaves - The young sage of the countryside

Talking like a young man; writing and playing like a rising star of British singer-songwriter pop. We had a chat with Joseph Lyons aka Eaves, who recently made his debut on the world stage with the album “What Green Feels Like” on Heavenly Recordings. He told us about it in his own way, mixing in reflections on life, on values and on the excitement of things that happen day by day, and even letting slip a few small hints about his next record. Before catching him here in Italy for three dates in July, take a moment to read and get to know a bit more about the person behind this fine pop-folk debut made in the UK.

Dear Joseph, first of all, nice to meet you, even if only through digital means. Where are you right now?

It's wonderful to meet you too. I've just got back from a handful of live sessions in London. Now that I'm back in Leeds, I'm treating myself to Nirvana and spaghetti, an unbeatable cure for a hangover.

Eaves has several meanings: “the lower edge of a roof overhanging a wall; a projecting edge (as of a hill)”. Is there a meaning behind your moniker?

Nothing eccentric or direct. I first came across the word in a short story by Thomas Hardy. I hadn't grasped its meaning, but I thought it was a beautiful word, with a typically English “feeling of rain” about it. I was looking for a new moniker and “Eaves” arrived at just the right moment.

Listening to your debut album, I sensed a personal depth: you're 23 and you write like a much older man. Where do your words and thoughts come from?

You just have to let them grow alongside your experiences and jot down what happens along the way. I don't think it has anything to do with being “deep”, so to speak, just with being honest about how you're living. There are a lot of people out there wearing a veil to hide what they feel and sense about the world they're watching. It's mostly a record of what I see day by day, not really a direct feeling, but more an accumulation of moments over a stretch of time.

Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Neil Young… Can you tell us more about your musical influences? I read that you listened to a lot of metal and so on..

My musical taste as a teenager was split between that kind of songwriting and harder rock. Pearl Jam and Mastodon had a huge impact on me, just as much as Nick Drake or Nina Simone. I'd rather not be seen as just some guy with an acoustic guitar, because I think there's a lot more to it, and I definitely want to move with the band towards a heavier sound. That's the music I loved playing as a kid, and now I finally have a band that could bring that sound to the fore.

What's it like living in Leeds? How much, in your view, does your environment shape people or artists? Do you consider yourself an artist?

I think anyone who creates something is an artist: keeping a diary or doodling in a notebook is the same kind of output as art forms like literature or painting, just cruder and rawer. Every environment chisels and shapes, to some extent, the person who grows up in it, at least enough to leave a mark; it's harder to break free and ignore it than to embrace it and try to understand it.

Looking at your album cover, we find things and objects that seem to belong to you or your life, is that right? Is it a little snapshot of your room? And ultimately, what does "What Green Feels Like" mean?

I grew up with the artist who created the cover (Sam Caldwell), and we both wanted it to be personal, to create a kind of balance with the music. We both gathered objects from our childhoods, our families and other brief stories: things like my grandfather's cap, photographs from the day of the Paris shooting. It wasn't meant to represent a room, we were just playing with the scale of the objects, and the importance we gave to the things we picked was really about asking ourselves why they mattered so much to us. The album title refers to a battle I have with myself between wanting to live in the city or in the countryside: I suppose it's about being aware of how things, like colors, can be tied to the choices you make.

Your fingerpicking style brings to mind other great composers of the past: what kinds of emotions or feelings do you experience with your instruments? Would you be able to describe them to us?

I think that if you play guitar to relax or as another way to escape reality, you'll always find colors and sounds that reflect the very thing you're trying to escape from. My emotions aren't all happy, but they're not all sad either, they're the grey halfway between black and white. I think I've always felt drawn to a darker sound in general, and I imagine my fingerpicking style is shaped by the musicians I love just as much as by any emotional connection I have with the instrument. You could say that a way of playing that's more difficult is likely to hold more passion than a lighter song.

Among the 9 tracks of your moving and heartfelt debut, are there songs you're particularly attached to? Why?

I'd say the longer, stronger compositions: "Dove In Your Mouth", "Hom-a-Gum" and "Purge". "Dove In Your Mouth" was the last song I wrote for the record, and it points toward a new kind of style I'm working on for my second album. There were other songs with that same sound that simply weren't finished in time to record. It also felt important to juxtapose the other, more intimate songs: I wanted a record with space and movement, one that could be strong and quiet at the same time.

"Father, you're drunk…/ Mother an ocean…", you sing in "As Old As The Grave". Have you been through hard, difficult moments in your life?

I live far from home and moved away from the place where I grew up some time ago now. I definitely don't live in what you'd call a "turbulent" environment, life is good for me at the moment. My upbringing was hard, but everyone has these kinds of problems in one form or another: you just need to figure out how to improve your situation, or look elsewhere to find what you need in that moment.

You set off on your first world tour, and I imagine it must have been something incredible when you supported Phil Selway on his latest tour, what was it like? Is there any chance of seeing you in Italy?

Being on tour is definitely new for me, but I got an intense taste of it this past year, with great acts to travel alongside like Phil Selway, Nick Mulvey and Boy And The Bear. I'll set off on my first headline tour on May 5, together with my band, and yes, there will be three shows in Italy in July: the 8th and 9th at Unaltrofestival between Milan and Bologna, and the 10th at Spilla Festival in Ancona. It'll be my first time, I'm thrilled at the idea of coming to Italy and I'm sure those shows will be highlights of the year, no doubt about it. I hope to meet you in person, do you think that could happen?

Thank you so much for getting to know each other, and I hope to see you soon.

Ride the wave of great music

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