Talking Passions: LA Foster, aka Curlicues

Multi-talented singer songwriter LA Foster is also known as Curlicues. With plays from his debut album The Long Transition making their way onto BCFM’s The Bristol Music Show and as far away as Italy, the Bristol-based folk artist invites listeners to delve into his unconventional world of music as he explores themes of the subconscious, morality, time and identity. I managed to catch up with him recently to talk about his passion for music.

Talking Passions (TP): “So as a young boy, what did you want to be when you grew up and how did you get to where you are now?”

Curlicues (C): “I’m not sure I had any sort of creative aspirations per say. I was always into art and reading, having my own little world around me in that way. I kind of latched onto music fairly late, I suppose. I played drums in bands at school, but it was only when I went to university that I saw it as something that I could use so sort of express myself.” (smiles)

TP: “So were you in a few bands at uni?”

C: “I was in a band with one of my close friends, that was up in Sheffield, and he was one of those people who you kind of instantly click with. We had similar music tastes, a similar outlook, and we went off on an adventure through the world of music together. (smiles) I suppose that encompassed other things as well like film, books…”

TP: “Nice. Like you said, creating your own world?”

C: “I suppose so, yeah. That’s always been something that I’ve gravitated towards. I’ve kind of lived my life through the lens of art and music since I was fairly young. It was a natural evolution from that point when I was a kid.”

TP: “How did the solo stuff start?”

C: “That was actually really quite late. I was having some input in the band in Sheffield, but it wasn’t ’til I came back after graduating that I started testing out the waters when it came to song writing, and finding my voice creatively, and it really started off with me doing shoddy home recordings and bashing things out, a lot of trial and error to it. The process of working out what I was doing took about three years. It was probably that long until I could feel like I could structure a song and get what I wanted out of it, and get it to kind of transport the ideas I had.”

TP: “Amazing, and you are a very talented man, writing music for and playing almost all of the instruments on your tracks yourself. Can you describe your creative process and how you go about starting a song?”

C: “If I hone in on the songs that I wrote for The Long Transition, being that that was the last thing I put out, that really started from the guitar. All of the writing really came from that instrument, and I found it to be a fairly solitary process. It was literally a case of me locking myself away and just running through certain guitar patterns, a lot of which were quite repetitious, and sort of working out intuitively where to take the song, where to direct it, how to get from point A to point D, with the detours that the song required. Then, in terms of how I came up with the arrangements, I suppose I’ve proved my ability to build up an impression of what I want to back that guitar part, to back that vocal melody, and I suppose the turning point was putting the vocals first. I mean on that album I placed a lot of emphasis on getting them to the foreground, and making the language that I use on it something that people latch onto.”

TP: “Something people can relate to?”

C: “Yeah, exactly.”

TP. “Nice. Well in terms of vocals you have a very distinctive and soothing voice (in my opinion, comparable to Morrissey) and some of your lyrics can be quite abstract too at times, creating more of a mood with your music. Who do you draw inspiration from when you write music?”

LC. “I’d say that when it comes to the music itself, as I say, I’m fairly instinctive, I’m not particularly well trained when it comes to composing. I suppose the language I use is drawn a lot from literature which I’ve always been interested in, and I’d say for me, the music that really has an impact has language in it. I can appreciate the lyrical aspect of instrumental music but for me it’s all about words, and the music’s there to carry that. On The Long Transition I was trying to create my own language, my own distinct outlook, so that there was a kind of narrative arc to it, because I’ve always been interested in story telling as well, that’s something that I like to do. I guess the abstract part of it that you picked out is probably to do with setting the scene, and almost transporting the listener to the Culicues world.” (laughs)

TP. “So almost a concept album, where all of the songs are telling a larger story?”

LC. “I think that when I went into the writing of The Long Transition I saw it as having an arc and I guess that I’m old fashioned in that I listen albums from beginning to end, I see them as a complete thing, something that’s distinctive from singles, where you might have a hit that lasts three or four minutes. I’m very much someone that likes to invest in the effect of music over a longer period of time. I kind of like playing with the flexibility that that run-time gives you, as opposed to the single.”

TP. “Yeah for sure, it’s definitely different, it’s an experience rather than just a song. And talking about The Long Transition, you’re latest album, I understand that you’re preparing to play it live. How do you plan on re-creating the music in a live environment given that you play almost everything yourself?”

LC. “Yeah, when it comes to the live experience, as you say, it’s kind of difficult to replicate it exactly, but what I’m looking to do with the next few gigs is to bring in my Sister who is responsible for all of the strings on it. We wrote a lot of those parts together which was really good. It’s like there was some unconscious sibling bond there, because it was really easy for us to work together, we were on the same page with a lot of stuff. So yeah, playing with her’s always really enjoyable, we’ve never played gigs together and I feel like having the live cello, which it probably will be, though she also plays violin, will give an extra dynamic to things. I guess I see the arrangements as fairly integral to the success of the songs, so having her there and adding that extra bit of life to it will definitely be a good thing. Looking ahead, to be honest, beyond the few gigs that I’ll play with her, I’m quite looking forward to getting new material out.”

TP. “Sweet, well we’re looking forward to hearing it.”

LC. “Yeah, I guess it’s because these songs are fairly old to me now, obviously I’ve just put out the album but some of these songs I wrote two years ago. I know other people love seeing them live but I’m itching to move on, to create something new.”

TP. “Have you got some new stuff already?”

LC. “Yeah, I’ve been working on an EP, three songs, and a lot of that’s based around piano so it’s almost taking what I do and putting a slightly different twist on it. Playing around with longer song-forms as well, which is what I did on a couple of tracks on The Long Transition. we’ll see what to make of it when I bring it out as I feel like it’s quite a different approach to what I’ve been doing before.” (laughs)

TP. “Nice. Can you describe how it feels when you’re making your music?”

LC. “When it comes to my creative process I will go in with a feeling that I want to convey through the song, but I wont necessarily use that feeling to steer how I compose, how I come up with arrangements. I find that if I’m too invested in something emotionally it can cloud my judgement a bit. It’s quite healthy to take a step back and, when you’re piecing things together, to look at it more objectively. Then once you’ve got to the heart of the song you can perhaps grasp whether it has that emotional hit that you were going for to begin with. I guess I have quite a scientific approach to writing songs in that I almost get detached from myself and what I’m investing in it when I’m actually creating it and working out what to do. That’s not to say that they’re not invested with my emotions, it’s just that ironing out the kinks and working out how to get the best out of things, sometimes for me, isn’t about me. I almost try and remove my ego from it.”

TP. “Become the listener almost.”

LC. “Yeah exactly, that’s a good way to put it. I almost let the song drive itself. I’m just steering the ship.” (laughs)

TP. (laughs) “Well finally, you’ve mentioned the new EP. What do you have in store for us over the next few months?”

LC. “Well I see that EP as closing off the first phase for Curlicues. After that point, going back to the idea of there being a narrative to things, I see that as concluding the first section of stuff that I’ll put out. What comes after that I’m not quite sure yet, but I think it will be something different. I don’t necessarily wanna constrict myself to being a Folk artist, I just happen to be a musician whose made Folk music up to this point. Laughs. I kind of want to grow and do lots of things.”

TP. “Possible collaborations?”

LC. “Yeah, I may be working with Will from the band BLOCK. They’re a Bristol band who do sort of audio/visual work, mostly instrumental actually but with more of an experimental post-rock vibe to it, a lot more drawn out with electronics in there as well. How that will work out I don’t know, because we’re obviously coming to a single idea from different perspectives, but we’ve spoken about it in the past as something we might wanna try, flex our muscles. I’m leaving things open at the moment, seeing what pulls me in which direction.”

If you’d like to get in touch with Curlicues about his music or anything else you can find him on Facebook, Soundcloud and Bandcamp, as well as via his website at www.culicuesmusic.com.

Words: Talking Passions.

Pictures: L.A Foster/Talking Passions

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