Cherry Seraph has been on the Joyzine radar since we heard the single ‘self-destruct‘ at the start of 2023. This self-styled “skint musician creating some ethereally queer tunes from my home in West Yorkshire” produces smart and catchy electronic music that does not stay in one lane. ‘self-destruct’ was a prowl on the darker side of pop/electronica and ‘watch you blur’ had a more hazy melancholy woven into its electronic fireworks.
Cherry Seraph’s most recent release is ‘lucky cigarette‘ (read our review here and listen to the track and watch the video below) and we wanted to find out more about this rising star. Cherry Seraph kindly obliged by answering our ‘10 Questions‘:
What inspires you to make music?
The main inspiration for me to make music is knowing that sound is literally everywhere and you can turn these frequencies into almost anything. The palette is so ridiculously broad with what you can create music with and it’s incredible. Without fail, every morning I wake up with a song already in my head. This is a blessing and a curse, because it ranges from the Shrek 2 soundtrack to Mahler! Plus, knowing that we live our lives in the art of other people (whether that is poetry, architecture, photography etc.) is another huge inspiration for me to create music.
What is the best description of your music that you’ve read/heard in a review?
Not to toot Joyzine’s horn, but purely for the turn-of-phrase I really enjoyed the last review of ‘watch you blur’ with the line: “Cherry Seraph has a way of avoiding the dental decay from music that is too sweet”. I think this captures my art well. I often write on typically sad, if not slightly dark, subjects but I think when it’s coupled with a deliberate lightness in my production techniques it creates an interesting authentic dimension without bringing people’s mood totally down!
What do you enjoy most and least about playing live?
What I enjoy the most about playing live is definitely feeling the audience react and immerse themselves in the lyrics and the atmosphere of my songs. A lot of my tracks are built from pads which have such a deliberately spacious feel to them and I love inviting people to take different things emotionally from each track. I really enjoy playing ‘watch you blur’ for this, as well as giving ‘lucky cigarette’ its first play in December. I think the thing I least enjoy about playing live is my nerves before I start the set! Once I get on stage it’s fine – it’s beforehand which is the worst bit. I always worry that I’ve forgotten a piece of tech, despite checking about 50 times when packing everything.
Is there a venue or city that you’d especially love to play, and why?
This is hard. I think I’d love to play at The Eden Project in Cornwall. It’s a bit of an interesting choice, I suppose. I just really love the biomes and the atmosphere that I’ve seen that can be generated there looks fantastic. I love nature and the intersection with that in my music is important to me – this place has so much ecology.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be and why?
Easily, I’d say the level of representation. Progress is certainly being made every day within the industry but I think festival line-ups, for example, still lack a lot of equality. Underrepresented folk notoriously face unique barriers and it’d be great if those continue to be unpacked to ensure equal accessibility.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and what would you work on together?
I think in the present it’d be Tash Sultana. They are phenomenal at their craft. I’ve seen them live twice and each time was totally different and brought a new experience. I’d like to think we’d work on some kind of explorative, warm-sounding single. If it could be described as a colour, it’d be orange (I don’t know if this makes sense but it’s how I visualise it in my mind).
Who is your favourite new band/artist that we should be checking out and what do you like about them?
My favourite new artist that I think you should check out is yeule. Absolutely incredible. Such an eclectic but incredibly coherent sound. I love love love.
If you could give any aspiring musicians one piece of advice, what would it be?
It sounds corny, but set time aside to explore sound. Explore different ways of creating sound and generating ideas, even if it’s outside of the genre you usually create in. Giving yourself space and permission to do that can spark off such interesting results.
How has your approach to making music changed since you started out?
I think I’m still just as chaotic as when I first started out but the chaos is a little more methodical! I used to go into projects feet first and create with zero plan to the song. Sometimes, I didn’t even visualise the song as a whole. I’d just chip away until something was created, which I think is still a useful workflow to have. Now I tend to visualise the song before I go into the creation process, such as thinking about the mood/atmosphere I’d like to carve out. I like thinking in terms of frequencies and how they resonate, too. But, admittedly, I do also take recordings of things whilst I’m out too. I was with a friend in Sainsbury’s recording an escalator not so long ago!
How important is the visual/aesthetic side of your music and why?
I’d say that the visual/aesthetic side of my music is definitely important. It’s how I convey those ‘extras’ that I can’t always translate into the music itself. Everyone will take what resonates with them and their interpretation, even if that isn’t how the original idea started out. I really like that. Music is malleable. Creating visuals for the music is an extension of that artform, even if some would argue it is a different discipline. It’s like creating something on a pottery wheel: the music itself is the clay which forms the pot, then the visuals are the glaze and design. It’s not a necessity to glaze the pot, but it does tie it altogether.
Cherry Seraph’s current single ‘lucky cigarette’ is out now
There is also a new lyric video to go with the release.
Cherry Seraph socials: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Bandcamp
Introduction by Paul F Cook
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