In Conversation With: Ruthie
Hotly-tipped artist Ruthie has just dropped her debut EP ‘Universal Heartbreak Now’, which is four tracks of beautiful engaging pop mixing influences from the likes of Fleetwood Mac to Angel Olsen. You can certainly understand why she is making everyone’s ears tingle, she took a moment to talk to us about the release.
Your EP ‘Universal Heartbreak Now’ is now, is there any meaning in the title?
The title is partly inspired from the Kurt Vonnegut book Slapstick - where everyone in America is put into artificial families to beat loneliness. My experience of heartbreak is of desperately trying to find other people who have felt the same way, so if I ran the world then everyone would be heartbroken at the same time, and the EP title would be my manifesto.
Where was the EP recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the process?
We recorded in The Nave, an amazing converted church in Leeds. The acoustics in the main room are great, and the whole studio is decked out with 70s decor so it kept us in the right frame of mind.
It sees you pairing up with the likes of Eoin Loveless from Drenge, and producer Chris Coady, how did those partnerships come about? How was the experience of working with them?
Eoin is from Sheffield, and so we had a lot of mutual friends through both being in bands in Yorkshire. I loved recording with him, his voice is perfect for the song and even though he cringed when I made him sing the word “love” about 300 times we had a great time.
Both Ben and I had admired the records that Chris had worked on for a really long time, and we just decided to just take a punt and see if he’d be up for working on our songs with us. Amazingly he agreed and what he’s done with them has been beyond cool. So far we’ve only connected over email and Instagram but fingers crossed we can meet irl one day, probably when I break America and fly into JFK to thousands of screaming fans.
What would you say are the key influences on this EP that helped with the creative process?
I’ll always touch on Fleetwood Mac and Paul Maccartney as influences, because they’re such brilliant songwriters. With this EP I didn’t want to be afraid of leaning into the poppier aspects of our songs, so someone like Kacey Musgraves has been an influence in that respect.
Now the EP is out there, what next? What are your plans for the next few months?
The band and I have got some really exciting shows booked, like playing with the Magic Gang in our old haunt The Brudenell on the 30th November. Then we’re taking the Ruthie roadshow across the country for some headline shows in December, including our much discussed London debut. Come down and let me gloat about your expensive southern rent!