Inspired #0044 Wildwood Kin
In light of the release of their empowering new single, ‘Beauty in Your Brokenness’, Wildwood Kin spoke to us about some of the things that inspire them, including their spirituality, mental health awareness and Lord of the Rings.
Who are your top three musical inspirations?
We grew up listening to a lot of James Taylor and Simon & Garfunkel, who both ended up becoming big musical influences for us throughout our lives. Also when we started out as a band, Fleet Foxes had just released their second album ‘Helplessness Blues’ which massively inspired us to push ourselves more in our songwriting.
Is there a certain film that inspires you?
We are all pretty obsessed with the Lord of the Rings trilogy... it’s such a timeless story and the characters are so brilliant. Our Aunt actually was part of the casting team on the movies so it’s got an especially sentimental place in our family! We also love the Secret Life Of Walter Mitty - The beauty of the soundtrack, the videography and the locations in the film have been a huge creative inspiration for us as a band.
What city do you find the most inspiring?
We grew up in Devon (in the Southwest of the UK), so it’s always really refreshing to go North! Some of our favourites are York, Manchester and Edinburgh. The history and heritage of those cities is fascinatingly beautiful and very different to what we’re used to. The people there are always so friendly too!
Who is the most inspiring person to you?
To be honest the biggest inspiration behind our music would be our faith, so we’d probably say Jesus… We don’t publicly talk about our spirituality very often as there’s a lot of (understandable) negative stigma attached to religion and we would never want people to feel isolated by it. However we do believe in radically loving and accepting those around us, and we would consider Jesus’ life to be history’s most inspiring example of that.
How would you like to inspire people?
Above anything else we endeavour to make the kind of music that brings people a sense of peace and hope. We lost a brother/cousin, Natty, to suicide 3 years ago after his long-term battle with depression and bi-polar, which has made us especially passionate about raising mental health awareness. If there’s anything our music can do for people to help them feel supported, uplifted and not alone then we are doing our job right.
Interview by Karla Harris
’Beauty in Your Brokenness’ is taken from Wildwood Kin'‘s upcoming self-titled album due for release via Silvertone Records/ Sony on 4th November and available to pre-order now. Wildwood Kin have also shared a run of UK and European tour dates starting in November. For the full list of dates and to purchase tickets please visit HERE.