Inspired #321: Wednesday's Child
London-based psychedelic jazz duo Wednesday’s Child recently released their debut single, ‘Begin Again’. We had a chat with the two-piece to find out exactly what inspires their idiosyncratic style.
Who are your top three musical inspirations?
The Beatles, Patti Smith, Billie Holiday
What city do you find the most inspiring?
Emily: In terms of musical inspiration I would say London. It’s so easy to go out to a gig and there is such a huge range of music happening too, which was quite a shock to the system coming from the countryside. There are also so many up-and-coming bands who are based in London creating really unique music so this really inspires me to write original music and hopefully create something unique for ourselves.
Georgia: At the moment, London. Everything feels amplified here, which isn’t a feeling I want forever, but in this phase of life it works well. Meeting new people, hearing their stories, running around the city to try new things, consuming different cultures and ways of living. Being in a constant state of curiosity helps with the writing. However, as well as all the good parts of our culture being turned up to eleven, this city is also a magnifier for our country’s social inequality and state inequity. The people fighting against this inspire me to be part of the change.
Who is the most inspiring person to you?
Emily: Emily Remler - she was an American jazz guitarist and she is a huge inspiration to my guitar playing and improvising. If you like jazz you should definitely listen to her albums.
Georgia: My family unit - we count as a multi-tentacled person. The amount of creation, kindness and resilience our family has and feeds back to each other is a constant inspiration.
What were the inspirations for your recent single ‘Begin Again’?
It was the second song we wrote and recorded as Wednesday’s Child. Georgia came to Emily with some lyrics and chords she’d written over the Christmas period - a messy mixture of dreams, feelings, secrets and lies. Together, we tried to find out what the song was about simply by making it, getting inspired by the sounds each other was creating. We’ve previously felt a pressure to make things that are put-together and pretty; by the time we met, both of us had been sitting on a lot of raw, ugly ideas. It was inspiring just to have someone else who wanted to listen, and to find that you can always start from scratch... again and again.
What was it that inspired you guys to create such idiosyncratic music?
This is our debut, and we funded it ourselves, so that gave us a lot of freedom. There was no one to answer to, no expectation, just following sounds that felt good. You can’t control how someone will respond to your creations, so why water yourself down when people are going to make up their own minds anyway? Moving forward, we want to keep listening to our guts when making music, even if it feels a bit vulnerable.
Finally, how do you hope to inspire people?
Writing is a means of expression, of making our mark. Everyone should have a tool for writing and rewriting their own stories, and that isn’t limited to a pen and paper. Whatever gets you going; if it’s how you dress, the way you cook, or garden, or take a walk… it doesn’t really matter what that tool for expression is as long as you can do it with your whole being (and that you are, of course, being conscious of your community and planet - you don’t get to be an idiot and call it art). It’s all your own way of being a storyteller and communicating with the world. We hope what we create inspires people to be expressive; to be open in their listening and honest in their telling.