Inspired #350 - Wil Owen
Welsh-born Bristol-based artist Wil Owen has been carving a name for himself releasing thought-provoking, evocative and shiveringly good indie folk. Current single, ‘After Dark’ is an atmospheric, exposed and heartfelt song that spills its truth through a foreboding stream of consciousness. Wil took a moment to talk to us about some of his current inspirations.
Who are your top three musical inspirations and why?
Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon and Kate Bush.
What all three have in common is this incredible ability to become anyone, to empathise and empower any character they choose to set their sights on. As far as I’m concerned, we all walk in their shadows! Their lyricism, their imagination and their music. It’s alchemy. I sometimes have to kick myself that I managed to coincide with these people on this planet. How mad is it! How lucky.
Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?
I watch Into The Wild every couple of years. Every time I watch it I find someone else to be angry at, or sad for or defensive of…what I love is that the older I get, the more my feelings about what Chris McCandless decided to do change. There’s a lot to unpack about the choices we make and the repercussions they have on the people around us. With a really insightful soundtrack from Eddie Vedder and a real harsh and beautiful depiction of the American landscape, it feels like you can at least have a go at understanding Chris’ uncompromising drive to be free.
What city do you find the most inspiring and why?
I went to Paris for the first time in August 2017 and I don’t think I’ve ever felt such a magical sense of living cultural history. The bars are still populated with the writers and poets and artists of the nineteen twenties. You can feel them in the walls, see them walking along the Seine. Paris breathes.
Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
My parents inspire me, they’re driven by what they believe to be right and fair and I think that’s a very hard line to navigate in a world that so often doesn’t reward people who act with the interests of others at heart. They do it anyway and I love them for it.
What were your inspirations when writing After Dark?
There were quite a few things milling around in my head when I wrote After Dark, back in 2018. One of them was a beautiful illustration by Hannah Buckman called Everyone at the Party is Shy, which depicts several figures at a party, each looking completely consumed by their own solitary experience. I was thinking a lot about being lost in an experience back then, how we can sometimes obfuscate our responsibility for reaching out for connection. I was reading a lot of books written in a stream of consciousness style and I think that bled into the song’s movement - it’s all one night, one party, room to room.
How would you like to inspire people?
I have an awful habit of going to see bands or artists and spending the first ten minutes thinking that I could do what they’re doing on stage. It’s almost never true, but there’s something about seeing people perform that brings out a confidence in me. I think it must be some sort of seeing is believing type thing. If I could have someone come and watch me play or listen to one of my songs and think, I could do that, out of sheer stubbornness to exist, I’d be very happy.
Interview by Karla Harris
‘After Dark’ is the third single from Welsh singer/songwriter Wil Owen and the latest track to be lifted from his forthcoming debut EP, due out 2022 via Tinpot Records