In Conversation With #197 - GHUM
London based quartet GHUM have just released their debut album ‘Bitter’ via Everything Sucks Music.
Bitter is the sound of a band fully in control and their debut record has been a long time coming. GHUM met online in 2016, each of them hails from different parts of the world (London, Malaysia, Spain and Brazil) and bonded over bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Warpaint, The Cure and Soft Kill. Being in a band of all women was also important, from inception. “I'd never been in an all-female band before,” Jojo remembers. “I’d played in an all-female band in the past which was much more fun” adds Marina.
They took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together.
Hey Ghum - so your debut album is finally here. How does it feel to have it out there in the world?
It feels like the end of a long, long process that you have put lots of effort into. When we started this project we never knew where it was going to take us and now we have an album we can hold in our hands. It feels like an accomplishment. We feel grateful and proud that we found our sound and had the opportunity to collect all these ideas in an album. We feel like celebrating. This is us and now we exist.
It is called ‘Bitter’ - what is the meaning behind that?
Bitter is the taste that we felt the album would have if you would put it in your mouth. The songs hold some anger, resentment and things that were never said at the time. It talks about loneliness and trying to connect with people, and how hard that can be. It's an internal dialogue reflecting on memories and lessons learned. It holds the power and satisfaction of the closeness of saying the things you always wanted to say to someone.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
It was recorded at Unwound studiosin Deptford, London. We wanted to experiment with the percussion in some of the songs so Vicki had some fun throwing chains around and hitting all sorts of pieces and metal around the studio to look for original sound effects to add. We also finished Rivers, our longest song, the same day of its recording. Laura couldn’t land the voice melody for Rivers for ages, we were writing this song for literally two years but our producer Adam Jaffrey suggested we listen to the Slint album Spiderland, and that totally inspired the way Rivers is sung. We spent the rest of the recording day watching the Slint documentary… obsessed.
What are the key themes and influences on the album?
In terms of the sound, we have a few bands that have definitely inspired composing: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Warpaint and Pixies are up there. We have to mention Slint too. The themes vary quite a bit but in general they are conversations with people in our life, solving unsolved conflicts and letting the pain out to bleed.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
The lyrics on Echo mean a lot to Laura because they talk about not belonging. Laura moved from Spain to the UK 10 years ago, Marina moved from Brazil, but it’s also about feeling a bit like an outcast and we can all relate to that.
If the album could be a soundtrack to any film - which one and why?
Charlie’s Angel’s, but there should be 4 angels in this case, one for each of us. But in all seriousness it will be an action movie, with a female protagonist and lots of blood. We will call it “REVENGE”. Please let us know if there is a movie out there that fulfills these characteristics. Jojo always felt our music would be a great soundtrack for the show Killing Eve but it’s a bit late for that now it’s ended.
Now the album is out there - what next for you?
Another album!! We want to keep writing new songs and we really want to tour everywhere in the world!
