Inspired #399 - Quiet Houses
Edinburgh duo Quiet Houses have just released their beautiful dream-pop fueled single ‘Hot and Clumsy’.
With mathematical guitar riffs and danceable beats, the track is a melting pot of classic coming-of-age tales of parties and attraction, blended with a soundscape fitting for an era of music where genre knows no boundaries.
Quiet Houses are an indie-folk duo made up of Edinburgh-bred, Manchester-based Jamie Stewart and Hannah Elliott. In December 2021 the duo released their debut EP ‘Big Town’ supported by singles ‘B-List’ (BBC Radio Scotland track of the week), ‘Cold Water Swimming’ (featured in Spotify’s ‘The Most Beautiful Songs In The World’) and 'Ocean Avenue'. The EP was released independently alongside sold out launch parties at Sneaky Pete’s (Edinburgh) and Gullivers NQ (Manchester).
Jamie and Hannah met at school in Edinburgh but often found themselves travelling to Glasgow on the megabus to watch gigs. After seeing The Staves perform at the Glasgow Art School the pair resolved to start writing songs together. Their writing sessions eventually turned into a fully-fledged project after they had moved to Manchester to study music at separate institutions (the Royal Northern College of Music and Manchester University).
They took a moment to talk to us about the inspirations behind their music.
Who are your top three musical inspirations and why?
Paul Buchanan, the singer in The Blue Nile, is a massive vocal inspiration for Hannah. His vocal phrasing is special. John Prine is probably our favourite lyricist and we’re both obsessed with Dizzy and Samia. That’s four, sorry!
Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?
I’m so obsessed with the film director/actor Greta Gerwig that my friends bought me a t shirt with her name on it for my birthday. My favourite film of hers is ‘Frances Ha’, which she stars in and co-wrote with her husband Noah Baumbach. Their films are quite often about people in their 20s who are struggling to grow up, which I really resonate with. In this film, Greta plays the character Frances, a twenty-something woman living in New York whose ambition it is to become a dancer. I’m a sucker for romantic films, but the ending of this film feels romantic in a way that is more true to life than big and outlandish. It’s a 10/10.
What city do you find the most inspiring and why?
Edinburgh features a lot in our writing. it’s where we grew up so a lot of our songs are set there because it’s what we know. We did go to New York over the summer though and are trying to figure out how to move there ASAP.
Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
It’s difficult to pick one person. We’re constantly inspired by our musician friends and their creative output! Eg Lvra, Bonnie Kemplay and Paige Kennedy.
What were your inspirations when writing your new track?
Around the time we started writing the song I was learning lots of math rock style riffs. I had a few riffs of my own but didn’t feel they would work in our music until I paired one of them with the drum loop that plays throughout Hot and Clumsy. The loop comes from this drum machine app called FunkBox which I read about in an Aaron Dessner interview. I took this idea to Hannah and we wrote the rest of the tune that week. We loved the awkward energy of the music and wrote the lyrics around that. The song is about the nervous excitement of being young and liking someone at a party. We wanted it to celebrate the awkwardness of being vulnerable with someone, and embrace the moments we are all embarrassed about. We loved the awkward energy of the music and wrote the lyrics around that. The song is about the nervous excitement of being young and liking someone at a party. We wanted it to celebrate the awkwardness of being vulnerable with someone, and embrace the moments we are all embarrassed about.
How would you like to inspire people?
We don’t know if we want to inspire people, we’re mainly in it for the money.
