Catching up with... Amelia Coburn
With her debut studio album, 'Between the Moon and the Milkman', out this week, we caught up with Amelia Coburn to find out more about her musical journey so far.
Amelia Coburn is set to release her debut studio album, ‘Between the Moon and the Milkman’, on 8th March. Ahead of the gig, we caught up with Amelia to find out more about the album, her journey in music so far and her love of parmos. Here’s what she had to say…
Hi Amelia, great to have you with us! First things first, your debut album is out very soon – tell us about that.
As with many debut albums, it’s a collection of songs that have been written over quite a long period. I’ve been performing and writing for the best part of ten years, but it took me a little longer to put out a full-length album due to my studies and travels around the world. I wanted to release it when I knew I was 100% happy with the songs, had enough money to fund it properly, and found a producer I knew I would work well with, which is where Bill Ryder-Jones comes in, who turned out to be the perfect choice.
You’re probably going to be answering this quite a lot, but what’s the meaning behind the album title, Between the Moon and the Milkman?
There’s something mysterious about those murky twilight hours. I always find that conversations become more intimate and honest, and everything is quiet and still, which is probably why I suddenly get a surge of creativity at this time. When putting the track listing together, I realised many of the songs were either written at night or had nocturnal elements in the lyrics, so I took the title from a line in my song ‘See Saw’. I think it works well as a metaphor to describe the strange, shadowy space between dusk and dawn where the waters between dreams and reality are very much muddied.
There’s a lot of storytelling in your songs – are there any interesting tales on the new album, or themes that tie it together?
A lot of the stories come from my time abroad. I spent a year in France, Russia and Mexico as part of my languages degree and encountered people and places that will stay with me forever. Without giving away too many spoilers, one of my favourite tracks is called ‘Sandra’ and it’s all about the vengeful widow I lived with in Paris. She was quite the character! I still stay in touch with her to this day. There’s also the tale of my 24-hour stay in Dublin and the story of an ominous encounter I had by the Mexican coast.
This is your first studio album, but you’ve been recording and touring for quite a while. Tell us about your journey in music so far.
As a teenager, I worked in the local cafe as a “singing waitress”, performing jazz songs. Using the backing tracks felt limiting, and I wanted to try learning an instrument to accompany myself with. I’d only ever tried violin when I was in primary school and, like many of my childhood hobbies, I gave it up and got bored after a few months (much to my parents’ delight). However, I instantly took to the ukulele, and started playing 70s pop and 80s new wave songs that I’d learnt from listening to my Dad’s record collection.
I wrote my first ever song in my first semester of University, which got me into the finals of the BBC Young Folk Awards. Since then, I’ve been steadily building up a loyal fanbase who have allowed me to tour across the UK and Europe, sell merch, and have had my songs championed by Mark Radcliffe and Tom Robinson on national radio, as well as opening for artists diverse as the late Vin Garbutt, indie legends The Wedding Present and, in recent years, Trials of Cato, Ashley Campbell and The Breath.
You’ve been singing since you were very little (and we’ve seen some very cute videos as proof!). Did you always know you wanted to sing as a career?
I’m glad that 3-year-old me singing Britney Spears has made an impression! When I was younger, my big dream was to be a “musical theatre star” (as written in my 2007 Jacqueline Wilson journal). I grew up watching classic Roger & Hammerstein musicals and had posters of Liza Minelli and Doris Day on my walls. The older and more self-conscious I got, I realised that a career on the stage was probably not for me – I just didn’t have the self-confidence and assertiveness it would have taken to go to all the auditions. I always knew I loved singing, but it had never crossed my mind that I could one day make it a career. Even now, I still can’t believe I get to call this my job.
Your music crosses the boundaries between folk, jazz and more – how have you gone about developing your own style, and which artists have inspired you along the way?
Even when performing covers, I always strived to have my own style and put my spin on a song. I hated the idea of being another young girl playing ukulele in the pub. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just really wanted to stand out from what was being done at the time. I have a varied mix of inspirations and tried my best not to make myself purely an imitation. I think this eclecticism has been great for developing my own style. My role models over the years have included Scott Walker, The Carpenters, Goldfrapp, Harry Nilsson, Judy Garland and Tom Waits.
You seem to be a bit of a bookworm. How much does your love of literature influence your songwriting?
I love stories: hearing them, reading them, telling them. I haven’t yet written about a specific book like Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights, but some tracks like ‘See Saw’ were inspired by my love of gothic literature and short stories written by the likes of Daphne du Maurier and Edgar Allan Poe. I’m really into cinema and this not only reflects in my music videos, but also my writing. Album track ‘Nodding Dog’ took its early inspiration from Hitchcock films, for example.
Do you have any book recommendations for us?
So many! Where do I start? I adore spooky or mysterious novellas and short story collections. I recommend these to people who aren’t massively into reading, as it’s much easier to digest one bit at a time – long, epic 600-page novels can be daunting! Some of my favourite collections are Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter and Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung. If you head to my Instagram, I’m often recommending or talking about lots of different books on my stories.
We know you’re a fan of the Middlesbrough delicacy, the parmo. Will you be having a parmo to mark the album launch, and what else is on your ideal menu?
Is that even a question? Of course! Any excuse I can find to eat a parmo. There’s a restaurant in Paris called ‘Le Relais de L’Entrecôte’ which does the most divine steak frites. It’s covered in a secret sauce that no one knows the recipe to, but whatever it is, it’s magic. Sometimes I book a trip to Paris for the sole reason of eating THAT life-changing steak and chips. I still cannot believe that once upon a time I was vegetarian for a whole seven years.
What else are you up to this year?
I’ve got a headline UK tour coming up this summer, which I’ll hopefully be doing with a full band! I’m also busy writing for album #2. I know I haven’t even got the first out the way, but I’m not the most prolific, so unless I want to release the next one in 2034, I’d best get cracking now! Hopefully I’ll manage to find some time to get some more travels in… maybe get to Paris for a steak.
Amelia Coburn’s debut studio album, Between the Moon and the Milkman, is out on Friday 8th March. Click here to find out more and get your copy.