Local pop phenomenon Charlotte Grayson turned heads with debut album ‘Grow’.  Returning with a more poppier sound, including recent singles Coffee and Don’t date, she speaks with Damian Robinson about her new album and plans for 2023.

Your recent singles Coffee, Don’t date and Mug have been really poppy, and an interesting direction following your debut album ‘Grow’.  What inspired you to write in this style? 

At the writing stage, the process and sound has remained the same. It always begins with me and a guitar. This album and the sonics were a product of the lockdown. As we were due to go into the studio to record, the first lockdown hit and none of us could meet or travel. We decided rather than put it off indefinitely, we would all work remotely, recording in our homes and sharing files back and forth. This gave Mark, my producer, much more freedom to play around with the sounds than in previous records. I think boredom may have played a part in the vast amount of ideas Mark presented, but I loved the more poppy production. We ran with it and this is the result. 

Does the sound of Coffee and Mug capture the essence of new album Sugar Coat, or are these only a part of the album’s overall sound? 

Each track has its own sound and feel but there is definitely a strong undercurrent of pop production throughout them all. I would say there are definitely tracks written in my indie phase or a country mood and this shows in the final production, but the pop still pulls through. 

In terms of the new album, can you tell us a little about the recording process and how this has evolved since Grow. 

The relationship between me and Mark has definitely been the main change. Mark post produced ‘Grow’ and I fell in love with his attitude and his work. This time around Mark was fully involved from the very first stages. Having a producer there through the entire process means having someone to bounce ideas off and it meant Mark had a much better idea of my vision. Obviously, remote recording was different to the norm, but it really worked for us and we have even began demoing new songs in this way. 

Do you have plans to tour the album and/ or have an album release party? 

We are working on plans at the moment and all will be revealed in due time. 

In terms of 2023, what other plans/ shows do you have and what are you hoping to achieve this year? 

We have just started the recording process for the next set of singles so that will be taking up a lot of our time this year. I am hoping to get back into an actual studio with my band, The Shame Areas, at some point. And maybe a little tour, who knows.