It’s been a little while since we heard from George Boomsma but given the delicacy of his new EP it was well worth the wait. Damian Robinson caught up with George to find out more about the new work.
Your new EP sounds wonderful; really gentle, warm and otherworldy. Could you tell our readers about the EP?
It’s a collection of 4 original songs which I recorded down in Eastbourne at the brilliant Echo Zoo Studios. Finger-picked acoustic guitar, vocals and a string quartet recorded through vintage gear to tape. I feel like it’s a real step up from my previous releases
There’s lovely strings spread across the EP, where did the idea come from and how did you achieve the sound?
I’ve always loved the sound of a string quartet, especially the vintage string sound of albums such as Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left, and it was something I had in mind during pre-production. I asked my old tour partner Harry Orme if he’d give writing some parts a go and luckily he was up for it. We recorded the quartet to the tape live together using vintage mics which really captured that in-the-room silky crunch I was after. The strings really lift the tracks and turn them into something special.
It’s been a little while since we’ve seen you – is the EP the start of a new body of work?
It’s been a while for sure. After being on tour for 3 months, I felt I’d really honed in on my live performance and I wanted to capture this live sound in a professional studio setting. In between a Brighton and Cambridge gig, I stopped over in Eastbourne and basically stood there and recorded 14 tracks live, some old tunes, some new. So I have plenty more up my sleeve to play around with in the future… time will tell, but I feel this is definitely the start of a new chapter for me.
The EP’s artwork is pretty special too – this is original artwork by you? Is the image taken from a moment on the EP?
I painted a load of similar paintings a couple Christmases ago as family presents and had the idea to use one as a front cover. I’ve always quite liked abstract art as album covers, something you can look at whilst listening, hopefully complimenting and adding an extra layer to the music.
The Chinatown EP is released on the 6th December.