Talented singer-songwriter Warrilow brings his unique style of acoustic music, or Ghost-Folk, to Evolution Emerging.  Using a finger picking style, his sound has been compared in the past to John Martyn and Josh T Pearson.  Damian Robinson caught up with Warrilow before his show at Evolution.

Damian: Hi Warrilow, I saw you last year at Tynemouth’s Surf Café and thought your performance was great.

Warrilow: Thanks, I’ve played the Surf Café a few times now and love Richie (surf café owner).  He’s made such a good scene down there and really gets behind local music.

Damian: He does.  Focusing on your music, you clearly spend a long time on perfecting the two skills of intricate guitar playing style and writing poetic lyrics.  Do you see one skill as being more important than the other?

Warrilow: I see them as being equally important if I’m honest.  I always admired finger picking guitar players like Paul Simon and have had an interest in poetry for a very long time.  I see both skills as being incredibly important to the type of music I try to create.

Damian: That’s interesting.  If you’re trying to be great at both skills, do you find that you put a lot of pressure on yourself?

Warrilow: I can do, sometimes.  A really close friend of mine can pick up a guitar and bash out great songs really quickly, whereas it can take me a lot longer and I tend to go back to a piece and refine it before I release it.  Recently I’ve been taking that on board and working on releasing music without over thinking the process.  I studied creative writing at university and a former teacher said the same thing once, commenting that he enjoyed the work that I had written instinctively more than the work I sat down and really thought about. I’m trying to take that approach more into my creative process.

Damian: Wow.  Almost like a Keourac, spontaneous prose, type of style?

Warrilow:  Yeah, certainly with the lyrics I tend to free write for as long as I can and then pick out certain phrases that stand out or mean something to me.

Damian:  Okay, so you write until you find the inspiration or until the writing exposes you.

Warrilow: That’s certainly the intent.  I try not to talk too much about my content as the songs are left for people to interrupt in the way they feel them, but before I release anything it’ll have to mean something to me.  The final songs may not always mean something to other people, but I’d like them to.

Damian: There’s something almost soulful about that response, and in your music also.  Does your music border into soul?

Warrilow: I try not to label my music, but if I’m asked I call it ghost-folk, essentially my music uses the borders of the traditional folk sound.  But yes my music tries to focus on human connections and our internal selves, so there’s elements of what soul music tries to portray also.

Damian: What does the next 6-12 months look like for you?

Warrilow: At the moment I’m trying to write the next EP.  I don’t want to give a hard date but I’d like to make it available in time for Evolution.  The songs are written but not yet recorded.

Damian: Sounds great.  So we can expect new material when you play Evolution?

Warrilow:  Yes, that’s the plan.  I’m really excited to play Evolution, I love the music scene in the North East, and all of the bands on the bill.  It’s going to be brilliant event.