Earlier this month I had a chat with Lily and Amy of Leeds based pop-folk duo Sunflower Thieves ahead of the release of their latest single Hide and Seek (out now). With a huge focus on delicate harmonies and intimate sounds in their music, the band have been busy writing a string of new tunes during lockdown in the UK. Both Lily and Amy play guitar, keys, sing and write and Sunflower Thieves' previous releases, Two Halves and Heavy Weight, blend their distinct vocal styles perfectly.
With everything going on in the world right now almost everyone’s ‘normal’ has been disrupted. What have you been doing to keep busy during lockdown?
L: We’ve been writing a lot.
A: Yeah, we’ve been doing a lot of writing, which is nice - a lot of writing this year actually. The [latest single, Hide and Seek], we did in January. We went away for a few days in Norfolk and did some writing just the two of us. We had lots of sessions booked in with other people, which obviously we haven’t been able to do, but we’ve carried on writing just the two of us. Lily’s isolating with her boyfriend and his friend who are in another band called Heir and we’ve been writing a lot with them and posting little clips of what we’ve been doing on our Instagram which has been really fun.
At the start of lockdown over here in the UK we made a Quarantunes playlist. What have some of your Quarantunes been?
A: Ooh that’s a good question. I’ve become obsessed with an artist called Charli Adams, who’s very Phoebe Bridgers-esque and I’ve basically been listening to her all day, every day.
L: Beabadoobee. And Sorcha Richardson. I’ve been listening to a lot of her. We supported her in Leeds before lockdown and she’s really cool.
For anyone who is new to Sunflower Thieves, how would you describe your music?
A: We would normally say we’re folk pop. I guess that’s kind of broad. Indie folk pop/singer-songwriter. There's a lot of focus around harmonies.
L: And lyrics.
A: Lots of lyrical themes of mental health and relationships. All of our songs are very personal to us.
Are there any artists that you really draw inspiration from?
A: Phoebe Bridgers.
L: Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Rose, Maggie Rogers. They’re our main three I think, aren’t they?
You two have been friends for a long time but when was it that you decided that music was what you wanted to do together?
L: We used to do covers at open mics when we were like thirteen. But we started Sunflower Thieves when we were eighteen. So I guess that was the time we started actually writing music and wanting to be a proper band.
A: Yeah there was definitely a conversation we had when Lily went to uni. Because we’re not from Leeds originally, we’re from Derbyshire, and when Lily moved to Leeds we did have a discussion like “Are we gonna do this or are we gonna leave it?” because it’s quite a big commitment to make.
Especially along side uni.
A: Yeah, I think that’s when we decided that we wanted to do it properly and we weren’t just doing it for fun, I suppose.
We featured you in our Women in Music series leading up to International Women’s Day earlier this year. Nowadays it’s pretty rare to get an all-female group or band. Would you say it’s important for you to convey this message of sisterhood in your music?
A: Definitely. Speaking of this, I just read an Instagram post this morning that said something like 4% of bands are all female and like 71% or something are all male, and obviously the others are mixed. But that’s crazy! I don’t know what that survey is based on or how accurate that is but it’s interesting. We try and do as much as possible with platforms or events to do with women in music and just try to represent women in music as much as possible and create opportunities for ourselves as well.
Let’s talk about Hide and Seek, your latest single. What was the inspiration behind that?
L: It’s about wanting to be a child and be safe and in a little bubble and not wanting to grow up. It's about nostalgic moments of being safe and happy as a child, mainly.
A: We wrote it on the writing trip [to Norfolk] and I think that had a big influence over it. We were in this little house by the sea for a few days and we didn’t really see anyone else or have any responsibilities. We just did what we wanted, and I think enjoying that time came through in the song. It’s about realising you probably didn’t know how good you had it when you were little when you didn’t have any cares in the world.
What’s the process like for you as a band? Do you both write together or do you each come up with your own thing and then suggest it to the other?
L: In the past we’ve written separately because we haven’t really been in the same city for very long because I went to uni when I was eighteen and Amy was still in Nottingham at college. Amy came to Leeds two years later.
A: Even then we both still had stuff going on so it was hard to dedicate time to sit and write.
L: So we wrote a lot separately and then pitched it to each other like you said. But Hide and Seek we wrote together.
A: And the single before that – Heavy Weight.
L: We’re writing more together now aren’t we? We do start songs separately and then finish them together a lot.
A: Especially at the minute. Even though we can’t see each other it’s like “Oh, I did this today. Shall we do something with it?” and then a few days later we’ll try and work on it together.
The writing process is really interesting because it’s so different for everybody. Can you write anytime any place or do you have a specific writing routine?
A: I don’t have a routine but it definitely matters where I am. It definitely matters about the atmosphere.
L: The vibe.
A: I couldn’t sit somewhere where I could hear people moving around. I’m at home at the minute at my parents’ house and I can only write in my bedroom because it feels contained from everywhere else. But apart from that I don’t think so.
L: I agree. It depends on the mood of the room and being in your own little bubble.
A: It’s weird at the minute from my point of view because I’ve been writing with Lily, and Sam and Tom from the band Heir, who are all in the same place. I’d been doing lots of collaborative writing before lockdown and if I hadn’t been doing so much of that I would have found it really difficult because it’s hard to create an ‘in the room’ atmosphere when you’re not in the room. If I went into a session I would have a cup of tea, sit and talk about music and chill on the sofa or whatever for a bit before we started but you can’t do that over Zoom. Well, you can, but it’s not as nice to do it on your own. So it does make a difference.
You guys are based in Leeds at the moment and you’re on the line up for (the now rescheduled) Live at Leeds fest. Do the homecoming shows always feel that little bit extra special for you?
L: We love Oporto, that’s our favourite venue. We play there quite a lot. It’s just great. Also, we’ve played loads of great gigs in Nottingham, there’s a really great scene in Nottingham. They’re our favourites - so far!
A: Speaking of Nottingham, I think The Bodega is one of my favourites. We’ve done a lot of really good gigs there. One of the last gigs we did before lockdown at the start of this year was at a festival called Beat the Streets in Nottingham. It’s a dot to dot style festival and we played a set at The Bodega. It was in the middle of the afternoon and Jake Bugg was playing at the same time at Rock City so I think we both thought that no one would come. But it was packed! It was really, really good. I think that made us play really well, the fact there were lots of people there and we felt like we had the support. Playing in Nottingham is always really nice, it’s like a second hometown for us after Leeds.
And lastly, what’s next for Sunflower Thieves?
L: We’ve got Hide and Seek coming out and hopefully another single this year and then the summer of next year we’ll just want to do loads of festivals, if they’re on! We started planning to do a few headline shows at the end of this year which might not happen now but they’ll be coming when we’re allowed to gig again.
A: We’ve had lots of festivals cancelled. We chose this year to really go for it with festivals which obviously hasn’t worked out very well because they’ve all been cancelled. But a lot of them have been postponed to next year so we’ll still be playing which is cool. So I guess just trying to write lots while we’re not gigging as much and then keep releasing and keep up the motivation we’ve got at the minute because I think we’re doing pretty well with it.
Sunflower Thieves' latest single, Hide and Seek, is out everywhere today (May 29th).
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