She’s In The Trees is a Liverpool founded contemporary folk band fronted by Amy Scott-Samuel. Described as “dreamy, emotional and tremendously beautiful music with a luminous sound rich in contrasts that addresses universal themes of Love and Loss.” Having recently been signed by Madrid based record label Lucinda Records, She’s In The Trees is going from strength to strength.
The new single The Changes Between Us is a beautifully warm track. Taking centre stage is the acoustic guitar and strings, creating a strong backline for the vocals. There is something easy about the track, it envelops you as you listen and almost wraps you up. The sadness in the song, telling a tale of a lost love is heartbreaking, yet beautifully portrayed. The vocal performance in the track soars, taking you along for the ride as the tale is told.
It was wonderful to speak to Amy from She’s In The Trees and talk about the story behind the group, their plans for the future and much more!
Liverpool Noise: Thank you so much for sitting down with us here at Liverpool Noise! Firstly, tell our readers a bit more about She’s In The Trees.
Amy: Thanks Helen. Lovely to be here! So She’s In The Trees is an alt. folk band, born in and of this fair city that we call home. I have been based in Andalucia, Spain for the last eleven years, and in the past few years decided that it was time to come back to Liverpool and lay down some new roots. For a long time my dream had been to start a band with some local musician friends and so She´s In The Trees basically grew out of that dream.
Liverpool Noise: You describe your sound as alt. folk. What would you say has influenced your sound?
Amy: So many things have influenced me – my years living in Spain and the US, the weird and wonderful folk I’ve met on my travels, the books I’ve read. As a young thing, I was a huge fan of the Beat Writers (Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs etc) and I studied American Literature at uni, so I was exposed to some great ideas, some unique characters and some strange tales. I have also been massively informed by the canon of British and American folk, of rock n´ roll, blues and the alternative scenes. To name just a few of my favourite artists: Bonnie Prince Billy, Bill Callahan, Karen Dalton, Joanna Newsom, Lou Reed, Silver Jews, Joni Mitchell, Aldous Harding, Incredible String Band, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Dylan, Captain Beefheart, Big Thief, Cat Power, Townes Van Zandt…
Liverpool Noise: You have a new single The Changes Between Us, taken from your EP The Ballad Of the Sad Cafe – tell us more about the release, what can your listeners expect from this release?
Amy: So this is the second single from the EP and it’s actually one of the first songs I wrote when I started songwriting and learning the guitar a couple of years back. It’s a wistful song of heartache and loss. When I wrote it I had a clear image of the woman who was singing the song. She was living in a small, backwater, rural town, somewhere in the US, perhaps in the 1940s or ´50s.
I’d say that pretty much all of us have had our heart broken by a lover at some point or other, and we know how it feels to be rejected and to be tossed aside. I think that visceral feeling of pain comes through in this song, and a lot of people can relate to that. I guess that’s why this song resonates with so many people – because we’ve all been there.
Liverpool Noise: What is your usual songwriting process?
Amy: I usually just pick up my guitar and start playing around with some different chords till I hear something special come through – a little tune of sorts. It is usually something very simple that has a quality to it – a sweetness, a feeling, or something interesting that initially hooks me in. The more I play the song and engage with it, the more it begins to unfold, and then comes the story, which sort of begins to tell itself – without me pushing it in any direction. Weirdly – as though it were almost waiting to be told.
Liverpool Noise: As a band, how important is collaboration in the creative process, whether that be live performances or songwriting? Do you each bring your own ideas or work together as a collective to come up with ideas?
Amy: Our music is definitely a collaborative thing. While I am the one who generally creates the bones and basic structure of the songs – along with the story / lyrics – it’s the guys (Jules, Tristan & Kailem) who build on this – inevitably creating some gorgeous magic out of my ideas and breathing some serious life into them.
Liverpool Noise: As well as the band, you also run a semi regular music event called The Experimental Folk, tell us all about it!
Amy: In 2010 I was asked to organise and run the pop-up Nerve Centre on Renshaw street, working alongside the amazing Nerve magazine team. The centre was a huge success, full of wonderful art and music, and creative, interesting folk who had something different to say. Ever since then I’ve wanted to get back into events and for a long time I dreamt of doing my own music night – to give a platform to all the incredible musicians out there in our city. I wanted it to be something different though, something a bit special.
The Experimental Folk nights aim to celebrate and champion the richly diverse and eclectic music scene of Liverpool, bringing together the Liverpool community through our shared love of music. For our previous event on Friday 31 March, we had some incredible performers, including: Liao Zilan, a world famous Guzheng (Chinese harp) player who has collaborated with critically acclaimed musicians such as Peter Gabriel and Jah Wobble. She has performed at the Royal Albert Hall and has played on numerous Hollywood film scores. Alongside Zi Lan we have local legends of the ambient ballad ‘Biltone’ and the fantastic alt. folk duo ´Nunnery & Norheim´. We also have visuals from VJ TV LUX who has been VJing and doing amazing art projects in our fair city for over 25 years. All this under the roof of the Unitarian hall on Ullet road, a gorgeous space, perfect for music making, art making, and of course, some merriment making!
Liverpool Noise: Finally, what do She’s In The Trees have coming up and how can people find you?
Amy: Well, we are excited to announce that we have just been signed to Lucinda Records in Madrid. We recently performed two gigs in Madrid and are currently in the planning stages for our next few gigs and festivals in Spain. We are also planning a mini tour of Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds which kicks off with our Liverpool gig in collaboration with Last Stop Sounds at the Hobo Kiosk in the Baltic Triangle on Friday 5 May, alongside SJ Downes and Rob Clarke. Hope to see your smiling faces there!
Liverpool Noise: Thank you so much to She’s In The Trees for sitting down with us!
You can follow She’s In The Trees on Facebook and Instagram for updates. And you can stream their latest releases on Spotify. Find all of the band’s useful links here.
Helen Maw
