Meet Bristol’s Pocket Sun.
They’re a five-piece band who make nostalgic yet contemporary alt-pop bops. They’ve been championed by BBC Introducing, 6Music, and NPR Music, and played at London’s iconic Jazz Cafe. Their debut album is out next week, so we couldn’t resist sitting down with the band’s Gina Marie Tratt to talk attachment styles, music creation, and a whole lot more…
Your new single talks about attachment styles in love. Why were you drawn to this?
‘I’m really interested in psychology and have been through personal experiences where attachment styles have caused certain patterns to play out. The song’s kind of about the moment where things start to unravel between an anxious and avoidant person, and you pick up on subtle clues that eventually and inevitably cascade. Unfortunately a lot of people experience that painful scenario, but it can help a bit to understand the psychology of the situation and shine a bit of light on unanswered questions.’
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You’ve just announced your debut album, what does this mean for you as a band? Can you talk us through the album writing process?
‘It feels like a really big achievement for us – I don’t think we quite anticipated how much of a huge undertaking it was going to be! We love to put so much detail and thought into our music and production, so finishing the ten songs was a bit of a challenge! It’s a real mix of music written in different ways – some were based on Gina’s demos from the last few years, some were fully collaborative and naturally flowed, and a couple were very last minute additions! It was definitely a learning experience and we’re already excited for the next one!’
You are based in Bristol. How has the city added to your sound?
‘We find that Bristol is very conducive to writing and recording music. We all live in quite close proximity which makes impromptu meetings and socialising quite easy. We also find that the local music scene is big enough to remain inspiring and ever-changing, yet small enough to navigate as an indie band. The live music in summer is always a highlight too, the city just seems to turn into one big festival!’
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From artwork to videos, you are a true DIY band that gets involved with all creative aspects. What’s your inspiration here?
‘I have a very visual mind and when I listen to music it feels quite natural to imagine what colours, shapes and themes can merge together. In terms of inspiration, I love illustrations that are psychedelic, surreal and with a bit of silliness thrown in. But I can even just be inspired by certain colour palettes that generate particular moods and feelings.’
If someone hasn’t heard of you before, how would you describe yourself?
‘We have threads of psychedelic soul, synthpop, jazz and dream-pop. It’s always been a bit hard to define as we don’t quite fit into one category and we keep evolving! But overall the ambition is to make people feel a certain way through the music, so I suppose in that sense, soul is at the roots. When we first began ‘cosmic soul’ was actually a phrase we used a lot!’
Your Jupiter video has over 22k views! How did you go about creating this? It’s hilarious.
‘We knew we wanted to make a video for this song as it has quite a fun sound and there’s lots we could do with it! Gina and Laurence became joint directors, actor and camerawoman, and came up with a story of an alien experiencing human life. It starts out pretty exciting and interesting for him, but eventually as he pursues a career in music, it all goes downhill. He tries to join a band, but unfortunately the other band members are government agents and quickly reject and send him home. Overall we just wanted it to be a bit silly, but some deeper themes did emerge, particularly the reflection of how hard it is to pursue your creative dreams and also the struggles of not fitting in.’
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What’s coming up for Pocket Sun?
‘We have a big album launch show on September 7th (the week after our album comes out). We have a few plans up our sleeves in terms of set design, and also featuring some extra special guests on stage with us. So it will be a really unique show! Soon after we have planned a writing retreat in the countryside. We aim to let our creative juices run wild, so who knows what will the outcome will be!’