CARLA J Easton has been no slouch since the release of Say It All With A Kiss, 2016’s debut album from her soulful girl group TeenCanteen, and Homemade Lemonade, her DIY-disco solo project recorded under the name Ette, also released that year.
In March 2017 she took part in a song-writing residency at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, where the Glasgow musician and composer met some of the artists who would play on Impossible Stuff, her second solo album which is scheduled for release early next year.
Recorded in Montreal in September 2017 with former Arcade Fire member Howard Bilerman (also producer of their 2004 breakthrough album Funeral), the album features the talents of singer-songwriter Brett Nelson, Jesse Aaron Shire of I Am The Mountain, dark-folk artists Kev Corbett and Laura Hickli and Mishka Stein, a bassist noted for his work with Canadian singer-songwriter Patrick Watson. Easton has also been working with indie royalty here at home, with her exuberant Best Friend featuring on Belle and Sebastian’s last instalment of their How To Solve Our Human Problems EP trilogy, out earlier this year.
“It’s only human not to want to be alone,” Easton and B&S lead singer Stuart Murdoch sing on that track, an earnest line which stands in distinction to the fickle, playful mood of Easton’s new solo single Wanting What I Can’t Have.
The follow-up to January’s Lights In The Dark, Wanting What I Can’t Have hits a fresh, almost dubby groove, with Easton cooing that “I’ll love you until you love me too/where’s the fun after that?”
Working up its impish piano loops into a crescendo of brass and Gospel choir, it’s a sing-a-long for sultry summer evenings.
“I was reading Alain de Botton’s Essays In Love last year,” says Easton. “One of the theories there is that you’re only attracted to someone and hold them as ‘the beloved’ when they’re up on this pedestal.
“And as soon as they love you back you lose interest because they have fallen from the pedestal down to your level, the place where you didn’t feel good enough for them.”
She continues: “There are other theories in the book, but that one resonated a bit with me, as well as the idea about attention spans not being what they were.
“We just keep clicking on new articles, new fads, and still seem dissatisfied. You’re constantly looking for something, but you don’t know what it is, and when you find it, you’re not sure that it’s the thing you wanted after all.”
Wanting What I Can’t Have started life at Glasgow’s La Chunky Studio with the help of resident producer/musician Colin McGeoch and was finished in Canada with a crack team assembled by Bilerman.
“I let my brother hear it and he was like: ‘This sounds like Screamadelica [Primal Scream’s pioneering 1991 album]’ and I think it’s probably because of the big brass part to it,” Easton explains.
“The remix of their song Come Together, the Farley remix, I remember my brother letting me listen to that when I was younger, so I’ve probably ripped that off.”
Jun 7, w/Jane Blanchard, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 7pm, £8. Tickets: bit.ly/CarlaPetes
Jul 7, w/Darren Hayman, The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £15. Tickets: bit.ly/CarlaHug
Wanting What I Can’t Have is out now via Last Night From Glasgow and Olive Grove Records
www.carlajennifereaston.com
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here