April – aka 21-year-old April Lawlor – hails from a small town in Ireland’s County Kildare. It’s a scene perfectly suited to her intimate, heart-on-sleeve tunes, which feel like the musical equivalent of taking a solitary, thoughtful wander through picturesque locales. Drawing comparisons to the likes of Clairo and Lana, she’s just released her debut EP, ‘New Conditions’. “[It’s] mostly about love,” she says, “the pain that comes with it and challenges we can all face growing up.” Have a listen below, and find out more about April, too.
Hey April, how’s it going? Are you having a fun day?
Hey, it’s going good, having a nice day, trying to stay motivated in quarantine etc.
What are you up to at the mo, day to day? Are you self-isolating?
Day to day was feeling quite repetitive but its also been nice, I’ve been doing things I love and never had time to do like painting, making little scrapbooks and I’ve been making little clay pots and painting them hahaha its fun. I’m isolating at home with my family; there are 7 kids all together so its very loud and busy at times.
Has the lockdown impacted many of your plans?
Lockdown has stopped me going over to London to work on my second EP, but now we are working on it over zoom calls from home, it’s cool. I guess like every other artist lockdown has stopped the possibility of playing live shows, and I had lots of fun ones lined up I was excited for.
Are you able to write and record at home? What’s your set up like?
I’m always writing at home, and I can record rough vocals and stuff until I get to record properly in a studio, I guess I’ve got a little set up with an interface and midi keyboard I can use on GarageBand and stuff.
Tell us about your EP, ‘New Conditions’ – what’s it about? How did you approach putting it together?
The EP ‘New Conditions’ came together over a few months. I went to London for there first time to do sessions with people, and I met Fred [MacPherson from Spector] who I ended up working with for the EP because I felt we worked well together. My friend Luke was over in London with me, and we wrote songs together in Fred’s, and then I came back every month, and we ended up working on songs I had written myself months previous. The songs to me are about growing up and early relationships, self-growth and realisation. They are all very special songs to me.
Are all your songs really personal? It must be quite nerve-wracking putting them out.
Yes, my songs are very personal and when I first started letting people hear them I used to say they weren’t about me or any personal things because it is a very scary thing to share, but I’m proud of them now, and I have gotten over that fear.
Is there anything you wouldn’t write about?
I dunno, maybe politics (boringggg!)?
What’s been the highlight of your time as a musician so far?
Going on tour around Europe opening for Alec Benjamin with my friend Caoimhe and my manager, it was one of the best times ever.
Did you have a musical upbringing?
Yeah, my dad is a musician & he would teach me piano and guitar and stuff. I was always just really into songwriting and performing as a kid, like putting on little shows for family members and stuff, I was a bit of an attention seeker lol.
What do you do for fun?
For fun, sometimes I like doing things alone, going to galleries and walking around Dublin. But I also love being with friends, playing music with them, me and my best friends used to play gigs together, and that was some of the best times of my life, going on nights out and festivals and raves and stuff, I’m really missing that right now.
Who do you think is the most exciting band or musician around right now?
BENEE is exciting right now, I’m like eager to hear more from her!
April’s new EP ‘New Conditions’ is out now.
