Inland Murmur is a band based out of Cardiff, Wales. Fronted by Toby and Hannah, the group draws influences from the Welsh landscape. Their music, however, draws influences from all over. Sometimes folky, while at others sounding more like indie rock. Their newest release, ‘Freshwater’ is exciting and shows off the groups unique sound.
Each matching the energy of the other, while the rhythm section pushes and pulls. The versatility and range of the drums and strings were impressive. Sometimes the song felt huge, while at others it was calm and intimate.
The verses, in particular, stood out to me. Whenever the two voices split apart from one another the song would take a new direction. Familiar voices would explore new ideas. It gave Inland Murmur’s sound a cool change that contrasted their unison parts. I thought it was lovely and led into the chorus very smoothly.
The soft layered vocals on ‘Freshwater’ are entrancing.
Indie top 39
What do you hope to achieve with this song?
Our first two singles were pretty straight up, punchy indie tunes so we wanted to showcase a different aspect of the band with this song. We feel that it’s more accomplished and brooding, and a gradual rise in intensity develops through the track. A lot of effort went into crafting the acoustic architecture of the song in the studio and we wanted to achieve a range of interesting sounds with vintage vibes.
We hope that the song will expand our audience as it treads more towards indie rock and folk than our previous releases. For our returning listeners we hope it offers something fresh, shows development in our writing and what we can achieve musically. Hopefully we’ll gain more radio plays, blog interactions, streams and it will open the door to new gigging opportunities.
Tell us about your creative process and how the song came to be?
The creative process for this single involved more of an acoustic element when compared to our last two releases. Primarily, the melody and chord structure came from Toby writing on an acoustic guitar, and in fact we initially debated recording the whole song acoustically. Eventually, we thought that it would be more interesting once orchestrated with a full band. There was also a fairly long process of refining the lyrics and harmony between the two vocals before we went into the studio. We were lucky enough to record at StudiOwz in Pembrokeshire, Wales and a large amount of the finer detail you hear on the song was created spontaneously on the recording days, inspired by the wonderful instruments and atmosphere in the studio. We feel that these details, such as the initial held piano note and the EBow in the breakdown, are what sets this one apart.
What inspired you to share the song with the world?
Lyrically, this song is very personal to us as it deals with a part of the world that we grew up with. We think that lyrics such as ‘When we were young, Sat by the ocean, Your eyes drank in the sea’ combined with the indie folk instrumentation convey a particular sense of place, which we wanted to share with our listeners worldwide. We hope that the story the song tells resonates with people and lets them see into our world.
What does it mean?
This song is very personal to us and reflects on a deep family connection with the western coastline. It is the first song that we’ve recorded in our native Wales. We recorded the song in the same part of Wales that the lyrics are referencing, and this made the whole recording process particularly special for us.
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This coverage was created in collaboration with Musosoup as part of the #SustainableCurator movement.
