We talk Bebo, fiancés and first albums with boy wonder, Ed Tullett.
If unlike us, you don’t binge watch Pretty Little Liars and Catfish, you might not have heard Ed Tullett’s music on TV. On a slightly less trashy note (the good kinda trash though) you might have heard his remix work for the likes of everyone’s favourite sad-day-soundtracker, Bon Iver or Local Natives. Now, the 21-year-old is set to forge his own path with his debut album, Fiancé.
Dramatic and captivating, the three songs released from the album thus far demonstrate Tullett’s signature falsettos and penchant for a the-heavier-the-better synth. It’s not all drum machines and glitches though, as electronic music is often reduced to. Tullett’s tracks are cinematic, with his distinctive voice and full frontal accompaniment both battling for the limelight they each deserve. The result is energising rather than detrimental, holy and hellish all at once. We caught up with the boy wonder ourselves to talk dream fiancés and bemoan about Bebo.
You’re so young! How long has this album been in the making?
It’s actually been completely done for over a year and a half. It took a while to find a label to release it. Once I wrote “Malignant”, everything seemed to fall into place and I wrote the rest of the record fairly quickly. It’s very exciting to finally have it coming out.
What’s the name Fiancé all about? Who’s your dream fiancé while we’re on the topic?
It seemed to fit as there was this completely new sound that I was committing to. It’s been weird as since the release schedule started I’ve seen a load of people I know getting engaged! Like with my lyrics, meanings often present themselves after I’ve written them. As for my dream fiancé – my girlfriend of course!
You’ve said you’re “way past” the sound you started with, how do you think you’ve changed?
It’s been frustrating as my previous releases are all stuff I wrote/released when I was 17-19. I’ve matured, both lyrically and sonically, found my feet production-wise, and really nailed down my own sound. That’s such a cliche, but if you listen to the record I think it’s hard to compare it exactly to other specific artists. There are elements of influences there of course, but I feel like it stands on it own and that’s something I’m very proud of and glad to have finally accomplished.
Did you surprise yourself with anything when you were making the album?
Perhaps with how quickly it came together. I do a lot of co-writing, and that feels slightly more like work than writing for artist projects – for artist projects the inspiration is so important. If you’re writing alone you need the motivation that inspiration brings. I just had this wave over a month or so that everything I wrote seemed to fit this overarching aesthetic, and that became Fiancé. I think it suprised me that I finally found a sound I’d be wanting to achieve for a while, and the ease with which that came.
Who was the first person to tell you that you were talented?
I’m not sure actually. Perhaps when I started releasing terrible acoustic songs on fucking Bebo when I was like 14. At least I could put words and music together at that stage – though without any sort of sophistication at all!
Do you have a first memory of music?
It’s hard to pin-down – whenever I try to think of childhood memories I always question whether they really happened or they were a dream. Maybe playing in a covers band in year 7 at school. It felt weird that I could actually really do what I’d dreamed about as a 13 year-old after watching School of Rock and spending months getting incredibly frustrated with trying to play guitar.
Who else were you listening to while you were making the album?
A ton of different stuff. I can’t really remember as it’s been so long since I actually made it! This is where Last.fm finally comes in handy right? *checks Last.fm* – It looks like Glasser, S. Carey, St Vincent, Menomena, and Holy Other are some of my top artists around the time.
The tracks you’ve already put out are amazing – all moody and dramatic, where do you think is the best place and time to listen?
Thank you! Probably when it’s quiet with headphones. I think almost every more alternative-leaning artist would say that though. I used to listen to music in bed with headphones on a lot and just started doing it again – because your ears adjust to the silence you notice so many things you never normally would.
You’ve already reached a lot of pretty big milestones in terms of collabs and your tonnes of spotify plays, what’s next on the agenda, have you got any personal goals?
I want to keep collaborating with different artists and make as much (ideally good) music in as many different genres that I love as I can. Ali (Novo Amor) and I have a full collaborative record almost finished, and I’m working on various other collaboration projects, as well as demoing new ‘me’ stuff. To be able to write and make music for a living is always the main goal.