Carla J. Easton - Sugar Honey

Release Date	20/10/2023
Format	LP Red
Label	Olive Grove
Catalogue Number	OGR00051

It’s been three years since Carla J Easton released her last solo record, the critically-acclaimed and SAY Award longlisted WEIRDO. Released in August 2020, Carla was unable to tour the album properly and with the outside world closing down on her, she did the thing she knows best – create, write and make music. She’s making a return with her upcoming fourth studio album SUGAR HONEY, due for release on 20 October 2023 via Olive Grove Records.

In the period between solo records, Carla started Poster Paints, a garage rock duo with Simon Liddell of Frightened Rabbit who released their debut album in 2022, continued work on Since Yesterday, her documentary charting the history of women in Scottish music, while also being a part of the Hen Hoose collective of female/non-binary writers and producers.

Carla also began the process of creating SUGAR HONEY at her home studio setup: “The first two years of the pandemic forced me to up my game in terms of being able to home record to a releasable standard,” explains Carla. “Prior to that I’d always used voice notes on my phone or made very sketchy demos on my iPad as a means to capture ideas to share with bandmates. All of a sudden I was in a new band, taking part in Hen Hoose and taking part in ‘digital’ song writing residencies. All from my bedroom!” The experiences of working with Hen Hoose and the DIY element of Carla’s Adventures In Pop fanclub (which helped fund the making of the album) gave her the confidence to be able to step up and produce her own music for the first time.

Carla began to source equipment and started to build a proper home studio, all the while taking part in digital writing residencies organised by Howard Bilerman (owner of the legendary hotel2tango studio, worked on records by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, US Girls, The Weather Station). “So I was in my bedroom having one to one sessions with The Weather Station and Kim Richey and Don Henry, playing them new material, taking part in ‘virtual’ song writing share circles with other residents, and then having Mary Margaret O’Hara, Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Sharon Van Etten beamed into my bedroom for talks where we could ask questions. Mary was so inspiring! She is absolutely one of life’s greatest weirdos and dances to the beat of her own drum! I fell in love with Beverly’s album Keyboard Fantasies. His album really made me fall back in love with keyboards and synths again after working on the Poster Paints album which is more guitar-led.”

Alongside this, Carla found herself listening to Kylie’s Impossible Princess album, plus records by Aimee Mann, Taylor Swift and WET. “It’s the sound of Kylie making weird alt pop that is still so undeniably Kylie,” she says. “To me it’s incredibly inspiring – the pure guitar pop of ‘Some Kind Of Bliss’ juxtaposed with the synth bliss of ‘Breathe’. All these albums probably fed into my writing subconsciously. Lyrically I wanted to balance out finer details with utter nonsense. Sparkling light with dark emotions. I’m really interested in how we recall memories and relay them back to ourselves, reflect on the past to push forward, and I wanted to explore improvisation as a means of song writing – shaking off everything you know and all the rules and going with what ‘feels’ right…

SUGAR HONEY is my celebration of pop in all its many forms and sub genres. A love of my record collection shining through in new writing. I’m not reinventing the wheel, I’m just giving it a good, hard spin. These songs are me being me – exploring my obsession with all things pop.”

Tracklist

1. Never Belong 
2. Sugar Honey 
3. Tempt Me 
4. One Week 
5. Cherry Tree Out Front 
6. Blooming 4U 
7. Be OK 
8. Every Little Bit of My Heart 
9. You Made Us 
10. Weekend Lover 
11. Sleepyhead