"Hello, Psychologist!"

My initial introduction to Psychologist was through him stumbling into our Hackney office one afternoon, and hand-delivering his ‘Waves Of OK’ EP.

Luckily, it’s an amazing record of rare charisma. From the waves and crackling phonecall samples on opening track Together Clinging, through to the stark, confessional quality of Comes In Waves, ending in Song To The Siren, where that clear-cut, fragile voice mingles, rises and falls alongside a choir, eventually washing back into those wave samples that the whole thing rose up from in the first place. It’s an EP swelling with soul. The scale of it grand, the atmosphere of it completely electric. ‘Comes In Waves’, the first of a two-EP series, will be out on the 28th March through Not Even. Dive in.

Waves of OK EP by psychologistmusic

What’s your name?

Woodsy.

How old are you?

Twelvety.

How would you describe your sound?

I wouldn’t.

What’s your previous experience?

I have 9 GCSEs, an As Level, 3 A-Levels, a fine-art foundation, a degree in sculpture. I worked as a dish-pig when I was 14, and then a market researcher when I was 17 and then an accounts clerk when I was 18 and then a mortgage-advisor for Cheltenham & Gloucester when I was 19, which I’m pretty sure is why they went bust, and then a smoothie maker when I was 20 and then a receptionist when I was 22 and then a gogo dancer when I was 23 and now I’m a singer.

Who are your heroes?

Julian Assange (minus the rape) but mainly just Sue Sylvester.

What’s your next release?

‘Waves of OK EP’ on Moshi Moshi’s baby brother Not Even. I’m really proud to be the third release after Becoming Real and then Eagulls, that’s proper eclecticism on Not Even’s behalf.

When are you next playing live?

Wednesday 16th March at the Church where the EP was recorded.

You play organ and record in a church. What role does religion play in your music, and your life?

It doesn’t, I’m a humanist. But if I had to pick my fave I’d probably go Plymouth Brethren crossed with Buddhism.

How has your visual art education informed your music?

Well I studied sculpture and sculpture is about the manipulation of space. I became really interested in the idea of making pop music as sculpture. Sound is such an incredible presence: it completely fills a room and yet is totally invisible, it’s kind of clutter-free sculpture. I’m also a sucker for romance and conceptualism and minimalism, so it just seemed like such a neat little package to be able to have the instantaneous emotion of pop music, the sculptural quality of production techniques and the minimalism of not actually having any objects in the gallery. For my degree show I presented a pair of speakers that periodically blared out my first EP. In sculpture departments there is always a massive battle for space, and I didn’t need to fight that battle because I just permeated all of it.

Who’s your favourite visual artist?

Anybody who uses their own body in their work but doesn’t speak about themselves, it’s such a clever trick: Gilbert & George, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Bruce Nauman, Cindy Sherman. You see their face and their image in their work, but they are speaking about philosophy and spirituality, much bigger things than just their own individual biographies.

What’s your favourite piece of art by you?

Psychologist.