It’s been three years since Carla J Easton released her last album under her own name, the critically-acclaimed, Pitchfork-approved and SAY Award-longlisted ‘Weirdo’.
Despite being her fourth solo long-player, the Lanarkshire musician has plenty more back catalogue for new fans to investigate. Having began her career fronting Futuristic Retro Champions, she went on to form TeenCanteen before pursuing a solo career – first with Ette (itself a collaboration with Joe Kane from Dr Cosmo’s Tape Lab) before making her debut album, ‘Impossible Stuff’, which was shortlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year Award.
Between solo records, she also started Poster Paints, a garage rock duo with Simon Liddell of Frightened Rabbit who released their debut album in 2022, while also being a part of the Hen Hoose collective which includes in its number The Delgados’ Emma Pollock, Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell. and folk icon Kathryn Williams. She even finds time to play keyboards for indie legends The Vaselines, supporting a reformed Soup Dragons in November 2023.
However, it was home alone for the creation of ‘Sugar Honey’, in her own, self-built studio. “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 and taking part in ‘digital’ songwriting residencies. All from my bedroom!”
These included “having Mary Margaret O’Hara, Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Sharon Van Etten beamed into my bedroom!” she enthuses.
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 Easton the confidence to be able to step up and produce her own music for the first time.
She describes the fruits of her labour as “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.”
And her new-found production skills have allowed her to expand her musical palette far beyond its previous limits. “Big cheesy sax solo? YES. Children’s choir? YES. Big weird unexpected Brian Eno section mid song? YES. Brass? YES. Strings? Yes. Synth flute arp spacejam cowboy guitar riff? Why not?”
This article originally appeared in the Edinburgh News.