Q+A with Etienne Quartey-Papafio of Whitelands

What's your favourite track from Whitelands' album Night-bound Eyes Are Blind to the Day? 

I was intrigued by the AR Kane Initiation Dub remix of "Setting Sun," released on 10-inch orange vinyl by Sonic Cathedral last year. Etienne describes the song as having a "bouncier twinkly-emo math-rock feel to it".

This song lightened some of dark days for me back in December and January. Twinkle? Yes, please. Bounce? Bring it. However, discovering what inspired this tune surprised me and then I felt guilty for deriving relief from this song. 

"I really wanted to convey this sense of frustration and repetition," said Etienne.

As if Etienne needed more stress in his life, I asked him if he'd be willing to answer a few questions about the songs of Night-bound Eyes Are Blind to the Day for blank mood. Fresh off their UK tour with Slowdive, I also asked what the most surprising thing was while on tour, how he'd describe Whitelands to a friend's grandma and if he could change one thing about society right now, what it would be. 

Thanks Etienne... looking forward to more formulations of your twinkle-emo-gaze.

You've said in other interviews that "Setting Sun" is a song about sundown towns of the US and the racial segregation instituted by such towns and their inhabitants. It's a beautiful feeling song - yet it feels weird to say that given the subject matter. How did the music and lyrics come together? What is the main sentiment you hoped to convey?

The lyrics and music kind of came together at the same time as with a lot of the songs we make, it was just me and Jagun at that point for the writing of this one. I remember I was recording a different song in a weird tuning, where most of our stuff is standard or in EADGAD, this one is in EADGCD#. It has a much bouncier twinkly-emo math-rock feel to it like a lot of the bands I listened to when I was younger. 

Regarding lyrics I really wanted to convey this sense of frustration and repetition, and it seemed to match the melodies really well. A lot of people you meet or hang out with you don't really find out about their politics or thoughts till an event appears and the George Floyd protests were the catalyst for that. People I thought were leftists had a lot of very troubling opinions about this, most of them celebrated Black culture, enjoyed the music and dated Black people but couldn't understand the nuances of White supremacy and police brutality.

"Now Here's The Weather" is also a beautiful song - is there a story behind the lyrics or sound of it? 

Now Here's The Weather is about colonialism, Islamophobia and British imperialism, it's about how supposedly religious god fearing politicians are very quick to genocide, destroy and kill people in the name of religion. It was very directly about the genocide happening in Gaza, but also about Brexit and the racism that allowed it to happen.

What have you learned from the process of making this album that you would do differently next time?

I learnt ways in trying to streamline the creative process and recording, most the album was recorded in my living room, it made things easier but the quality could definitely be higher, next time we are going to live at the studio!

You worked with Deary on a track not so long ago - do you have a dream collaboration, tour or project in mind for the future? 

That collaboration was really fun, genuinely was amazing working with Dottie, she had the vocals down immediately, it was originally meant to be Rachel Goswell, but she wasn't available at the time, but Dottie really came through for us. I know Vanessa would love to work with Brian Eno for sure!

What surprised you most while on tour with Slowdive? 

What really surprised me is how quickly everything goes by, it literally went in the blink of an eye, but not surprisingly Slowdive are the sweetest group of humans known to man!

Last year I asked Stuart Jones some Qs about album art for the blank mood blog and he mentioned that the art for some of your single sleeves is computer generated. Can you tell anything about how you've approached the look and feel of the album?

Of course! I was using a software called Mandelbulb 3D, it's a super cool fractal image rendering thingy, a lot of it is super blocky and 3D looking but I thought it'd be fun to try and make them look like flow paintings and that's how a lot of the artwork came about, now that era is done we are going to see what motif we can use next.

You are quoted by Clash magazine (Sept 2023) about balancing music and songwriting with life experiences (work, school, friends etc) "you need some life experiences to write from". You've also talked to Giles Bidder about stress on the 101 Part-Time Jobs podcast recently. What are the life experiences you draw from in your songwriting? Have you experimented with ways of dealing with stress?

Definitely news, books, movies, Evangelion, the ADHD shortage, just life in general. I have not experimented, I really should try, but I think as someone with ADHD I don't allow myself to relax too much because I won't get anything done, I need a little bit of stress to get the ball rolling, NOT HEALTHY.

How would you describe your music to a friend’s grandma?

Poppy-ethereal, and like Tears for Fears but sadder!

Weirdest comment from someone who heard your music?

That we sounded like Bad Brains!

An artist that currently has an influence on your creative thinking?

Slowdive and Wild Nothing, Jack Tatum you are a genius!

If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be? Who could do it?

You should keep an eye on the news, they might be in big trouble soon, money and power can influence a lot but artists have more power united!

More generally, if you could change one thing in society currently what would it be?

Free healthcare for all!

Follow Whitelands on Instagram for upcoming live dates and get one of their cool t-shirts via Bandcamp.