By Kieran Webber
After the band Big Deal came to its conclusion Kacey Underwood formed Medium Love after meeting Heather through a friend. It wasn’t long before Sam Russel joined them on drums and vocals, a trio was formed.
Recently the band dropped their delightful ‘Overcoming Shyness’ EP, a dreamy collection of indie-pop. Shimmering guitars rain down whilst harmonious vocals breeze through, creating a soft, yet alluring soundscape.
We’ve been absolutely hooked on their debut ep and wanted to find out more. So we caught up with the Kacey for a quick chat.
Kieran: First of all, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! How are you and what have you been up to?
KC: Thank you asking! Trying to keeps sane with all the insanity. Yea I feel up and down with everything happening everywhere all the time , but I think being involved in making things gives us a positive way to deal with it. So I’ve just been trying to stay creative and productive between efforts to rid myself of quarantine pudge.
Kieran: How did you all meet and at what point did you know you wanted to make music? Where did the name Medium Love come from?
KC: I had been writing a lot for the few months in between my last band breaking up and then meeting Heather. I had to retrain myself in ways , find my voice again. It had been sat on for a long time. Heather had heard my demos from a mutual friend and connected with them, and so we met and started talking about music as you do, I joked about my last two bands starting as jokes about size, and that would be sooooo funny to do again. I told her I wanted the band to be like a conduit for people to feel connected and feel love. So we stumbled on to Medium Love that way, profound silliness.
Kieran: Your debut EP ‘Overcoming Shyness’ recently dropped, how has
the response been and how does it feel to have it out in the world?
KC: It feels good to have it out. It also feels sort of heartbreaking and too late at the same time. The response has been lovely so far…
Kieran: What was the process when recording ‘Overcoming Shyness’?
KC: Slow, then fast. We started two of the songs almost two years ago, which messes with your mind. The other two we recorded just this year, so it’s a strange mix. We are working on a full length record at a proper studio now, so we wanted to release the songs we had cobbled together in various barns and bedrooms first, as they would sound too different from the rest.
Kieran: Are there any particular artists or people that influence your sound?
KC: Yea all kinds. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Alex G, Carseat Headrest, guys that are largely one man operations with a rotating door for friends to come through, which seems to allow them to release music as they please. I try to listen to as much new music as possible, because i tend to rely on the classics.
Kieran: How does Medium Love differ from your previous band Big Deal?
KC: Mainly that I’m singing alone most of the time, which I hadn’t done much of in Big Deal, so that was tricky. We were quite restricted , some of that was self imposed some wasn’t .
Kieran: The pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives but what is one thing you cannot wait to see return?
KC: Oh god GIGS. Live music is what has sustained me through hard times and what drives me to keep making music, to have that feeling in a room where you lose your body and feel superconnected. We need that. We’re built for it. It creeps me out that that is slowly being stripped from us. We keep denying it gigging is gonna go mainstream. No one wants that. Bring back gigs.
Kieran: How do you feel about social distanced shows? Is it something you will do or will you wait till it’s safer?
KC: I saw a clip of a “socially distanced” Sam Fender show. I like his music, but it looked like an inner ring of Dante’s inferno, or an addendum to 1984. Again, I predict an underground DIY scene emerging from forest and derelict buildings coming soon if we don’t find a better way.
Kieran: Lastly, what can we expect from you guys post-pandemic?
KC: To be playing all the gigs.
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