Photography // Philip Brooks – press.
Peachy Magazine caught up with the exciting dream-pop artist Philip Brooks – listen to their new track “I’m So In Love With All Of My Friends” and get to know the rising London-based artist.
What message do you want to get across with your new track “I’m So In Love With All Of My Friends”?
That it’s okay to love your friends as much as you would love a romantic partner. In the end it’s a different kind of love anyways. For the longest time I didn’t really allow myself to be affectionate and truly loving towards my friends ’cause I was taught that’s reserved for a romantic partner. It probably also partially comes from being taught a very classic gendered male personality, meaning I can’t have those soft affectionate feelings for someone who’s just a friend, especially not my male friends. I’m very glad I left all of that behind and will now just give my friends all the love that I want to.
You’ve put in your Instagram bio that your work “…feel like soft clouds floating in evening light” – what/who has influenced you in shaping this sound and aesthetic?
I’m happy you caught that! I think my aesthetic and sound are just the natural outcome of all the things, places, people and art I’ve been around all my life. I grew up in the German countryside which was very dreamy, we had lots of nice sunsets and as kids we’d hang out in the fields every day. My dad played a lot of different music from jazz to emo to country so a lot of that also stuck with me. My parents would spend a lot of time in America before I was born so when I was little I was super fascinated with the great american road trip and their pictures of California. So when I write music I feel like I just naturally channel all those early life influences into the music and the things I write about, I never really intended or tried to make that my aesthetic or sound.
Where does your immediate inspiration for a new track usually come from?
There’s so many things that could do that. Heatwave I wrote after a road trip through France with my best friend, that song was the first song that I wrote the day after I was back home. Spend Some Time… I wrote after I discovered the world of russian dark-wave bands and was really into simple drums and guitar lines with a driving bassline. But it can be a passage in a book, a melody appearing in my head when I’m making a bagel, a funny story a friend told me on the phone, a plane flying by at sunset. It’s never been the same thing twice.
Has the covid-19 lockdown and isolation impacted your creative process? If yes, in what way?
Yes, a lot! At first super negatively, I’m a super extroverted person and I need friends around to stay sane. I fell into a bit of a hole and it took a while to get out of it. But I ended up having a lot of time to think and really evaluate every part of my life and personality. I realised I haven’t been true to myself in years and have been trying to hold on to an old personality just in fear of things changing and people not accepting the changed me. But change is so so crucial as a person but especially as an artist. I really worked through all of that with journaling and long walks with lots of thinking and crying. And now I feel so free in writing music and just doing things that feel true to myself for the first time in honestly probably my entire life. Also I really opened my project and myself up to collaborating with other people. It’s so much more fun doing stuff with friends than just trying to keep the Philip Brooks project a one-man-show.
What are your hopes for the remaining months in 2020?
I fled London to rural Germany in August, to hide away from COVID-19. I have a nice studio setup here so I’m gonna spend the next months writing music and trying to work more towards being a more true to myself version of me. I’m trying to write one song every day for the rest of the year. If I end up with a more happy and authentic me and maybe some nice songs that I feel proud of then that’s a good rest of the year for me.
Thank you for having me I hope everyone has a lovely day! <3
