Chloe Rodgers deals in a strain of alt-pop so immediate that it can often feel she’s playing in the room with you. Jazzy and laid back one moment, bracing and acoustic the next, it’s full of organic moments of human connection, or, at the least, the desire for such. Her brand new EP, Back to the Quay, perfects her sound into an emotive synthesis that’s about as easy to connect with as music can be.
Rodgers recently chopped it up with us and went through both what the EP means to her overall, as well as breaking it down, blow by blow, track by track.
This EP means a lot to me! It’s got three original songs on it and one Twenty Committee revamp. It’s been particularly difficult to create because me and my producer Anders haven’t been in the same room at any point so the communication has been a struggle but we got there in the end.
I’m really happy to be putting out a couple of tunes that are more upbeat as well as the slower title track, “Back To The Quay”, which is about my papa. “Free Your Mind” is about how situations and relationships change and fade away over time but we can still hold those we’ve lost or grew apart from in our hearts. “Better View” is about how I hope it may be to grow old with somebody. Although I didn’t write “Bones”, to me the song symbolizes a political stance about the lockdown and how terribly a lot of the world’s leaders dealt with it!
01. “Better View”
“Better View” is a tune I wrote a while back about how I imagine growing old with somebody to be. It really reminds me of this wonderful couple I know, Paul & Caz, who are just perfect for each other. I love the instrumentation in the song and am proud of everyone who played on it. It’s exciting to finally be releasing a song with happier, more upbeat vibes.
02. “Back To The Quay”
I wrote “Back To The Quay”; about my papa (grandad) after I lost him. He was starting to get dementia, and then had a brain tumor removed and the op went wrong, and it was all downhill from there until he eventually passed away late 2018. He watched his own mum deteriorate in a similar way and always told us he didn’t want to make it that far, which is what the first few lines are about. He was an amazing, witty, funny and musical grandad who inspired me to make up stories, to sing and to be myself. I miss him so much. I’m happy with how the song turned out and I think he would have liked it too.I think he’d have loved it actually. His usual word was ‘tremendous’!!!
03. “Bones”
I love this song, I can’t wait to perform it. The lyrics are quite political in a sort of abstract way. The darkness of it makes it so fun. It was a great day when we finished it. Adding the harmonies was my favourite part of the production. While the song’s co-writer Alex Starling added, “Bones” is largely about losing someone who should have been close and being excluded from not only their life but also their death.
04. “Free Your Mind”
“Free Your Mind” is a happy song. It’s about staying positive and embracing change, how things evolve over time and we lose people in different ways but hold a piece of everyone we’ve ever loved with us. I wanted to dedicate it to my dad because of something difficult he’s had to go through recently. I couldn’t be happier with the way the track has turned out. Love the percussion in the chorus. I also love playing this track live as we change part of the song slightly to give it a different feel.
