Track by Track – Poster Paints talk about their debut album

The duo, made up of Carla J Easton and Simon (Si) Liddell, deliver a powerful combination of pensive honesty and expressive, floaty soundscapes.

The band’s roots stretch back to before the pandemic, but the project truly bloomed during those days of isolation and reflection.

They release their debut single in the form of Number 1, before following up with Falling Hard, Circus Moving On and others. The next step was that debut album and the ten-track, self-titled effort is due out later this month.

Here, singer Easton gives The Weekender an insight into each song; where they came from and what they mean to the pair.
 

Track 1 – STILL GOT YOU

Our weird lullaby with a big hazy lush ending. One of the things I enjoyed most about co-writing this album was having the freedom to write lyrics about whatever I wanted to. It was interesting, as a songwriter, to respond to the “feel” of the tracks that Si would send me. I guess – thematically for the whole album – there is a strong concept of reflection across all the tracks; a juxtaposition of happy with sad memories about people who have been in your life. Still Got You is the perfect opener to begin the story of all these memories. Most of the songs are about one particular person. Sometimes people just arrive in our lives and, try as we might, never leave.
 

Track 2 – NUMBER 1

This almost wrote itself (apart from the middle eight). We ended up asking Eugene Kelly from The Vaselines to come up with that. We met each other through both working with The Vaselines during some shows in 2019 so it seemed fitting. I think we immediately knew this would be the first song that would be released when the time was right. It just felt instant – teenage Summer Romances, kicking about waiting for things to happen. Of course, then you have to come up with a band name and we really struggled with that. One night I texted my elder brother asking for band names and he just started reeling off a list of things which immediately revealed he was sitting in his kids playroom one night during a Tim’s Listening Party. That’s how we came to be Poster Paints.

Track 3 – NOT SORRY

This has quickly become a favourite to perform live. A sort of sleepy Mazzy Star sound to it. Driving big chorus with blistering guitar amidst whispered laments. AMA JANE provided backing vocals for this who was in TeenCanteen with me.

CLASS ACT: Poster Paints on stage at Doune the Rabbit Hole last summer. Picture by Iain Smith/The Weekender

Track 4 – NEVER SAW IT COMING

This was the second song we wrote together. We were really all starting to realise the severity of the pandemic and the harsh lockdowns. I went for a lot of walks around Queens Park in the Southside of Glasgow and couldn’t stop listening to this track. I think everyone was pretty reflective in their isolation from loved ones and families. I couldn’t help but be reflective! I don’t believe in hindsight because you can’t change the past but sometimes you do look back and realise you missed signs of what was to come/be the eventual outcome of a situation. Forgetting to say sorry. Remembering someone you love singing along to the radio. Wishing you told them to try a bit harder. Blowing the dust off memories. This is that song.

Track 5 – CIRCUS MOVING ON

Structurally weird! Lyrically walking the fine line between regret and not caring about choices made. Strings from Andrew Chung. An orchestral-infused explosion. Probably my favourite on the album.
 

Track 6 – FALLING HARD

This song was a bit of a writing experiment. Si sent me the track which is three minutes of summer guitar pop. I had recently been doing a lot of free writing in the morning (where you write non-stop without thinking and the only rule is to fill three pages of your notebook – also called ‘Morning Pages’) and had ended up down a route recalling an ill-fated attempt to get what I want one hot summer and subsequently falling from grace, splitting my shin open in the process. But I never gave up. It’s a relentless three minutes of chasing dreams born from the uncensored pages of my notebook.

Track 7 – RIBBONS (feat. Lomond Campbell)

I think we sat on this song for a while. We had the structure and the chorus then got Ziggy (Lomond Campbell) involved to complete it. Me and Ziggy had always spoken about writing together and got talking on Instagram one night (as I'm sure lots of people did during hard lockdowns!) and I told him about the project and sent him the song. Gorgeous swooping love song.

CLASS ACT: Poster Paints on stage at Doune the Rabbit Hole last summer. Picture by Iain Smith/The Weekender

Track 8 – RUPTURE

This was the first song we wrote together in February 2020. It was a really harsh and bitter Scottish winter. My home studio set up was pretty non-existent at the time. I remember sitting on the floor at the end of my bed with a blanket over my head next to a four-bar electric heater, wearing four jumpers and a hat trying to keep warm whilst I recorded some vocals into my iPad. Si was on tour when I sent him the track and I was so nervous about what he would think! It’s a dark song about going home to empty and cold flats, turning the key in the door to find nothing waiting for you and being haunted by the ghost of someone you used to love, but now hate, but can’t get away from.

Track 9 – HARD TO SWEETEN

Our quiet moment on the album. Lyrically, perhaps always choosing the wrong path, being drawn to the people who are bad for you.

Track 10 – MY SONG

This was really easy to write. The lyrics and melodies just poured out one day when I was walking, so I quickly got home and demoed it on the track. Huge reverb guitars and icy synth ending. Backing vocals from Laura Hickli and Gabbi Coenan (RVBY MY DEAR) who are two great songwriters and artists that I met during some time in Canada, at the Banff Arts Centre in Calgary, and recording my solo album Impossible Stuff in Montreal with Howard Bilerman. We always knew this would be the perfect album closer. I spoke about Still Got You being the perfect opener for setting the scene of what’s to come. My Song perfectly bookends the memories. Sadly defiant.

Poster Paints release their self-titled debut album on Friday, October 14, with a launch party at The Glad Café, in Glasgow, set for Saturday, October 22.