‘IT WAS DAUNTING WITHOUT OUR SISTER BECAUSE WE’VE SUNG TOGETHER FOREVER’

Camilla and Jessica of the Staves on the difficult transition from trio to duo and the health issues that disrupted the making of their new album

Much water has flowed under the bridge since 2013 when the Staves’ Camilla and Jessica Staveley-Taylor played the atmospheric, intimate surrounds of the ‘Pepper Canister’ church in Dublin, but they remember the gig fondly. Not least for the promoter’s willingness to satisfy a specific whim.

Midway through their set, the duo — and elder sister Emily — announced that they had a thirst for Guinness. Towards the end, the promoter walked down the aisle balancing three pints on a tray. He’d had to order the round at the nearest pub, several hundred metres away.

There will be no such difficulty should they fancy a sup when they play Dublin next weekend. After all, the Button Factory gigs are slapbang in the middle of Temple Bar. The first show is sold out, as was the case with a number of their Europe and UK dates. The huge buzz that greeted the English siblings’ brand of folk more than a decade ago never quite faded.

But it has been far from plain sailing. Right now, Camilla and Jessica are keeping the Staves name going while Emily takes time out to raise her two young daughters. And while their latest album, All Now, has been well received critically, the pair were beset with writer’s block as well as debilitating health problems.

When Camilla and Jessica chat to the Irish Independent, they are backstage at Leeds’s venerable Brudenell Social Club a few hours before they play there. They have enjoyed being on the road even if it’s still something of a shock to be playing without Emily.

“When we were playing shows for the last album before this one [Good Woman], they were without Emily,” Camilla says, “so the process of playing live without her began then. At first, it was daunting because we’ve sung together forever and its been an essential part of the band dynamic — and the family dynamic. But [playing as a duo] feels very normal now. We made a decision that we didn’t want to wheel another girl out to sing Emily’s part, but to remit the songs somewhat rather than trying to emulate exactly how they were.”

“And when it came to making this album,” Jessica adds, “it was very much Camilla and I, although Emily did sing backing vocals on a few songs. There were three songs that we felt we really needed her presence on and it was really weird because she hadn’t heard any of them.”

“It was the weirdest thing,” Camilla adds, “to go to her and say, ‘Do you want to hear our songs?’” When the Staves began, Emily, as the eldest sister, tended to be the driving force.

One of the catchiest of the new songs, After School, is inspired by the girls’ childhood near Watford, where they would walk to school together.

“Emily, because she was older and bigger, would run ahead impatiently,” Jessica says. “It’s that thing of being a kid and looking up to your older sibling so much. She was the coolest then” — she breaks into a mischievous grin — “but isn’t now!”

That the Staves are a duo now is evident on the lack of three-part harmonies, but also by the fact that the All Now album cover features just Camilla and Jessica.

It is the second album in succession to be produced by the in-demand John Congleton. Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen are just two singer-songwriters to have benefitted from the American’s approach. The Staveley-Taylors travelled to Los Angeles to work with him. “He has a lot of energy but not in a kind of hyperactive, cheerleader way,” Camilla says. “He works very fast and that’s kind of scary in a way because we are sitters and thinkers…” Jessica jumps in: “And procrastinators too.”

“But working at that pace is actually fantastic,” Camilla says, “because you don’t give yourself time to tear yourself apart and you commit to things as you go.”

Mostly, though, Congelton creates a relaxed and happy studio environment. “Sometimes, to me as a woman, the studio is not a comfortable place,” Camilla says. “You can feel as though your voice doesn’t quite belong there but John just listens and always looks for what it is that you want from a song.”

The results retain the Staves’ distinct folk sound although, in truth, that tag is beginning to feel a little redundant.

The album’s gestation was difficult. Jessica was trying to get the ball rolling, but the songs just weren’t coming. “I know talking about lockdown is such a tired old story that everyone’s telling,” she says, “but when everything slowed down and stopped, it made you look under the microscope and see who you are and what it is you do, especially when you’re not able to do the thing that you normally do.”

The frustration of struggling to write finds its way on to the album, Camilla adds. “There are definitely elements on this record of us being harsh on ourselves and of being our own worst enemies.”

Another factor that made making the album more challenging is Camilla’s health problems. She has spoken openly about suffering from endometriosis — the debilitating condition caused by cells from the lining of the uterus appearing elsewhere in the body — and undergoing procedures to help ease the discomfort.

“It’s a constant pain that you have to ride,” she says, “and it’s been part of my life since my mid 20s [she is 34 now] but it’s become a lot more profound in the past five years. Endometriosis is very common, yet not much is known about it. There’s no cure and it’s something that isn’t spoken about much. Operations and hormone treatments help but, mostly, you have to be in tune with your body and listen to what it wants.”

It’s a condition that can play havoc with recording and touring. “I suffer a lot with guilt, feeling that you have to go and lie down or take a strong painkiller or not go to the studio that day — you feel like you’re skiving off school. It plays with your head.”

“It definitely disrupted the process of making the album,” Jessica says, talking directly to Camilla, “and there were lots of times where you were unable to show up.

“But, on tour, when we’re up on stage and singing songs from this album that are really honest and open, I feel so proud when I’m standing next to you and you’re being f***ing awesome and just belting out these songs. It’s cathartic to get them out over that hour and a half when you’re being, like, a heightened version of yourself.”

Camilla beams and hugs her sister.

⬤ The Staves tour Ireland from May 28 until June 2 and includes dates in Belfast, Limerick, Cork and a pair of shows at the Button Factory, Dublin on May 31 and June 1. See thestaves.com/tour for ticket information

‘I feel so proud when I’m standing next to you, Camilla, and you’re being f***ing awesome and just belting out these songs’