SONGS FOR WALTER

Laurie Hulme – these are not love songs, he insists

aS a songwriter I move at a snail’s pace,” says Manchester-based Laurie Hulme. “The whole process feels like doing a jigsaw… I don’t feel comfortable filling in too many pieces at once.”

While Hulme’s debut as Songs For Walter was something of a concept album paying tribute to his grandfather, his more acoustic second album, the very fine An Endless Summer Daze, consists of unrelated songs inspired by local characters and his musical heroes. “I don’t ever want to write songs about love,” he explains. “It just feels a bit unimaginative. I like writing about peculiar characters I meet, personal stories, the bizarre world we are born into and the strange things we all do. This one ended up having a slightly political undercurrent, which wasn’t my intention, it just happened that way!”

On his studio wall, Hulme drew a chart of his favourite artists to aid with inspiration: “I’m always listening to Smog – I think Bill Callahan pre-name change is probably the best artist ever – but the plan also included The Microphones, David Pajo, Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens, Sibylle Baier, Palace Music, Simon Joyner, Karl Blau, Jessica Pratt and Nick Drake. [But] many of my favourite records are actually quite noisy, like the Minutemen’s Double Nickels On The Dime and Sonic Youth’s EVOL.”