• Interviews

• All
• Music
• Cinema
• TV
• Comic Books

Feb 27, 2020 Self-Portrait By Hazel Wilde Photography by Hazel Wilde

For our recurring Self-Portrait feature we ask a musician to take a self-portrait photo (or paint/draw a self-portrait) and write a list of personal things about themselves, things that their fans might not already know about them. This Self-Portrait is by Hazel Wilde of Lanterns on the Lake.

The British dream-pop five-piece released a new album, Spook the Herd, last week via Bella Union. It’s the band’s fourth album and was released around four and half years after their last album, 2015’s Beings. The nine songs on Spook the Herd find Wilde putting a personal spin on such contemporary issues as climate change, social media, addiction, and this fractured political scene we are enduring on both sides of the Atlantic. Musically, the album found the band recording outside of their native Newcastle for the first time, recording at Distant City studios in Yorkshire, where Joss Worthington engineered the album and the band recorded live as much as possible, with the band’s guitarist Paul Gregory producing. “There was a sense of release in terms of what kind of music we felt we could make,” said Gregory in a press release announcing the album. “The idea of what kind of band you’re supposed to be really disappeared. It was great; you felt you could do whatever you like.”

Read on as Wilde spills the beans on her failed world record attempt, driving friends and family members crazy, and that time she almost died.

1. When I was a little kid I wanted to be in the Guinness Book of Records. I decided that I would do this by getting the world record for spinning a ball on my finger. I figured this would be my easiest route in—it was inexpensive, didn’t involve any special equipment, I could practice in my backyard, and most importantly there wasn’t already a world record for a child doing this. I was rubbish at it when I started but day-by-day I’d get a little bit better. Years past and by the time I was about 14 I could spin the ball for as long as I wanted, or at least until I got bored. But by this age it no longer seemed cool to apply to be in the Guinness Book of Records. It’s been so long since I did it I’m not even sure if I could spin a ball these days.

2. If I’m into a song I will play it to death on repeat. I think I’m trying to recreate the feeling of when I first heard it or something. I don’t know. I can just become obsessed with it. I want to know the song inside out, feel all there is to feel from it, and know it in intimate detail. Family and friends have told me that I’ve ruined some songs for them because I’ve played them on repeat when they’ve been around. I’ve just been trying to get them to appreciate the song properly damn it!

3. Magic tricks make me cry. I don’t know if this phenomenon has a name or if it’s unique to me but for some reason when I see a really great magic trick I have an emotional response to it. I’d love to know why.

4. I’m a huge fan of sleep. People go on about the benefits of mediation but to me sleep is quite literally the most relaxing thing you can do. It clears your head, helps your immune system, repairs damaged cells, restores energy. There are few challenges in life that aren’t easier to face once you’ve had a good night’s sleep.

5. I have a daughter called Alice. We both almost died from an abrupted placenta during labor. I had to have an emergency section under general anesthetic so I wasn’t conscious for Alice’s arrival into the world. The NHS here in the UK is a wonderful thing and the whole experience made me appreciate it even more.

www.lanternsonthelake.com

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.