A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of reviewing Take A Deep Breath, the debut album from UK chillout project A Better Life. It's a wonderful album full of transformative soundscapes designed to evoke relaxation, but the thing that stood out most for me was the emotion and individual touch that seemed to emanate from these songs. It stands to reason then that A Better Life's founder Phil Daniels has a very personal reason for creating music with such blissful tones.
The collective is multi-faceted, involving a host of talented instrumentalists and two stunning vocalists that help bring the songs to life; but at its heart is Phil and his innately creative mind. In this interview I aimed to get a deeper understanding of his connection to the music, his influences and inspirations, and the process of putting together a collective that can still produce such beautiful and intimate music in the midst of a global pandemic
Tell us about your musical history before A Better Life, and what got you into making music?
I honestly couldn’t tell you what got me into making music in the first place! My first memory was hitting pots and pans in my parents kitchen...which I expect a lot of budding drummers did! Instrumentally and in a live set-up I’ve focused on drums and percussion for much of my creative working thus far, and aimed to get involved in lots of different styles - rock, pop, folk, jazz, orchestral. I think opening myself up like that has given me a well rounded view of what can be achieved, and what you can do when taking inspiration from multiple genres.
What inspired you to start A Better Life, and what was the intention for the project?
I’ve always loved ambient, downtempo and chilled electronica, so being involved in a project in that genre was going to happen at some point. I went through a tough period a couple of years back where I wasn’t fully in control of my head. It led to a full on breakdown and it took me the best part of a year to recover. It made me reassess everything in my life, figure out what is important to me, and from a music perspective, where exactly did I want to go next. Having been a part of live bands for years before, the idea of writing my own music and working with people as the ideas required with no stress or expectation was so cathartic - and I’m convinced this process has helped with the output we’re able to release now.
The intention for the project has always been to create music that you can relax to - wherever that may be. The slogan is ‘chill-out, relax and unwind’, and that’s exactly what I want the music to assist people with. After years of taking on too much and trying to keep so many different people happy - I discovered the hard way that taking time out, time for yourself, is an absolutely essential part of anyone's existence….so I want our music to help with that essential process.
Who are some of the artists that inspired the sound of A Better Life?
There are numerous, but my absolute favourite artists in the Downtempo genre are Zero 7, Air and a Danish band called Bliss. I think my style owes a lot to the influence from them. Add in artists like Enigma, who were probably the first act I heard in the chillout genre back in the early 90s - and Chicane’s slightly more chilled synth based material and you kinda get the sound I’m going for. It’s just what I enjoy writing.
The beauty in having a collective of musicians though, is that their styles come out in the parts they write - so naturally the sound evolves with multiple different genres coming in to play. It’s very exciting.
How did you begin putting the membership together? Was it all people you have worked with before?
Only Andrew Richardson (keys, strings) I’d worked with before. He is an old friend of mine and an excellent multi-instrumentalist musician so I always wanted him to be involved in the project. The other musicians have all come into the project in various different ways, come from many different musical backgrounds and are based all over the country - all working with me remotely over the last year or so. I’ve been so lucky to have these incredible musicians work on this album, to believe in the project and in me
How does the song-writing and creative process work?
I don’t have any set formula to song-writing. I think you need to be open and adaptive as a producer.
For most of this album I had a working idea, in various stages of completion, and when I thought a track needed some input from a collaborator, I put it out to them to see what would happen! Mostly I’d try to be very minimal with my artistic direction as I never want to stifle a musician's creativity. They may hear something I don’t which could be the making of the track - and so that’s proved on a number of them.
The only difference to this format is when I’m working with Andrew as we are local to each other and can jam together in the same room. As was the case on ‘A Moment of Nothing’, that whole synth part was written while we were jamming ideas, and very quickly we agreed that Pete’s voice would work a treat on it, which it does. Takes the piece to a whole other level.
Do you write lyrics for the songs or is this down to the vocalists?
Very much the vocalists! I wouldn’t even know where to start, so I’m very lucky to have not only two outstanding singers on this album, but singers who are excellent lyricists as well. It’s such a hard skill, and one I really admire.
Has the pandemic and lockdown had much effect on the project and the album's creation? Logistically or creatively?
Bizarrely the pandemic has been nothing but positive for the project. I don’t think we’d be even close to where we are now if it wasn’t for people being stuck indoors. It certainly focused me, and I know some of the others had time to devote to the project that they wouldn’t necessarily have had if we’d all been operating ‘normally’. It’s allowed us to fully embrace the idea of remote working - in our own time, recording on our own gear and then bringing all the ideas together.
It’ll be interesting to see how long it’ll take to do album two - the non lockdown album!
Having released Take A Deep Breath earlier this month, what are your plans beyond the release?
Building an audience is the main goal. I’ve been in this game long enough to know you cannot expect people to listen to your music just because you’ve released it on various platforms - they need to know it's there and worth their while. The hard work is in the plugging, so that is very much the plan for the rest of this year.
That said - there are already a few ideas drifting around for some new material, and I think it’s important to continue writing. Gone are the days where you release an album, gig it and then write and release a second. With so much music out there you can be forgotten easily - so a consistent stream of material I think is vital when cementing your name in the genre.
I do intend to release a new long form relaxation/meditation piece later this year. It's half written and we’ll do a YouTube release for that. That is kind of an additional string to the A Better Life bow, and I enjoy the cathartic nature of writing that sort of material.
Do you intend to take A Better Life to the live stage in the future?
It would be cool - but I think we’re a long way off of that yet. I’d be lying if I haven’t thought about what sort of show we would put on, and I think it would be cool. However the logistics of it would be quite an undertaking - getting all the collective together would be hard enough as we’re all over the country. Factor in also the instrumental set-up required to do the music justice - plus the visual effects I would want, and it starts to become a pretty costly operation.
If at any point there is an audience there who want some live shows, and it works logistically and financially - then yeah - absolutely - but not in the near future.
The idea to maybe do some chilled DJ sets that could involve some live elements is an option if the right nights or venues are about…...we’ll see!
Any final words from yourself?
I want to thank each and every person who has had a listen to our music so far, and to those who do in the future, maybe off the back of this interview - thank you to you too. It’s a privilege to have your creative output given time by people, and not something I take for granted. If you are liking what you hear - please do follow us on our social media pages, or even better - sign up to our mailing list on our website. As I said - building an audience is so, so hard, and we’re grateful to everyone who has invested in us so far.
A Better Life's debut album Take A Deep Breath is out now on various platforms. You can find out more about A Better Life, including music and social media links, on their official website.
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