Pale Seas

In the summer of 2011, having dropped out of University, Jacob Scott was asking himself questions wondering where his life might be heading. Jaded by formal education, he did the only thing that had ever provided him real joy – writing music. With an old acoustic guitar and a 4-track cassette recorder, he holed himself up in his Leytonstone flat and began work on a set of songs that would change his world entirely. Reverb-drenched and otherworldly, the music from those first recordings was beautiful and bitter-sweet. Recalling deep, honest emotions of love and anguish, pain and joy. Tinged with a sadness that was also reticently uplifting (as heard on Something or Nothing“), Jacob captured a sprit that speaks to the heart. One filled with all the torment and illation of a young man coming to grips with himself and the world he inhabits. Realising his music had potential, Jacob moved back to his hometown of Southampton and put together a band of old school friends and band-mates from former musical projects. Graham Poole was recruited to play lead guitar, Matthew Bishop playing bass, and Jacob’s then girlfriend Zealah Isabella Anstey on backing vocals. Together they briefly named themselves Netherlands, before settling on Pale Seas and began to rehearse Jacob’s songs. Their first studio session with producers Jimmy Robertson & Demian Castellanos (Klaxons / Big Pink / Last Shadow Puppets) revealed the true promise of the fledgling band and Pale Seas’ first single “Something or Nothing“, with B-side “Amour“, was released in March 2012 on 7″ vinyl by Fear & Records (UK) and Fastcut Records (Japan). Gaining a huge amount of interest, the single sold out within days of release, was included on Radio 1′s Introducing playlist, and won them a host of shows and support slots with the likes of The War on Drugs, Beach Fossils, and Jacob’s childhood musical heros The Lemonheads. Follow up double A-side single “Bodies” / “My Own Mind” continued to build on their success. This time enlisting Mercury nominated Paul Butler (The Bee’s / Devendra Banhart / Michael Kiwanuka) on production duties at his studio on the Isle of Wight. Paul brought with him a sound which once again elevated the band beyond their humble beginnings, with thick, luscious soundscapes underpinning Jacob’s ever developing song writing. The band found in “Bodies” a single which propelled them further into their promising careers, easily surpassing 1,000,000 plays online, selling out their own headline shows, and being asked to support 4AD’s Stornoway on their UK tour. “Bodies” / “My Own Mind” was released in September 2012 with the help of Ben Lovett’s (Mumford & Sons) label Communion Records in September 2012. Heading back to Paul, the band decamped to the Isle of Wight for two solitary winter months creating their most accomplished work to date. With Paul at the helm and Graham and Matthew now taking a more active role in the song writing and direction of the music, the sound developed again. Now joined by drummer Will Hilliard, the band returns on 28th July to release their first EP entitled ‘Places to Haunt’ via Native Pop on 10″ vinyl, CD, and digital download. Pre-order your copy here. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.