Cai Alty from The Guest List - “We're ambitious in how we write”
This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.
August is set to be a special, yet hectic, month for the fast-rising Manchester five-piece The Guest List. The five-piece will bring their blend of jangly indie and dream-pop to Japan for performances at the Summer Sonic, they’ll grace stages at major festivals such as Boardmasters this week and Reading & Leeds later this month and will also send their debut album ‘Something Real’ out into the world.
They’re a band riding a wave of momentum, and that momentum will undoubtedly continue to build as they prepare to release their latest single from the aforementioned album, 'Mundane', on Friday, August 7th. However, as the days count down for August 28th, and the release edges closer, are the band suffering from any nervousness?
“I think there's always going to be some nervousness, especially with us having no experience of putting out an album before,” Cai Alty , the band’s frontman, stated over Zoom this morning. “Obviously, we don't know quite what that will look like until it's happened. But, you know, I think we feel very proud of the songs. We feel very solid in knowing that we made an album which we really love. So how it's received and how it performs, I guess, on a commercial level, just is what happens, I guess.
“You can only do so much, and you can only shoot so many videos and things like that. So, yeah, I'm excited. I'm not expecting this to suddenly take on the world, but I do think the album deserves to be appreciated for what it is,” Alty finished.
The band’s 12-track debut album was recorded in Bergen, Norway, with producer and collaborator Matias Tellez. Tellez, who has also worked as a producer, mixer and arranger for the likes of Girl in Red, Sondre Lerche, Real Ones, Razika, Chain Wallet and Kakkmaddafakka, was a seamless match for the five-piece when it came to the direction of the album, according to Alty.
“He's very easygoing and kind of steers the ship but doesn't change its course, I guess,” Alty explained. “Whatever direction we wanted to take something in, he was normally of the same mind. And yeah, it's just a very relaxed environment working with him. Most of the songs, the core of them, the bass and drums especially, those takes would come out of just jamming the songs, playing them through a few times, and then picking the strongest one.
“And then on the other side, the vocal takes would take quite a while. And a lot of focus from me and from him in the studio, kind of like a back-and-forth discussing how we want a certain vocal to come across and things. So yeah, I think he's amazing and really brings out in us a real focus and direction,” Alty finished.
“I think we want to strive to write ambitiously, and that includes the lyrical element”
Prior to working with Tellez, the five-piece worked with The Coral’s James Skelly on ‘Loose Tongue’ and ‘London’, which served as some of the band’s earliest experiences working with a producer. But what is the biggest difference between the pair? “James has a keen focus on arrangements and the economy of songs, like how each part adds value, basically, and isn't unnecessary,” Alty said. “So that was something that, obviously, working with Matias after James, we still have that in mind. If we brought an arrangement to Matias, then we already would have been through that process that we kind of learned from James of stripping a song down to the bones of the song and making sure everything needs to be there.
“And then James, I think the biggest difference would be how they kind of hear music. I think James has a very strong focus on authenticity and is also like a northern guitar sound. And you can hear that in bands he's worked with and his own stuff with The Coral. Whereas Matias, obviously, he's from Bergen and hasn't grown up in that scene. So his background is much more dream pop, and he worked with Aurora and Girl in Red. So I think when we worked with him, we kind of got a mix of those sounds coming out of it, which I think is quite cool and makes it sound a bit different,” Alty closed.
Skelly’s focus on authenticity is something that The Guest List shares. Lyrically, their themes tackle domestic violence on ‘Mary’ and climate change on ‘Weatherman’. “I think there are obviously things that we care about. I think we want to strive to write ambitiously, and that includes the lyrical element and the meaning behind the songs,” Alty said when asked about tackling topical issues in their music.
“I think if a song takes a certain direction, like with Mary or Weatherman, where a really strong image develops about something like domestic abuse or climate change, I wouldn't want to shy away from it, basically. And sometimes it means that a song takes longer to write and to get from a point of that initial idea to being able to record it and release it. Because if you're going to write about something sensitive, then you need to make sure that you feel completely assured in what you did and what you wrote.
“So that when people ask you about it, you can talk about it confidently. So those songs, I would say, took longer because we wanted to do them justice. But yeah, we would never want to shy away from those things. It's important to us that one, for ourselves, we're ambitious in how we write, but also that people can really take a lot out of our music, more than just enjoying the tune,” Alty finished
“The best way is to have the lyrics and the music almost at odds with each other”
On the album there is 'Ruine' – a track that explores being obsessed with loving someone to the point of sacrificing a part of yourself. In the second verse, Alty takes a backseat as bassist Sid Wallace, who is a fluent French speaker, delivers a spoken-word verse in French. But how did they come to settle on the idea?
“It came out of a session we did. He had a few ideas, and he kind of brought them to me because I'm the primary writer. And also I write pretty much all the lyrics, even if they might start a song,” Alty explained.
“I'd usually do the lyrics. So he brought this idea to me, which was, I think, like an E major and C back and forth, which I thought sounded really cool. So we ran with that, and then it all happened really quickly, to be honest. So then I came up with the verse melody and the lyrics. And I thought as a nod to the fact that we'd written it together, it would be good to have him feature in some way vocally. And obviously he speaks fluent French, and the song is quite sleazy and tongue-in-cheek.
“So I thought him doing that would only add to it. So I suggested he did that. And to be honest, it was really quick on his end as well. He turned that around in maybe a day or something, his verse. And then we recorded the down for it, and it just stuck,” Alty concluded.
As for the album’s title track, it’s one that combats a world where trolls, comment bots, algorithms and whistleblowers are dictating the public's understanding. However, it’s arranged in such a way that the mood retains an air of optimism and hope for forward-thinking rather than a bleak, defeatist outlook, with a jangly guitar-driven sound on the song. “Sometimes you can write a really drab song and have it sound really depressing as well. But I think 90% of the time the best way is to have the lyrics and the music almost at odds with each other,” Alty stated.
“Something Real is probably the strongest example we have of that, where the song sounds like a really upbeat, Stone Roses-esque, jangly indie song. And then the lyrics are deeply political in a way that the rest of the lyrics on the album aren't. Obviously there might be deep themes in the other songs, but none of them are that openly political. So that was something that we did intentionally, to have those two things kind of battling each other,” Alty finished.
The Guest List’s album ‘Something Real’ is set for release on August 28th and they will be touring the United Kingdom later this year. Tickets are available here.