British singer-songwriter Luke Sital-Singh moved to Los Angeles following the release of his third album, 2019’s A Golden State. The move had a significant influence on Sital-Singh’s new album, Dressing Like a Stranger. Though to what extent the city has influenced his perspective is unclear to even Sital-Singh himself, and he navigates this ambiguity via the songs on Dressing Like a Stranger.
The record features contributions from fellow British ex-pat Dan Croll, Texan producer and mix engineer Tchad Blake and guest vocals from Christina Perri. Despite much of the album coming together during Covid, Sital-Singh has come out the other side feeling confident in his craft and more technically advanced than when he began.
Luke Sital-Singh – ‘Can’t Get High’
Music Feeds: Dressing Like A Stranger often sounds like a very inward-looking album. Is that a purposeful thing? Do you see your songs as confessional or introspective?
Luke Sital-Singh: Yeah, I think all my songs start from a very personal place, but not always confessional. I feel like the songs tend to be a blur between something I’m feeling and then observations on how maybe everyone feels. Always trying to find the universal in my particular stories.
MF: You moved to Los Angeles just before Covid hit. Did the change in environment and change in day-to-day life have an impact on Dressing Like A Stranger?
LSS: It definitely did although I’m just not sure how and I think that’s the theme of the record really. How would I change, how have I changed, how am I still changing since living in LA?
It’s not something I’ve got to the bottom of and perhaps will only be obvious a few years down the line. But one thing I do know is that the change has been subtle and not as drastic as I had thought. I think I was expecting to be a different person or something. But I’m just me and I wear shorts now. Hence the album title.
MF: What specific production circumstances and things like new gear, and new toys to play with, made their way onto this record?
LSS: I had to make this one in a very low-key DIY way because of the pandemic and resource constraints. But that made it very fulfilling. I convinced my friend and fellow artist Dan Croll to help produce it with me and the two of us hid away in a tiny studio breathlessly pretending we knew what we were doing.
It was a great learning opportunity. I’m so much more confident now with production and really want to produce other artists’ songs.
Luke Sital-Singh – ‘Me & God’
MF: You’ve spoken about sad music as something that can be cathartic and ultimately positive for people. Did that belief influence your intentions when you were putting together Dressing Like A Stranger?
LSS: I think it always does in a way. It’s not really a conscious thing, just an overriding ethos that I have in my songwriting. I write what I want to hear and I personally like sombre music and feel like it helps me. So I naturally write that kind of music and have had a lot of feedback about how it helps others.
MF: As well as Dan Croll, you worked with Tchad Blake and Christina Perri on the album. Do you place a lot of value on these sorts of collaborations?
LSS: I used to be very insular and precious about collaborating, but as I’ve got older and I think wiser I’ve realised that that was an unhealthy pride thing and becoming aware that maybe I don’t have all the skills and answers all the time and might need help is a really positive thing.
It also makes the process so much more fun to share it rather than hiding away alone like a tortured artist going crazy. I want the process to feel good and bringing friends and talented people in is so much more fun and the end results are almost always better than I could have imagined alone.
MF: How much does your background, things like having been raised in what you’ve called a “very Protestant Christian” house, come through in your music? Do your lyrics often start from your own experience?
LSS: The song ‘Me & God’ was very influenced by that side of my upbringing. But other than the specific beliefs I was brought up with, I think just the fact that I had clear beliefs, a moral code, specific philosophy of life – I think that is what has moulded me more and helped with my songwriting.
I’m always wondering what it all means to be human and what are the deeper things going on in our interactions and relationships, and I think that comes from my family being very philosophical and deep. And I’m grateful for that. It’s helped me become the songwriter I am.
- Luke Sital-Singh’s Dressing Like a Stranger is out now.
Further Reading
“It Was A Labour Of Love” – Paul Kelly On Making Music For Christmas
ENOLA: “There Is a Sense of Togetherness in Your Aloneness”
Country Sounds Is WA’s New Country Music Festival, Feat. Brad Cox, Kasey Chambers
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