Photo: Adrian Vitelleschi Cook
Following on from the huge support he received for his stunning debut single 'Spider' earlier this year, Irish singer and songwriter Jiminil has now returned to deliver his sophomore effort 'Family Tree'.
Channelling more of that rich and jangled direction he is developing for himself, 'Family Tree' makes for a wonderfully warm listen. With its sweeping hooks, atmospheric textures, and his own shimmering voice at the helm, he is certainly looking to make an enormous impact with this one.
So with the new single available now, we sat down with him to find out more about his background and influences over the years.
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What was the first instrument you learned to play?
Well, I’m pretty sure there are some photos of a conehead baby bashing a toy drum kit at my grandparent’s house from before I could walk, I don’t know if I could count that as learning though. My grandad was a pretty great drummer though, so maybe he taught me a thing or two.
My mum is an incredible musician and taught me the basics of the piano when I was around 5 or 6, I then went on to study classical piano until I was about 13. I broke my arm and when it healed, I wasn’t able to twist my arm properly to comfortably play anymore so I left that behind.
What was the first album you remember owning?
I always dread this question. My grandad drove me to a CD shop in Larne when I was 9 and I went hunting for the first time. I’d been waking up at 6am to watch Kerrang! before my grandparents woke up so I could listen to Slipknot around then - my older cousin had showed me some of that stuff. Unfortunately, they didn’t have IOWA in stock, so I went for what I thought was the next best thing – Nickelback’s Silver Side Up after hearing ‘How You Remind Me’ on Kerrang! a fair bit. My family were pretty religious so didn’t take kindly to Chad Kroeger colourfully talking about an abusive relationship.
I’ve always dreaded telling people about this & get a load of flack for it, but fairly recently as I was having a few beers with my friend Kasper from Do Nothing we had a grand ole time losing our voices & singing along to that album. A few others we were with were pretty terrified.
Did you ever form a band when you were younger and if so, what did they sound like?
I’ve been in a few bands over the years, nothing cohesive or very good aside from in the past couple of years.
My first band when I was around 12 went from Arctic Monkeys covers (we were called Woodwork) to me changing the name to Screaming in the Water & trying to write some Hawthorne Heights inspired tunes. I LOVED all the emo stuff around 2005.
What is a song you wish you had written yourself?
Bert Jansch’s Blackwaterside version is just my favourite thing in the world – I’d love to have written that but I guess he was just arranging a folk tune so it doesn’t really count.
I wish I’d written Desert Raven by Jonathon Wilson maybe, just so I could play that opening riff on tour forever – that is the most fun thing ever!
What has been the most thrilling moment about creating your own music?
Honestly the most thrilling thing is getting to collaborate with the amazing musicians I do here in Nottingham where I’ve been based for a good few years now. For years I’d been mainly just writing tunes in my room & playing solo but hearing something go from a droney riff on acoustic guitar to a wall of sound is my most favourite thing, it’s so exciting.
And what about the most frustrating part?
Just not having the time! Holding down a fulltime job to afford yerself the money to be able to make music you care about means it’s incredibly difficult to have the time & energy to get stuff done. I’m also involved in other projects, so I just never have any free time & I crash and burn every few months.
Which artist would you most love to share a stage with?
That’s a hard one! I’d love to do something with GOAT – to be honest I’d just love to be able to play some percussion & dress up and dance around to their live show. That’d be the most fun ever.
Where do you see yourself in five years time?
Hopefully happy & making music with good people. Things change so quickly, it’s easy to run away with yerself & I’ve found it usually leads to some form of disappointment/disillusionment. That sounds a lot sadder than it actually is, I just mean it’s best to be in the moment & enjoy making music when you are in it and while you can.
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Jiminil's new single 'Family Tree' is available to stream now. Check out the new video for it below.
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