Tag Archives: Kate Bush

Eleanore & The Lost

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Surrey based 5 piece Eleanore & the Lost are a symphonic rock band with a wide range of influences, from Jeff Buckley and early Fleetwood Mac to Kate Bush and Bjork, via Evanescence.

1. How did you get your initial start in music?

I remember singing songs that I’d made up when I was very little and then began recording ideas onto tape from about 10 years old but I hid them and was too embarrassed to sing in front of anyone.  When I was 14, I started singing lessons at school and my singing teacher forced me to perform a solo. From that moment, I realised I loved the thrill of singing to an audience. I was taught to use a music software programme (Logic) in my A Level Music Technology classes which enabled me to finally get all my ideas out by playing in the instruments via keyboard and layering the vocals I heard in my head – and that’s how I’ve written my songs ever since.

2.     What would be your ultimate aim in the industry? My ultimate aim is to reach a stage whereby the success of my music enables me access to even more musical resources; I have dreams of one day using an orchestra or large choir in some of my songs.  I also love the other media that can be used to express my music, namely music videos and would like to create the imagery that I often see in my mind.  Also, to have a successful career that’s long lasting – creating the best music I can write for as long as possible.

3.     How long have you been writing your own music? As mentioned earlier, I know that I sang my original songs  from a very early age.  I wrote the first full song, complete with a demo, when I was around 11 years old.

4.     Who are your top three influences and why?

Although I listen to a very wide range of music, my own songs probably have hints of Kate Bush, early Fleetwood Mac and Jeff Buckley most strongly.  Can I also add in classical music, too?!

Jeff Buckley is an artist for whom I have great admiration and who inspired me to work harder on my lyrics.  The words to his songs can often stand alone as beautiful poems when you take away the music (“Lover, you Should’ve Come Over” is one example) and that’s something I aspire to.  For me, his music also has a romance or mystery that I would like to think moments of my own songs have.

I love several songs from Fleetwood Mac’s later line-up but my music probably has more elements of the Peter Green era, particularly with the style of some of the guitar lines in my songs and in the overall sound of my cover of “Summertime”, for which I added drums and guitar to my demo with that slightly dreamy, rolling feel reminiscent of “Man of the World and “Albatross”.

I’m often likened to Kate Bush vocally – probably because of my vocal range.  I like her originality and enigma and that she appeared to write whatever came to her, without abiding by rules.

I think I’m right in saying that all of the above artists have written songs about several subjects rather than just love.  A huge proportion of songs are written about relationships going well and also badly which is often a prominent aspect of our emotional lives and touches a lot of people but I think there are also other things to write about and I try to do this.

Lastly, I have to sneak in classical music as it has also influenced me enormously (I’ve always heard prominent string sections in the music that comes into my head) and this is probably not surprising given that my dad was an opera singer at both English National Opera and Paris Opera.  I’m mostly influenced by the romantic and modern era composers such as Puccini, Ravel, Debussy and Satie and I loved playing some of their pieces on piano when I was learning.  Film music is probably the modern form of classical music for me that I greatly admire and I will sometimes buy instrumental film soundtracks. I would love to write one myself.  At the same time, hearing classical and pop music combined in imaginative ways has also given me ideas as I’ve grown up, for example, Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles.

5.     Is there anything you would like people to know about your current release?

I felt very strongly that I wanted all of the songs on my first album to be my own hence why there are no covers.

I wrote some of the songs on the album many years before but then came back to them and re-arranged them.  One of the songs was written 10 or 11 years before the album was actually made.

I had originally written the track ‘La Danza D’amore Interlude’ as a sort of bridge or middle section for the ‘Parlour Game’ song but decided it didn’t work as part of that track.  I still really liked the piece and later made the decision to record the string quartet playing it and add it to the album as an interlude.

Some of the album artwork was inspired by pre-raphaelite paintings, as was the video, ‘Everything’.

For me, the album is now in memory of some people who inspired me or worked with me on some aspect of the album and videos and sadly passed away.

6.     Where are you based and what’s your local scene like? Any favourite venues?

I’m based in Surrey, as are all the people I work with i.e. musicians, producer etc but I’ve gigged in several counties. If I’m honest, although I’m a musician myself, I don’t go to many gigs.  I know this surprises people and I would love to see more live music but currently spend a lot of my time working on my own songs.  The music scene in Guildford is good, though.  I think The Boileroom has a constant eclectic mix of acts on and Bar Des Arts is a nice venue for relaxed, acoustic music.  I’ve enjoyed performing at both.

7.     Who else can you recommend from your local scene for people to have a listen to?

‘This Boy’ is a local band I did a gig with a little while back.  There was a lot of energy in their performance and they had a sound slightly reminiscent of American bands such as ‘Medina Lake’ and ‘Panic! At the Disco’.

8.     Give our readers a roundup of where they can find you online and hear more of your music.

You can find Eleanore & the Lost at: