Ranging from house-inspired bangers to glacial ambient electronica, Philip Glass-style minimalism to warm melodic pop songwriting, the variations on East India Youth’s debut album are immense.

According to William Doyle, the brains behind the Foals-punning Total Strife Forever, the eclecticism is partly down to the length of time it took to create the album after the break-up of his indie band Doyle And The Fourfathers.

“I started recording most of it in my bedroom, so it grew from that,” says the formerly Southampton-based one-man band, who relocated to London two years ago.

“I finished the first song in November 2010. From that point I had listened to a lot of stuff. “It’s lots of different elements coming together. I like bands who make eclectic albums – where you go on a sonic journey.”

At the centre of the album, officially released last month, is the four-part instrumental Total Strife Forever – whose third section was one of the first pieces to be completed for the final work.

“Towards the end of the process I could see where holes were in terms of putting all these songs together on one album,” says Doyle. “I thought the musical theme of that track would fit in a few different permutations, so I made three other tracks which sounded quite different but used a lot of the same notes – it really keeps everything together cohesively.”

A love of electronica

Although Doyle had been in a band before East India Youth came into being, he admits electronic music was where he started writing songs as a 12 or 13-year-old.

“People have perceived electronic music to be a cold thing,” he says. “I have never agreed with that. Synthesisers can tap into a lot more than just a guitar with an amp. You have the full gamut of sounds through all the frequencies and wave forms. I think whether it is made with an analogue synth or a computer you can tap into actual emotions, perhaps more so than any other acoustic instrumentation.”

Although some of the tracks on Total Strife Forever feature his own characterful voice – particularly on the percussive Dripping Down and the slow-build of the anthemic Heaven, How Long – he deliberately made the decision to keep a lot of the music instrumental.

“For many years I was so used to this idea that, when you make music, the next part of the process is to sing over it,” he says. “But I thought about how I listen to a lot of music without vocals, and how the emotional connection with instrumental pieces is so much stronger without having a lot of words over them. I did record some demo vocals over the instrumental tracks, but I thought the sound and chord structures said more than my silly words really could. It was a cool moment – I realised I wasn’t tied down to serving the vocal all the time.”

Facing it alone

His next challenge was to take the music on the road as a solo artist.

“I was so used to performing in a touring rock band that when it came to start playing East India Youth live I was terrified I would look like an electronic producer checking his emails,” says Doyle.

His initial solution came straight out of the rock handbook – by playing a bass guitar on stage.

“It changes the way the audience perceive what you’re doing,” says Doyle. “I was trying to find a new way of keeping the physicality I had learned from a touring band.

“Everything I have on my laptop can be manipulated and affected in certain ways – to the point where it can be different at every gig. It keeps it fresh and exciting for me. No two gigs are ever the same. You can tailor the gig to the mood, or the way the room looks or feels.”

He fought the impulse to bring in other live musicians – in particular a live drummer.

“I feel so strongly about the organic way in which the East India Youth project has evolved,” he says. “If I’m going to bring people in it’s going to be a very gradual process.

“Live drums with electronic music makes so much sense, as a lot of it is rhythm-based – it adds a whole different energy. I wouldn’t want it to be a session musician job – I really like to connect with the people I play with. I would like it to happen in the next couple of years.”

He has already started work on album number two, although he has no idea what the finished product will sound like.

“I don’t make demos really,” he says. “Everything I start on either gets scrapped halfway because I don’t think it’s working, or ends up on the album.

“I’ve got a lot of stuff in the bank that I’ve been making over the past year which still feels quite fresh to me.”

At present he’s listening to a lot of Afrobeat – with Fela Kuti, Tony Allen and Nigerian funk album Who Is William Onyeabor? providing inspiration – although at the same time he’s fascinated by the minimalism of Philip Glass.

“I don’t want to make a dance album,” he says. “I would like to focus in on one mood or theme next time, and explore it fully. But at the same time maybe eclecticism is the way I work – it’s hard to say until I’m into the last few weeks of the album!”

  • East India Youth, Green Door Store, Trafalgar Street Arches, Brighton, Friday, February 7
  • Doors 7pm, tickets £7/£6. Call Resident on 01273 606312.