BRIGHTON-BASED gothic folk songwriter Jinnwoo talks about opening for Alt-J and working with Arab Strap’s Malcolm Middleton on his November EP I Am, I Am, The World’s Oldest Man.

“I listen to a lot of folk and world music – I like a lot of outsider music too. I like anything that sounds like it could be ancient, or that surprises me. Laura Marling is an incredible writer, as is Diane Cluck and Perfume Genius. “I opened for Ghostpoet and Alt-J, just before the release of Alt-J’s debut. That was a big crowd, and it mostly went well, except for one man at the front who was angry because he couldn’t dance to my music.

“Most of my debut EP [Your Baby] was recorded in London at a place called Urchin Studios. Different tracks were finished off everywhere from Coventry, to London, to Leicester, to LA. It took three years to finish. I was working on my sound, and recruiting guest vocalists and producers. And working a day job.

“I have been a big fan of Malcolm Middleton since his Arab Strap days. I tracked down his email and sent him some of my work - originally asking him to produce some tracks. He started work on a few songs and it was sounding really good, but they never got finished. I really wanted him to be a part of the record somewhere – so he agreed to sing backing vocals. I don’t even know if he likes the song. I hope he does. “The album is very nearly finished, and all being well will be out late 2015. It’s a very dark, atmospheric album, with some amazing guest vocalists and producers working on it – I was very lucky. I wanted to make something quite raw and honest, and visceral. Hopefully that comes across, and it’s not just an hour of whinging.”

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