Rhodes

Komedia, Gardner Street, Brighton, Tuesday, September 29

AS he speaks to The Guide David Rhodes is only two days away from his debut album Wishes finally hitting the shelves.

Following a run of four EPs, which began back in October 2013, it feels like a long time coming – but Rhodes is first to admit his journey through the music business has been at breakneck speed.

“The EPs have been important for me as a sort of growth thing,” he says. “It’s nice having that documentation of how the writing and sound has evolved.

“There are about four songs from the EPs on the album, the rest are all new. It’s the final piece – it sums up the first chapter I suppose.”

Rhodes started out in Hitchin’s band scene, playing many of the same venues as Hitchin contemporary James Bay.

While providing bass duties for a London band Rhodes put a song he had penned himself on music website Soundcloud.

“I got an email the next day from a record label,” he says. “I thought ‘That’s very exciting’ and then more and more started coming in. I couldn’t understand how this had even happened!

“It was quite overwhelming – but very nice as well, realising that the music was reaching people.”

Rhodes’s music is based largely around home-created soundscapes, using guitars and occasional piano.

It is his ethereal and emotion-packed voice which has been capturing attention though – and it’s all the more amazing as he initially was reluctant to sing on his work.

“I saw myself as a guitarist writing soundscapes and nice atmospheric music,” he says.

“It wasn’t until people started suggesting it that I toyed with the idea of adding a vocal – it wasn’t something I felt courageous enough to do. I’m not sure where that fear came from, but overcoming it was the final missing piece I suppose.”

That battle with nerves and finding the courage to sing on stage inspired one of Rhodes’s key early songs, Close Your Eyes.

“I still feel those feelings,” he says.

“The song started with me thinking about how hard it was to fight and overcome those fears.

“It’s now broadened to mean no matter how small or big the fear I want to overcome it. Having that spirit is important. Having that song on the album allows me to look back and see where I was.”

Writing lyrics and vocal melody lines are still the last piece of the puzzle when it comes to writing a song.

He has already got the notebooks out to pen a follow-up to Wishes.

And when it comes to finding out whether a song is any good he has a secret weapon – his girlfriend’s rabbit Bella.

“When Bella likes something she runs in and listens” he told the Evening Standard in 2014. “As soon as the song stops she leaves. If I have an idea I try it out on her.”

With Bella’s summer coat currently moulting, Rhodes admits he hasn’t tried any new material on his long-eared muse lately.

“She’s feeling a bit sorry for herself,” he says.

“She’s looking a bit patchy. I need to show her some of my new songs, but I’m letting her come around to the fact that it’s becoming colder before I start putting pressure on her.”

For now Rhodes is enjoying being out on the road, and is looking forward to returning to Brighton, which hosted only his second solo show in 2013 as part of the Great Escape festival.

“It’s strange being on stage with a band playing parts I wrote in the studio,” he says. “I find it quite weird. I have told them not to feel restrained by the part I wrote, to have some fun with it. It keeps it exciting on the road.

“For now it is gigs as far as the eye can see. I’m really pleased the way this first chapter has gone – the album was documenting the process and the story behind the last two years.

“Now I want to figure out what happens next.”

Support from JP Cooper.

Doors 7.30pm, tickets £10. Call 0845 2938480.