82. Hayden Thorpe - The Wilds Tamed

Meet Our Makers

In this episode, we get to meet Hayden Thorpe. Hayden is a singer/songwriter from the UK, who is probably best known for his band Wild Beasts. Although they disbanded a few years ago, Hayden has been working hard within a solo sphere, and has just put out his third record, NESS, which is based upon a book by Robert Macfarlane, which itself is about the very real place of Orford Ness, a defunct military test side island off the coast of the UK. In this chat, Hayden and I discuss the conception, musicality, and production of Ness the album, but also go deep into the place it's inspired by - including the tamed and untamed wilderness there, the confluence of past and present. We talk what it was like relinquishing lyrical control, as almost all the lyrics are taken straight from Macfarlane's book. We also touch on Wild Beasts (a band I love) and what it was like working with them for so long and carving out their very distinct identity, and then having it come to a close. Thank you for listening.