UK based singer songwriter, Will Varley has today released ‘Seven Days’, the latest track to emerge ahead of his forth-coming 5th studio album ‘Spirit Of Minnie’, released February 9, 2018 through Xtra Mile Recordings. Propelled by Varley’s burnished vocals & an innate gift for relatable lyricism, the track arrives alongside an animated music video created by Varley himself.
On the influence of videogames on this video and in general, Varley commented:
“I’ve been playing games since I was a wee lad, worked out how to load games from dos on my Dad’s Compaq when I was 4 so I grew up on the likes of Crazy Cars 3 and Froggar etc. Quarantine blew my mind when first game out, as did the original GTA. Early dos pixel art has a particular place in my heart.”
“Flashback was a masterpiece for me on SNES, I was also a big fan of the point and click stuff like Monkey Island and Simon the Sorcerer and also a little cyberpunk game called Dreamweb which still haunts my dreams to this day. More recently I’ve enjoyed seeing how games like Hotline Miami, Papers Please, and Finding Paradise have really pushed the boundaries of how narratives can play out and given players a genuinely emotive experience with pixel art.”
“All of these were definitely in my mind when I was making this film. I think platforms like Steam have totally democratised game distribution in recent years allowing the Indy developers to shine. I was also a big fan of Prison Architect, and in particular the cut scenes and storytelling in that game. I used to make games on Klick and Play when I was a kid, the music video for Seven Days is made with Clickteam Fusion which is Klick and Plays much younger brother. The video was all hand drawn, pixel by pixel in Fusions native art editor which is essentially a glorified version of MS paint… it took a long time. About 3 weeks of solid work, with a monster 23 hour session on the last day. I was sat at the computer from 1 in the afternoon till midday the following day… my wife thought I had lost my mind. Maybe I did…”
Following 2016’s much praised ‘Kingsdown Sundown’ and a sold out show at London’s Union Chapel, ‘Spirit Of Minnie’ marks a distinct change of direction for the singer songwriter, being the first time he has recorded with a full backing band. Produced by Cameron McVey (Mas-sive Attack, Portishead, Neneh Cherry), the new album expands on the pared back musical palette of Varley’s previous sound, all the while retaining his gift for painterly, affirming and immediate lyric writing.
After a run of UK shows the album will come out on the same day he plays his biggest head-line show to date at the iconic 02 Shepherds Bush Empire. Will is accompanying the an-nouncement by releasing a brand new track from the album on Spotify and other digital plat-forms along with his entire back catalogue which, until now, could not be found on any streaming sites.
Aided by McVey’s nuanced, widescreen production and the warm cascading sound of his new band, ‘Spirit Of Minnie’, straddles Will’s sound and style from past to present. Counting the likes of Billy Bragg, Valerie June and Frank Turner as his fans, and with tours scheduled across Europe and America, the young songwriter from Deal seems poised for a huge 2018.
