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Put in those terms, its a process she knows all too well.
The same thing happens when youre writing, she says.
Im not taking something in and immediately regurgitating it.
Regurgitating does make you feel sick.
Time served Yola onStand for Myselfin other ways, too.
This record becomes this exploration of things that Im obsessed by and things that connect them, she says.
Heres how all those obsessions colored the record, from Minnie Riperton to Britpop to that upcomingElvisrole.
I actually started Break the Bough in 2013.
[This album is] stylistically different because its telling more of a broad arc of my life.
But thats happening very organically, from songs jumping into my head as I go through it.
In this case, the life event was the death of my mother [that year].
But the bassline came into my head when I was riding my motorcycle back from my mums funeral.
Session rhythm musicians like James Gadson and James Jamerson
Ive always been searching for something, aesthetically.
Its been feel and pocket; its been a lot about the groove of something.
[Laughs] As a drummer, he exemplifies what I love about feel and time.
I really found that there were players that spoke to me.
And by and large, most of them most of them?
I know you have these resources, can we go do this, that, and the other?
I didnt have that kind of knowledge.
Im obsessed with the song; Im obsessed with Minnie Riperton, generally, and Rotary Connection.
So I was like, Have you heard this song, or maybe even theNuyorican Soul remix?
And everyones like, I dont really know.
Its really quite an individual piece.
And so with that in mind, take this and then pretend Tina [Turner]s doing it.
And theyre like, Oh!
I think we get it, I think were good.
I grew up with Tina and I grew up with Minnie.
I often wanted to reconcile those sides of my aesthetic.
How I can move between them and have them talk to each other?
It feels like Im working out those obsessions in this record.
And I suppose my love of Mary J. Blige, and, maybe not as congruously, Barry White.
It became something where I was always trying to understand,What was the aesthetic?
Theyre coming to her.B.B.
Kingis influenced by her; Elvis is influenced by her;Little Richardis influenced by her.
She gave birth to this whole scene.
There are all of the people that Little Richard touches, or the people that B.B.
King influenced, or the people that Elvis influenced.
[Laughs] What you discover [is] everythings connected and nothing exists in a vacuum.
And so its like, So, did she influence you?
Im like, Hell yeah!
[Laughs] Eighty different times over, in ways I can barely imagine.
[Sings melody] That kind of run is Britpop.
[Laughs] Its because Im English, and these are the things that people can forget.
Like,Shit, shes English!So English things are going to color whats going on as well.
That is quite aStone Rosesthing to do.
Being British, we import everything at once.
Weve got Nirvana the same time as weve got A Tribe Called Quest.
We got Brownstone the same time as we got Beck.
So people just listened to everything at once to see what it was.
Everyone listened to it to find out what was going on.
Youre going to have to play Beastie Boys and Blur, because this is what people want.
Hip-hop was becoming massive; it was the great renaissance of the time, along with grunge.
I think that played a lot into why the record is the way that it is.
Thats how we heard things.
We were getting everything at once because we were across an ocean, thousands of miles away.
Im making that move toward something that is more meaningful.
Moving to Nashville permanently
This business is as much people as any business.
The soul music of this place!
Were not choosing to see that as a downside.
Im used to people going, Can you just do R&B, just?
Or, Arent you doing backing vocals?
Youre a bit dark, you know.
These are the things that I experienced in my life.
I was like, Really?
Im gonna stay here.
[Laughs]
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
