ASHA LORENZ OF SORRY

Hi Asha and thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology. Firstly congratulations on your debut record 925. A provocative, powerful and skilfully crafted album. To begin with the obvious, does the title have a specific reference or one that can be interrupted in multitude of ways?

Hey thanks! 925 is just the silver mark - marking when it just reaches purity. It’s kind of like we did our first proper thing / reached a certain point in life - but it’s not perfect. It’s also quite abstract and can be interpreted in other ways as you see with ‘Rock ’n’ Roll Star which is about purity / innocence / childhood breaking down.

What were some of the challenges in putting this LP together and conversely what were some of the greatest surprises you experienced through the writing / recording process for 925?

It’s annoying when you can hear the song in your head and then you record it and produce it and it doesn’t translate to how you wanted it. It was a long process getting to the point where we were happy with how we recorded and produced the songs. In the end we found peace with a starting point of home recording and Louis production. After we were comfortable with the song we would then take it in to James’ (James Dring) studio where we could make the songs bigger, more polished and work together a bit better. By recording it ourselves at home first we were able to get the original sound / feel we were going for onto the final record.

In terms of the writing and lyrical content, was there an overarching narrative tying the album together or an assortment of topics and inspirations that zig zag throughout the record?

There are a lot of different topics and themes that run throughout the record. Sometimes it’s just one sort of vision or idea that we want to bring to life. Other times it’s more strings of consciousness sort of like a collage. I feel like the song lyrics take on more meaning or change meaning after they’ve been written and especially when they are sitting with other people. When I write a song I don’t really set out to write about a specific thing, knowingly.

In that early phase of writing and demo’s, once you have the essential tunes in place and they birthed into existence, did the approach change in so much as each song now begins to tell you what it needs rather than you fashioning the basic tracks out of raw emotion and impulse?

Yeah I think that’s true. We write the basis of the song and if it’s more of a love song for example then the instrumentation and the way we record it will kind of mirror old love songs that we like. We try and write the song first and after it’s written we see what genre it might fit in to and take interesting ideas from that genre to develop it.

Having already produced a range of mixtapes and released a series of singles, did you find it harder or easier in producing and ordering the tracks on the LP compared to that of a singular approach whereby a long player allows for a meandering sonic journey and narrative through a greater number of tracks?

We still thought quite a lot about the ordering of songs on the mixtapes.. so I think they both took time and lots of listening to understand what the order should be.

Of the 13 tracks on the album, how considered was your approach in choosing the track order in producing the flow and sonic story you wanted the record to tell?

We thought quite a lot about the order - because the songs all tell their own individual stories, kind of like little weird dreams or tales. So we just wanted to make sure the different paces and shades of light and dark were sort of evenly spaced out so that it runs nicely.

The record was co-produced by James Dring. What was it that James brought to the table that you feel really shines through on 925 that without his contribution would have taken on a different complexion?

James was really good at helping the overall sound of the album tie together, he helped us bring all the songs together so they were one entity. He also helped make the bedroom recordings sound more polished whilst at the same time allowing us to bring that bedroom recording feel to life in the record.

There is something of a common thread running through some of your clips with the cape clad character featuring in Right Around The Clock and Rock 'n' Roll Star. Is this symbolic of something a little deeper, an alter ego, or an icon for Sorry?

Lots of the songs seem to embody different characters so maybe they are just a vessel for bits of our personalities.

Known for your exuberant and lively shows, what performance elements have you taken into your own shows from what you have seen of other acts (and for that matter what you haven’t seen) that makes its way into your stage craft?

I can't really pin point one band but we were lucky enough to be in London and surrounded by great music and musicians / bands so while we were developing our live performance and playing I think naturally the people that you watch around you seep in to your own gestures without realising it.

What does music give you that nothing else does?

A healthy escape.