Floor Staff - aka Dubliner Anthony Donnelly - has released his new album, Attention. We asked him the BIG questions . . .
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Floor Staff has been releasing music since 2014 but Donnelly recently took a four-year hiatus to work on his sound.
He returned this summer with three singles - Aspiration, Empathize, and The Occupants Rotate - ahead of the release of Attention.
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For this album, he was joined by Christopher Barry on electric guitar and synthesizers, Oisín Trench on drums, and Gareth Quinn Redmond on violin.
Speaking about the new album, Donnelly says, "This album is certainly more direct than the other releases and It does feel very strange to speak more directly but it's also pretty liberating.
"Maybe I’m settling into myself a little more, so I’m a bit more concerned with going with whatever comes out and accepting it as it is without considering how it could be perceived."
Tell us three things about yourself?
My new album, Attention, is out on Friday, August 27, which is pretty exciting for me so I feel that would be odd not to mention. Forgive me. Recently I’ve been living between Ireland and Como, in the North of Italy, where my partner is from. It’s a beautiful place and it’s cool to be slowly getting to grips with the language. Prior to that, I spent a couple of years living on a very remote farm in Freshford, Kilkenny. This is where most of the album came together and where I developed my nut foraging, bread baking, and bird repairing skills.
How would you describe your music?
I’d describe it as alternative pop. Some songs fall into the pop category and others don’t really at all. Without wanting to sound overly obtuse about it, I’d relate the majority of them to pop in the sense that they have fallen apart around the bones of a pop structure. It’s tough to be totally accurate and also nice to allow space for the listener to come to their own conclusion. There are many influences that go into the music with some elements that don’t fit the above description too well.
Who are your musical inspirations?
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Some music that I was exposed to when very young and that would have inspired me would be Enya, Rick Springfield, Simply Red, George Michael, Prince, and Tina Turner. I still listen to a lot of Enya and Prince. Nowadays I’m really into Blood Orange and the effortless way he expresses himself. Richard Dawson’s raw sound and incredible detail lyrically. I really like Twin Shadow's genre-hoping banger creations. The new Serpentwithfeet album, Deacon, is incredible. I’m also really into recent amazing albums by Perfume Genius, Moses Sumney, Adrianne Lenker, and Big Thief. I’ll stop myself there for now.
What are you most looking forward to post-lockdown?
I’m really looking forward to being at an event with a ton of people and feeling that really strong energy from a huge group of people, without anything or anybody being influenced by factors other than feelings of freedom, excitement, and joy.
What’s your favourite song right now?
Well, this is hard so I’m just going to cheat and say Heart Storm by Serpent With Feet and My Son Tim by John Francis Flynn. Take me away.
Favourite lyric of all time?
Right now, I’d say that it’s the line in Orinoco Flow when referring to the album’s producer and the head of the label, Enya sings "We can steer, We can near, With Rob Dickins at the wheel". It’s kinda like . . . sorry, what Enya?
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life what would it be?
I’m gonna say Se Telefonando by Mina. As well as the insane performance by Mina it has a beautiful arrangement by Ennio Morricone. It’s structured in a way that it could endlessly loop on itself leaving you none the wiser, as key change after key change, you slip into blissful insanity . . .
Where can people find your music/more information?
My linktree, which is on my social media pages and updated regularly, is a good place.
