Artist Spotlight: Meet Stanley Duke and the Kindred Spirits
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your "God of the Gaps" and the story it tells?
Musically the song is inspired by those epic 60's tunes. I wasn't thinking of anything in particular at the time, just the sound. I suppose it's reminiscent of songs like "A Girl Like You" by Edwyn Collins and "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" by Neil Diamond. That kind of vibe. It's quite cinematic.
I love the concept of the “God of the Gaps.” When new scientific advances explain something once attributed to God, the religious among us are forced to shift God's work into the next gap in our knowledge. It's a story of a man trying to find some meaning in life, disillusioned by the modern world wherever he goes. He wishes he could believe in some kind of higher power but just can't see it anywhere, which leaves a feeling of existential dread and loneliness. I suppose it's about me in that respect.
Were there any challenges or breakthrough moments during the songwriting process for this "God of the Gaps?"
It was one of those songs that just spilled out. They're my favourite ones. The ones where you don't think at all and it just naturally happens in a flurry. I remember Bob Dylan talking about that process and saying the same. Quincy Jones called it "God walking through the room." When everything just goes right and nobody has to try and it just falls into place. It's like when spiritualists do automatic writing.
Were there any memorable or standout moments during the recording sessions for this "God of the Gaps?"
When I write I tend to record at the same time. I may have ideas as I'm going about my day but the actual writing is completely tied into the recording process. I'll sketch out instrumental parts, delete them, write new ones, chop them up and rearrange them until they click. I think Brian Eno said his process was the same when working with Talking Heads. I very rarely have an entire song formulated in my head, or written on guitar before recording or anything, though it does happen. As for memorable moments during this song in particular, as I said it just came out of me. The whole writing and recording process took an afternoon and I hardly remember recording it at all.
Can you share a bit about your musical background and the journey that led you to where you are today?
I've been playing in bands for years. I started out in Lost Dawn which was the idea of my friend Luke and I when we were teenagers. We met Ben (Woods) and he joined on drums. Luke left at some point and we carried on as a two piece before finding Joel (McConkey) who joined on bass. Very Black Keys inspired at first but it evolved into something else. That band went on for about 8 years, we had some decent airplay on BBC radio and others, with a few features in NME etc. I was also part of a spaghetti western band called The Rotten Gunslingers, a goth/freakbeat band called Hazards, and a garage/psych/synth group called Pastel Colours. Oh and a short lived project called Local Nobodies after Lost Dawn broke up which was a lot of fun. Around that time I became a little disillusioned with writing collaboratively and decided to just do everything myself. It probably speaks to my perfectionist nature, even though nothing I ever do ever comes out perfect in any way. Anyway, since I started Kindred Spirits around 6 years ago I've been writing and recording constantly. I have probably 2 or 3 albums of songs written and mostly recorded, but Covid put a spanner in a lot of it and I feel I've evolved a lot since some of those songs. I'm in the process now of going back to them and bringing them to where I am now. I hope to be releasing an album sometime this year, but there will be plenty of new, quite eclectic singles on the road to that.
