Naarm-based singer and songwriter, Scott Candlish shares a playlist of inspiration for his new and intimate single, Blue.
Candid with his mental health journey, Scott Candlish uses Blue to deliver soundscapes formed with emotively deep reflection on the struggles of life during the pandemic and how they spilt over after lockdown. Blue ventures into deep melancholic and romantic forests of vulnerability that Scott has embraced over the last couple of years.
The single is a raw display of hopelessness and the fiery desire to express these feelings to loved ones, with an attempt to remove the feelings of being a burden. He melts indie-folk and rock music with his potently personal and honest recounts, exposing his inner self to the world. Taking influence from an eclectic collection of artists, Scott dives into delicate use of fingerstyle guitar and gorgeous falsetto, layered with impressive harmonies.
Have a look below and get into some of the tracks that have influenced Scott’s incredible single, Blue as he expresses his connections to these songs.
Angus and Julia Stone – Yellow Brick Road
An incredible homage to Neil Young and the rockier end in this playlist but thematically a huge influence. I’m huge on tapping into nostalgia and this song seems to sum up those feelings but also an urge to just lose yourself and let go of everything. I’ve been very much borrowing Angus’ casual finger style for my own writing as well. The seamless slide that progresses in the background and Julia’s subtle harmonies that enter later in the build-up makes the song for me.
Lucy Rose – Shiver
I am madly in love with her vocals, just so incredible. You can hear the crushing ache in her tone, so light and fragile. Such a powerful effect with just acoustic and vocals throughout with the gradual inclusion of piano and perfect sustained tones of electric guitar.
Bon Iver – Holocene
From his masterpiece self-titled album, probably my favourite of all time. While not a unique song to feature, it’d be rude of me not to include this gem and talk about its significant influence on my life and career. It has taught me a lot in terms of lyric writing and how they can be so interpretive, the fingerstyle pattern and the progressive structure of the piece.
RY X – Salt
I’ve grown madly in love with Ry X over the last three years and his music has been a direct influence on my writing. It’s one of my favourite songs and so inspiring in how a sound can become so massive and influential using few chords. The chorus is infectious, and I can listen to it over and over.
Bombay Bicycle Club – Leaving Blues
The delicate and almost broken vocals get me, it’s got a beautiful structure and build up in the chorus. I was listening to this song a lot last year and the light fingerstyle no doubt had an impact on me and actually coincided with the writing process of Blue.
Novo Amor – Alps
Discovered this beauty of a song while living overseas and the beautiful falsetto and consistent use of harmonies had me hooked straight away. It’s as heartbreaking sonically as it is lyrically. Again, the beautiful layers of slide and instrument just complement immaculately to the aesthetic.
The Paper Kites – Arms
The delicate vocals and incredible structure of this song work so effectively. When the harmonies come in together in the second verse it is magical and makes the song so very special.
Get into these feels that Scott’s Blue oozes, and check out the rest of his playlist here. Stream Blue via Spotify below.
