Let's Eat Grandma interview

We catch up with Let's Eat Grandma's Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth to discuss friendships, gender stereotypes and sophomore album I'm All Ears

Feature by Stuart Holmes | 22 Jun 2018

Childhood friendships are often long-lasting. Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth – better known as the grammatically incorrect duo Let’s Eat Grandma – are a testament to this. The teenaged kindred spirits became friends aged four after meeting in reception class at school in Norwich. They've been inseparable ever since, sharing a sibling-like bond and forming their musical duo in 2013 upon becoming teens. When they first emerged on the scene – with the release of their debut album I, Gemini in 2016 – they could be mistaken for twin sisters as they adopted matching outfits on stage and mirrored one another with Rapunzel-esque hair.

The multi-instrumentalists had barely left school when their fanbase grew substantially. Their experimental, ethereal and sometimes psychedelic pop music was unique and captivating. Much of their debut had been written years earlier during their formative years and was later recorded on a minimal budget using equipment at the college they later attended together. Songs such as Sax in the City, Eat Shiitake Mushrooms and Chocolate Sludge Cake are playfully titled yet musically skilful and unpredictable. The album was met with critical acclaim and led to them making a memorable television debut performance on Later... with Jools Holland.

Two years later – after a heavy schedule of touring, writing and recording – they return with new material. Walton and Hollingworth are still as close as ever but have a greater sense of individuality in their late teens which goes way beyond their appearance. They completed a pre-album release UK tour in April and are expected to return with further dates at the end of the year. In the months to come, summer festivals beckon and the duo will head Stateside in September. As they speak to The Skinny ahead of releasing their second album I’m All Ears, we listen intently as they reflect on their story so far, beginning with their first encounter.

“I remember the day we met,” recalls Walton, who takes the lead during much of the conversation. “It was on the drawing table. Jenny was drawing an orange and blue snail. I thought it was really, really cool and wanted to make friends with her.” Hollingworth quips: “I think I was just iconic.”

Their memorable stage name is a nod to the importance of good grammar. The lack of a simple comma can cause great misunderstanding between people, but the duo’s strong bond means there are rarely crossed wires between them. “We don't really argue that much. I think we're pretty open with one another about how we feel,” confirms Walton, going on to explain that a close-knit friendship is integral to their songwriting: “I think it has a really big impact and is one of the most important things about how the band works. You've got to be able to share the same creative vision when it comes to writing – even if we bring separate things to the table – but it helps having grown up together and really knowing each other inside out.”

I’m All Ears is lyrically transparent. It's more honest and emotive than their debut, which was comparatively cryptic. Hollingworth explains that maturing over recent years left them feeling ready – despite some initial reservations – to share their feelings with their fans: “I think it takes quite a bit more courage to be open about how you feel. It would’ve been easier to come out with personal songs on the first record when fewer people were going to hear it straight away. But we've actually made them more personal on the second record, despite the increased audience, because we had stuff that we needed to talk about.”

Walton agrees: “We already had an audience for the album before we'd actually released it. When you make your second album you know that people are going to be listening to it because they listened to your first album. They're going to want to hear your stuff so I think that you have to be a bit bolder with what you're saying... When we wrote the first album we were so much younger and we hadn't necessarily had the life experience that we’ve had in the last couple of years.”

Recent single Hot Pink is a case in point. It tackles the misconceptions of gender identity and highlights the power of embracing its various forms. “It's something that we think about a lot. It affects us and so many other people. We wanted to write something for people who didn't fit the stereotypes. It’s also about the idea that femininity is inferior to masculinity and how empowering femininity is,” says Walton. Hollingworth adds: “Regardless of gender on a personal level, I know feminine guys who are affected as well.”

The emotions expressed on the album are also personified on its cover artwork. A vivid, kaleidoscopic image portrays Let’s Eat Grandma through the eyes of another female’s perspective, namely New York-based artist and illustrator Yanjun Cheng. It is simply entitled Jenny and Rosa, Digital Painting 2018 and is inspired by the duo’s voices and music. “This illustration visualised their voice from listening to the new album and expresses that one voice has two attitudes, the two voices connect like the one,” said Cheng of her own work.

Walton is keen to express her admiration for the artist although she confesses that they have yet to meet: “We found her on the internet and sent her a message. We really, really loved her work and it seemed to us like it was perfect for the album. We sent her quite a few different photos of us. The image she painted wasn't actually a direct copy of any of those – it was combined – but I think she's really captured our facial expressions well and it just works.”

The making of I’m All Ears was supported by the Momentum Music Fund (MMF). The fund forms part of the PRS Foundation, the UK’s leading funder of new music and talent development, who support numerous projects in partnership with patrons and funding bodies such as Arts Council England. Let’s Eat Grandma also received previous financial support for a North America tour from Women Make Music, another PRS Foundation project, all of which has proven vital to their achievements so far.

“They've really allowed us to do a lot of stuff that we couldn't have done without them. They're really supportive of us. Making records is so expensive. We were really ambitious with this record as well. We wanted to properly invest money into this album and without MMF I don't think we would have been able to do it the way that we did,” says Walton.

The range of sounds on I’m All Ears is broad and accomplished. They utilised the talents of several producers, including SOPHIE and Faris Badwan (The Horrors), who were also songwriting partners on several tracks. The collaborative approach to the album was unchartered territory for Let’s Eat Grandma, which they embraced and learned from. “We didn’t really try to make an album that has all its songs in the same style,” says Walton. “I think our own style comes out naturally. For I, Gemini there were quite different sonic themes going on and this record is the same.”

With their school days and the DIY production of I, Gemini now a distant memory, I’m All Ears is a greatly distinguishable leap forwards from their impressive debut. And with Let’s Eat Grandma achieving such high standards so soon after reaching adulthood together we can only hope that their friendship is eternal.

I’m All Ears is released on 29 Jun via Transgressive Records http://letseatgrandma.co.uk/