Callum Easter – Here or Nowhere (Video Premiere)

On 16 November, Edinburgh lo-fi artist Callum Easter officially joined the ranks of Eigg-based label Lost Map Records with the release of a Postmap Postcard single Here or Nowhere / Back Beat. Here or Nowhere doubles up as the title for Easter’s upcoming debut album, set for release via Lost Map in spring 2019.

Having just finished up a handful of tour dates playing lap steel and keys for Young Fathers across the UK, and as he readies himself for an appearance at Kid Canaveral’s Christmas Baubles IX on Saturday 15 December at Summerhall, The Skinny are delighted to be premiering the lyric video for the ultra-woozy and dreamy Here or Nowhere, which you can watch in the YouTube player above (click here if it’s not displaying correctly).

To get a better understanding of what Here or Nowhere means, Easter tells us more:  "Never kept a diary. From my teens I’ve tried to weave words together and destroyed what never made it to song or became committed to memory. That’s why I always write songs in progress on envelopes or on the back of used pieces of paper bound for the bin. Reduces the clutter of ideas. Allows you to commit words to memory.

"It depends on what I’m doing day to day too," he continues. "If I’m using my hands doing repetitive stuff I’ll sing and work a song out as I go. Or if I’m at a desk job I’ll doodle in the gaps throughout the day. Ideally I write in the morning. Some songs just reveal themselves unexpected.

"I wrote Here or Nowhere at the kitchen table while my little girl was eating her breakfast. I’d just got my autoharp back from a friend the night before and those chords were the first thing I played. I first sang 'It’s all or nothing' and quickly realised that had already been done (I was still waking up). Then the next thing I landed on was 'It’s here or nowhere' and the rest pretty much came out. My friend James Page helped me refine the pre-chorus as I hadn’t quite got that right but I’d already started recording.

"It’s one of those songs that I feel awkward about as I’m doing it. It’s the morality of it I reckon. In the back of my mind a little piece of me is still a teenager at school and some older kids are slagging me for being soft. Or I imagine my dad listening to it in the pub with his mates and I’m just cringing. Stupid shit like that. The song’s on a knife edge during this whole process. I’m mixing it and my stomach’s turning a little. But when it’s done and I’ve scrutinised it enough and I still believe in what I’m saying, I’ll sing it to anyone."

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Here or Nowhere is out now via Lost Map Records; Callum Easter plays Kid Canaveral's Christmas Baubles IX, Summerhall, Edinburgh, 15 Dec; Celtic Connections, Lost Map presents Underachievers Club, The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 19 Jan; Burns & Beyond: Lost Map's Howlin' Fling, Secret Location, Edinburgh, 26 Jan; Independent Venue Week, Leith Depot, Edinburgh, 3 Feb

callumeaster.com