FFO: Callum Pit – Mayfly

Photo by Daniel Stark

Newcastle singer-songwriter Callum Pitt returns with his anthemic new single, Mayfly. This warm and anthemic indie-folk offering – produced by John Martindale (Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs  & The Pale White) and featuring vocal harmonies from Ada Francis and Jodie Nicholson – is an honest exploration of questions and concerns that arise around Pitt’s mental health issues and its impact on his life and loved ones.

Here, Callum tries to encapsulate the sound of the single using three tracks…

Wolf Alice – The Beach

I love Wolf Alice not only because Ellie Rowsell was on a board which gave me a nice prize last year (cheers Ellie), but also because they write very good songs like this one. This song reflects a lot of my songs in that it starts quiet and gently, and culminates in a massive wave of sound. I also took a lot of inspiration for Mayfly from how the verses in The Beach are quiet and intimate, then a massive wave of noise builds up, and they drop it back to the quiet and intimate verse – the verses in Mayfly follow this pattern and it’s a lovely way of toying with the dynamics. 

Big Thief – Little Things

The main inspiration I’ve taken from Big Thief is how organic and natural their music sounds. The production is very minimal and they leave mistakes and background noises in, which leaves their music sounding really warm, like they’re playing together in one of their living rooms. I’ve tried to follow this in the verses of Mayfly, keeping everything quite dry and minimal, and then contrasting this with the big choruses, which I tried to make explode with the group harmonies. 

The War on Drugs – Under The Pressure

This band have been massive for me ever since I first heard them in my student accommodation back in 2014. At the time, I hadn’t heard a band with such massive drums and loved how powerful a drive they managed to create behind their songs through the low sax and bass. They have a great way of making huge-sounding songs without using too much effects and reverb and definitely made me fall back in love with the guitar solo, which I normally find really boring. In Mayfly you can hear a lot of The War on Drugs through the saxophones, guitar solo, delay on vocals and acoustic merging with the drums. This song is massive and I’ll always love this band.