“I’m so thrilled about the resurgence of vinyl—it’s back, and it’s back with a passion!”
“Of course, it never really went away – it was more hiding in the corner in disguise, having been bullied by the bright young CDs, who themselves got beaten down by MP3s, which is kind of hard as you can’t even see an MP3. So, how do you fight something you can’t see? Well, I think vinyl decided to take off its hat and dark glasses and come out in its bright colours, printed picture discs, gatefold sleeves and show them what they’ve been missing!
I’m lucky that I’ve always been around vinyl. I was handed down some fantastic records by my family. We had Bowie’s Hunky Dory, Blondie’s Parallel Lines and of course dozens of collections from Sinatra and Elvis. The vinyl was so seductive—it wasn’t just the music, it was the whole package—the artwork, design, sleevenotes, sometimes the lyrics printed, and if you’re really lucky a note from the artist or band, and if they mentioned someone, trying to work out who that person was.
It was the whole story that captivated me. When I was young, I didn’t even realize that the music could be disconnected from the physical vinyl—my mum told me that when I heard ‘Starman’ on the radio once, I got upset because I thought that a stranger must be in our house playing it!
Speaking of the artwork, one thing I really loved was picture discs. We had a 7” disc of “Road To Nowhere” by Talking Heads which I loved because I think it had a photo of the band with some kind of children’s drawings or cartoons that I tried to copy. Also Devo’s Are We Not Men? We Are Devo! which was this bright blue vinyl. I remember thinking how amazing that was—that it wasn’t black—simple pleasures!
It’s shame that there aren’t record stores in every high street anymore because just physically seeing all that hard work, imagination, creation, writing, recording, and art in one place is pretty special. I live between New York and London, and Bleecker Street in the West Village was one of the first places I went when I moved to NYC. It’s so sad that Bleecker Bobs and Bleecker Street Records aren’t there anymore because not only did they hold such amazing stock, but I’d always run into the craziest people there—real one-offs—and some of the funniest/happiest afternoons were spent there. On the positive side, some of the old stores do remain and there are even new ones popping up now, which warms the heart.
I released my third studio album Late 44 in 2016 and was beyond excited to have it pressed on a beautiful berry pink vinyl. We recorded it at Abbey Road, so to have that amazing experience culminate in this pink disc was brilliant. It’s such a lovely thing to have and to see in stores. As well as being carried by Rough Trade, my friend and mentor, Boz Boorer (who played guitar on the record) stocked it in his Vinyl Boutique Records store in Camden, which was such a thrill! That place is so cool—thousands of records down in the basement and again, bumping into lots of different characters!
I’m about to release a new single “It Was No One’s Fault But Mine I Must Confess,” followed by my new album, When I Don’t Love You I’ll Let You Know, and I hope to see them in vinyl in the future too. I’d be super happy with that!”
—Louise Aubrie
“It Was No One’s Fault But Mine I Must Confess,” the new singe from Louise Aubrie is in stores now.
