Not Forgotten Girl - Interview

  by John Clarkson

published: 10 / 4 / 2016

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Vocalist Fiona Crawford from Glasgow-based electro-acoustic duo Not Forgotten Girl speaks to John Clarkson about their debut EP, 'Heading East'

Not Forgotten Girl is a Scottish electro-acoustic duo, consisting of Fiona Crawford (lead vocals, keyboards and guitar) and Andy Robertson (guitar, backing vocals). The pair have just self-released their debut EP 'Heading East', which combines Crawford's sublime keyboards and vocals with Robertson's sturdy acoustic work. The opening title track tells of the Glasgow-based Crawford's romance with an Edinburgh-based lover. The other songs on the five song EP build further on this theme of love from a distance ('Forever', Angel'), and focus also on relationships falling apart ('Back to the Start') and mental illness and depression ('Scars'). Not Forgotten Girl played a Pennyblackmusic Bands Night in Edinburgh last year in support to the Willard Grant Conspiracy. We spoke to Fiona Crawford about the 'Heading East' EP. PB: The title of the band Not Forgotten Girl implies a female solo project, yet Not Forgotten Girl is actually a group. Why did you go for such an unusual choice of name, especially as there is a male in Andy Robertson who is half of the band? FC: We actually used to be a trio consisting of 2/3 female. Deciding on a band name proved quite tricky as we could not pick anything that Andy agreed with. In the end we picked a lyric from our song 'Scars' and re-arranged it slightly. Coincidentally I find I relate to the name quite well as I play more of a fundamental role in this project compared to my past musical endeavour. PB: How does the song writing in the band evolve? Do you come up with the basic tune and lyrics and bring it to Andy and then work it up together or does the song writing work in another way? FC: I predominantly write the songs. I usually bring a verse, bridge and chorus along to Andy and we organically work on the arrangement. Andy is particularly good at suggesting alternative melodies and phrasing. PB: Both you and Andy have known each other for ten years, first of all from each other’s bands before beginning Not Forgotten Girl three years ago. What are your musical backgrounds? FC; Before we met, I had been involved in a few different projects, mainly playing bass/singing backing vocals in a power-pop band called Rocketfox. Prior to this I had embarked on a few acoustic duo collaborations and played percussion in a college samba band that played at Glastonbury. Andy has played in many bands from rock to goth to metal to blues to folk to Americana and most in between. He is currently playing guitar and singing baking vocals with Glasgow band Playing at Pharaohs as well as Not Forgotten Girl. PB: How much of your song and lyric writing is autobiographical and how much of it comes from the imagination? FC: My song writing is very much autobiographical! So much so, that some people have referred to my material as a musical diary. Friends and family know what is going on in my life depending on the songs I am writing. I have penned a few pieces that are not drawn from personal experience but I find it harder get inspiration when I choose this method. PB: The songs on ‘Heading East’ are, with the exception of ‘Scars’, primarily love songs. Yet one gets the impression that, even when love has worked out such as on the title track and ‘Angel’, that there is an undercurrent of melancholy to ‘Heading East’ as one is left feeling that any happiness has been very hard earned and may at any point be snatched way. Was that what you were aiming for with the EP? FC: I draw my love songs from real life, and nothing about real life is a fairy tale. There has been some clear ups and downs, hence the hint of melancholy. I didn't go out to necessarily capture this feel in the EP, but, however, when I am at my most reflective I turn to music and when I am at my happiest I am too busy enjoying life to write. PB: While you are from Glasgow, the lyrics for ‘Heading East’ reveal that you know Edinburgh really well and the video for it makes a great use of locations there, showing off the Old Town, Calton Hill, Princes Street and Arthur Seat. How involved were you in its storyboarding and filming? Was it a video that took long to make? FC: Andy and I had a really clear vision of what the video would look like and constructed our storyboard frame by frame in great detail. So much so that we knew the angles we wanted to capture and the exact locations too. Our friend Lainey Scott Campbell played an integral part in the production by filming and editing the piece over four days. PB: It is a song about a romance happening against the odds, yet the actress in the video spends the whole of the film on her own and wandering from place to place. Why did you decide that she should do that? The actress is incidentally first-rate. Who is she? FC: We wanted to leave the viewer wondering who the subject was looking for...did she know who she was looking for? You see her looking at a photo at one point. Had she met the person in the photo? Was the person in the photo a long lost lover? We felt that this created an air of mystery for the audience and would draw them in more and allow them to make up their own mind, rather than the story being played out before them. Incidentally, we felt the subject being on the move is symbolic of everyone's journey to find the one. Thank you for your positive feedback on our actress! She is a close friend who very kindly agreed to turn up and spend two full filming days outside in the thick of Scottish winter. It actually snowed on our second day! Her name is Stacey Smith and this was her first experience at taking part in a music video. It is safe to say that she is a natural. PB: Now that ‘Heading East’ is out, what are your plans for the future? Will you be touring and playing dates? Will there also be album? FC: We are currently working at lining up the right gigs at the moment but hope to have some local dates in the next couple of months. There is nothing on the cards yet for an album; we will see how the launch of this EP goes and take it from there. PB: Thank you.

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