After signing a record deal following YouTube success and with her debut album Tomorrow Will Be Beautiful released last month, 20 year-old Londoner Flo Morrissey is certain to be busy. She made time for The Edge, however, and Laura Cox caught up with the singer songwriter before her set on the Main Stage at Blissfields Festival.
Hello! How are you, and what have been up to?
I’m well thank you! I was at Glastonbury last weekend, which was fun, and I’ve just released my first album, about a month ago. I played my first headline shows in London and in Paris about two weeks ago, so that was fun! It’s kind of intense to suddenly jump in.
There’s a lot happening at the moment!
Yeah! I like to challenge myself. I’ve been creating music and putting it online since I was about 14, so it kind of feels like a natural progression. I try not to think too much about it. I focus on each show, and then think about what’s next. I enjoy it, but try not to hold on to it too much. I like to keep moving forward.
So, you’ve recently performed your first headline show in London and also at Glastonbury. How do you feel a headline show compares to performing at a festival?
Everyone’s a bit more relaxed at a festival. Maybe they’ll be sitting on the floor. At a venue, especially if you play in a church, you feel like you can’t mess up at all! Being at a festival lends itself to having a bit more fun with the performance. People may not have heard you before, whereas at a headline show they are coming to see you. You can make a lot of discoveries at festivals -that’s something I like a lot about them.
Do you have a dream festival that you’d like to play at in future?
I’m excited to play End of the Road in September. I’ve always wanted to go there, so that’ll be fun! I’d also like to play some festivals in different countries. There’s one in Iceland I’d love to do. I’d also love to play Flo Festival in Helsinki. Bjork has played that before. It just seems cool, and I like the irony of it! I have never done a festival abroad, so that would be fun.
How would you describe your sound in three words?
Three words – that’s hard! A French musician said to me he would describe my music as ‘dentelle’ which means ‘lace’ in French. I like that because lace is delicate and intricate, but also vulnerable and fragile. I liked that, so I’ll use that!
Who would you say are your main influences?
When I was writing the album, it was from the age of around 15 to 19. For some reason, I was listening mainly to male musicians. I was listening to Jeff Buckley, T-Rex, and Neil Young among others. Only now am I really getting into more female musicians like Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. I’m also loving a lot of people nowadays like Father John Misty and Tobias Jesso Jr, who I supported two months ago. There’s some amazing music coming out right now. I like a lot of different things. I’m also getting into film music and my album is more cinematic than a stripped back folk record, I love Philip Glass and more classical musicians too.
What are your plans after the festival season?
I’m hopefully doing my first solo tour. I’d love to go back to the States. I’m realising that my favourite thing is travelling and meeting new people. My best realisation recently has been to kind of ‘get out’ of myself, and know that it’s about other people and helping other people. I love meeting people around the world, seeing their reaction and hopefully giving them something.
Flo Morrissey’s debut album, Tomorrow Will Be Beautiful, is available now from Glassnote Records.
