News Sean Armstrong: ‘People Who Record With Terrible Equipment Are My Inspiration’

Such is the all-encompassing nature of the debate over the freedom the internet affords new artists that it seems to have been quite a while since anyone actually bothered to utilise it. Step forward Sean Armstrong, then – a 24-year old lo-fi artist who’s taken to combining new with old to bewilderingly excellent effect. His seemingly irrepressible output of pint-sized mercurial laments, swinging wildly from experimental electronics to ‘60s folk pastiche, are recorded in the basest fashion and released on a cassette label, CATH Records, he started (alongside fellow Glasgow-based punk clatterers PAWS). So far, so old-school. But alongside this, there’s the Soundcloud account stocked with endless new tunes and a 23-track album, ‘Generation Scum’, available for free on the label’s Bandcamp account. We caught up with the man himself to talk through the process of making music without genres, without boundaries and without care for your friends’ feelings.

How did you get into making music?
My parents bought me a four-track about five years ago. I remember in the music shop they told us that this technology was about to become obsolete. I began recording shambolic instrumental monstrosities that I would master onto cassette through my hi-fi and pretty much force my friends to listen to. I’m sorry guys, I hope that you can forgive me one day.

It’s pretty clear from ‘Generation Scum’ that you don’t work within a single genre, so how would you go about describing your music?
There’s no real overall intention when I record anything. I just try and empty my head of all thoughts and get something done. There’s no message. It’s more of an experiment; a tie-dye, an awful haircut or a personality disorder. I try not to think too much about it.

It seems as though you take inspiration from a huge number of sources – who do you consider your influences?
People who record lo-fi music with terrible equipment are my inspiration. People who aren’t scared to not sound normal or make any sense. It doesn’t matter if your stuff sounds like shit, it can still be good. Currently my favourites are R Stevie Moore, Ariel Pink and Delia Derbyshire.

Do you feel that lo-fi music like this has a heritage or is it a by-product of whatever scene is around at the time?
I think that it can be traced right back to the Velvet Underground’s debut. The muddy discord and slight flatness moves me in a way which no clean and in tune recording can. It’s like comparing impressionism with photo realism. It may not look so good up close but when I step back I find it to be more three dimensional and involving.

‘Generation Scum’ is 23 songs listed almost completely in alphabetical order – would you consider it an album, or is it simply a space to release everything you had at the time of recording?
It was alphabetical, but then I remembered ‘Dog Date’. I laughed at the mistake, and left it the way it was. The whole thing is made up of millions of tiny mistakes. This is just a huge one. I knew it was going to be an album, but wasn’t sure what the running order would be.

If you knew it would be an album, what made you choose the tracks you did?
I just chose my favourite things that I had recorded. Most of it was done over the couple of months prior to the release. There was a lot to get through. It was tough, but I managed to get it down to 23 tracks.

How did you meet PAWS and start the label?
I went to the same school as Josh and Phil in Tain and met Matt after I’d moved to Glasgow. I lived with Josh and Phil more recently and along with our friends we decided to start a label. We had been talking about it for a long time and when we moved in we started work straight away.

Do you feel the rise of micro labels like yours gives new artists more room to mature outside of any of the usual pressure they might be under to find or impress backers?
I think that the rise of micro labels makes it less exclusive and encourages more people to make music. I have no doubt that this is a good thing.

Anything coming up that you’d like to let us know about?
I will be playing as part of a three piece band called PLATYPUS. We are going to be playing at Honeyblood’s tape launch on CATH Records, and will be playing some songs from the album. The show is on the 4th of April and is free entry - doors are at 8pm. It’s also just been confirmed that we will be playing with home taping legend R Stevie Moore on the 9th of June at Nice n Sleazy. This news is so exciting I can barely believe it.
A new solo album will be coming out in the next few weeks and people should keep an eye on the CATH records website if they’re interested.

Sean Armstrong’s ‘Generation Scum’ is out now via CATH Records.