Album snapshot: I Set The Sea On Fire

Image: I Set The Sea On Fire

I Set The Sea On Fire are a four piece from Sheffield, knuckling genre confinement a gaping hole with their penchant for exploring any sound that brings down the house. 

They recently uncovered their latest single 'Tastes Like Funk', a grizzly chunk of their forthcoming self-titled album, that ferries their rock 'n' roll mantra with razor sharp guitar parts and lyricism that harks the spirit of youth.

With our attention firmly piqued towards the albums release next year and 'Tastes Like Funk' slipping its way into national radio playlists, we put the band in the spotlight to get a snapshot of its workings.  

What does the album Represent?

The album represents coming of age, and holding on to the stuff you believe in when you are young. Still believing in raw music and the true spirit of rock 'n' roll. The song that most represents this is ‘We Start Fires’ , which is about holding onto underground music.

Where does it stand musically?

It’s hard to say exactly, we’ve been classed as everything from hip-hop, indie pop to jazz-grunge. We play the music that we want to play, and we never get drawn towards what modern music is trying to become. We play what feels right for us.

What’s the story behind recording it?

This is the album we’ve been working on for about four years, and we’ve been haunted by years of setbacks. However, we feel this is more of a gift than a curse, as we’ve created an album we’re completely happy with.

Pick out a lyric from the album? 

“If I take my anger back to her, it’s like taking the devil to church” – it’s from a song called ‘Worship’ which we’re still working on. It’s about waking up and losing faith in religion that you were taught from a young age, and putting your faith in another person instead.

Favourite song to perform?

‘Tastes Like Funk’, as it’s our latest single. It’s also the song we’ve had the best reception with, and it’s got the most rock ’n' roll guitar solo. It’s the song we all fully get into when we’re on stage.

Tell us something we wouldn’t know about it? 

A couple of the songs are off our first ever album which we produced ourselves in an attic bedroom. It had 25 tracks and was only on sale for 12 days!

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