William Doyle Chats East India Youth, Meeting Brian Eno, and ‘Springs Eternal’

William Doyle has taken a long and wavy path to his current position as creator of Springs Eternal. His new album creates a soundscape of whirling dreamlike melodies, euphoric orchestration, and even unashamed pop. A far cry from the almost classical feel of his previous work and almost a return to his early roots. Del Pike considers that journey and chats to Will about his new album.

Originally from Bournemouth, Will has woven many routes and taken multiple forms. The young writer/performer started off touting his intricately formed, bedroom-produced songs around the pubs and bars of Southampton during his college years before forming Doyle and the Fourfathers, purveyors of infectious pop with a touch of politics (“Welcome to Austerity,” was a highlight).

Their sole album, Man Made, was released in 2011, engineered by Paddy Kingsland of BBC Radiophonic Workshop fame. The album held all the promise of a band heading for greater things, but in true Doyle fashion, he already had a very different vision of the future, and returned to solo status once more.

The album, Total Strife Forever, was released at the start of 2014 under the new name of East India Youth, inspired by his new neighbourhood adjacent to the Olympic Park in London. In a turn of events that still shocks Will, the album was shortlisted for the Mercury Awards which brought him his closest dalliance with the big time. When nominees were announced, Skinny Magazine called it “A remarkable album of astonishing scope and beauty, with an effortlessly direct emotionality.” Young Fathers took the prize.

One more East India Youth album emerged the following year, the slightly more accessible and still stunning Culture of Volume, complete with proper music videos and pin-sharp production values. Once again, Will pulled the rug sharply from beneath us and disappeared again, only to return in a low-key rebirth under his name in 2016.

Since then, he has pretty much continuously released a stream of albums and singles that always deserve more exposure, but he certainly has gained a cult following. His 2021 4AD release, Great Spans of Muddy Time, named after Gardener Monty Don’s description of depression, received breathtaking reviews, and was as always supported by BBC 6 Music. Marc Riley has supported Will since his Fourfathers years, whilst the band were fighting to save the station. A win-win situation.

His new album, Springs Eternal, may be his most surprising release yet. A significant leap forward in terms of style and structure, this is his most immediate album in years. Still warm on the shelves, it is steadily finding its way onto the airwaves and has had nothing but glowing praise from the great and good.

I first met Will when he was a slightly rebellious A-level student in my Film Studies group at a Southampton 6th from college where I taught. Having set an essay on Marxism in film, Will failed to hand in any written work. Instead, I received a CD of a catchy little song Will had written and produced about Karl Marx. It was clear the boy was heading somewhere different. I wish I’d kept it now.

Chatting today with Will, now 33, it’s hard to believe where those years have gone, but he’s not changed and still finds humour and enjoyment in all that he does.

We start by discussing the new album and why it is such a departure from Great Spans of Muddy Time. Will gave his new songs a test run over a series of low-key gigs at the end of last year, and I was lucky to catch a show at Heartbreakers in Southampton. At that point, the new approach was apparent, with a clutch of punchier songs that were instant earworms.

“The record before was a bit of an accident, I lost a load of stuff on the hard drive, and the only stuff that remained was stuff I’d recorded on cassette tape, and it meant I couldn’t finish them as they were…”

I ask Will how this transition came about?”

“The record before was a bit of an accident, I lost a load of stuff on the hard drive, and the only stuff that remained was stuff I’d recorded on cassette tape, and it meant I couldn’t finish them as they were, and I guess it was like, well that’s that! But you know, it hangs together nicely. But it was difficult to think, well I can’t make the same stuff again, because it was a kind of once-in-a-lifetime thing. So, this one was always going to be different but initially, it was going to be stripped-down songs, and I just got a bit carried away.

I started working with Mike Lindsay from a band called Tunng… they were one of the first bands to become what they coined “folk-tronica”. Mike was originally from Chandlers Ford (a suburb of Southampton near Will’s teenage home), but he’s about ten years older than me so our paths never crossed at the time, but we had a shared history, so I worked with him and that’s what gives the album a sort of self-produced feel, with the same sort of sound and synthesisers. Having a producer there made me more confident in singing, so my voice is way more upfront on this one”.

At the risk of using an awkward term, some of the songs on the album veer towards pop, was this intentional?

“Yeah, the vocals are out front and it’s way more melodic. It started with the idea that the songs were going to be stripped down, it just meant that stuff was intact, and no matter what we threw at it, it was always going to be strong. And with the melodies and the rhythms, it was always going to be more exuberant and upbeat.”

William Doyle ‘Springs Eternal’ Album Artwork

Listening to the album, I’m getting a vibe of a return to stuff from even pre-East India Youth

“Yeah, it’s funny that it’s gone into all sorts of places, and it does feel like it’s kind of been cherry-picked from all of those periods and shoved into one thing, but it’s not on purpose.”

It’s not regressive though, the old sound is still there but it still feels like it has moved forward.

“It’s nice to feel like it’s not just random every time, some people get a bit frustrated that I’m constantly doing a different thing and they can’t pin me down. It’s been a barrier for some people, I think. But it’s starting to make sense now as I’m pulling all these elements together. So, songs on the album like “Now in Motion” (currently on the 6 Music playlist), could be from a Doyle and the Fourfathers album, it’s all part of the same lineage”.

I like “Surrender Yourself” on the album, I like how it goes a bit Sparks at the end.

“Yeah, (laughing) no one has mentioned Sparks yet as an influence, but yes, just insane good melodies and playfulness in their music. I think that’s the thing with this record, it’s that the last album was just me, nobody else on it, so having the producer and everyone involved gives it a playfulness, in fact, yeah, everyone involved in the album is on that track. And I got a drumbeat from Mr Eno on that too”.

Do you want to tell us a little more about your relationship with Brian Eno?

“Well obviously, he’s always been a big influence of mine, and I think even when I was at college I was listening to Music for Airports, and it was almost like Year Zero for me you know. When I started listening to his other earlier stuff I realised wow, he’s worked with Bowie and Talking Heads – some of the best music ever.

When I started working at East India Youth, my manager at the time was friends with Brian, and he was trying to invite labels and people down to the shows, and he managed to invite Brian, unbeknownst to me it has to be said. I was supporting someone in Shepherds Bush and he came down to the show. At that point, my manager wasn’t letting me look at the guest list because he thought it would freak me out. I remember once going to ask him a question, and he was like “Get Out!”, he wouldn’t let me see it. Then after the show, my girlfriend said “Brian Eno was here!” and I was like “Fuck off” Ha ha. I just thought it was some bald bloke with glasses.

“My manager managed to invite Brian, unbeknownst to me it has to be said. I was supporting someone in Shepherds Bush and he came down to the show. At that point, my manager wasn’t letting me look at the guest list because he thought it would freak me out.”

Brian very kindly bought my record from Rough Trade and we stayed in touch for ages, but after the second EIY record my PR thought it would be a good idea to pair me up with him for a feature in The Guardian, and my friend Luke interviewed us. It was the first time I’d met him, so we went up to his studio for the shoot and it was quite an overwhelming experience. But after that, he was like “Come back to the studio and we’ll have a play”. So I just kept going back really.

It’s funny because I’ve played on loads of stuff with him in the studio, none of which have seen the light of day, but that’s a testament to how prolific he is. We worked on some amazing stuff in there and hopefully one day it will see the light of day. Two albums ago I got him to do a spoken word intro to one of the songs, which was super easy. I used my voice at first, but I thought this would add extra gravitas, and he’s got a really good kind of BBC English-speaking voice. So I just emailed him and he did that.

I did a similar thing on this album, I recorded half the album with Mike in Margate in his studio, and some of that work was so good, but some of the other songs were lacking, and I thought I was going to throw a load of these out and write a bunch of new ones in a few months. So, I texted Brian and said I’m working on some new songs in a really short space of time, could you send me a few drumbeats? And he sent me like 25 pieces, I was only trying to write about four or five songs, but he’s a great instigator. So, on songs like “Relentless Melt” and “Surrender Yourself” there are a few things of his. It’s very casual. If you’d have told me in college years ago that one day you can text Brian Eno and he’ll send you a load of stuff, I’d never have believed you. I never take it for granted. He’s so generous and kind and extremely funny as well”.

I ask Will what the upcoming tour is going to look like

“Because I’m a solo artist, I have to pay people to go on the road with me, so I’ve not got a full band, but my friend Alex Painter plays on the record, he’s been like my main collaborator, so he’ll come out and play a bit of saxophone and cello, and do some backing vocals, so we’ll re-arrange the songs a little bit and avoid backing tracks. I just want it to be more live and direct as much as possible. Me and him have got a good chemistry together, a nice shorthand.

I’ve been enjoying playing acoustic on these in-store dates which is something I’ve not done in ages, I’m sure you remember me doing that back in the day, so I’ve not done anything like that since those days. It’s where I started, so I’ve come full circle a little bit.

So, what’s next on the horizon?

“Well… I finished this album about two years ago, it’s taken ages to come out for various reasons. But you know I said earlier that I wanted to strip down records, well I’ve got about 15 or so songs ready to do in that way and I’ve kind of earmarked a week in May when we’re just going to do it. I’ll get Alex down and we’ll just do it quickly, live. So maybe at the end of the year, the start of the next there’ll be this other thing. There’s no reason to stop.

The East India Youth stuff got quite popular, and I was on the radio a lot, but then I had to enforce a break from that and re-configure myself, so it’s more of a struggle now to get back to that. With this record, there’s still an opportunity to get into that world again, but I’m more interested in playing the long game. I see myself as someone who’s going to have more of a cult following, once you have like fifteen albums under your belt then there’s no going back. Last year was the only year since 2008 that I’ve not put anything out, so I’m on the right track.”

Before we finish, I wanted to ask, how has the Mercury nomination affected your career?

“People talk about the curse of it, and if you don’t win, you’ll never be heard of again, but I just took it in my stride really, it was all a bit of fun. I mean no disrespect and it’s awesome to be considered part of that. The circumstances around it made it so unlikely, I mean I finished making that record thinking my career would never take off, I was only 22 and I finished it in my Mum’s flat and sat on my bed. I didn’t even have a desk, just working with my laptop on the windowsill. So the fact that it catapulted the way it did, I just enjoyed every bizarre moment of it.

I feel a bit awkward now when the press release headline “Mercury Award-winning artist”, I know that was like 10 years ago, but it was a touchstone moment and I’m still very proud of that record… I was making Total Strife Forever thinking nobody would ever hear it, so I didn’t care, it was made with an element of abandonment, with absolutely no context or sense of audience. I think that was what encased it in its little world.”

Will’s journey can be followed through his many releases, culminating in Springs Eternal which is available now on Tough Love from here.