Formerly Super Inuit, Slim Wrist is an exciting, left-field pop duo from Edinburgh. Its members, Brian Pokora and Fern Morris, joined me over Zoom last week to discuss their latest single, ‘The Soft’, their upcoming album, Closer for Comforting, and their experience playing on The Skinny Stage at the Kelburn Garden Party.
How did you meet?
Fern: One of us advertised on Gumtree for someone to work with. I can’t remember who. It feels so long ago… Maybe I advertised but didn’t get a response? Then, later, you did?
Brian: It was my fault we never connected. I was flaky. But eventually, it came together.
Do you like the same music?
Fern: Our tastes are quite different. At the time, I was looking for a jazz outfit. Not to say I wasn’t curious about Brian’s music…
Brian: Back then, I liked chillwave: Youth Lagoon, Washed Out… Now, we’ve found common ground.
Did friendship come naturally?
Brian: We got on straight away. We’re both pretty chill.
Had you been in bands before ‘Slim Wrist’?
Brian: I’ve been in bands since I was young. From 2010 to 2015, I was in a Neutral Milk Hotel-inspired folk group. It fell apart when the singer moved away. Initially, I made music myself. That way, I didn’t have to worry about someone leaving. But something was missing. Vocals are important and I can’t sing. I tried some spoken word stuff but, eventually, I realised that I needed a singer. That’s how Fern and I met. Originally, I wrote the music and Fern added the top line. But as we’ve grown and our tastes have combined, we’ve changed our process. Now, Fern is as involved in production as me.
Fern: Everything I’d sung was soul, jazz or funk. Slim Wrist was my first experience of electronic music. Although, I’d dabbled in some terrible production. Now, I could focus on vocals. Brian’s music allowed flexibility. For example, initially, it was all looped vocals. Now, our music is concise and structured. My role isn’t producing the final product. I suggest structures and ideas. Mostly, I use Garage Band. Its limited parameters mean you don’t spend hours agonising over hi-hat sounds. Usually, I start with vocal samples.
Did ‘The Soft’ emerge from the opening vocal sample?
Fern: Yes, it started with that sample. The rough sketch formed quickly. I sent it to Brian and we finessed it together.
Do music or lyrics come first?
Fern: Usually, we start with a rhythm.
Did you have musical upbringings?
Fern: I come from a family of guitarists and singers. In fact, I played classical guitar until I was sixteen. When I was little, I sang in choirs. Once I started singing solo, I dropped guitar. Singing seemed more straightforward.
Brian: I was a teenager when I first picked up the guitar. Later, I moved onto synths. For some reason, electronic music just clicked. That’s why I came in this direction. But as a kid, I liked Bruce Springsteen and that was it.
Why did you change the band’s name?
Brian: One of my favourite bands is Holy Fuck. I chose the first song off their latest album as the name of my solo project. When Fern joined, it no longer fit. A duo’s name should represent both its members. It’s no longer Fern singing on top of my music; it’s collaborative.
The name made no sense. When you’re named after a Holy Fuck song, you should sound like Holy Fuck. Of course, initially, that was my intention. But that soon changed…
Fern: We’d long debated changing the name. With the album coming out, we realised it was now or never. That’s when we began the painful process of choosing a new name.
Where did “Slim Wrist” come from?
Fern: Good question!
Brian: We filled whole notebooks with band names. That one stuck. It’s tactile and lyrical. It fits our music.
Fern: We needed a name that wasn’t too serious or too flippant… ‘Slim Wrist’ sat nicely in the middle.
When did you abandon guitar for electronics? I couldn’t find your old music anywhere.
Brian: You won’t find it through official channels. Although, I think someone filmed our gig at Opium and put it on YouTube. Our old music was… interesting. Our songs were all nine minutes long. They’d just keep on building. I imagined my music would be all groove, guitars and improvisation. Now, it’s quite refined.
Why did you make that transition?
Fern: It was a gradual change and not a conscious decision. Since ‘Tessellate’, our first single, each release has taken us one step closer to our current style.
Brian: ‘Tectonic’ and ‘Chicane’ were very succinct. We had started moving in that direction and I was happy with where we were going.
What are your roles in the writing process?
Fern: It depends. Either a song starts with Brian or it starts with me. One of us will create a rough sketch. If that person likes it, they’ll send it to the other. Songs get thrown back and forth until we’re happy with them.
Brian:. Fern will have an idea and I’ll form the structure. Usually, we’ll finesse it together, arranging vocal parts into verses and choruses. That’s the most efficient way we’ve written music.
Fern: When said like that, it sounds very ordered. But we can spend hours agonising over details.
Do you tend to work on music remotely, then?
Fern: Usually, it starts remotely but we’ll always collaborate on something.
Brian: Occasionally, we’ll try things out on keyboard but, usually, writing starts separately. Every week, we meet to discuss something. Currently, it’s all album admin. Hopefully, we can get back to making music soon.
What’s the meaning behind the lyrics of ‘The Soft’?
Fern: It’s about the relationship between ‘concern’ and ‘control’. I tried to create a sense of disorientation. I wanted to contrast the track’s soft sound and title with disconcerting lyrics.
Why is the lyric “Simmer Down” so vital?
Fern: It’s a placating message when there’s nothing to feel placated about. The album’s full of dry humour about what’s appropriate.
What do you use on stage?
Brian: We’re always tinkering with our live set. We want it to be as engaging as possible. For our last gig, we added percussion. As well as singing, Fern plays vocal samples and synth lines on a keyboard. Using my laptop, I alter the bass and effects. I love bass as I was the bassist in my previous band.
What has been the audience’s reaction?
Brian: We have a specific niche, though we may lack mass appeal. At every gig, there’s always someone who says, “this is exactly what I wanted.”
Fern: We’ve honed what we do. In our songs, everything’s there for a reason; there are no cheap tricks. We try to stay focused and concise. I think that comes across in our sets.
Brian: We’ve started adding some “dance hits” to our sets. Ok, perhaps that’s an exaggeration…
My favourite song from Closer for Comforting is ‘Half-light’, the last track. A week ago, we played it live for the first time. It was the best part of our set. It’s definitely our most danceable track.
Fern: Until now, half our set has been from the album and the other half has been old songs. As we approach its release, we’ve been including more tracks from the album.
How was the Kelburn Garden Party?
Fern: Wet and cold.
Brian: I had a keyboard meltdown but I managed to save it… I think.
Fern: No, it was good. We played on The Skinny Stage. Last time we played there, it was pre-pandemic. So, it was great to be back.
What can we expect from the rest of Closer for Comforting?
Fern: ‘The Soft’ is probably the poppiest track on the album. Not that the rest isn’t poppy. That’s a thread that runs throughout. But it’s not always full on. There’s a good spread of energy and feel.
Brian: There’s a range but it’s not all over the place. That said, my three favourites are the outliers. One of them is driving and intense. The other two are more meditative.
Are there any Edinburgh bands we should check out?
Brian: Who have we played gigs with? There’s Redolent, Maranta, Post Coal Prom Queen…
A guy I was in a band with has just released his first EP. The first time I listened to it was last night. It was amazing. He’s called Hex Organ
Fern: Maranta are great. They closed The Skinny Stage at Kelburn.
Brian: Free Love are brilliant… and Tupper Werewolf.
‘Soft’ is available on streaming services. Slim Wrist’s debut album releases this September.
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