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      Wings Of Desire

      Wings of Desire rounded off 2023 with the release of their album Choose a Life. Combining the sound of the early 90s with 20th century futurist thinking, Chloe Little and James Taylor are taking the UK indie scene by storm.

      13.02.24

      Words by Nicole Haynes

      TNAM caught up with the pair to discuss their recent album and to hear more about their song-writing process. Little and Taylor discuss their artistic influences, questions they have about the world around them and reveal what is coming up for Wings of Desire in 2024.

      How did you guys meet and when did you start making music together?


      Chloe:  James and I were playing in different bands when we were younger and crossed paths at a gig at The Lexington in London. It was a nice full circle moment because we ended our last UK tour with a sold out show there together for the first time

      Who are your musical influences?


      Chloe:  We are really interested in Krautrock and the history of music coming out of post war
      Germany. There’s a reason some of the best records ever made were recorded in Berlin.

      Philosophically and artistically, what inspires your music and lyrics?


      James:  We are like magpies, we take inspiration from all walks of life. However philosophically we get a lot of our ideas from Gnosticism, Eastern Mysticism, The Beat poets and anything else that questions our reality. Artistically we love the pop art movement so a lot of the visuals are inspired by the greats Keith Haring, Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat.

      What was the song writing process for this record like?


      James:  The song writing process for this record came from a period where it felt like everything around us was crumbling. Like our life was going through a huge destructive shift. I was also going through a period of deep self reflection and trying to confront the things that had been weighing me down for all these years. The record has a bittersweet edge to it. A period of alchemising my emotions.

      This record explores themes of time, impermanence and existentialism – particularly
      in tracks like Chance of a Lifetime and I Will Try My Best – what inspired you to
      explore these philosophical questions?


      James:  Isolation, reflection and dissatisfaction are the three things that made us question the world around us. How did we manifest into this strange collective dream world? What kind of sick joke is this? Did we choose to forget or was it forced upon us by some evil parasite overlord astral being. Maybe we’ll never know

      I really admire your use of visuals in your music videos. After watching your latest
      video for Perfect World I wondered if you consider visual storytelling throughout the song writing process or if it comes afterwards?

       

      Chloe:  Creating the visuals feels like such a huge part of the picture to us. Often a video idea will come to us whilst the song is still being written – the first track we ever wrote together came from an experimental 15 second loop of images I put together and then James sat in front of it with a guitar and pretty much wrote a fully fleshed out song instantly.

       

      Similarly, your website contains an array of multimedia. Is this something you try to
      incorporate into your live shows?


      Yes for our headline show at The Courtyard Theatre in London this year we are planning to
      incorporate some of our visuals into it. As our shows get bigger the plan is to build on this
      and make it as interactive as possible.

      If you could sum up this record in one sentence, how would you describe it?


      Euphoric depression

      What are you looking forward to in 2024?


      Playing all the songs of the record live and continuing to put out more music. And watching the pretty flowers bloom.

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