Manipulating samples into abstract new forms, while keeping a keen melodic sense firmly in his grasp, Catching Flies has emerged with a creative identity all of his own. Led by the circularity of tidal ebbs and flows, his latest release, Tides, shifts between moods, fusing lush string ornamentation with dynamic undercurrents

Adrian Bassanelli

Learning his craft at the age of 16, before going on to gain recognition for his sample-based flights of musical discovery, Catching Flies – aka George King – is positively giddy at the prospect of his latest record, Tides being released. This second album (on sale now) is a hook-laden, aural labyrinth, dense with evolving textures and liquid beds, assembled from often entirely unfamiliar starting points.

We spoke to George to learn more about the making of this album, a follow-up to 2019’s Silver Linings, and his approach to music-making in general. First of all, we wanted to know where George starts on a practical level when sitting down at his home studio desk. “I think in terms of hooks. I love making instrumental music. I grew up listening to instrumental jazz and trip-hop in its golden era. Records like Cold Water Music by Aim were big influences. The mixture of that and admiring pop and catchy music is that you try and create these vocal hooks but you end up doing it with instruments.”

Created in George’s home studio, the album’s development was in sync with the rhythms of his domestic life. George would often leave the studio to ponder the record’s themes further. “I spent a lot of time in nature writing it. I got into going to a different seaside town every Monday. I wanted to refresh my creative process.

Although I do a lot of work in my studio, it can be nice to be sort of ‘shocked out’ of that environment and be somewhere totally different. I find writing while I’m touring to be helpful. Not for getting complex arrangements down but just logging those initial ideas.”

Tides had no contrived ‘starting point’, instead evolving naturally from King’s experimentation. “I’m always trying to push it into places where it wouldn’t necessarily belong. With sampling, a lot of the records I get are from charity shops. I love it when, say, I’m listening to a whole record of ’70s prog rock, and I find one isolated harp note. I can take that and completely remove it from its context. I’ll try and give it a new setting.”

George and Paul