Get To Know – Potpourri – For The Rabbits

We Say…

Not a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant materials, the Potpourri we’re discussing today is instead a Sheffield-based, Bingo Record-signed quartet. Potpourri only picked up instruments less than a year ago, yet despite their relative inexperience have already played sold-out shows, booked in a 6Music session and completed their excellent debut album, First Dance, which arrives this Friday.

First Dance is a distinctly Sheffield affair, produced by labelmate Zac Barfoot, known for playing with Sun Drift and Mr Ben & The Bens, it captures the city’s spirit of playful, slightly off-kilter pop-music. Recalling acts like The Wharves or the much missed Totally, Potpourri’s sound is one of tight harmonies, driving rhythms and wavering electronics. First Dance is a record littered with highlights, from the saxophone-led, motorik-pop of Postcards, to the band’s swampy debut single, Eisenhower. Perhaps best of all is Audio Souvenir, a track that combines the angularity of Field Music with the wonderful late-seventies influenced oddness of X-Ray Spex. This might only be Potpourri’s first dance, yet if the music is all this good don’t expect anyone to leave the dance floor anytime soon.

They Say…

FTR: For those who don’t know who are Potpourri?

According to BBC crime/drama series, ‘Jonathan Creek, “Potpourri is the biggest rip off of the 20th century.”, but we’re fairly sure he isn’t talking about us!

We’re a four-piece art-pop band living in Sheffield. We’re sort of novices, having formed 6 weeks before our first gig last year and are enjoying learning as we go.

FTR: What can you remember about your first show?

Our first show was at ‘Bingo Fest’, a small festival hosted in a barn in Lancashire by the Bingo Records crew.
We have a stage costume of headscarves, macs and sunglasses which acts as a perfect disguise and was a bit of a comfort blanket to hide behind for our first gig; Evie’s went missing just before we were about to go on which resulted in us all running around trying to find it (and a mild diva moment).
We had only learnt 3 songs and were all visibly shaking with nerves on stage, afterwards we ended up galavanting in a field for an impromptu photoshoot with our lovely friend Juliet, feeling on top of the world! Such was the power of the good vibes and support at Bingo fest 🙂

FTR: Why do you make music? Why not another art form?

Music is fairly unknown as an artform for us and ‘Potpourri’ is a good excuse to get together and create something. It’s the right balance of fun and challenging. It also doesn’t limit us as we try to feed our other artistic interests into the band.

FTR: What can we expect from the Potpourri live show?

We incorporate a performance aspect that is a little silly and fun so expect the weird and wonderful!

FTR: What’s next for Potpurri?

First up we are releasing our Debut album ‘First Dance’ on October 30th. We will be celebrating via an online event. We are currently in the process of collaborating with some beautiful performers. Please keep your eyes peeled for more information! We are all very very excited.

They Listen To…