It's super exciting. The lead single, 'Talk', features beautiful layers of birdsong, rivers, and enmeshing strings and vocalisations. Can you talk through this layering process?

The natural elements were almost something I didn't think about. All the demos I recorded had them in any way because they were recorded in a shed or in a room where the window was open. So those sounds were always a part of it. But when it came to putting them in, I thought about how to add it as a delicate layer - or a decorative layer - rather than something that's full on. I worked closely with Josh Harrison and Leslie Adriaans, and they really understood what I was trying to do.

I think what I'm talking about in the song is quite vulnerable, quite confessional, and quite real. I think those layers add another element of realness into it. I parked the song for five months but then in the studio, we ended up with three versions of it: one with drums, one more like ambient pop, and the one that felt right was the one that was floaty. It felt like a bed, like a soft landing for the words. It made sense.

It's lovely. You write and record in the great outdoors, recording this EP in a South Downs woodland. How did it compare to recording in a studio?

So, 'Talk' was recorded indoors but there are a couple of tracks on the EP recorded outdoors. It's interesting because there's definitely a difference between them. Outdoors, I think we went into a weird trance. It was a long summer's day, and I don't think we set out with any real intentions and when you're outside, you can kind of do anything. I found that ideas that would need to be embellished a lot in a studio were already there outside. Just a little hum with me on guitar playing two chords and the outside ambience was enough. That was nice. The studio was in Josh's living room, and it was a very cosy space for an intimate feel.

Nothing feels over-polished. Do you think recording outside helped you to reach your sound?

The way we recorded was quite scary actually because we couldn't edit it. We put the microphones out and it was like, "we get what we get." You have to surrender to perfectionism, and I'm a perfectionist. I had to accept that there might be a wind blowing when you've just done a really good take. In the EP I've left in mistakes because, well, we couldn't edit them out, but I’m trying to celebrate that human mistake. There's a lot of perfect music and polished AI-everything, and I think we sometimes need to circle back to that raw sound because people still resonate with it. That was my vision - accepting what we get as a real sound.

What were the practicalities of recording outside?

That's a great question. Josh Harrison is such an amazing producer. This was the first time he'd done anything like this, and he was very much in charge of the tech. We ended up going to this really long, grassy, overgrown place and set up on a log. Then we just had to go with it. There's a track on the EP where the birds are really going for it, and then there's another track recorded later in the day, and the birds have gone. We had to really accept what the surroundings were going to bring.

Aside from the sanctuary of nature, what inspires you most to write?

I think I use writing as a processing mechanism. I'm a big journaler, and I have mountains of words in big journals. I think music's the same avenue; it really helps me process how I actually feel about anything. But when I write music, I don't tend to write with words in mind, I write with melodies, or a guitar chord, or I'll find a nice new tuning. I'll hum over it and then when the words come out I'm like, "oh, I’m talking about this thing that was on my mind two days ago." It's cool because I finish songs and then I realise what they're about.

It sounds like you're unearthing thoughts through your songs.

I am! There's a song on the EP called 'Outside', and I still don't really understand what that song's about. It just came out. We jammed the song in the forest, and when we came back, Josh gave me a microphone and asked me to sing over it. I just started humming the melody, and then a couple of words came out, and then I went away, and I really sat down and came out with this poem. I've got ideas about what it's about, but it’s not so clear to me even now, but it means something.

That's really interesting. Had you experienced writing lyrics like this before?

It was a new experience that I'm really grateful Josh and Leslie pushed me to do. It was quite scary to be given a microphone and just see what happens, because I didn't know what was going to come out. It's an approach I want to carry on doing. It's like the musical equivalent of free writing and it's where some of my best ideas have come from, by just tuning into what comes out straight away.

There's a lot to be said for creatives leaning more into spontaneity. As a solo artist, did it help you to work closely with the producer?

Absolutely. It's great working with other people because I could do something ten times over but someone else can tell you not to overdo it. There's something real and more free flowing that way. 

Can you tell us about your collaboration with the London Philharmonic Orchestra?

I'm on an artist development scheme with Audio Active who've got some PRS funding for ten artists from Brighton. They're helping us to develop and we've all got our own goals. As part of it, they do workshops, schemes, press shots, and marketing talks. We've had two sessions with brass band players from the London Philharmonic Orchestra where we showed them our tracks and they played along to it on tape. Next week, we've got a workshop with a strings player. It's been really cool.

That’s such an amazing opportunity!

Audio Active are amazing. I'm the only folk artist on their programme, most are rappers or grime artists, but they've really encouraged me and really understand what I'm doing. With what I do, you don't want to just whack a brass band section on, but I'm really inspired by Bon Iver and the way they use trumpets and brass. It's subtle but adds a lot. That's what I hope this experience with London Philharmonic can bring.

What else are you looking forward to in 2025?

Honestly, just having this project out in the world. I've got a couple of shows coming up, my first festival at Homegrown and an EP launch show at St Augustine's Centre - I'm very excited for that.

You can listen to 'Talk', the first single from REA's debut EP Garden Shed, on Thursday 20 February. Keep up to date on her upcoming shows here.