"Synthetic is about the experience of Impostor Syndrome - something I think we’ve all been through in one part of our lives or another." – Sarah Fletcher, lead singer and lyricist.

Feathers, Wood ‘N’ String release their new single Synthetic on July 30th, 2019. This is their second single of the year and is part of a series of songs about being “from nowhere” - the title of their upcoming 2019 EP. This track is their furthest venture yet into alternative metal, with Sarah having had an intensive learning curve in rock belting, and Lloyd working on some screams, which ironically led to a good dose of Impostor Syndrome during the writing and recording.

“From Nowhere” is a discussion of Lloyd and Sarah’s move halfway across the world to Southampton, UK, and in a broader sense, of the experience of not quite belonging. In their first 2019 single “Composite,” they directly approached the issue of belonging (or not belonging) in more than one home. In “Synthetic” they consider a different aspect of being between spaces of belonging - that which we encounter when we aren’t sure if we’re good enough to be part of the work or task in which we are involved.

What inspired the musical aspects of Synthetic?

Lloyd says: “I’d been listening to a lot of metal and studying breakdowns. I wouldn’t say that Synthetic has a breakdown, but the rhythmic, heavy nature of the riff is influenced by the stylistic features of songs I enjoy in the metal genre. I wanted us to experiment with vocal textures and attempt a sound that could really be called alternative metal. We both did some work with Melissa Cross’s ‘The Zen of Screaming’ DVDs and started regularly doing her warm up, not so much to be able to be screamers (although I wouldn’t mind developing this skill eventually) but to be able to use vocal fry more and change the tone of our voices between sections. Synthetic also demonstrates two of the goals I had for this year’s music - to use both our voices in all the songs, and to experiment more with synth sounds. I’m not sure how much more stuff this heavy we’ll produce - it’s been quite challenging to do especially for Sarah, but it’s also been great to experiment with this sound. It was actually a musical challenge in itself finding and working in Sarah’s belting range - we had to tune down to drop C sharp to put this song more comfortably in a place where she could get more power, which meant putting a new set of strings on Bluey that would allow that kind of detuning.”

What does ‘Synthetic’ refer to as a title and what inspired the lyrics?

Sarah says: “Synthetic had a few titles before we settled on this one. It started out as ‘Impostor,’ which we decided was a bit boring, so we went searching for a word that would describe that feeling of all your competence being an act - of being a secret fake. For a little while it was going to be ‘artifice,’ but that was a terrible word to sing, and we decided we wanted the title to be in the song. Then for a while it was ‘Mistaken,’ and finally ‘Synthetic’ came up in the lyrics as we were developing them, and it stuck the best. I think ‘Artifice’ can be associated with ‘clever’ pretenses or disguises, whereas ‘Synthetic’ is a bit of a dirty word - it makes me think of plastic. Beyond describing being artificial or fake, it suggests being a robot or something machine-like and not quite human, which is what we can start to feel like when we experience burnout and stress. So it conveys something about the internal experiences that can result from Impostor Syndrome as well as the external impression side of it.

When we were planning the tracks for ‘From Nowhere,’ we talked about the different grey areas that we encounter in life, where we aren’t sure whether we fit or not. Impostor Syndrome is one of those. When you aren’t sure if you fit in your workplace, or whether you’re good enough for a team or a title you work with, there’s that same uncertainty about belonging. Should you be there, or should you be doing something else? This grey area is what Synthetic is about. Ultimately the message of hope in this song is to remind us that we aren’t really synthetic at all. We’re all human, organic, and everyone experiences this, so the very best thing we can do about it is be honest, and help each other.”

Feathers, Wood ‘N’ String will be chatting on social media with you in the lead up and on the day about how Impostor Syndrome has affected your life, and if you’ve overcome it, how you did so. If you’d like to join our From Nowhere ‘team,’ feel free to come and share about your experiences - Sarah and Lloyd would love to hear from you.