Blind Yeo is a Cornish based musical collective, formed by Will Greenham and Anosuka Helm. With an ever changing cast of performers, their sound fluctuates between elements of folk, electronica, kraut-rock, and psychedlia.  Beginning during the pandemic, Blind Yeo found their footing at the Cornish Bank, an artist residency that helped establish their communal sound. Their latest album, Lemoine Point, was realsed earlier this August, so I caught up with some of the memebers ahead of their gig at the Hare & Hounds on the 4th of November. 

C: First of all, I’ve got to ask, WHO or WHAT is Blind Yeo, if anything/one at all?


BY: I think it really came out of having played in lots of different bands over the years and loving the experience of making music communally. One thing I'd noticed with previous bands was that people's enjoyment, availability and commitment naturally ebb and flow. Sometimes a more rigid band structure can make things feel less spontaneous than they should.

So Blind Yeo was always conceived as a collective. There's always members that are more of a stable part of the formation, but there's also this wider circle of musicians who can come in and out depending on what else is happening in their lives. It means nobody has to feel permanently tied to something, and the music can evolve naturally.

We've always operated like that live, but increasingly we're trying to bring that spirit into the recordings too. The album features around ten musicians, but some of the more recent things we've been working on have involved an even wider group of people contributing creatively.I love the idea of collective ownership of the music, and particularly the freedom that comes with it. It keeps things exciting and allows the project to constantly change shape.


C: You began making music during the pandemic and quickly became the band you are today after a residency at The Cornish Bank. How do you think this period of isolation influenced your sound? And what is so special about the Cornish Bank?


BY: During the pandemic it was initially much more of an individual project. In some ways I was incredibly fortunate to suddenly have that amount of time to dedicate to making music. It's quite a rare thing when you're a musician, particularly when you're juggling lots of other things. I spent an enormous amount of time playing guitar, really honing my technique and developing a classical guitar sound that's become quite central to the record. It was a chance to just be an artist and explore things without too many distractions.

There was also a lot of music happening at home. My son Henry was around 18 at the time and came back to live with me during the pandemic. He's a brilliant multi-instrumentalist, so we spent loads of time playing together, experimenting with bass, drums, guitars and electronics. That was a really special experience, both musically and personally, and definitely helped shape the project.

Then towards the latter stages of the pandemic, another quite extraordinary thing happened. We managed to secure the lease on an old bank in Falmouth and began transforming it into a music venue, The Cornish Bank. It was one of those opportunities that probably wouldn't have happened in quite the same way without the pandemic. We started hosting residencies and bringing musicians together, including artists like KOG and Squid, alongside lots of local musicians.

Blind Yeo began to develop into a proper live collective through that environment. We had some early gigs and then an amazing residency where we really started to discover what the band could sound like together. That became an important foundation for the EP and eventually the album. So in a strange way, the pandemic gave me the time to develop the individual musical ideas, and then the venue gave us the space and community to turn those ideas into something much bigger.

C: As a collective you often have members come and go from the band. Past and presents, how many people have been in Blind Yeo?


BY: I think the fact that people can come and go is what keeps the creative energy alive. There's no expectation that everyone has to be involved in everything. Someone might play on one recording, disappear for a while because they've got other projects or commitments, and then come back for something else. They're still part of the wider collective. It all feels quite natural, really. Different combinations of musicians bring different ideas and energies, and that stops things becoming too predictable.

I'd estimate we've probably had around 15 musicians involved in one way or another, and I really like that fluidity. It's not about maintaining one fixed lineup or recreating exactly the same thing every time. It's about allowing the music to develop with whoever happens to be in the room.


C: What is special about the Cornish music scene? Can you recommend our readers some of your favourite bands or venues?


BY: There's a prominent independence in Cornwall, and that's something I really love about it. It's an extraordinary place to make things. You're very connected to nature, to the landscape, to time and place, and you're also quite far away from the usual centres of the music industry. I think that distance can be really healthy creatively.  

And there's an enormous amount of music happening here. The electronic scene is particularly exciting. There's ESC, who are doing some amazing things, and Oh Mr James, who we're massive fans of and who remixed one of our tracks. There's obviously the influence of Aphex Twin too, who's such an extraordinary cultural figure associated with Cornwall. There are some brilliant younger rock bands coming through as well, including RIZTS, who make this really exciting, slightly progressive, heavy punk music. And the folk scene is wonderful. There are loads of great musicians, folk clubs and little communities making things happen.

What's particularly interesting is that Cornwall doesn't necessarily have a huge number of dedicated music venues, but it does have these incredibly committed communities. Falmouth has some brilliant spaces and pubs, but then you've got places like the Eco Park in Porthtowan, St Just Town Hall, and some lovely spaces around Penzance. In many towns there are people finding ways to put gigs on and bring interesting music to their communities. And the audiences are genuinely curious. People really do pay attention to the arts down here, and they're willing to take chances on things. That's a lovely environment to be making music in.


C: What was the process of making your new album The Lemoine Point like?


BY: The interesting thing about the album is that it was actually made over two quite different recording sessions. Initially we went in with the full band and recorded everything live together. We came away with loads of material and thought we'd probably made the record. But when we started getting into the mixing, something didn't quite feel complete. There was all this wonderful big, expansive, communal music, but it felt like it needed something else to balance it.

I've always loved electronic music, and we'd also spent a lot of time playing in smaller duo and trio formations, making more stripped-back, experimental things. So we went back into the studio and recorded another collection of tracks, this time working much more with electronics, smaller arrangements and these slightly folktronic sounds. That gave the album a completely different dimension. There are these big live-band moments, but then everything can simmer down into something much more intimate, delicate and electronic.

I really love both sides of it, and I think having those two quite contrasting approaches is ultimately what gave the record its character. It felt much more representative of the different things we're interested in musically.

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Footnotes

Thank you to Blind Yeo for taking the time out to talk to us

Blind Yeo will be playing at the Hare & Hounds on the 4th of November. Find your tickets here.

To listen to Blind Yeo latest album, Lemoine Point, click here.