A Conversation with the Cords
The New Sound of Young Scotland
Grace and Eva From ‘The Cords’ from Marc Tedeschi
It’s been a busy year for the Cords. They released their first single, ‘Rather Not Stay’, in May, played alongside Belle and Sebastian, Devon Ross, and the Go! Team over the summer and found time to finish recording their new album and a Christmas single.
Inverkip sisters Eva, 16, and Grace, 18 have been playing music together for two years, they played their first gig as the Cords in September 2023 supporting Glasgow indie legends the Vaselines. I met with them recently in Mono, of course, and we chatted over some coffee…
The Cords have that classic indie pop sound, sweet and jangly, and reminiscent of bands like Talulah Gosh or the Softies. Scotland in particular has an independent music history rich with influential groups, from Orange Juice and Alan Horne’s Postcard Records to the Pastels and Shop Assistants on C86, so who are the Cords inspired by?
G: “Shop Assistants, Talulah Gosh”
E: “I’d say the Umbrellas. Like, as soon as I heard the Umbrellas I was like ‘Oh, I want a band like that’. I love them. I think we’re quite influenced by the Pastels and Teenage Fanclub, our first cover was ‘Check My Heart’ by the Pastels. That was nice, I loved that.”
In the 1980s, Scotland became a hub of musical innovation with bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, and Simple Minds making their mark on independent music worldwide. I asked the Cords who their favourite new Glasgow bands are.
E: “Homework.”
G: “Yeah, we love Homework.”
E: “U.S. Highball, they’re new aren’t they? Subspace Highway, they’re really good. They’re so loud, and they have so much energy.”
Grace and Eva recently finished recording their first album which is set to be released on Heavenly Creature and Slumberland this summer, so what can we expect from it?
E: “It’s quite similar [to their first single ‘Rather Not Stay’]. There’s one song called ‘Yes, It’s True’ which is kind of a bit different, I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t want to say shoegaze.”
G: “It’s more like dream poppy.”
E: “Yeah, like we used a whammy bar in that, it’s fun.”
The Cords are currently releasing their music on Heavenly Creature, a Glasgow based independent record label started in 2021. We spoke about the importance of working with local independent record labels.
E: “Especially because we’ve built a relationship with Lauren [Heavenly Creature founder] and you become closer, and having someone nearby is so much better.
“It’s motivating to have that community cause when we go to gigs and stuff like that and I’m like ‘oh, it’s so much fun’. When I first saw Alvvays, last year, before we were a band I was like ‘ugh, that looks so fun, I want to do that’, and then we did.”
E: “I started playing guitar when I was like four really randomly, but I think because I was four, I was like ‘this is too hard, why am I playing guitar?’. And then I started drumming also when I was six, so not a lot of people know that I’m also a drummer, but I’ve been drumming forever. Then I stopped playing guitar for ages, and then started again last year, and I started singing last year. I never thought I’d be singing, or writing.”
G: “I started drumming when I was about six, I started lessons when I was six, and round about last year I started guitar and bass. So, I've been playing drums forever, like I can’t remember not. But I’ve been playing guitar not that long, so I’m not the best at it.
“We’ve been playing music together for almost two years, starting in January 2023. We decided to start making our own music together because we’ve always loved music and played different instruments. When we saw our favourite bands play live, we knew that’s what we wanted to do.”
Maybe it’s just me, but being in a band with my sister sounds like it would get tiring. Do the Cords ever get fed up with each other?
E: Yes, all the time.
G: She’s very bossy.
They both laugh, so it can’t be that bad.
E: “We write some songs together. We wrote Bo’s haircut together. She’s a miniature schnauzer, and she hates getting her haircut so we were like ‘let's just write a silly song, why not?’
“I mean, I wouldn’t say I’m the best songwriter. I’m not good at just coming up with stories and stuff like that, so usually if something happens in my life that I’m just kind of like ‘oh, I want to write a song about that’, like someone or something, it’s easier for me to just write about that.”
Anything they can tell us about the new album?
G: “It’s 14 songs long…”
The Cords first album will be released this summer on Heavenly Creature and Slumberland Records.