Q&A: Gurry Wurry

In this week’s Q&A we caught up with Gurry Wurry otherwise known as Dave King. We get stuck into the blend of sadness and optimism in his album Happy For Now and how listeners have connected to it in surprising ways. He shares how working with Rod Jones of Idlewild helped to shape the album’s intimate, raw sound, especially in embracing the fragility of his voice. With new music already in the works, King reflects on the album’s live debut and the exciting energy of what’s to come.

Check out our Q&A below:

Happy For Now has been described as music that “can’t quite shrug off the sadness,” blending a mix of melancholy and optimism. How do you think those emotions resonate with listeners on a personal level? Has the way people have connected with the album surprised you at all?

Yeah, it’s funny. I find it so hard to guess how other people are going to react to my songs. I pour as much as I can into them until they feel like they mean something to me, but then all you can really do is hope they might mean something to other folk too. I get really sucked into the deeper introspective ones, but I also love just goofing around with a tune, so I kind of hope that contrast is something other people might like too. Nobody’s happy or sad all the time – there are so many uncertain, grey areas. I feel like there’s a lot of weirdness to be found in the world, so I try and pack as much of it as I can into my three minutes.

But I am always surprised by the reactions. The songs people mention the most are never the ones I’d have picked as my own favourites!

The album touches on some pretty heavy themes—things like car crashes, ageing, and infidelity—but it still feels light and almost breezy at times. How do you find the balance in your songwriting between exploring those heavier subjects while keeping the music from feeling too weighed down?

It all just happens pretty naturally for me. I guess it’s kind of become my signature sound but it’s really just the way my brain works and the stuff I enjoy making. I’m not a big outgoing, party guy. I like quite introspective, revealing writing – exploring all the weird, uncomfortable feelings and trying to make some sort of sense of them. But then I’m also not a very serious guy. I’m a sucker for a little wordplay, or something unexpected that makes you smile. And musically it’s the same – I love the cosy, warm sounds that wrap you up. But I also love a really jarring bit of dissonance or a rhythm that picks you up by surprise. I think surprise is probably a big thing driving the way I make music – I love hearing something new. It’s not a big shock, more of a gentle surprise.

You worked with Rod Jones from Idlewild on Happy For Now. How did that collaboration come about, and in what ways do you feel Rod’s influence helped shape the direction or sound of the album?

So Rod runs a studio called Post Electric here in Leith just about 5 minutes from my flat. I’d been a big fan of his work for a long time, but recently I particularly loved the clarity of the vocal production on all of his work with Hamish Hawk. I felt like the wonky weirdness of my music probably needed a little more of that clarity, and I didn't think I had the skills to do it myself. So I put a proposal together, approached Rod, and I was lucky enough to get Creative Scotland funding to make it happen. 

I expected the vocals and mix to feel cleaner, crisper and lighter working with Rod as he’s got a really tidy signature sound. But I wasn’t expecting him to influence the feel of the album quite as much as he did. 

He stripped my vocal back to a single take (I’d previously been double tracking all my vocals). And he put them right at the front of the mix. His feeling was that the fragility of my voice was actually its strength. And that putting it up front made it more intimate, drawing you into the tunes. I’d always felt a little bit ashamed of my weak voice and tried my best to bury it. It took a bit of getting used to but after a song or two I really grew into it and it shaped the whole vibe of the album. It’s funny, since then I’ve had a couple of live sound engineers tell me that they’ve never EQ’d a smoother voice, or never heard anyone have so much control over such a quiet voice, and I’ve started to realise maybe I can turn this weird voice of mine into a strength.

Were there any creative approaches or techniques that Rod introduced you to during the recording process that you think you’ll carry with you into your future work?

Definitely putting the voice up front and not double tracking it – he’s kind of changed the whole way I think about my voice. 

But also his approach to vocal harmonies. He just had such a brilliant ear for it that he could find cleaner versions of all my shady harmonies so quickly. I feel like 3 days with him in the studio was an absolute masterclass in vocal harmony and I’ll definitely be doing more of that. 

You just played the new tracks live for the first time at Sneaky Pete’s. What was that experience like for you, and how did it feel to finally share these songs with a live audience?

Yeah it was great. I’d played most of them a couple of times before but this was the first time I’d played them since they were all released, and it felt quite liberating. When you’re making videos, releasing singles, doing promo work, getting radio airplay and all that, it’s fun but it’s pretty relentless hard work. That gig just felt so well-timed, everything was out there in the world and I’d got really familiar with all the songs. I’d become quite connected to them all, and I could just let them all out.

Were there any particular moments during the Sneaky Pete’s gig that really stood out to you—moments that made you feel like the album was coming to life in the way you’d hoped? How did it feel seeing the crowd connect with these songs in person?

There were a few magical moments. My live show is solo so it’s pretty intimate and it’s nice when you can feel a real connection with people. When you get a laugh between songs, when you lock eyes with someone who’s as lost in the tune as you are. There were people singing along to the Hairline chorus which is a first for me – that was pretty class. And then there’s the big finale of the set where I rip as wild a Wurly solo as I can manage. When the room was shouting and cheering for that just before I dropped it all down to a little delicate outro… that was a real buzz.

With Happy For Now out in the world, what’s next for you in the coming months? 

Straight on to the next one! I’ve got 29 and a half new demos on the go just now. I’ve been writing like crazy recently so I need to start culling them down and working them up. I really need to remember and keep promoting the album and selected tracks – it’s still not even a month old, but the next thing is just always more appealing to me!