There’s a sense that things are moving quickly for Welsh wunderkinds casual smart, but they’re doing their best not to rush past it. The Cardiff five-piece – Peter Martin (piano), Brooke Thomas (guitar), Emily Beal (guitar/bass), Rowan Phillips (saxophone) and Oliver Goddard (drums) – have been steadily building a name for themselves through candid, explosive indie since forming in 2023, and with latest single ‘She’s My Love’, they lean into a sound that proves just how powerful simplicity can be. We caught up with the band ahead of a hometown show at Clwb Ifor Bach, in the middle of a hectic run of tour dates and with even bigger stages on the horizon, to talk about their new music, their connection to Cardiff, and what it means to be a band on the cusp of something bigger.
I think that the best place to start is your new single “She’s My Love” which was released earlier this month. What can you tell us about the writing and recording process of this track, and how is this different to your previous songs?
Emily: In a lot of our previous songs, I’d be writing for myself, on a more solo level, but when I was writing ‘She’s My Love” I definitely wrote it more for the band. It started with just a really simple chord progression, which I thought sounded cool, and the lyrics came a bit after that. It’s way more stripped back, to me, than our other stuff, and it’s crazy that such a simple track ends up being so big when we play it live.
After the chord progression came Rowan’s sax part, which really just makes it. I mean the recording took less than two hours, it was just really smooth.
Peter: Yeah! Like Emily said, it’s a very stripped back song. But I think given the nature of our band, having five people and this range of instruments, it still manages to have this grand nature similar to our last single Cranes. I feel like we can make something small, sound big really well.
You have worked with Welsh Producer and Singer/Songwriter Louis O’Hara on your last two releases and have stated that your single Cranes is a love song to Cardiff, how important is maintaining this connection to Wales through your music?
Peter: I think it’s very important. These songs have been written by us as we grew up, and I think growing up in Wales, being Welsh is part of your identity, even if you’re not massively open about it. It’s in our core as individuals, and in our songs as well.
Emily: Even without intentionally trying to write songs about Cardiff, it’s still molded the music that we make.
Rowan: Yeah, I like saying that we’re from Cardiff. Wales is a country that’s been ignored a lot in the mainstream, so it’s nice to be the people getting and fighting for some attention for us. We’re shouting out that we are Welsh, and we love it!
Peter: It’s definitely true in this industry, if not all industries, that everything is super London centric. I’m very inspired by Westside Cowboy and what they did for Manchester, and how they’ve brought their city with them. I saw that alongside their EP they recommended all the bands from their scene that they love, and that’s exactly the kind of thing I want to do for here.
We’re speaking today before your hometown gig here in Cardiff, how are you finding this tour?
Rowan: I’m so excited to play here, it’s where I work! I love Clwb Ifor Bach, it’s like the best place to be, great people here all the time, so I’m super ready to play tonight.
So far on the tour I’ve done a lot of driving. I drove to Brighton, then to London, now back to Cardiff for tonight, up to Manchester tomorrow. I’m really tired, and excited to have a shower tomorrow morning – I smell really bad.
Peter: So far we are two shows in. We’d never played Brighton before, and in London there’s always this palpable nervousness in our stage presence.
But when we’re home, and we’ve got tons of mates coming like we do tonight, it’s gonna be good vibes. Good vibes in the area, cracking jokes, and smiling, and having a good time… maybe we weren’t that in Brighton. We kinda just played the songs, didn’t say anything and left. Sorry Brighton.
Brooke: I’m very excited to play in Cardiff. I find London, playing there at least, to be very scary, very stressful. It’s nice to be home, and especially as most of us have either moved to Bristol or Bath, it means that playing here is always a homecoming for us, we get a really nice reception here too.
Staying on the topic of playing live, you’ve announced some big stuff coming soon, you’re playing Left of the dial in Rotterdam, Great escape festival in Brighton and even playing alongside scene legends Shame to launch this year’s Green Man festival, with all these big things in your future, what’s the mood amongst the band.
Peter: What’s the mood? We’re all pretty buzzed.
This is the kind of industry where after every show, you’re in your head about what’s happening next right? And that’s kinda the point of stuff like Great Escape, it’s like “so and so will be there, and they’ll give you ten million pounds to make an album”.
With all that, I’m really trying to look at where we came from, and then look at where we are now. Like, two years ago we played a community center down the road in Cathays, and now we’re doing Green Man and all this cool stuff. It’s unreal enough as it is, so I’m trying to stay in the moment.
Emily: For all of us, we started out playing because we just love to perform, and playing our songs in front of a live audience is the best thing ever. So the fact that we’re doing something we love, and getting to go to all these crazy places we would’ve never have been able to go to otherwise is just so exciting, and seeing how far that can take us. No words. It’s just crazy, I can’t believe it.
Back onto your recorded music. In your sound, you can hear influences from all over, from Belle and Sebastian to Moldy Peaches in your earlier work, to more modern artists like Blue Bendy and BC,NR in your candid lyricism. Individually, Who would you say influences your current sound, and where you want to go in your work?
Rowan: I’d say my biggest influences are these guys! I don’t do a lot of the actual songwriting, or coming up with chords, or structures. So when I come in, it’s really just adding to and being influenced by what’s already been written by Emily, Brooke and Peter, instead of pulling from other bands specifically.
Emily: For me when we’re recording, and especially for guitar melodies, I pull a lot from Lowertown and Big Thief! Those are the two main ones for me!
Buck Meeks’ guitar is just so scrangley, and the melodies that he writes are just so interesting. They don’t necessarily always fit with the vocal melodies. So I usually try to follow something like that, create as many layers as possible.
Peter: I get really inspired by our peers, and I really like that feeling! We have a song titled “I’ve been reading Dylan Thomas” which we’ve been playing live at the moment, and when I was writing that I was definitely listening to the new Morn track, well not new anymore, Modern Man. There’s a really big break in the middle which is heavily inspired by their sound.
And lyrically, I’ve spent the last two years listening to a lot of Gruff Rhys. I think he captured the Welsh experience in the 90s and 00s in a way that no other songwriter did, or even could have. I want the Casual Smart songs to do that for the 2020s. Selfie!
Oliver: I play the drums so… I don’t know music, I’m not good with music. But in terms of drumming, and exactly how I want my drumming to sound, my top influence are by far The Slaps, from Chicago. I’ve said this in another interview, but I can’t glaze them enough, the drumming is so cool.
Brooke: It’s going to come as no surprise to anyone when I say Porridge Radio. They are my favourite band in the world, and they definitely influence me a lot, super visibly I think, we play the same guitar.
To close off, what’s next for casual smart?
Emily: I can’t wait to write a ton of new songs. It’s so crazy when you have like a small little nugget of an idea and you see it change from something in your head to something you can hear with your ears, totally different, but totally cool.
Peter: What’s next is Kiwi’s Karaoke tonight! Shows. Songs. Vibes. Brooke is super excited to play with Shame, Rowan is excited to have a shower tonight because she smells. Can you make the headline Rowan Smells? That’s the interview title. casual smart: Rowan Smells.
Rowan: That’s not making it in.
Words by Asa Hill
Photos by Kay Rawes