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As she's gotten older, Ella Smoker has found that her subconscious

has been trying to tell her "some pretty wacky stuff". Thoughts will

come to the 21-year-old singer-songwriter in dreams, or as she

writes lyrics in studio sessions, words floating onto the page before

she's really had a moment to realise what they are. "As soon as we

start making the music, my brain sort of turns off," she explains. "I'll

be sitting there, writing all this stuff that feels like a load of

nonsense, and a month later, I'll look back and be like 'oh'. It all

comes from a place I didn't even realise was there."

In learning how to open up to herself, Gglum ended up finding a

kindred spirit in producer Karma Kid (Maisie Peters, Shygirl, Connie

Constance), pushing past her natural bedroom-pop introversion to

find joy in the process of collaboration. Whether it's the ragged

radio-rock of 'SPLAT!' ("basically about realising that somebody you

held up very highly is actually just a massive shambles of a

person") or the riotous, industrial energy of 'Easy Fun', Smoker is

able to reshape her vocal around the mood, creating a record which

expertly balances light and shade. "I've never really done anything

in like that vocal style before," she says of 'Easy Fun's near-spoken

delivery. "I love that song because it's not something I would have

come up with on my own, but Karma Kid was great at pushing me

out of my comfort zone. I just thought like, look: I can be a little

silly with this."

The release of 'The Garden Dream' will offer Gglum plenty more

opportunity to get both silly and serious, to be bold in her

exploration of new ideas and sounds. But it will also offer the

opportunity to further accept herself as the dreamlike artist she

always wanted to be; confidently embellishing acoustic worlds that

her listeners can burrow safely within.

"I feel like I naturally gravitate towards wanting to make musical

spaces that you can feel like you're living in, rather than trying to

make songs", she says. "That's something I really wanted to solidify

with this album: I basically want to make music that feels like when

you're looking out the window and it's the end of the film and

you're imagining what comes next. That's the sound of what I want

to be doing."