Ali Whitton on the Resilient creative journey behind Hopeful Heart
- Jade McLeod
- Jan 31
- 7 min read
For those who don’t know him, Ali Whitton is an Indie folk singer-songwriter. Although he may be quite a traveller, he currently resides just outside of Wellington. When asked if a certain place stands out to perform, he stated, “Actually, sometimes it's a small one, and it's usually because of the crowd. In terms of, like, defining moments, like, I once played…3 or 4 shows in a day in Paris on Fete de la Musique in, like, 30 degree heat, and bouncing, rushing between shows, and they were cool, because it was just a new experience. And then I had a favourite venue that I used to like playing in London called Green Note, which was, like, behind a red… Velvet curtain, a little… a tiny little intimate venue. And they're definitely the things I like, where I can feel the connection and…tell the stories and bounce off the audience, they're what I love most.
His second single hopeful heart is out now off his upcoming debut album, Between the Forest and the stars due to release in April. I had the pleasure of discussing this latest project with him. Hopeful heart reflects the challenges of an optimistic dreamer who, despite it all, pushes down the inner voices and sees only the good in the world, even when all the worldly troubles may let them down. Despite this theme, however, Ali states, “It’s actually one of the more upbeat ones from my record, it's about optimism, the tension between our hopes and our optimism, and how we always hope for something, and the letdowns… almost the teenage mood of why do I bother trying when I just get let down but ultimately hope wins.” Speaking on that inner critic and how you silence it, he states, “sometimes I hear it and try to tell it to shut up. It's a lifelong battle, really and especially when you are creative and putting your stuff out there its always a bit of are people going to like it? But definitely lots of self-searching and making sure I'm doing music for me, if people like it, that's a bonus!”
And it's not just a beautiful track; many of the visuals surrounding this single and his upcoming album feature incredible scenic nature. He states “im a country boy, i grew up in north yorkshire in england and then when I settled back in Wellington, its south coast and wind swept and rocks and I love getting out in the forest as well… when I started writing words in north yorkshire as a teenager musing on teenage feelings I would stand at my window and look at the fields and moors in the distance and the weather going past and id just start writing it and then soon the landscape metaphors became feeling metaphors so it's a constant inspiration.” comparing wellington and north yorkshire’s creative cultures he states “I like the village in a city feel, growing up in a village and growing up where id go to my local town and you'd just bump into people, i love that that happens in wellington… for me collaboration is exciting where you think you know what you're making and then somebody else is like what about this? So those incidental meetings and that connection and closeness is really important and that sense of community, who are we really making things for? “
The album coming out in April was produced by Dave Kahn and Reb Fountain. Ali states, “Dave plays in almost every New Zealand band and has produced lots of things, so they had a really clear musical identity. When I came to them with a bunch of songs, I was still figuring mine out, and over a number of weekends, I'd kind of workshopped the songs with them. They pulled me to the edge of my comfort zone and then out of it to a point where I'd come home being like oh I'm not sure if this is me anymore what am I doing? And that's how you start to understand what matters to you and what doesn’t.” Reflecting on collaboration and advice he states “don’t wait for the inspiration just turn up make it regular make it a discipline and you get good songs on days you feel bereft and like you can't be bothered but if you just turn up and do it you can get a good song and if you're creating stuff like that it means you stop caring about the end product and there's a freedom in that.”
The album itself has an interesting origin story, beginning with a challenge from a peer to write one song a week and see where it takes him. Reflecting back on that year he states “there was a number of things happening in my life that year around healing and rediscovering my love of music really but also a new relationship and spending a lot of time out of town and in the countryside near Pāuatahanui… the title of the album is between the forest and the stars and it's about what we hope for in life, sometimes when you fall, when you get hurt by the things you hope for because they don’t quite happen, you go back to your roots and you reground and that's the forest, its kind of the cycle so the title is that, and then some of the songs I see as the things I still hope for like a really strong relationship and good connection, to do music more, and some of them are around the healing of just rediscovering that sense of going home from my day job in the dark winter and lighting the fire, just feeling that sense of home ground… “I always say, I'm not the best singer in the world, but we've collaborated with a bunch of musicians, like, this great band, and… Really, what I love is creating a soundscape, and then having a little poem in the middle of it from somebody that's just being authentic. Like, the last thing you'd think was, I'm AI, when you hear my voice, so just some of these real voices in the middle of a landscape. That's kind of the album… I'm really happy that the songs all sound really different. I really like alternative country, kind of vibe, But there's folk, and there's indie folk, there's a few different things that it dabbles on. and definitely each of the songs, it came from a pool of 52 songs, so hopefully, that will come across as well, that I'm not just riding one sound.”
The healing parts of music have been a significant impact to the journey of Ali Whitton with him stating “from the very beginning I started writing words to figure out teenage feelings, and I was told as a kid that I couldn’t sing, I had a really bad music teacher, so in a way it was a private thing of just figuring out what I was feeling and working through it in poetry. Music and songwriting always kept that space for me and at times you do get pulled by trying to be a professional musician and what the business is versus actually just writing for expression and I've learned now how to rest a bit, that resting isn't always lying on the couch, for me relaxing is actually going down the rabbit hole and losing sense of time but that’s doing something for me and it's very relaxing, it fills my cup.”
These musical rabbit holes can easily be an all too relatable part of ADHD, he states, “I’ve never seen ADHD as holding me back… one of the cool things is when I look back at lyrics that I’ve written, I’m like how did I get from that idea to that idea? That’s definitely one of the strengths of it, and then one of the things I have to manage with music is in the run up to recording the album I was like I need to get better at guitar, at banjo, I need to play piano, I need signing lessons because imposter syndrome, and I can overload myself quite quickly with shame of not being good and not practising enough and not doing these things… the rabbit hole is this hyper focused space, I’ve got a room downstairs in the house where I write demo songs and I can go downstairs in the morning and not turn up until the evening, not had any lunch and stuff.”
In terms of authenticity on the album, he states, "Doesn't scare me, but it can be uncomfortable sometimes. I've done it for so long that it was almost like an addiction, really. and that thrill, obviously, the light of playing live. playing a new song, and having the feeling of people connecting to it is what keeps you going, and it builds resilience. Sometimes I write a new song, or play it to my partner, and she'll be like, well, I don't know. So you learn to just let some songs go, and I love it. It's not scary for me.”
This is not the first time you will have heard the music of Ali Whitton “I used to play under my own name in the UK and then I used to play as Ali Whitton & The BrokeRecordPlayers, a 7 piece band, then when I moved to New Zealand I had this mid 20s crisis and it was a burnout but I didn’t know at the time, so when I did find music again after quite a long time, I started playing under the name lost bird, so the new record is actually releasing under my own name, owning who I am and stopping worrying about what other people think about my voice and my songs and just try have fun because what's the point in thinking and doing it any other way?”
Catch Ali Whitton at:
Stay connected with Ali Whitton
Comments