Discovering Fatherhood with Luke De-Sciscio

Mustard had the pleasure of speaking with UK Folk singer Luke De-Sciscio who recently released their new album "Theo"; inspired by the birth of their child and fatherhood.

If you have been a long time reader of Music Shelf (or are new here) you know that Mustard is fascinated by humans. That fascination is one of the reasons why Music Shelf exists. They love music and how it allows humans to speak their truth. Through music humans are openly vulnerable, honest, and real. In the case of United Kingdom Folk singer

Luke De-Sciscio

; fucking real. As the founder of Folk Boy Records, a label that stands by truth, integrity, and transparency De-Sciscio’s music is a declaration of their truth.

Luke is a profilic artist who has released sixteen albums prior to the release of their most personal: Theo. The album was written and record during the first six weeks of Luke’s daugther life in the bedroom they all share together. As you will hear on the album (and read in our interview) Theo is an album of discovery. Throughout the album listeners will join De-Sciscio on their discovery of fatherhood. It is an album that will emotionally shake you for both parents and non-parents. Luke has created something truly beautiful.

In our interview below we learn more about Luke’s search for truth, Folk Boy Records, being lost in the woods, and so much more! You can check it out below.

---

1. Mustard is grateful and appreciative to have you join them at Music Shelf. How are you doing today?

Hey Mustard, I'm doing very well, it's an honour to answer some questions for you! Hopefully they can provide some insight that crosses the human/condiment divide!

2. Mustard has observed that you found your songwriting voice the old fashioned way: by writing on a boat with no electricity or heat. Could you share more about how your environment helped inspire you creatively?

Environment has so much to do with your creative output - it's almost like, 'life goes in and songs come out' but, truth be told, I was writing songs long before we lived on a boat. I just think that, when we were in that environment, it was so slow and introspective that I went up many levels and really first felt the power of what I was doing and moving towards!

3. They have also observed that your music is in the search of truth. How do you define truth? Has songwriting and music helped you in discovering this truth?

I think songwriting is an exercise in returning to yourself. I think sometimes you can trap a version of yourself in a song and find that maybe, upon reflection, that doesn't feel like you and it's not something you want to continue toward. But, generally speaking, ye - I think songwriting is all an exercise in finding out what TRUTH feels like and what the path of least resistance...what that kind of sense of 'I am' is for you.   

4. Mustard wonders: what are some key elements to a Luke De-Sciscio song? Could you share more about your creative process?

I love that question Mustard. I think, principally, the key ingredient is a moment. Like the single instance where an energy coalesces. Whether that energy be, you know, heartache or euphoria or determination or...sometimes just pure inspiration. I think, if you put on a Luke De-Sciscio track, what you're really doing is feeling a moment in time. And, it's not a moment that has been re-hashed or questioned or, really, tampered with. It's like, here was this and now it's yours, to be honest, that's the most important thing for me. Nothing I do needs to be perfect, it just needs to be real. And really feel like what I was feeling. Really say what I was thinking. It's about, in all those layers of it, catching the rhythm of my heart and the flavour of my thoughts.

5. Who (or what) influences Luke De-Sciscio?

I think, change. Principally like, if I could boil it down to one idea then, maybe it's when I have to grow in some way. When I have to reach a new equilibrium or maybe shed some layers to return to myself. The songwriting is just the process that gets me to a point where I can express the feeling in a way that offers relief or feels conclusive.

In the past, many things have inspired me. The chaoses of my history. The moments of pure flow. But, in this latest instance, the birth of my daughter. Having a princess in my life and just the complete inordinate magnitude of what it means to give life. It's such a vast thing to exist and to feel the unquestioning honour of eternally doing right by someone. That is, magnificent. In the very first glimpses of that light it seems insane that it could ever fade and I knew my calling at that time was to articulate it with my music.

To understand myself in that context and to put words around that love. If I could.

6. One playlist your music can be found on is "Lost In The Woods." Have you ever found yourself lost in the woods? Do you have a opinion on compasses? Would you say this playlist accurately represents your music?

I am on that playlist and, indeed, I have more than once found myself lost in the woods. Seasonally, Robyn and I are amateur foragers so, when Theo is old enough, we'll take her out Pokemon hunting for the various mushrooms that can be found out in the woods.  Do I think this represents my music?  There's a natural side to my music, in a way, but I think it's easy to probably hear a nylon string guitar and the word 'folk' and think it's all about nature and flowers and bumble-bees but...my music is more human than that, it's more about the wildernesses inside people and so...I think if it's about being 'lost in the woods' then maybe it's a bit more from a cerebral perspective...maybe it's about finding the way through the woods in your mind. In which case maybe these songs are compasses?

7. You are the founder of Folk Boy Records which was established in 2022. When did you first get the idea to create your own record label?

The idea to release my own music isn't something new to me, I've been doing that for the majority of my career and I've spent a lot of time learning how best to represent myself... but I guess the idea to expand this into a label came along when Joseph (Joseph Weightman/WORRYWORRY) and I were talking about his debut solo record. I am passionate about his music and felt that I could offer the same level of dedication I do to my art, to his and...or at least, start to build some infrastructure that could allow us both to snowball into some kind of movement. Since then we've signed another 4 artists who are just magnificent really...I feel incredibly honoured and blessed that we're all doing this together and the response and gravity around this endeavour just speaks volumes. It's really growing and it feels very right.

8. The thesis of Folk Boy Records is: Fucking Real. How do the musicians on your label, including yourself, support this thesis?

We definitely check in on each other a lot. It's not a label in any traditional sense, there's a lot of cross pollination and a very collectivised attitude. If there's ideas or developments or an opportunity it's something that we all, front and back of house, discuss and we're just totally transparent about all these things. We're still in our infancy but we've got 6 great artists and 6 great people supporting them behind the scenes. Just truly passionate wonderful people and I genuinely look forward to our big group chats and just think we're a bunch of like-minded people who are all pointing in the same direction saying 'this is something like a family' and trying to do our individual best for each other. We're all in the vein of 'folk' but, sonically, stylistically, no one is stepping on each other's toes. It's all very balanced and beautiful. And we're open with each other, it's literally written into the contract like - the very first tenet - nothing builds up, nothing goes unsaid, no resentment builds. It's chewy sometimes but, like a good relationship, it's founded on communication and that's essentially what we've structured the entire label to prioritise. If people are happy and feel supported and valued, they flourish. I want my people to flourish. So we've given them the faith to do that.

9. Folk Boy Records stands for truth, integrity, and transparency. As a condiment Mustard is curious: what does it mean to be transparent? What are some signs a human has integrity? 

These are some good questions Mustard, I hope I can do justice to such a profound quest for knowledge! Integrity probably boils down to the distance between your actions and your words. If someone says one thing and does the other, I'd imagine it's hard for them to have integrity. And to be transparent...in this sense, they would be open.

They would be prepared to falter and you would get a sense of them through their words...they would be generous with their words and they wouldn't think too much about them...they would be flawed and, like all good humans...who have only words at their behest...they wouldn't need to impose theirs or need to be right but would seek to collaborate and communicate in a quest to reach a fuller understanding. It wouldn't always be easy but they'd show up for that. They'd be there and they'd get involved in the dance to reach conclusions. You'd feel time deepening with them...not just rolling along.

10. Throughout your career you have released over 16 albums. With each album you refine your craft. How has Luke De-Sciscio grown both personally and creatively over the course of these 16 albums?

I think on a personal level, in some respects, I'm probably unrecognisable...in others I'm really exactly the same. I still get that insatiable itch to explain myself that feels a little bit like an unquenchable fire...and words and melodies or, at least, the effort to purge it in some kind of song is really the only way that I can unhook my mind from running round it over and over. But - I think the context or the lens of what infatuates me has changed. I used to, I guess, want to make good songs and saw my art as a means to that end at the expense of my life and relationships. But now I want to live a good life and be a good person and have deep and meaningful relationships and I see my art as a means to help that happen.

11. Mustard would like to congratulate you on both the newest addition to your family and your newest album 'Theo'. This album was recorded during the first six weeks of your daughter's life in your bedroom-studio. Could you share more about what it was like to put this album together?

Thank you Mustard. It means a lot. We are now three.  Really the story of this album is the story of discovering what it's like to be a father and to be in that super intimate, super drawn in, just intensely real and human, nurturing nest space of early parenthood. Of having a baby. These songs were scribbled alongside notes-to-self of when Theo last ate or last had her nappy changed or how long we'd slept or shopping lists. Just - those initial weeks - are a delirious blur of unfathomable emotion that almost seems too big to be contained by the body and for all its precarious, tentative, loving discovery - you vaguely lose your mind. It's so real - and so ubiquitous in every single one of our lives and yet - I guess on some level I felt that I needed to preserve that. ...maybe there was never something so conscious as 'I'm going to write an album' it was more that songs just kept happening - lines that felt genuinely like NEW thoughts to me - kept appearing and they took form in melodies and chords and ...I found the time to hit record and sing them amongst the flow of it all.

Some of these songs were recorded at 4am or whatever time in the morning, with Robyn feeding the baby in a woozy half-sleep and I just whispered these thoughts to myself in our bedroom-studio and tried, as always, to let the microphone be my mirror.

I think I've created a beautiful artifact that feels like that time. That feels like new paternal love. And that feels like the other side, that has some of that new-born Godliness, cosmic potency still drawn in. 

12. On this album you tell the story of a young human man discovering fatherhood. Did this album help you discover what it means to be a father?

This album helped me charter the early days of fatherhood and helped me give my best version of that through those weeks. I think...I know that being a father will be a continual learning curve...I know that my love for her grows literally every day and that the inadequacy of my language to explain that love will only surmount and grow more and more futile. BUT - I think I did - capture something special. I think I did catch some magic wind of inspiration just where my previous albums had prepared me to not overthink and the present had let a tonne of light pour through. In a sense, to your question, yes. But also - I think I'll be learning from this album and from this girl - for the rest of my life. So - ask me again down the line...

13. Mustard (and their human intern) love listening to albums from start to end. Are you able to tell us about how you structured this release? How does the structure help take the listener through your journey of discovering fatherhood?

Well, I agree with you and your Human...that is how I listen to music too. So, maybe it won't completely surprise you to read that... this album is in the order that the songs were recorded. When, on track 5 I sing 'it's been two weeks since you were born' you can safely assume that the four tracks before it were all written and recorded even before then. It just felt right to keep the ideas in the order they came - there's a magic that transcends any creative input I could have had on that and I think reality knew how to structure this record, the unfolding of these thoughts - I think the conclusion makes sense on account of the way and that's just precisely why - when I'd sang the final note of track 11 I had no question in my mind that this was an album and that it was done.

14. Mustard is curious: do all humans have a two-headed shadow?

When they hold something with a head...if the angle is right...yes.

15. What does it mean to be deeply religious, 18, and pretty?

Something about that seemed so innocent to me. Which maybe is wrong...but, when I heard what had happened it struck me like a baseball bat...hearing it in a new light with my girl...it's probably the first song I've written out of pure anger.   My mother begged me not to share it. I felt I had to. I felt not sharing it was a symptom of what allows these things to continue. And I'm glad I am [sharing it] because I've seen what it can offer people in the reflection of when I debuted it live.

It's a devastating reflection of our culture that so many people resonated with this song and were grateful to have something so frequently closeted, so vocally and fearlessly offered to them.    But there was a lot of fear with this song...I really did toil over whether sharing it was the right thing to do and the track appeared and disappeared from the Bandcamp pre-order numerous times over the first week after it went live.   

 I am very grateful it's there now and my mother, too, adores the song.

16. You will be celebrating the album's release on BBC6Music. How does it feel to have your music highlighted on the biggest alternative station in the United Kingdom?

It feels...I don't know, maybe ask me after it's happened. I've been pouring my soul into these songs for as long as I have really felt like me. It's who I am and, I really do, adore them and the life they've led me to, with all my heart. I genuinely believe my music belongs on these stages you know, these big platforms so...in a way...when something like this happens it's just like...it feels right.

But, I've seen also how easily opportunities can slip through my fingers. So, I'm always trying to stay present in just the songs. To not let the ups and downs of the career and the momentum really change what I'm here trying to do.

I'm INSANELY grateful that it's panned out like this. I want, desperately, for as many people to hear these songs as the World can possibly allow. Because I think, of the two versions of reality, the one where people have heard them...that's a nicer climate. That's a prettier World. But, all I can do is keep in line with myself at every opportunity and just put my best foot forward.

I believe in the tangible devotion I pour into my music. I believe people can feel that. I believe I give it everything. I believe that feeling of dedication and commitment to purpose might be infectious and that the love I've locked in these songs is real and beautifully put. But...the process was the gift, for me...the journey now is like...how do I give these songs what they deserve?

And I love them, and I love what inspired them so I think... to answer your question; yes, it feels amazing. I'm incredibly grateful to Huey Morgan.

And I hope that new people find the songs because of it.

17. What is on the horizon for Luke De-Sciscio?

We'll be announcing a couple of shows for the remainder of this year, Theo album launch shows. Most likely one in London and one closer to home, somewhere near Bath. But I don't just want to play regular venues, I want to make it something special, unique...something that people will be magnetised towards and that can really highlight these songs in a way that stands out from time.

And then, next year...big plans for the label...some really special releases there but...just personally...touring. Pouring myself into these songs...inhabiting them for a while and letting them grow to their full potential.

The album will release and then people can hear it and then we'll see what the future holds!

18. Where can readers listen to your music?

In all the usual places but, I really would, strongly recommend starting with one album and just fully exploring it. We live in such a single-centric environment but my brain just works in albums I think...or maybe, the process that I go through to make music works on that kind of time scale. Such as each song on an album is part of a whole that gradually builds a picture...so too is each track in my discography the DNA of my life and...I'm honing in on the tools I use to articulate that DNA but...really even the newer stuff elaborates on the old so ...yeah... that's that.

Thank you so much Mustard...I didn't know what to expect because...I rarely, if ever, have spoken to any kind of sauce but...these were great questions and you really got me thinking.

---

Music Shelf with Mustard is a publication that interviews independent musicians from all across the globe. It is read in 38 states and 33 countries. Check out previous interviews here.

Music Shelf with Mustard originally began in early 2021. Inspired by independent musicians on social media application TikTok Mustard knew they had to do something to help share their music. Shortly after Music Shelf with Mustard was born. Its goal is to highlight independent artists from all across the globe. Mustard appreciates you taking the time out to read this interview.