Start Listening To: big long sun

big long sun makes music that hits like a sugar rush and lingers like a strange dream.

The solo project of East Midlands-born artist Jamie, it’s a genre-blurring outpouring of feeling-over-meaning: dense with rhythm, scattered with colour, and fuelled by a self-contained creative vision. Working entirely from his bedroom studio, Jamie crafts tracks that move fast, hit hard, and carry a surreal emotional weight - sometimes funny, sometimes fierce, often both. His new single ‘fast like i like my money’ distills that spirit perfectly, combining a wild sense of groove with sharp lyrical jabs and a touch of chaos. Ahead of a set at The Great Escape and with more music on the way, we caught up with big long sun to talk jester-poet duality, the power of spontaneity, and why he sees music more than he hears it.

for those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

i am called jamie, i come from england (east midlands), and i make all kinds of music. i make music for short attention spans like mine, that’s exciting, and that driven by feeling not meaning.  i produce it myself, in my bedroom, and i like working alone, unblemished by the diverse ranges of opinion and taste that often accompany a group collaboration/team.

‘fast like i like my money’ is such a rush of a track - frantic, funny, and strangely profound. how did it come together, and what kicked it off for you creatively?

it all came from the drums really. for this whole record i recorded drums first, without any prior notion of structure, melody, chords, lyrics, or vibe. i like it that way. it means the whole track grooves and is centred around the rhythmic ideas and feel. when i’d recorded the drums for this specific track i just called it ‘fast like i like my money’, off the top of my head, and then when it came to adding the others parts and eventually the vocals i just went off how that title made me feel and what it brought up. i like music that can be at once funny and real, shallow and deep.

there’s a clear critique of capitalism in the lyrics, but also a sense that the song doesn’t take itself too seriously. how do you strike that balance between message and mischief?

i like music that can be at once funny and real, shallow and deep. i guess it comes from a divide that exists within my own character. i feel akin to the archetype of the jester/clown, but also the thinker/poet. i think there is a healthy relationship that the two can strike. i struck it here in this track, to the best of my ability….

how was the track produced? 

this track, and all my music, is recorded from the confines of my bedroom. i like working in my own space, on my own time frame. i have the mics and software i need and it seems to work well for me. as i said, this track came from the drums first. after that i added bass and synth and eventually guitars and vocals. i’m a big fan of reverse engineering a track, from the rhythm section up, concluding with the vocals and words.

the name big long sun feels poetic and a bit surreal. where did it come from, and how does it reflect what you’re trying to create?

hahaha thanks. i like it too. it came from the name of my debut record - ‘big long sun: speaking’. and that just came to me, out of nowhere, one day. all my best ideas just form spontaneously, out of thin air. it felt right. i like simple names that can mean different things to different people. i guess it reflects my work because i’m trying to create something bright and dazzling and expansive. i like the word big a lot. it’s a good one. and long is also nice. and sun is a fun one.

how are you feeling about playing the great escape? 

excited. it’s a staple for any brighton based artist. a great time to revel in the burgeoning summer and catch up with where the scene is at.

your work spans poetry, painting, filmmaking and music - how do those disciplines bleed into each other when you’re writing a song?

for me, all the art forms are different aspects of the same thing. i suppose it helps me to approach my music from a visual and verbal angle and not to rely to heavily on the audio and how that makes me feel. i really see the music i’m making. and i feel it as words too. its all just one big cauldron of feelings really, and music is just another ingredient in the potion i’m cooking up.

there’s something very visual about your sound - like we’re being dropped into a pastel-coloured fever dream. do you picture anything specific when you're making a song?

i see the sounds as abstract lines and shapes. like a textural kind of thing. but also colours are a part of it. there’s geometry in chords and melodies and sometimes i feel like a mathematician.a funky one though…

you’ve been incredibly prolific over the past year. is that just how you work best, or does the world around you push you into that pace?

i just make a lot of stuff really. speed is a key aspect of my style and workflow. i don’t like holding onto creations either. as it stands, i already have too much music that isn’t out. i hope one day to have it all released. releasing music helps me process and move on from a time r feeling in my life. i wish other artist released more of their ideas. it saddens me that the industry isn’t geared towards this way of being.

what do you love right now?

being in my garden, eating good food, seeing and making friends, drawing, jamming with my band.

what do you hate right now?

feeling that i don’t have enough time for all my intentions and ideas to manifest. the rising price of public transport. the music industry being driven by nepotism.

name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?

revolver - the beatles. the production alone is staggering, but i just love the songs and they only seem to get better with age.

what’s next after this string of summer shows? is there more big long sun music on the horizon, or are you letting things take their own shape?

yeah, gonna release more albums for sure. got another two in the pipeline. and we’d love to do a tour. we wanna go to japan as well.