I challenge Natasha with my opinion that her songs, whilst seeming to reveal, perhaps deliberately conceal the real Natasha Lea Jones.

“I do try to put myself in the shoes of the characters I write about. Much of my work is first person, seemingly, but is actually about composites of other people. There is plenty of personal experience in there, but I can’t claim to have experienced everything I have written about. My songs tell stories created from my experiences rather than stories about my experiences! Some songs are abstract and don’t mean anything real.”

Her songs seem to me, though, to share a common ethos, and many are spiritually uplifting.

“Music is uplifting, I think. The subject matter of some of these songs is depressing, but even then, some listeners like to wallow in that depression, because they know how cathartic music can be and that they will come out on the other side feeling better.”

When asked whether she writes to explore or explain, and my reader (s?) will know this is my favourite interview question, Natasha insists she tries not to mediate her thoughts in any way.

“I neither explore nor explain, I simply express as honestly as possible, whatever it is I am feeling. The English language is so full of rhyme and people even have a rhythmic way of talking, so if I copy that how can I go wrong?”

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