Sarah Statham of Fig By Four: 'I seem to find authenticity wherever I go'

But now she’s finally ventured out on her own, with an album recorded under the alias Fig By Four. She says even when she was in other bands, she was squirrelling away songs to work on by herself. “I’d do the odd gig here and there, but it was always a cathartic pet project thing,” she says. When she finally felt that she had enough songs to record, she booked some studio sessions – although unbeknown to her at the time, Esper Scout were in the process of breaking up.

“I had the album session set for two weeks after and I guessed this was what I was organically stepping into now without ever really meaning to do that. I thought I’d document these songs and that would be a nice thing for me to have, but it’s actually become the thing.”

If Esper Scout’s music was “very driven by us wanting to connect with political motivations”, Statham says Fig By Four “similarly wants to connect with people”. “That’s why I do music,” she says. “The people you meet and the spontaneity of it all and the community that grows and grows and grows. Instinctively I just love music and that is what I do, it always has been for as long as I can remember.

“My mum says I was one of those kids who had the pots and pans in the kitchen before I knew what being a musician was. But the thrill of releasing music is how it creates an opportunity to connect with people physically in the real world and just through people listening. I’m such a music fan as well, it’s just a real buzz to spend your life doing.”

Capture Reveal showcases Statham’s gift for melody which makes her songs accessible. “I never had a grand plan but I’m proud of it, it has come out well,” she says. “There is a lot of melody to it; I hope people will like it.”

She believes the lessons she’s learned from working with others have been put to good use on this record. “The Cribs just work so hard and they’re lovely and they’ve stayed true to themselves their whole career and to call them friends is an absolute honour because they’re very genuine,” she says. “The music is what comes first.

“I seem to find authenticity wherever I go, in a way. Crake were on tour with Big Thief, but Rowan (Sandle, the band’s singer) got ill, I was also ill, we swam in a river which we shouldn’t have done, but I got my illness out of the way as soon as possible and said ‘I’ll do a (solo) set’. That was the biggest (moment when I went) ‘Oh, I think I’m Fig By Four, I think this is a thing I can take to people’. My point is I will step into an opportunity and I see that mirrored in the people around me who are much more established.”

Capture Reveal is out now. https://figbyfour.bandcamp.com/