It’s tempting to think that Brighton’s DIY scene is all noise mongers with loud guitars. 
 
Bucking this trend are Lutine.  Heather Minor and Emma Morton blend unusual harmonies and lesser-known acoustic instruments to create unique folk songs. 

Since recording their debut album White Flowers in St Laurence's church in Falmer, they’ve played with Stephen O’Malley and  Dead Rat Orchestra . 

BNDIY spoke to the duo after their performance in the matchbox sized Westgate Chapel in Lewes to talk about collecting instruments, Indian influences and more.

How did you each get involved in music in the first place?

Emma: I've always loved music, and enjoyed writing silly songs as a child and forcing my poor sister to sing them with me. I was in choirs and choruses at school but I was always too shy for any main parts. I never really had any confidence in my own abilities until I met Heather.

Heather: That seems crazy to me! Emma's got the most amazing voice - it's always a pleasure to hear people compliment her on it. My Mum’s a musician and music teacher and I grew up with music. All my family on her side are musical. My dad’s also a music lover and bought me lots of records and tapes as a kid. I learned piano early by ear and there were loads of instruments in the house to try out.

I understand you took your group's name from the story of HMS Lutine. How did you come to settle on that name?

Emma: We wanted something that felt right, so we spent a long while researching myths and legends and we finally came across Lutine. When we found out that it is also French for a mischievous female hobgoblin, we knew it was perfect!

Heather: All our first choices were taken by metal bands! We wanted something simple; a word that had a musical sound. And we wanted something with a story or some meaning, so Lutine was perfect.

You met initially as Emma wanted singing lessons from Heather. At what point did you realise you wanted to pursue Lutine instead?

Emma: I don't think there was an exact point in time that changed, as it was a gradual thing. We were working on music that we both liked a lot in lessons (especially early music) and found we had a lot in common. Heather has an incredible talent for arranging and song writing, and when we started doing this together it just felt right.

White Flowers seems to revolve around themes of tragedy, the sea, and nature. What is it about these which draw you to them?

Emma: All of the original songs on White Flowers draw from personal experiences in some way and those are common in our writing because we're most moved by them. I'm often drawn to the saddest of the traditional songs, and relate to the emotion in them.

Heather: Some of the same songs on the album are about grief - my grandmother died and I was dealing with losing someone I was very close to. So It Goes comes from a moment when I suddenly felt linked to her by simple, everyday shared experiences. Emma loves the sad songs! I think we work well together as we level each other out. Emma has showed me how much beauty is in simplicity.

Can you tell me about your song writing process? Who comes up with what and how do you decide which instruments to use and where to put the vocal harmonies?

Emma: It's hard to describe as it changes with each song. For example, sometimes we will each have individually written something and then we’ll try it out together, such as Heather’s White Flowers, or Sallow Tree. Songs such as Espera and Synnove use a mixture of our writing. Whatever the process - we have to try quite hard to focus on it when we’re together, as we’re so easily distracted! With the instrumentation, I think we mostly consider the best way to tell the story of the song as well as the sound of it. Heather has a natural talent for this, and for writing beautiful harmonies that lift the music.

Heather: Yes it does vary but I’d say I tend to arrange traditional songs in quite a formal way - writing it all out and working out harmonies for us to then learn from the sheet music. I absolutely love writing harmony parts. I love writing for more voices too. It's amazing what you can do with just vocals. The original songs on the album are a mix of separate and joint work - for some reason our joint efforts seem to be the ones that sound Indian influenced. 

How did you both come to find yourselves in Brighton? What influence does the city have on Lutine?

Emma: I've always lived in Brighton. I think we both struggle at times with city life, so that has an impact on some of our music and can be heard in songs such as To the Sea. We live fairly close to each other, and we usually meet at least once a week for music depending on what we're working on at the time. 

Heather: I went to uni at Sussex then I moved home, but came back here 5 years ago. It's been great here especially musically - I love how creative it is. 

You use an autoharp and a harmonium. How did you first come across these instruments? What was it like learning them and whose idea was it to use them?

We both love the sound of the Autoharp, and Heather originally bought one to try out for Lutine. We were happy with the combination of it with the organ and piano sounds and then I ended up mostly playing it! I collect instruments, as you never know what will inspire you. We really like Indian music, and so the harmonium and the shruti box appealed to us.

Where do you see yourselves in the folk world?

Emma: I think we struggle to know where we fit in the genre ourselves! We certainly are influenced by very old folk, early music, and folk revivalists such as Maddie Prior, but we both like lots of different styles of music too and never really set out to sound like anything, it just developed out of our writing together. 

Heather: Sometimes, we are surprised by people saying we're experimental or different, as when we're playing together it feels quite normal. But on occasion, when we're singing songs such as Death and the Lady with very unusual harmonies, we've thought, maybe this is a bit strange actually! I don't think of us strictly as a folk act really. I think I come to the music and arrangements with my musical harmony head on. Also I love changing folk songs, which I know is something true folkies can be upset by. I understand the purist approach but I personally love it when people experiment with it. I love Bartok and Britten and their approach to setting folk music. Also we have written songs in indian scales or jazz modes, and I think that makes them sound a bit different.
 

What are the biggest challenges faced by independent musicians right now?

Emma: I think for us, balancing our work lives with music is probably the biggest challenge. It's difficult to make any money from music, so finding time and finances for everything we want to do with Lutine can sometimes be struggle.Heather: I don't like thinking about money and wish we could just write music all day long. It's also hard to find shows outside your home town as there are so many amazing musicians in the world!