“One thing we always try to put into the songs is that, despite everything, we were always loved”: James Yates on Pastel’s debut album Souls In Motion

With two chart-topping extended plays and a personal invite from Liam Gallagher to open for his first night at Knebworth, Pastel has sparked significant anticipation for their debut album, Souls In Motion. Set for release on 17^th January 2025, the album is both a reflection of their journey so far and a bold step forward in their creative evolution. Featuring fan favourites such as Deeper Than Holy, Isaiah and Escape, alongside a series of brand-new tracks written over the course of a year in their basement rehearsal “bunkhouse”, Souls In Motion draws heavily on the members’ formative experiences growing up in Manchester, offering a glimpse into the city’s influence on their sound and outlook.

With their debut record on the horizon and their biggest headline tour to date set to kick off in February, The Upcoming caught up with rhythm guitarist James Yates. In this exclusive conversation, he shared insights into the inspirations and creative processes behind the releases, the enduring appeal of vinyl and the band’s thrilling live performances.

Following the success of your EPs, your debut album has been highly anticipated. What does Souls In Motion mean to you and the band?

To be honest with you, it feels like it’s been a really long time coming. You know, as a band, we’ve kind of achieved quite a lot, considering we don’t have a record out yet. So we’ve kind of written this album whilst we’ve been on this sort of mad ride since we released our first EP. Since then, we’ve been on this nice upward trajectory, and it’s just been about taking all that in, and feeling like there’s some sort of escape from where we grew up.

Could you share with us the inspiration behind the title Souls In Motion?

So on the part about us being sort of on an upward trajectory, we feel like we’re constantly moving. I think at one point we were going to call it Soul In Motion, but we felt like Souls had more of a unity about it – the five of us together. I think I just quite like the word “motion”, there’s something quite descriptive about it.

You’ve mentioned spending 12 months locked away in your basement rehearsal room to write this album. What was that experience like, and how did it impact your relationships within the band and your songwriting process?

I wouldn’t say changes as such, I’d just say it developed. You know, we’ve not really been writing songs for very long. Until the first EP that we released, Deeper Than Holy, those were the first four songs that we’d ever written together. So it’s just kind of been a journey starting from absolutely nothing to getting to this point. Yeah, so it’s just been like a development. I think we’ve learned what certain people’s strengths are and what certain people’s weaknesses are, and we’ve just sort of grown stronger. You know, some people are good at one thing, and some people are good at other things, and we’ve just kind of figured that out and used it to our advantage.

Yours and Jack’s upbringing in Manchester has played a big role in the album. How do you think listeners will resonate with those themes, regardless of their own background?

I’m not sure. I think there should always be an element of love and goodness. So me and Jack – Jack, my cousin, the singer – we had a pretty mad childhood. You know, our parents were drug addicts and stuff. But one thing we always try to put into the songs is that, despite all of that, we were always loved. And I think I just hope that people – no matter where they’re from or what their upbringing was like – know that everybody understands what love is, or at least I hope so. So that’s the kind of relatable factor, I think, a warmness.

The music video for Leave a Light On (Velvet Storm) is very beautiful and definitely has that universal factor. Could you speak a bit more about how it was made?

That was shot by Charlie Lightning, who is a good friend of ours now. He’s a massive director and I was on the phone with him about half an hour ago – he’s currently on his way to Madrid with Paul McCartney. He works with Paul McCartney and Liam Gallagher, he’s done stuff for the Rolling Stones – he’s pretty good. So he directed it, and I sent him the song and was like, “What do you think?” Because, obviously, we don’t have big budgets or anything, and he’s kind of doing it as a favour. So we didn’t have big budgets to do anything mad. I sent him the song and said, “Listen to it a few times and tell me what you think.” And he’s just amazing. He phoned me back the next day and was like, “Right, we need a cliff. We need to get a piano on the cliff.” He wanted an open feel – there’s something just magical, isn’t there, about standing on the edge of a cliff and sort of looking out? There’s just so much freedom in that. But we were really lucky with it, because the day we went to film, the weather was a bit crap, it was all sort of grey. So we went early in the day to scout the area out. We found the location and thought, “Right, this is amazing – we’ll come back in a couple of hours and hope that it’s cleared up.” And when we got back and started loading all the stuff, the clouds parted for two hours to let us film the video, and as soon as we started to pack up again, it was cloudy again. We couldn’t have timed it any better, I think someone was watching over us that day.

Your previous two EPs have taken number one and number two positions on the Vinyl Singles Chart. How do you feel about vinyl versus digital in terms of sound?

This is one of the reasons why the album isn’t out yet, in terms of the sound. When we had the album mastered, we got the master back, and it was a digital master, which would be on Spotify and stuff. We listened to it and thought it sounded amazing, so we sent it off to be pressed on vinyl. And when we got the first pressing back, it sounded awful and we were like, “This can’t be right.” But then we had it remastered to work in favour of vinyl because I think there’s something magical about holding something in your hand, looking at the pictures, reading the lyrics, putting it on the set, and hearing the needle crackling just before the song starts. There’s something so wholesome about it that I feel like digital is a bit like eating a burger from McDonald’s, whereas vinyl is kind of like having a nice home-cooked meal. 

Your live shows have been praised for their energy and connection with the crowd. How do you prepare for these gigs, especially for the upcoming headline tour?

We start a tour tomorrow with a band called Twang, and I think one thing that we tried to do for our first headline tour was to create a vibe that was all about a party, right? So, you know, we’d hold after-parties after some of the gigs, and we took a DJ on tour with us to create an energy. Whereas, when we go on tour in February, we want to make it more about the show. So we’re going to take our own lighting guy, our own sound guy – all these things that cost a lot more money – but this time we want people to walk in and watch the gig and feel like it’s a step up. I think the way we prepare for each sort of tour is that we just want every time to be a step up. The first one was very raw, all about the party and the energy, which was amazing, and we achieved it. But this time I want people to come in, watch, and go, “You know, these are a proper band.”

For your upcoming tour, which venue or city are you most excited about and why?

Oh, all of them. I think the ones that stand out, to be honest with you, are when we go up to Scotland. I love going up to Scotland – Glasgow and stuff like that – because, like Jack always says, you could play there on a Tuesday and it still feels like a Friday. They are just mad. But I was talking about this with Jack earlier on – when I look at the poster, I look at every single date and think, “That will be good.” You know, we have a strong following in every place. I’m kind of looking forward to them all, but if I had to pick one that stood out, it would probably be any of the ones in Scotland – particularly Glasgow.

Christina Yang
Image: Charlie Lightening

Souls In Motion is released on 17^th January 2025. For further information or to order the album visit Pastel’s website here.

Watch the video for the single here: