Heather Large meets a young singer-songwriter who transformed his life and is now pursuing an exciting career in music. Music has the power to convey emotions, evoke memories and connect people from all walks of life.Julius Eastwood, who recently released the first single from his debut EP, loves writing songs that will resonate with listeners. “I hope that even if they don’t understand what I intended when I wrote the song, although it’s lovely if they do, that they have their own emotional reaction to it. “When people have a connection with something you’ve written, it’s a really special feeling,” he says.Growing up near Oswestry, music has always been a huge part of Julius’ life. In 2018, the classical trained saxophonist moved to London to study songwriting at BIMM University.During the final months of his degree course, he was given the “incredible opportunity” to play the bugle in the second season of Netflix’s hit period drama Bridgerton. Since graduating, the self-taught pianist and vocalist has thrown himself into his music.
“Songwriting is my favourite thing in the world and I want to do it forever so I’m working as hard as possible to make that happen,” says Julius.
Every song starts by penning the lyrics and then he adds them to the piano where he works on creating the melody and building up the song. “I never intentionally sit down to write. Normally I’m going about my day and I get a lyric idea in my head or I might be going through something emotionally or feeling frustrated and I can hear a song starting in my head. “By writing songs, it allows me to let go of what is troubling me and get my feelings out in a coherent way. “Sometimes I’m so inspired by an idea that I keep writing and I don’t stop until all the lyrics are down.“It’s really important that when I start working on the melody that I’m honouring the lyrics and emotion in them. “The melody has to be a perfect fit for the lyrics,” he explains.His debut single, Westminster’s on Fire, was inspired by “a lack of transparency and decency in UK politics”. The follow-up, which he describes as a love letter to the border of Shropshire and Powys, was Borderlines, released in September 2022. The song was his ode to the people, places and history of the area and how this environment has shaped his perspective.
“It is an ode to childhood, to widening your world view and to those who left home but return with gratitude for the place they come from,” he explains.It was played numerous times by BBC Radio in Shropshire and in Hereford, and amassed over 2,000 streams in its first two weeks on Spotify. After hearing Borderlines on the radio, Welsh director Julia Pentz reached out to make a music video for the song. Filming took place over two days in early March last year at many historic local sites including LLanrhaedr Waterfall, Lake Vyrnwy, Oswestry and The Old Racecourse. At the end of last year, Julius also released the first single from his debut EP, Visions, which is expected to be available towards the end of spring.The track Mirror (I Saw Me) marks his transition from indie-pop into electronic music and has already received airplay. It has also featured on The Salopian Mixtape, a podcast hosted by Simon Berry and Michaela Wylde, which aims to promote the music industry in Shropshire. Describing the song, he says “Mirror (I Saw Me) is a reflection on a period of time in my life where I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin – at 18 years old I was introverted, had low self-esteem and barely recognised myself. “It’s a retrospective song about who I was, how I felt at the time, and how I chose to change my life.“It’s a story about transformation and the decision to turn my life around – I lost five stone, moved to London, finally began pursuing music, and successfully auditioned for university.
“It is a hopeful song about finding yourself, empowerment, trusting your instincts, and living authentically.”
The second and third singles from the EP are due to be released in the coming months and Julius also hoping to release another music video in the future.“I’m so excited about these songs and I can’t wait to play them live. “They were co-produced by Jamie Amos and Andrew Ioannou at a recording studio in Surrey,” he says.Although he is now based in London, he returns to the Oswestry area regularly and recently visited the town’s Hermon Chapel Arts Centre. Julius was full of praise for the performing arts venue which promotes an intimate setting for live music, small cast plays, and workshops. “It’s a really special place and it’s wonderful, especially for young people, to have this centre in Oswestry,” he says, His plans for the coming year include releasing Visions and organising some live performances.He will also be returning to the recording studio to work on his next project. “I write songs every day so I’ve got lots of songs I want to produce and I’m hoping to release more music by the end of the year,” says Julius.
Mirror (I Saw Me) is available now on Spotify and a lyric video can also been viewed @JuliusEastwood on YouTube. Follow Julius’ music journey on social media @julius.eastwood on Instagram.
