David Goosey Interview
Q: Can you talk about musical background?
A: I started playing guitar when I was 13. A chance encounter with an old schoolmate nudged me onto a new path, and that’s where it all began. It was the ’90s so naturally, I was soaking up the sounds of Nirvana, Alice In Chains, The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Soundgarden, and Radiohead. Those early influences really shaped my sense of melody and energy.
Later, I fell deep into the music of the ’60s and acoustic folk. Artists like Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen were huge for me. Nick Drake especially fascinated me I’d try playing along and realise he was using unusual tunings and capos in ways I hadn’t come across before. That discovery changed how I approached the guitar entirely.
A similar transformation happened with my voice. When I first heard Jeff Buckley, it was like a light going on. I wanted to reach those emotional heights and subtleties. It took me years to find my voice, but when I finally connected with it something clicked. I invested in singing lessons, learned proper breath control, how to open the throat, how to project from the diaphragm and I started to love singing for its own sake.
I began in rock bands, playing live a lot, which I still love but over time I started getting restless with the formula. Shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine and dream pop pioneers like Cocteau Twins led me toward more atmospheric, textural guitar work. Around the same time, I discovered Kate Bush and '80s synth artists like Eurythmics, Yazoo, and Depeche Mode. That opened the door to storytelling in song and to experimenting with drum machines, loops, synth layers pushing the edges of sound. Boards of Canada were a big turning point too; their synth tones inspired me to explore deeper moods and textures. I picked up piano while at university. There were rehearsal rooms with upright pianos, and because I lived on campus, I had the access code. I’d slip into those rooms at night and just play for hours, teaching myself as I went.Eventually, I realized I didn’t just want to be a guitarist or a singer I wanted to create entire sound worlds. I started recording my own music, initially on freeware, and gradually moved on to Ableton Live Suite. Along the way, I’ve also dabbled with violin, explored folk tunings, and continued to refine my voice.
So really, my journey started in raw rock energy, moved through intricate folk playing, into vocal discovery, and then down a long corridor of synths, textures, and atmospheres. It’s always evolving and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Q: What are some of the themes and concepts on The Pilgrim’s Path?
A: The Pilgrim’s Path is both a literal and symbolic journey. On the surface, it’s inspired by a real pilgrimage I made back to my birthplace in Northamptonshire, tracing routes through sacred sites, ancient landscapes, and memory-soaked towns. But beneath that, it’s a meditation on return to origin, to self, to spirit.
Themes of spiritual renewal, ancestral memory, and inner transformation run throughout. Many of the songs are rooted in myth, folklore, and historical touchstones from the story of King John’s tomb to the myth of the Stanton Drew wedding party turned to stone, or the mermaid of my Cornish village casting a curse from the sea. There’s also an undercurrent of healing, healing from personal trials, broken systems. It’s about finding grace in unexpected places, whether in a ruined church, a cold winter reservoir, or a fleeting smile from a stranger.
The album reflects the soul’s path: through loss, awe, ruin, reunion, and ultimately, transcendence. It’s about how every road, no matter how winding, leads home though not always to the same home we left.
Q: Can you talk about your creative process? Has your approach to songwriting changed and are there any new tools you have discovered recently?
A: Lately, my creative process has shifted quite a bit. I’ve been leaning more into texture and mood as a starting point, especially with my side project Music For Elephants, which explores more ambient and electronic territory. Instead of beginning with guitar chords or traditional songwriting structures, I’ve been building sonic atmospheres first letting the emotion of a piece guide where it wants to go. It’s a more cinematic and intuitive approach, where the “song” emerges from the landscape, rather than being plotted out from the start.
I’ve also been experimenting with jazz-influenced harmonies using extended chords, funk-leaning basslines, and chillhop-style beats to create something more fluid and laid-back. That blend of old and new organic and digital has opened up some exciting doors.
My short film and travel-inspired project Rum and Railway is a great example of this newer direction. I wrote a track for each day of the holiday, drawing directly from the feel of each location. It’s almost the twin to The Pilgrim’s Path both rooted in place and memory, but Rum and Railway has a lighter, more playful tone, with some Latin rhythm influences creeping in. You can find it on my YouTube it's become a bit of a creative playground for this evolving sound.
Q: Can you talk about musical background?
A: I started playing guitar when I was 13. A chance encounter with an old schoolmate nudged me onto a new path, and that’s where it all began. It was the ’90s so naturally, I was soaking up the sounds of Nirvana, Alice In Chains, The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Soundgarden, and Radiohead. Those early influences really shaped my sense of melody and energy.
Later, I fell deep into the music of the ’60s and acoustic folk. Artists like Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen were huge for me. Nick Drake especially fascinated me I’d try playing along and realise he was using unusual tunings and capos in ways I hadn’t come across before. That discovery changed how I approached the guitar entirely.
A similar transformation happened with my voice. When I first heard Jeff Buckley, it was like a light going on. I wanted to reach those emotional heights and subtleties. It took me years to find my voice, but when I finally connected with it something clicked. I invested in singing lessons, learned proper breath control, how to open the throat, how to project from the diaphragm and I started to love singing for its own sake.
I began in rock bands, playing live a lot, which I still love but over time I started getting restless with the formula. Shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine and dream pop pioneers like Cocteau Twins led me toward more atmospheric, textural guitar work. Around the same time, I discovered Kate Bush and '80s synth artists like Eurythmics, Yazoo, and Depeche Mode. That opened the door to storytelling in song and to experimenting with drum machines, loops, synth layers pushing the edges of sound. Boards of Canada were a big turning point too; their synth tones inspired me to explore deeper moods and textures. I picked up piano while at university. There were rehearsal rooms with upright pianos, and because I lived on campus, I had the access code. I’d slip into those rooms at night and just play for hours, teaching myself as I went.Eventually, I realized I didn’t just want to be a guitarist or a singer I wanted to create entire sound worlds. I started recording my own music, initially on freeware, and gradually moved on to Ableton Live Suite. Along the way, I’ve also dabbled with violin, explored folk tunings, and continued to refine my voice.
So really, my journey started in raw rock energy, moved through intricate folk playing, into vocal discovery, and then down a long corridor of synths, textures, and atmospheres. It’s always evolving and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Q: What are some of the themes and concepts on The Pilgrim’s Path?
A: The Pilgrim’s Path is both a literal and symbolic journey. On the surface, it’s inspired by a real pilgrimage I made back to my birthplace in Northamptonshire, tracing routes through sacred sites, ancient landscapes, and memory-soaked towns. But beneath that, it’s a meditation on return to origin, to self, to spirit.
Themes of spiritual renewal, ancestral memory, and inner transformation run throughout. Many of the songs are rooted in myth, folklore, and historical touchstones from the story of King John’s tomb to the myth of the Stanton Drew wedding party turned to stone, or the mermaid of my Cornish village casting a curse from the sea. There’s also an undercurrent of healing, healing from personal trials, broken systems. It’s about finding grace in unexpected places, whether in a ruined church, a cold winter reservoir, or a fleeting smile from a stranger.
The album reflects the soul’s path: through loss, awe, ruin, reunion, and ultimately, transcendence. It’s about how every road, no matter how winding, leads home though not always to the same home we left.
Q: Can you talk about your creative process? Has your approach to songwriting changed and are there any new tools you have discovered recently?
A: Lately, my creative process has shifted quite a bit. I’ve been leaning more into texture and mood as a starting point, especially with my side project Music For Elephants, which explores more ambient and electronic territory. Instead of beginning with guitar chords or traditional songwriting structures, I’ve been building sonic atmospheres first letting the emotion of a piece guide where it wants to go. It’s a more cinematic and intuitive approach, where the “song” emerges from the landscape, rather than being plotted out from the start.
I’ve also been experimenting with jazz-influenced harmonies using extended chords, funk-leaning basslines, and chillhop-style beats to create something more fluid and laid-back. That blend of old and new organic and digital has opened up some exciting doors.
My short film and travel-inspired project Rum and Railway is a great example of this newer direction. I wrote a track for each day of the holiday, drawing directly from the feel of each location. It’s almost the twin to The Pilgrim’s Path both rooted in place and memory, but Rum and Railway has a lighter, more playful tone, with some Latin rhythm influences creeping in. You can find it on my YouTube it's become a bit of a creative playground for this evolving sound.
Q: What was the recording process like for the album?
A: This was my first big project for five years as I had not recorded anything of my own since 'The Selkie E.P.' back in 2020. I wrote the pilgrims path songs basically on a guitar first then tried to reinvent the wheel with them stripping them back to basic components and then building a vibe with the tracks. It was my first time using Live Suite so I had loads of new tools and sounds at my disposal.
I started out with the song 'Walk The Pilgrims Path' in 2023 which was based on a simple synth based riff which inspired me to write the guitar parts and chords, once I built the song up I tripped i right back and added some percussion parts from my own kitchen utensils and layered some vocal harmonies.
The album stayed in limbo until I went back up to northamptonshire and the journey there and back gave me the album concept of writng a song for every place I visited. The next song to come was 'Over The Tor' inspired by the saints way an ancient pilgrimage route in cornwall. That was inspired also by hellman tor a place in the centre of the saints way I large rocky hill in which one of the pilgrims has carved a cross into the granite stones. That was a simple idea in an alt guitar tuning with two harmonies and a bassline but once I added the synth it really shined.
The mermaids curse was based on a polyrhythm of a set of chords in 3/4 and the same set of chords in 4/4 interweaving once i'd made that with a beat I picked up my guitar and wrote a song about the local mermaid myth in my village. Most of the time i'd written the song first on guitar and then when I went to record it i'd start by creating the drum loops for each part, mostly I would record more layers then I needed and then experiment by stripping back the layers until I had the right sound.
Q: Is there anything you hope people take with them when they listen to your music?
A: I hope that when people listen, they feel a sense of reflection and connection that quiet moment where the soul leans in to listen. My music is often rooted in myth, memory, landscape, and the inward journey, so if it can stir something in someone some half-forgotten feeling, some dream of home, or a yearning for meaning then I feel like it’s done its job.
I think we all walk our own version of the pilgrim’s path through life. If my music can be a companion on that path even just for a short stretch then that means the world to me. I’m not here to give answers, but to create space for people to feel something deeper, whether it’s joy, melancholy, wonder, or peace.
Q: What other things should we know about the music? Any live shows we should know about
A: The Pilgrim’s Path is more than just an album it’s a story unfolding across multiple forms. There’s a full-length film on YouTube, some lyric videos, and even a tarot card-inspired art series that extends the themes into new realms. I’ve also been sharing spoken word and audio poems on SoundCloud as part of a “mythic mini-series,” drawing from the same creative well. As for live shows nothing is set in stone just yet, but I’m definitely feeling the call to bring some of this material to life in a more intimate, atmospheric setting. Maybe even something site-specific like playing at sacred or historic locations that echo the themes.
At some point in the near future i'll be releasing a single and a b-side called 'Strawberry Moon Rising'. I'll be rehearsing for live shows at some point I like the idea of using loop pedals for my voice and guitar live. If you follow me on socials or Bandcamp, you’ll be the first to know when something’s in the works. For now, the journey continues online but the road ahead feels full of possibility.
A: This was my first big project for five years as I had not recorded anything of my own since 'The Selkie E.P.' back in 2020. I wrote the pilgrims path songs basically on a guitar first then tried to reinvent the wheel with them stripping them back to basic components and then building a vibe with the tracks. It was my first time using Live Suite so I had loads of new tools and sounds at my disposal.
I started out with the song 'Walk The Pilgrims Path' in 2023 which was based on a simple synth based riff which inspired me to write the guitar parts and chords, once I built the song up I tripped i right back and added some percussion parts from my own kitchen utensils and layered some vocal harmonies.
The album stayed in limbo until I went back up to northamptonshire and the journey there and back gave me the album concept of writng a song for every place I visited. The next song to come was 'Over The Tor' inspired by the saints way an ancient pilgrimage route in cornwall. That was inspired also by hellman tor a place in the centre of the saints way I large rocky hill in which one of the pilgrims has carved a cross into the granite stones. That was a simple idea in an alt guitar tuning with two harmonies and a bassline but once I added the synth it really shined.
The mermaids curse was based on a polyrhythm of a set of chords in 3/4 and the same set of chords in 4/4 interweaving once i'd made that with a beat I picked up my guitar and wrote a song about the local mermaid myth in my village. Most of the time i'd written the song first on guitar and then when I went to record it i'd start by creating the drum loops for each part, mostly I would record more layers then I needed and then experiment by stripping back the layers until I had the right sound.
Q: Is there anything you hope people take with them when they listen to your music?
A: I hope that when people listen, they feel a sense of reflection and connection that quiet moment where the soul leans in to listen. My music is often rooted in myth, memory, landscape, and the inward journey, so if it can stir something in someone some half-forgotten feeling, some dream of home, or a yearning for meaning then I feel like it’s done its job.
I think we all walk our own version of the pilgrim’s path through life. If my music can be a companion on that path even just for a short stretch then that means the world to me. I’m not here to give answers, but to create space for people to feel something deeper, whether it’s joy, melancholy, wonder, or peace.
Q: What other things should we know about the music? Any live shows we should know about
A: The Pilgrim’s Path is more than just an album it’s a story unfolding across multiple forms. There’s a full-length film on YouTube, some lyric videos, and even a tarot card-inspired art series that extends the themes into new realms. I’ve also been sharing spoken word and audio poems on SoundCloud as part of a “mythic mini-series,” drawing from the same creative well. As for live shows nothing is set in stone just yet, but I’m definitely feeling the call to bring some of this material to life in a more intimate, atmospheric setting. Maybe even something site-specific like playing at sacred or historic locations that echo the themes.
At some point in the near future i'll be releasing a single and a b-side called 'Strawberry Moon Rising'. I'll be rehearsing for live shows at some point I like the idea of using loop pedals for my voice and guitar live. If you follow me on socials or Bandcamp, you’ll be the first to know when something’s in the works. For now, the journey continues online but the road ahead feels full of possibility.
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