Moving back in with mum might not sound like the sort of creative impetus every 27-year-old musician requires to overcome second album syndrome, but it worked for Ben Romans-Hopcraft. After touring his band’s debut, Lacuna, the Childhood frontman was left bereft of ideas. He moved into his mum’s flat in West Norwood, south London, a domestic change which provided everything he needed to nourish his inspiration: vintage soul music every Sunday and, based on the rakish new look he is sporting today, quite possibly a functioning iron. It also proved integral for him to reconnect with his cultural identity.
“I never really embraced black music in my own way [before now]. It’s such a vague term. But I wanted to place a little bit more importance on my identity. Not just my identity as a black person, but also the community that I’m from.
Influenced by the soulful orchestration and subtle rock grooves of Smokey Robinson and Todd Rundgren that echoed through his mum’s house, Hopcraft decided to abandon the shoegaze and dream-pop of Childhood’s debut for a sun-scorched sound with a little more spiritual depth. Universal High’s lyrics, meanwhile, draw from the area Hopcraft grew up in: a multicultural, working-class community and a stark contrast to the music industry he had been ensconced in since 2012, an environment in which he was often the only black person in the room.
Hopcraft is now playing festivals and will be touring the record with the rest of the band this year. He has moved out of the flat with his mum – he no longer needs the grounding. By the sounds of it, Childhood have grown up.
“When I was 22 I was really concerned with the mythology of being in a band, what to do, where to go out and hanging out with X and Y,” he says. “I wasn’t getting any enjoyment out of it – I wasn’t being creative. I feel a lot more comfortable with what I want to do now in music.”
Universal High is out now on Marathon Records.