Serious Child Talks New Album, Touring Plans And More

Serious Child, aka Alan Young, is teasing his forthcoming fourth album ‘What Lies Beneath’, released on 7th November 2025 with a joyful new single ‘First Tattoo’. We spoke to the man himself all bout the record, his touring plans and more:

 

What is your earliest musical memory?

My brother’s and my bedroom was next to the room where my Dad kept his record player, and I remember Irish music and The Beatles coming through the wall when we were trying to get to sleep. That happened a lot.

 

When did you begin songwriting?

I wrote my first song when I was 50! As a big birthday present, my partner bought me a week’s songwriting course in the Highlands with my favourite singer, Boo Hewerdine. Best present ever. Or it ruined my life. Or both. What I can say is that it changed me completely. No more working in an office or singing covers in pub bands.

 

You have your fourth album ‘What Lies Beneath ‘ released on 7th November 2025. How did you want to approach the making of the album?

I’ve always worked closely with producer Chris Pepper with just the two of us recording the songs, me on guitar and piano, and him on drums, bass and lots of other things lying around his studio. But this time around, I wanted more of a band feel, and so we involved the same musicians and instruments on each of the tracks, with violin and clarinet in particular providing the earthiness I’ve always loved.

 

Where did you record the album and who produced it?

Chris Pepper’s studio, Saltwell, is in Cambridgeshire, where we spent a very happy ten days laying down the main tracks. He’s an incredibly talented man, both musically and in making you feel happy and relaxed when recording.

 

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?

One day in the studio, we only had an hour left to do a song, and Chris asked me if I had anything easy. I paused, and said “err… I don’t know if it’s going to work but… I’ve got this thing of me singing a Gregorian chant about being trapped inside a burial chamber”. After an hour, and us finding a sample of water dripping and digging out a tongue drum, Underland became the opening track of the album.

 

Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?

When Chris and I work together, we talk more about the sound palette that we want than the equipment we’re using. I like to aim at rich and dark, but with acoustic instruments, as I’m quite keen on avoiding electric guitars. This time around, we kept the songs quite tight to the main band sound, but we did sneak in some sub-bass (as I’d been listening to The Little Unsaid) and a kalimba and toy glockenspiel, because, why not? I also found a fantastic broken down piano in the Airbnb I was staying in, and the phone recording I brought in became the riff in Stunt Double.

 

Which of your new album tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

The first single, First Tattoo, is definitely me at my happiest. I’d just done a gig as sound engineer with an amazing Gambian artist, Suntou Susso, and he’d pulled me on stage to improvise with him on guitar. I was trying to write something that was as happy as I’d felt at that moment.

Angriest? Probably Stunt Double, which I wrote about my brother in Ukraine just after shrapnel took out his right eye when a shell exploded next to the car he was driving as a relief driver. I might have been more scared than angry, but it felt similar.

And most reflective? That’s an easy one. I asked poet Tony Harrison if I could adapt a poem of his about grieving the death of his mother, which had been a favourite since college. It’s called Book Ends, and is both incredibly blunt and incredibly tender.

 

Who were the musicians who were on the album with you?

I’m a big fan of a classical / post-rock violinist called David Grubb, and his wife Annie Perry, who plays bass clarinet, and love the way they weave around each other on his records. Dave and Annie make up the backbone of the sound, together with producer Chris on bass and drums, and me on piano and guitar. Americana singer My Girl The River dropped in to do one backing vocal for us, which was so amazing that we asked her to sing on almost everything, and my old friend Andy Ruddy, who I made my last album with, came in one day to sing and play guitar with us.

 

Does the album’s title have a specific meaning/significance?

We chose the title because it seemed to fit the songs when we were halfway through choosing them. The theme emerged of what is going on beneath the surface emotionally, and then we included a couple of songs about what is going on beneath the surface physically, ie. tattoos and burial mounds.

 

Was it a difficult album to write?

Well… I was a bit nervous after our last album Talk About The Weather, which was a joint album with Andy Ruddy, and which got a lot of critical acclaim and love and it felt like it would be hard to follow. But when I sat down to write, the songs flooded out, to be honest. I wrote about 30 in total, and we cut them down to 12 for the record.

 

Who designed the album artwork?

That was me, although an artist friend of mine, Jake Abrams, drew caricatures of all the band, which we turned into postage stamps that make it onto the CD and vinyl artwork.

 

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

I live in a wood near Petworth in West Sussex, so…. oak, beech, mediaeval, antiques, mud. Lots of mud.

 

How do you look after your voice?

I sing most days to keep singing fit or actually to keep happy, and warm up for about 20 minutes before shows or recording.

 

Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2025/2026?

Oh yes. I’m a double header tour with My Girl The River, playing as a trio with double bassist Joe Hughes. We’re mainly across the South of England from October to February, but then planning to head North including Scotland in the Spring. As for Europe, we haven’t planned that, but I’d absolutely love to, so maybe I should get onto that.

 

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?

I’m at my happiest on stage, so I’m hoping that’s not too soon. In performing, I’m hoping to encourage a little more kindness even when we don’t agree with each other. Does that sound cheesy? Possibly, but it’s what I’m hoping. Also, I love taking people on emotional journeys in gigs so that they both laugh and then reflect, and perhaps think a little differently to when they came in.

 

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

I’m a bit of an acoustic creature, so it’s all about the mics. I love my old second hand JAS harmonium, which we mic up with Rode NT5 stereo paired mics, and I’m also a fan of the Sennheiser e964 vocal mics, which give warmth and depth to my and My Girl The River’s voice on stage, and my trusty Shure SM81 on my guitar.

 

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

Woah. What a great question. I’m going to say Overstory by Richard Powers, which is set of tales structured like the canopy of a huge old tree. I’m a bit of a tree fella, it’s fair to say, and it’s an amazing novel.

 

You have also released the single ‘First Tattoo’. What was the story/inspiration behind the song?

Everyone, and I mean everyone, assumes it’s that I want a tattoo. Well, that’s not entirely true. I wrote the song because I was looking to write about something that makes people happy. I was sat in a café, people watching, and realised that people who have tattoos really seem to love them and want to show them off. But now I’ve written it, and made a video with tattooists, I probably do.

 

Is the single accompanied by a visualiser?

There’s a full video to accompany the song, which we filmed in a tattoo studio outside Brighton. It includes an animation of me getting a frog tattoo which winks, and we’ve looped as a visualiser for the canvas on Spotify.

 

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

I guess when you make a record, you reflect your influences whether you want to or not. So based on how my record sounds, I’ve been influenced by David Byrne, The Divine Comedy and possibly Elbow. But I have to mention Boo Hewerdine, whose records I’ve always loved and who has helped me hugely in finding out what music I want to make. As for recommendations, do you know Dakhabrakha?

 

What makes Serious Child happy and what makes you unhappy?

Living in a wood where I can walk or run most days is an incredible thing. At the same time, I love a bit of culture and being able to go into Brighton or London for music or dance or art makes me very happy. I managed to be in London recently for a dance event on the same day as the Unite The Kingdom march, and had a terrible row with an American woman wearing a MAGA hat telling us she and Trump had come to save us. I could say she made me unhappy, but actually it was how easy it was for her to get under my skin that worried me more.

Feature Image Photo Credit: Supplied By Cannonball PR

The upcoming fourth album ‘What Lies Beneath’, released on Four Left Feet Records is out on Friday 7th November 2025. 

The new single ‘First Tattoo’ is out now.

Catch Serious Child playing around the UK on a double headline tour with My Girl The River as follows:

16 October – Windsor – Other Space

17 October – Cambridge – Portland Arms

6 November – Luton – The Bear Club

13 November – Surbiton – The Lamb

15 November – Alton – Beech Village Hall

16 November – London – Water Rats

19 February – Bristol – Hen & Chicken

22 February – Penzance – Acorn Theatre

13 March – Winchester – The Arc

15 March – Stroud – Prince Albert

For more information visit: https://www.instagram.com/seriouschildmusic/ & http://www.seriouschild.com