The first in a series of releases to come out over the next year, Time Immemorial is a slight departure from the band’s usual uptempo sound. A stripped back acoustic ballad, it’s filled with sweeping strings and soaring impassioned vocals as delicate finger-picked melodies flow with ease. With a gentle orchestral splendour, The 286 have created a musically rich and utterly charming love song that’ll tug at the heartstrings in all the right ways.

In this interview spotlight, I chat with The 286 about the latest release, motivations, challenges, and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Let’s dive a little deeper into you, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?

I’ve always played in rock bands, but when my last band broke up I made a decision to try something different. I had a new song that I originally was gonna bring into the old group, but instead demoed it on my open and overdubbed several cello parts onto my original guitar/vocals recording. It sounded really good – even with my bad cello playing! I’ve got no classical music background so I knew I needed so ‘real’ players in the group to make this band real, so I put an advert out online for other musicians – and here we are!

·How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?

The band has together since 2011, but this current line up has been together for two years.

Who or what influences your playing and/or writing?

Individually we have so many different influences, but I guess the main influence we all share is The Beatles and a lot of 70s artists.

Also what motivates you to keep going?

That first moment at each gig when the strings start playing in harmony. That’s all the motivation you need really. That, and seeing the audience’s reaction to our music. That’s so important to us all.

Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?

We’ve always been keen to push the boundaries of what is acceptable in pop rock really. In many ways we are similar to a prog-rock band, but we’ve always wanted our music to be more accessible that that. If we can succeed in making classical instruments more accessible to those who would normally consider classical music as old and stuffy then we are doing a decent job.

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CD’s? MP3’s?

Vinyl will always be king to me! MP3s and streaming is what everyone wants though so that’s the route we take for all our music.

How about this one… Do you prefer Spotify? Apple music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

Bandcamp, from an up and coming artist perspective, is far better because the artist cut of a sale is always better than Apple Music. But everyone I know discovers new music either through streaming services like Spotify or through YouTube. As long as new music is getting heard then it can only be a good thing.

Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?

The reality of the digital era is that music becomes far more disposable. You can download an artist’s whole back catalogue in a couple of minutes or even cherry pick the songs you want through the songs you don’t want to hear. That can de value it in some way. And its the same for an emerging artist – it’s no longer attractive to release a whole album in one go because it’s shelf life is shorter. It’s far better to release mini albums over a long period of time and build up some momentum and interest for what you are doing. But on the positive side of things, its so much easier to find new music these days and so much easier to interact with people all around the world, so there are plenty of opportunities for new artists to do well.

Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?

Our website is http://the286.co.uk. Please check it out! We are also all over social media. Just search ‘The286’ and you’ll find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Our music can be found on https://the286.bandcamp.com and of course on streaming sites.

Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?

To other musicians – don’t forget the reasons why you first started playing. They are still the best reasons to be playing. To your readers – please check out our new single! Oh and drop us a line on social media – we love chatting about music and always love feedback.