Diagrams

Diagrams is a UK group featuring songwriter and producer Sam Genders. The project releases indie rock, alternative, rock and electronic music, and Genders is the central figure behind it.

Background

Diagrams' debut album, Black Light, appears in 2012. It is associated with Genders' work as a songwriter and producer, and it is noted for imaginative arrangements that combine electronic effects, synth-bass, programmed beats and low-key funk elements.

Chromatics and collaborators

The later album Chromatics follows a move from London to Sheffield, where Genders settles and writes in a home studio. The album centres on relationships, hope and change, and draws on reading about relationships by David Schnarch and Ester Perel, as well as Division Street by Sheffield poet Helen Mort. Genders records around fifty tracks while making it and pares them back for the final album.

Chromatics includes vocals from The Smoke Fairies and brass and string arrangements by Danyal Dhondy and Sam Ewens. Live band members Emma Black and Ben Malitskie contribute baritone saxophone and viola. Drummers Karl Penney and Fletcher Adams provide the rhythms. “Brain” is co-written with Matt McKenzie and includes an in utero recording of his son James’ heartbeat.

Production and sound

Producer Leo Abrahams assembles the album and contributes guitar parts. Genders says the production and soundscaping largely come from Abrahams, and the songs are written to work across different production styles.

Songwriting themes

Genders describes the songs on Chromatics as concerned with the shifting nature of relationships and with reassessment, uncertainty and self-correction. Tracks such as “Phantom Power”, “You Can Talk To Me” and “Serpent” show the project’s mix of playful songwriting, clear production and programming.

Context

Genders later takes part in a Musician in Residence programme in Changsha, Hunan, on behalf of the British Council and PRS Foundation.