Emotional ties with singer-songwriter Gabrielle Aplin
The singer on busking for her junk-shop finds, campaigning for gay rights, the perks of dating a fellow musician and the hot seat that inspired her latest album
I’ve always wanted a chair like this – I recently spotted it thrown out on the street so I paid the owner £10 to drive it home for me. I wrote a lot of my new album sitting in it
These photo-booth pictures of my boyfriend Alfie and me were taken at his cousin’s wedding in New Orleans. Alfie’s a musician, too – we first met busking in Dublin. It works because we both understand what it’s like to go away from home on tour. We sing together and always bounce ideas off one another
I’ve had Zippo for a year and a half, since she was a tiny puppy – sometimes she comes on tour with me or stays with my mum. It’s nice to have someone to come home to when the boys are away
My great grandfather had been a musician when he was younger – I didn’t know him very well but when he died he left me these harmonicas
Someone once told me you should listen to the same era of music on the same era of vinyl player, so I bought this one (pictured left) to listen to classics such as Crosby, Stills and Nash. It makes me feel as though I’m right back there in the 1960s with them; This Gibson L37 jazz guitar (pictured right) is the first thing I bought when I was signed by Parlophone in 2012. It is super old and I only use it for writing, not touring – I like the weird sounds I get out of it
I bought this Smith Corona typewriter (pictured left) from a junk shop when we moved to Brighton recently. I went busking with Alfie and his brother Harry (also my housemates) to make the money to buy it. I’ve been using it to type up the lyrics for my new album’s artwork; I take this old 35mm film camera (pictured right) everywhere with me – it’s good to have something other than music to do, especially when touring and at festivals. I have a lightbox app on my phone to scan the negatives so I can post them on Instagram
Harry, Alfie and I busked in Dublin this spring to help raise awareness for the Yes campaign (pictured left) when Ireland was voting for equal marriage rights – my best friend and sister are gay so it was important to me; When I am writing lyrics, I always dip into T S Eliot’s Complete Poems & Plays (pictured right) – his writing isn’t flowery or trying to be clever. It puts me back on track
Gabrielle’s second album Light Up the Dark will be released on Parlophone on 18 September
