The sweetest thing

Listening to Candie Payne’s swirling, Motown-tinged debut album, you'd never think it the work of a pale ingenue from Liverpool. In a sense, it isn’t: Payne (yes, Candie is really her first name) lived in New York until she was 12 and Gotham’s polyglot musical ambience seems to have seeped under her skin.

“When my family moved back to Liverpool, I had a really strong American accent,” she reminisces. “Kids would follow me around the playground to hear my voice. It didn’t last long – I was back speaking like a Scouser in a fortnight.”
Lovingly retro yet never formulaic, Payne’s debut charts a course between John Barry and Mavis Staples: there are strings and sepia flourishes but I Wish I Could Love You More isn't merely an exercise in style – above all, it's a living, breathing soul record.
“Actually, I only discovered those artists after people started telling me that my songs reminded me of them,” says Payne. “I grew up listening to the same stuff as everyone else. Recently, I’ve been getting into Scott Walker, John Barry and Serge Gainsbourg but, when I stared writing, they weren’t influences. I wrote songs that fitted my voice.”
As soul sistas go, Payne seems sweet and even self-effacing yet she’s at pains not to come across as a lolly-pop sucking innocent. “Self-deprecation is something about the British that I don’t get,” she avers. “If you’re good at a thing there’s no point in being modest. Be confident in your ability. Otherwise , you’ll sell yourself short.”
Payne’s older brother Sean plays drums with The Zutons (she’s also close friends with the band’s sax player Abbi Harding). Did she grow up in a musical household?
“Don’t forget my brother Howie – he was in a band too, The Stands. Thank goodness we weren’t very close in age. There was no danger of us becoming the next Jackson family!”
She may be soft-spoken and demure but Payne’s no wallflower. Prior to her music career, had a stint as a model, though (ironically) she’s inclined to play this down.
“I’m not good-looking enough to be a model,” she explains. “What happened is that some friends of mine were studying to be designers and needed someone to help them with some shows. I never thought of it as a career.”
Soul singers have lately been getting it in the neck from the British media of course. First, Amy Winehouse was pilliored as a drunk. Then, came Joss Stone’s Brits meltdown.
“My lyrics aren’t as confessional as Amy Winehouse’s. I don’t put myself out there to the same extent. So hopefully I won’t have to endure the same kind of scrutiny. On the other hand, I’m sure Amy Winehouse knows very well what she’s doing. She doesn’t mind being plastered all over the papers, believe me.”

I Wish I Could Love You More is out on Transgressive.