‘One of the artists self-imposed tasks is to formulate life major questions, those shared by us all. It may be impossible to succeed at this job. Regardless, an artist can present postulations - a painting, a song or a play - a place for someone else to approach these questions’
I read this and wrote it down last year, and for me certainly there is a lot of truth in it. That is my relationship to the art and the songs I like and the songs I endeavour to make. I like what the quote means.
I’ve been writing poems or trying to write poems or thinking about trying to write poems since my twenties. Mostly it’s not gone well, and I’ve showed them to very few people. The best lines, or lines that I’m generally not embarrassed by have ended up in my songs. In 2016 i collected together the best of these lines from the preceding twenty years in ‘Instrumentals’ - a limited edition hardback book that has now sold out. Several copies of ‘Instrumentals’ were taken by The Scottish Poetry Library, which, personally speaking, was a career highlight - a validation that these lines were worthy of the library shelf.
My new EP is not poems recited over music, or spoken word, but neither is it a straight forward collection of songs. The idea for it was literally conceived in a teepee in the Scottish Highlands. In September 2018, Andrew Mitchell (my frequent solo collaborator and Idlewild band mate) Oliver Coates (Cellist, Composer, Producer, Pal) and I were playing a concert at The Dell of Abernethy in the heart of the Cairngorms.The concert was in an actual teepee, although one with a capacity of fifty, a bar and a fire pit. In the twilight between soundcheck and gig Oliver decided to compose a piece to function as environmental music while the audience arrived, a “dystopic collage of Roddy Woomble's cut-up phonemes with cinematic drones” is how Oliver describes it. It was to function instead of playlist music; to condition the atmosphere. Oliver set to work recording me reciting several lines from my notebook, which were then spliced and triggered by computer algorithm while cello & synth drones of varying length looped and grew underneath the booming & panning cut ups of the words, chopped in the tradition of Williams Burroughs to reveal subterranean, cultish and hypnotic meaning through abstract play of sound. When played back through the PA system it sounded both fractured and soothing and suited the atmosphere of the evening - it was the start of autumn, with a chill in the air - the audience was getting close to the fire, drinking beer and gin, with this strange and hypnotic soundtrack all around them quietly playing. The concert itself was lovely - Oliver played an amazing set followed by Andrew and I, with Oliver joining us on Cello (and laptop) for several numbers. The evening had a spirit of collaboration about it, a spontaneous and creative feel, in the cold and magical highlands forest.
Oliver continued to work on the track and it appears at it’s original length on the EP. Oliver titled it
‘RW OC Cuttup’ as that was what the file was named on his computer. It is really much more his work than mine, but he was happy for it to be included on this EP which I’m very grateful for.
At seventeen minutes in length I appreciate that it might be a bit too long or discordant for some - but if you give it time it’s a very meditative and rewarding listen - good to have on headphones while you are climbing a hill in the drizzle, or indeed sitting around a bonfire in the Cairngorms sipping Glen Livet.
In the months that followed I would send Oliver voice recordings (done on my phone) and he would add them into to music he was working on - a few of these he played on his excellent NTS radio show. Like many others, I greatly enjoyed both of Andrews instrumental solo albums (Under his ‘Andrew Wasylyk’ moniker) and really liked the idea of trying to read some of my words over his compositions. Andrew would sent me ideas, basic beats essentially, and I would construct words around them. I have always worked with either a guitar or piano to compose, so it was interesting just to have an electronic drumbeat to base my words around. In Andrews Dundee studio space we put these ideas into shape. ‘Context Of Midnight’ and ‘One Minute Out Of The World’ we did on these days. We also started ‘Everyday Sun’ and ‘Straight to Blame’ which were then developed further with Luciano Rossi at his studio in Hackney. Lucci and I also recorded ‘Secret For The Last Time’ in a few hours. It was a song I was working on at home, and more straightforward than any of the other songs on the EP, but I really liked its mood and sentiment. I am naturally more of a melodicist and used to writing songs with verses, bridges and chorus’ - so a few of the ideas started to deviate away from speaking into singing with melody. ‘Everday Sun’ has quite a catchy chorus for example.
‘Meaningful, meaningless, meaningful, meaningless, this is the wave that washes through our lives and creates it’s inherent tension’ - Karl Ove Knaausgard
We expect so much out of the sun, I watch people get annoyed and complain when the sun doesn’t shine. I do it too sometimes, I expect it to shine. Humans are so goddamn demanding. The sun is responsible for everything around us and is in control of everything that we do. on ‘Everyday Sun’ my observations on meaninglessness that i speak about in the verses are off-set somewhat by an optimistic chorus in awe of the sun and its universal warmth and power. Many of the lines on the EP have been re-arranged so that they don’t make complete sense - maybe this has become something of my trademark over the years - for better or for worse. There is sense in them though, you just have to listen out for it. There are several mentions of crows and also the ocean. I could milk the metaphor and meaning here - but in truth the cottage where i live overlooks the ocean and lots of crows nest in the trees behind it, so both are a constant fixture in my life. Crows are fascinating birds, and the ocean is quite unfathomable - both have plenty meaning simply by being (as a footnote, after just writing it - ‘Milk The Metaphor’ is a promising title). The line about seeing a man get down on one knee to propose to a stuffed grizzly bear is something i did actually witness in Germany one sunny afternoon. He had no doubt drained one too many steins of delicious beer, as had I.
In the past I have never been drawn to EP’s. I much prefer albums, and working in that format. That said, nowadays it is much easier to get an EP together than an album - practically and financially. People usually stream music now, and expect things quicker, so it’s nice just to release some new music when it’s ready, and not waiting a full year to get an album finished. Increasingly, I’m not sure how relevant the album is as a format, but i’m definitely of the generation that still believe in it, and so will continue to work in that way.
With the style of music we’re exploring on this EP - a minimal, more hypnotic sound, words spoken rather than sung, I was aware that an albums worth might be sleep inducing. Keeping it at 30 minutes and calling it an EP makes sense for everyone. To ‘Milk The Metaphor’ further - This is a short story instead of a novel - a starter instead of a main course, or two starters and no main course, only pudding, which has not arrived yet…
Andrew and I are doing 16 shows around the country to support the ‘Everyday Sun’ EP. We’ll be playing a few songs from it, as well as songs from all my solo records, and also idlewild songs done in our power duo style. The EP will be available to purchase at the shows on limited CD and Vinyl.
Spanish poet Federico García Lorca wrote - ‘Poetry cannot be understood: it is received, not analysed, it is counter to intelligence and the received order of things’
and I raise my glass of porter to that.
Everyday Sun is available to pre-order on ltd edition Vinyl and CD (which comes with four postcards) - http://musicglue.com/roddy-woomble
Tour tickets are available here - http://roddywoomble.net
Thank you for reading and listening.
Roddy x