Longer term friends, and friends of the blog, will know how much I love Polly Scattergood’s music. I’ve mentioned before that her first album was a huge part of the soundtrack to writing Not So Perfect and her second was around me an awful lot while I was doing things with Beautiful Trees. She’s one of the few artists I get genuinely excited by – a new release from her always feels like it’s something special. I think a lot of that has to do with feeling that she’s doing what she wants, that she’s following her heart in what she writes about and produces. I love it.
Rewind to somewhere around the beginning of lockdown and I was lucky enough to hear the new record, In This Moment (it’s due out on July 3rd). It’s been in my ears so, so often – as a beautiful tonic to editing my next book, and while I’ve been eating up the miles running.
In This Moment is startling. There are moments in it that still make me gasp after the hundredth listen. It’s honest and beautiful. It’s tough and tender. It’s affecting and catchy and interesting and it’s about as perfect an album as I’ve heard over the last ten years. It’s that good. (Have a look at her Youtube channel for the singles and some stripped-back performances.)
About ten years ago, In interviewed Polly (read it here) and, though I meant to get her back on here a couple of times since, my schedule meant that I was rubbish and never got the chance.
UNTIL TODAY!
Here’s Polly, talking to me about making the record, her process – there are even songwriting tips!
Enjoy. Buy the record (it’s available to pre-order in all the usual places, including here). It’s wonderful.
Polly! Welcome back! The last time we got together like this was in 2010 (ten years!) – how has the last decade treated you? 10 years wow how did that happen?!
I’m still here… I’ll take that as a win.
There’s been loads of Polly Scattergood music for us to enjoy – I loved Arrows and the On Dead Waves record – before we get to talking about the new one, could you tell us a little about the journey between those?
Between arrows and onDeadWaves…
Ok where to begin, so Arrows was a record that I am very proud, but it was a record that had had a fair amount of pressure tied to it , and because of this at times I felt the art got lost a little, I felt quite bruised by the whole experience, hindsight is a great thing though isn’t. Thankfully I had a few people around me who were very kind, and wise, and encouraged me to dive deeply into music land, and focus on the art… that’s how I ended up escaping for all those months to James (MAPS) studio, and making the onDeadWaves record and then after that moving to Fuerteventura with Glenn.
And now the exciting part. Your new album! Describe it in three words.
Honest Cinematic Lyrical
For me, and this might be because it’s the newest, I think it’s the best you’ve done. What struck me is the mood in it is so consistent. It’s so beautifully controlled and sparse with a real, rumbling power it makes me think of the seaside. Where was it written?
Thank you, that’s very kind and it means a lot that you feel that way. It was written in a few places, over a few years, some of the initial lines I wrote in London, some ideas flourished in Fuerteventura but the bulk of the record was written in my home by the sea on the Kent coast. The inspiration of these locations has definitely been embedded into the songs and the sound. Sparse and Controlled are interesting words you use, I feel with age I’m learning about writing more, and realising something can be filled with strength yet still calm and grounded musically.
And did it take long to write? What’s your process – is everything sorted before you go to the studio, or do you allow the studio to help you write?
For this record the studio and writing space were one, they were in the back room of my house, when we moved in we wanted to find a warehouse for the studio but that took longer than anticipated (we have one now) but at the time it was piled high with synths and gear we had on the road….
Is that different to your previous experiences?
It is actually, with arrows and my Debut I wrote both before going into the studio, although for onDeadWaves the process was similar to this, in that we made the record and wrote it in the same room..I think if I had been going into a studio for this record it may not have ever been finished, I tend to easily get lost in the production rabbit hole.
Aside from loving it (and I really, really do) two things have really stood out to me. The first is the drumming – there’s an almost tribal, shamanistic vibe. Am I right? Or is that just me?
Ah, you are have listened haven’t you!- yes, it was a conscious decision to make the drums have a warrior like feeling to them, on Arrows many of the drums were electronic but for this album, it’s much more raw and real and Glenn (who produced this record) wanted to keep the majority of the electronic aspect of this record in the instrumentation while keeping a more organic and grounded feel to the drums and percussion. While we kept the ‘drum kit’ approach for some moments we spent a lot of time experimenting with percussive hits on wood and metals and, yes, the hypnotic patterns on some larger ‘Toms’, timpani, etc style drums are definitely a recurrent feature in the sound of the record. We consciously chose to leave imperfections on the record, we wanted it to be real, be proud of its imperfections honesty and realness, even the arpeggio synth parts we played live, rather than programming them in, as we wanted them to have that really real feeling of flow. Not polished or mechanical in any way.
The second thing is the words. My job is working with words – either as a writer or an educator and I spend most of my weeks showing people how to write cleanly and clearly – so the messages don’t get lost. You’ve done that so, so wonderfully here and I think that repetition you employ as a sort of motif (or mantra) that builds and builds and becomes stronger as the song(s) progress is startling (I’m thinking, mostly, about it started out as nothing much but in the end was glorious).
Tell us a little about the thinking behind that.
I tend to often find the insignificant things often become the highlights…
That song originated on a train journey I took to Paris, we travelled to Paris on the train and slept in my friends hotel room who happened to be touring there at the time, we walked forever, we noticed small things, the pretty colours of the seats on the underground, we watched a man painting the lines down the road, while an artist painted tourists in the square. It was a very special day, didn’t involve spending money, or big activities, just noticing the little things.
What have you been listening to? Can you recommend us anything?
I very much enjoyed the new Fiona Apple album.
The last time you were here I asked you to tell us a secret and you said you used to go out in three hats. Tell us something else…3
hats…gah, what a rubbish answer I gave you last time… that’s actually part of a more interesting story involving a famous TV detective. but I must have been being lazy if the hat part is all I gave you.
I’ll do better this time….A secret… ok… very shortly after releasing onDeadWaves I decided to go away on a trip to one of my favourite places… whilst travelling someone at Mute sent thought a radio interview request for onDeadWaves everyone seemed quite excited about it, and keen it went well, so I agreed. The deal was that is was recorded live with absolutely NO overdubs allowed. I didn’t see this as an issue so decided to record it from the small air Bnb I was staying in. This was my first error, it was doomed from the start when an hour or so before the interview began, a camel in the field by my room started to make this weird groaning noise…I was a bit freaked out at that point but decided to go get some food from the local cafe and hoped the camel chilled out. I got the food, but when walking home I very quickly became violently sick, I was with Glenn and he also feeling very, very unwell. As we had only just eaten we had a ridiculous notion that perhaps we could kill the bacteria with some over proof rum… needless to say the interview did not go well… overdubs 100% happened… and even when the label asked the following day how it went, I said it went fine…other than myself James and the Interviewer nobody ever knew…. Until now!
Just for a second, I want to go right back to the beginning. Nitrogen Pink is still, pretty much, my perfect song. I’ve been dying to ask you for a decade now – who is the real Captain Red Beard?
His name is Mark… he was a close friend of my dear friend Tom who also took the cover shot for Nitrogen Pink.
What are your top five song writing tips?
I actually taught songwriting a little bit, it’s something that totally fascinates me,
The art behind the songs, I learn everyday , but I guess I would say…
- Think about what you want to say, what’s the feeling you want to give, Where will people listen to this song?
- . If you can’t think of a starting point read a book,
3. If it doesn’t come naturally don’t force it, go for a walk, change your scenery, watch a film, never force creativity it always ends badly
4. study it, learn it, try to really listen and be open to other styles and genres so you have diversity weight when you start writing, especially with things that feel far away from your own style, many times I have listened to things and then realised they have been subconsciously rooted somewhere in the back of my mind and come out in really interesting ways when you least expect it.
5 be original don’t try to replicate a sound. be bold and experiment, Embrace technology, apps, iPads being able to record things so easily, (Simon Fisher Turner is the master at this) I often record things to voice notes on my phone, just atmospheres, moments in the day. sounds. It’s like building your own personal scrap book of sound.
Any plans to tour soon? Anything else you’d like to add?
No one really planned for a pandemic, so touring is not on the cards at the moment, the furthest I’ve gone to play music is my attic…I wanted to play my short film in record stores when they re-open but I don’t know when that will be allowed. So for now I will continue to do my “live from lockdown” attic sessions… and connect with everyone in the virtual world.
In terms of things to add…. I have written a little book “from here to wherever” which is a visual documentation of moments from within the worlds written about on the record. But also and most importantly, big heartfelt thanks to everyone who has got behind this record, and supported by pre-ordering and pre-saving. I can’t wait to see everyone in real life soon.
