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Posts Tagged 'The Weighing Of The Heart'
Chosen One: Colleen
Interview with Cécile Schott, Colleen.
"…for this album there would be a general theme of trying to speak about the human brain, the mind and basically things that connect us all; these inner struggles, inner demons – if you want to call them that – and just, in general, the inner human life is so rich and complex and also it's just impossible to really understand it and that's what is really fascinating."
—Cécile Schott
Words: Mark Carry, Artwork: Craig Carry
The Paris-born musician Cécile Schott has been making music as Colleen for over a decade now: beginning with a string of much-loved records for The Leaf Label (debut 2003 album 'Everyone Alive Wants Answers', 2005's 'The Golden Morning Breaks' and 2007's 'Les Ondes Silencieuses', as well as 2006's 'Colleen Et Les Boîtes À Musique', (an E.P. originally created for Atelier de Création Radiophonique as a commission from France Culture). After a four-year break, Colleen made her long-awaited return to music in 2013 with the release of her album 'The Weighing Of The Heart' via London-based label Second Language, its eleven songs featuring, for the first time, Schott's own voice as well as a new-found love for Jamaican music and rhythm. Colleen's hugely anticipated fifth studio album 'Captain Of None' has just been released by Chicago-based label Thrill Jockey Records, representing the crowning jewel of Schott's treasured works of art thus far.
The first glimpses of the San Sebastian-based artist's new material came during 2013's 'The Weighing Of The Heart' tour, in the form of the shape-shifting creations: 'Captain Of None', 'I'm Kin' and 'Lighthouse'. The scintillating dub-infused rhythms interwoven with Schott's mesmerising voice is a pure joy to behold as vast seas of tender beauty ascend into the human space. I was fortunate to witness Colleen's live performance on two separate occasions during 2013 – Dublin's Unitarian Church during the early summer and Cork's Triskel Christchurch in early November – that were dotted with an endless array of utterly transcendent moments created in Schott's own little corner of the world.
The hypnotic notes of Schott's trusted treble viola da gamba (a baroque instrument with gut strings) formed the foundation to 'The Weighing Of The Heart's sonic trajectory – in accordance with Schott's use of vocals for the very first time – that would be further explored on 'Captain Of None' to wondrous effect. Unlike 'The Weighing Of The Heart' – which incorporated a wide palette of instrumentation (for instance, the use of organ on 'Humming Fields' or clarinet on 'Moonlit Sky') – 'Captain Of None' limits the instrumentation to Schott's voice and treble viola da gamba (with the exception on the melodica-led, Augustus Pabo-inspired 'Salina Stars'). The album's eight sublime creations further evolve, transform and ceaselessly mutate due to the compelling production ideas and wholly unique artistic vision of Schott, who creates, in turn, a sonic marvel of a record. Inspired by Jamaican music, the dub-inspired techniques (basslines provided by a Moogerfooger delay pedal) utilized throughout 'Captain Of None' transports the listener to the further reaches of one's mind: a lost labyrinth of time.
In Lloyd Bradley's comprehensive history of Jamaican music, 'Bass Culture', one particular chapter describes Lee Perry's Black Ark Studio (Schott's own San Sebastian-based studio has been lovingly dubbed the White Ark). Leroy Sibbles describes Perry as "an explorer going into the future of the music" and I feel those very words epitomises both the ambitious scope of 'Captain of None' and the breath-taking inventiveness of its author.
"The naked eye can't see these things" sings Schott on 'Captain Of None's penultimate tour-de-force, 'Eclipse', it perhaps best describes the lyrical viewpoint of Schott since she commenced adding voice to her compositions on 2013's 'The Weighing Of The Heart', where both realms of the real and the imagined are simultaneously traversed and explored (in a similar vein to Liz Harris's Grouper guise or Sibylle Baier's beloved 'Colour Green', for instance).
Like a beacon of the night, 'Captain Of None' reveals a sense of the vulnerable and the fragile (as well as a sense of the deeply personal) which quietly lie side-by-side with the brave and the permanent. All the while to the pulse of a beautiful, beating heart.
'Captain Of None' is available now on Thrill Jockey Records.
Interview with Cécile Schott, Colleen.
Congratulations, Cécile, on the incredible new album 'Captain of None', it is very special.
Cécile Schott: Thank you.
First of all, it's great to see the songs you performed on 'The Weighing Of The Heart' tour – the likes of 'Captain Of None', 'Lighthouse' and 'I'm Kin' – present on the new album and to hear how they have evolved over the past year or so.
CS: Yes, it's true. It's actually one of the first albums I've done where most of the songs – well, half of the songs on the album – were born as live songs as I was basically preparing the live show for 'The Weighing Of The Heart'. What happens usually when I rehearse is of course I am rehearsing specific songs but there is always a point when, for instance, your hand strikes another chord or maybe you just sing something to yourself and all of a sudden you realize that you have the seed for a new song. And basically the first song that was born that way was 'Lighthouse'. When I was rehearsing for 'The Weighing Of The Heart' live shows in 2013 and then the following summer, 'Captain Of None' and 'I'm Kin' evolved really rapidly as I was rehearsing in my studio, playing around with ideas. So it's true it's the first time I've been able to play a couple of songs from a forthcoming album before the album is released, basically. It was actually really nice at the moment of recording, I had the body of these three songs and then I was able to give them further clothes by adding little production ideas and having a more complex sound. It's obviously easier to have a more complex and interesting sound when you are recording because you have more tools at your disposal.
That's exactly one of the aspects that makes 'Captain Of None' such a compelling journey: it is the instrumentation itself and all the different layers. I think too it's the studio set-up that you have – which you have dubbed 'The White Ark' in reference to Lee Perry's 'Black Ark' – I would love for you to discuss the various techniques because it's obviously an album with so many ideas where there is so many elements happening in the music.
CS: Thank you. Well basically the album is both very cohesive in the sense that there is only one stringed instrument – that's the treble viola da gamba – and then there's the voice and these are the two main instruments. On 'The Weighing Of The Heart' there was treble viola da gamba, bass viola da gamba, acoustic guitar, clarinet, piano, organ, toy gamelan (basically a miniature version of a gamelan), frame drum, floor tom and other bits of percussion, and of course my voice, so it was very varied.
With this album I knew I was going to do something different because I really fell in love with the sound of the treble viola da gamba. Basically, what happened was, when I was making 'The Weighing Of The Heart', there was a moment when I took the treble viola – and I hadn't recorded with it yet – and then I changed its tuning and that's how I first made the song 'Geometría del Universo' and then I made a couple of other songs like 'The Weighing Of The Heart' and 'Raven' with it. And at that moment I knew I was really onto something because I think it's a very, very specific sound and it led me to a way of playing that was different. So I knew from that moment that the subsequent album would be mainly focusing on this and on the voice.
Also, at the time of recording 'The Weighing Of The Heart', I was listening with Iker [Spozio] to a lot of Jamaican music and I felt so inspired by it that I also thought that 'The Weighing Of The Heart' was a very prepared album – in a way it's a very controlled album in the sense that it was my comeback album, I was trying the voice which was obviously a big, big challenge for me and I was quite worried whether or not I could pull it off – and so I had to control many parameters on 'The Weighing Of The Heart' and I think after that I needed to make an album where I could feel free – free to play, free to experiment – so from then on, I knew the album would have a kind of restricted palette of instruments but that it would be counter-balanced with my approach to producing it. And you know that's where the Jamaican influence comes in big time even though it's true it doesn't sound like Jamaican music as such because obviously the instruments are different – my voice is nothing like a Jamaican singer's voice – the point is not to even imitate the Jamaican music that I am so fond of but rather to take my inspiration from production ideas and the idea of experimenting, of playing with sound and seeing how far that can take you in terms of constructing songs, basically.
The quality of the overall sound as well where there is a very warm and organic sound from the instrumentation you use but I love too how like you mention with 'The Weighing Of The Heart', on one level the songs are quite longer in the sense that there are extensive closing sections to many of the songs.
CS: I can talk a bit more about certain things in my set-up that have really led to the sonic identity of the album. For instance, and that's one of the things I love about trying to develop as a musician, is that sometimes you feel that you want to do something but maybe you haven't got the right piece of gear to do it – you know, for instance I'm not at all someone who buys lots of gear, it's something I don't do. At one point I had a tendency to collect instruments but now I really stopped doing that. But sometimes it's true that acquiring a new piece of equipment can really make a big difference. I think for this album, two things happened: First, I wanted to have some basslines in my music so I researched what is called Octaver pedals on the internet and I ended up buying one. An Octaver pedal adds another octave below the original sound you are playing, so it gives you a bass sound but with the original sound still present. When I got it and started playing with it, it was like: "Oh I just can't believe how good this is!" It was giving me a bass sound that was way better than anything I could have hoped for especially because the treble viola in itself doesn't really have any bass. So the first big change was that I started to think in terms of basslines.
And the second big gear acquisition [laughs] was the Moogerfooger pedal. I basically got this pedal after seeing the Moogerfooger pedals in a video by American musician King Britt and I thought: "wow, these pedals look really cool" so I started to look at demo videos on the internet and I thought: "wow, this looks like something really different". I already had lots of delay pedals but they weren't analog pedals, just digital pedals doing emulations of analog delay. So I got one of them and you know again it was a case of not being able to believe the things that it was doing to the sound; it was completely different to everything I had in my array of pedals. So that was the second thing that started to enable different sounds to come into play on the album. And the thing about the Moogerfooger is it's a pedal that you really have to use as if you were playing live. Basically, I was recording something and I was turning the dials on the pedals or maybe I recorded something beforehand and afterwards I would run the sound that I had recorded through the pedal and I would touch the various parameters that you have on the pedal.
For instance, a song like 'Holding Horses', the song is really – apart from the bassline – completely connected with the use of the Moogerfooger; all the different sounds – changes in the sounds you hear – it's all through the Moogerfooger. Also, a song like 'Salina Stars', the melodica goes through the Moogerfooger and it's what really gives those sounds and likewise for 'Eclipse', the voice goes through the Moogerfooger and so that was a really good moment of buying something and seeing that it's taking you into whole new places in terms of sound, which in turn takes you to a different way of making music.
One of the first things that comes to mind is that the album feels like a live performance in the way that it takes you to the live show itself. In terms of the lyrics, I love how, for example 'I'm Kin', I love the beautiful imagery that is drawn from the song itself.
CS: I am a very curious person and I have an interest in so many things and one of those interests is trying to see how humans are connected across the ages, across geographical spaces and how we are connected to animals and just, in general, to the natural world that's around us. So, I think with 'I'm Kin' I was trying to express this feeling of connection to other past ancient cultures including cultures that have completely vanished. I can tell you specifically for instance that the "golden ram from Iraq" is a reference to a statue that's in the British museum; it's a statue of a ram, it's usually called the 'Ram in a Thicket' – it's what it's officially called, if I remember well – and I remember the first time I saw it, I was thinking wow, this is from the same place that now we only hear about because of the war in Iraq and you know this is like a birthplace and cradle of civilisation which was incredibly important to the development of the arts and so I thought that was quite interesting.
And then, afterwards, basically the song takes you from, first, it's the connection to past civilisations and then it's the connection to the animals; so in 'The Odyssey', Argos is the dog of Odysseus and when Odysseus comes back from his long journey, no one recognises him because he's changed so much and there's only his dog that recognises him. I remember when I read 'The Odyssey' I thought that was such a moving passage, I thought that there is no better example of that connection between a dog and his master. And also the next sentence of "the greyhounds hanging from the trees" – I don't know if you're going to understand this reference [laughs] – it's basically a reference to the Spanish greyhounds that are used by hunters and unfortunately the hunters, once their dogs are not useful anymore for hunting or if they're considered bad hunting dogs, they're basically left to die in horrible conditions; they're even tortured. It just meant a lot to say that I felt connected to the fate of the poor animal like that and then it moves onto the elements like "the rocks and the water" and when you tread on something there is this whole hidden world – insects and life underneath – like the song goes from something that is concrete and human to the world of elements and of the tiny, basically.
Again, I think the lyrics are so poignant; they feel almost like parables as you listen to the different songs.
CS: I think there are various ways of writing lyrics. For instance, I really admire people who can write lyrics that have a narrative content so, for instance, I think a real master of that kind of lyric writing is Townes Van Zandt. When you listen to a Townes Van Zandt song it's almost like hearing a short story and it works so well and if you had to sum up the contents of his songs they would sound really, maybe cliché but his gift for narrative writing which obviously is infused with a lot of poetry is really, really strong. Or someone like Stina Nordenstam who I think has some songs that really have this sense of mysterious narrative and, unfortunately, I don't think I am one of those kind of lyric writers. Also, I think I'm very much at the beginning of writing lyrics, you know in total I've written very few lyrics but I knew that for this album there would be a general theme of trying to speak about the human brain, the mind and basically things that connect us all; these inner struggles, inner demons if you want to call them that and just in general the inner human life is so rich and complex and also it's just impossible to really understand it and that's what is really fascinating. For instance, a song like 'Captain Of None' is really about that but the thing is the way I was writing the lyrics I was really trying to stay away from clichés and so when you say a parable, it's not necessarily that I want the lyrics to be hard to understand and I don't think that they are but it's trying to write them in a way that hopefully will resonate with every listener and maybe every listener, when listening to the lyrics, will take something from it and maybe interpret it in his or her own way.
Staying with the song 'Captain Of None', I love how both the title-track of this album and 'The Weighing Of The Heart', I think it works so beautifully that each song closes the album as well.
CS: Yeah, yeah I like the idea of maybe keeping the most important thing for the end in a way.
If one lyric comes to mind that sums up nearly the feel of the album would be the lyric "I got lost inside a dream", it encapsulates the journey as a whole.
CS: The song is about losing touch with reality and not recognizing or understanding yourself – trying to find rest yet being unable to do so – hence the feeling of getting lost in a kind of parallel reality (a "dream") which leaves you feeling "Captain of none and nothing".
When you listen to the new record too you feel there is a trajectory going back to even your first album and the music boxes; there are textures and nuances present that makes you feel shades of your previous material is somehow embedded in there as well.
CS: Yeah, it's funny I'm actually quite happy about that because, on the one hand, I've never made an album like this one but on the other hand it's true that some aspects of it go back to the first album and in a way that's quite nice. I think maybe at one point – I've never rejected what I've done in the past – but I remember when I was making 'Les Ondes Silencieuses' I really wanted to be able to play without looping because I was thinking "Oh ok, everyone uses loopers, it's boring; to be a real musician I need to be able to play without any background looping" so I had these kind of ideas in my head and you know I think as an artist, you do go through various phases and it's interesting how if you let a few years pass you can change your mind completely. Well, I've gone back to my initial love of sampling and looping and I think that's completely fine and also I think one of the effects of Jamaican music is that in a way Jamaican music and especially the dub productions, they really pre-date so much of the music from the end of the electronica and all subsequent electronic music. And one of the things about Jamaican music is that it's often very basic in terms of the melodic unit: it can be the same chord for five minutes and when I realized that I was never disturbed by that, I thought well it just goes to show that it's not about whether something is looped or sampled, if it's a great melodic unit then yeah, it can last for ten minutes for all I know, so I was really glad to be able to just work without any preconceptions of what I should do. And I still really like that first album ['Everyone Alive Wants Answers'] so I'm glad I was somehow able to make the circle form itself.
And what is also wonderful are the sublime instrumental cuts. I know you've already mentioned 'Salina Stars' and I love how it brings you to the likes of Augustus Pablo and the like.
CS: Absolutely. Augustus Pablo was my reference point to the song, it was almost like a little homage. It's funny because first I thought I wasn't going to use the melodica because I thought well that is going to sound sub-par compared to Augustus Pablo's melodic genius but then I took it out of its case and I hadn't touched it in years and years and then all of a sudden the song was born. And yeah I'm really glad because I think it adds variety to the album's sound as well. Before, I said the album is only treble viola but it's not completely true, there is also the melodica.
Actually another thing, Cécile, I didn't realize it until recently but if you'd like to talk about first noticing the viola da gamba itself, I think it was in a French film?
CS: I think I was about fifteen when on French TV they showed 'Tous les Matins du Monde' by Alain Corneau. I remember watching it and just falling in love with the sound of the viola da gamba. At the time, I think maybe I had just started to play the guitar possibly, but anyway it seemed like something that you would think about but it's never going to be for you because I don't have a classical education. At the time I couldn't read notes on the score and also the viola da gamba is a very expensive instrument; it's very rare. I mean, you can find a cello quite easily but to obtain a viola da gamba is like a whole different process. So that basically stayed at the back of my mind and later on, when I took up the cello, that kind of went into the foreground a little bit until, in 2005, when I made the decision to order a viola and then so afterwards I had to wait for nine months for the viola maker to make it and then I got it in early 2006. But the treble viola da gamba, I only got it in 2009 and the interesting thing is I just wasn't using it. I got it precisely at the moment when I went through my blank period of not feeling like making music. But afterwards, when I went back to making music, it wasn't the easiest instrument to go to because I hadn't really played it. So, I thought: oh, I've ordered the viola and it's cost me money and it's just lying there and I haven't even used it until I had this revelation when I was making 'The Weighing Of The Heart' and I changed the tuning and so that's the short story about the viola [laughs].
Another thing is how fantastic it is that you have your proper studio set-up – which is really like for the first time – and no longer having difficulties of only recording at night, for example with 'The Weighing Of The Heart'? So this time for once you had your proper space.
CS: Well I have to say this album has been such a joy to make. All of my previous albums, there's always been a challenge of some sort. If I think of the second album ['Golden Morning Breaks'] it was the first time I was recording with real instruments and I had the so-called second album pressure on and the third album 'Les Ondes Silencieuses' that was a really hard one to pull off because I was going for a more minimal sound with the big viola da gamba and for that you need really good microphones, you need quite a good recording technique, so in the end I got the help of my mastering engineer at the time, Emiliano Flores: he's also a sound engineer so thankfully he helped me to record it. But it was recorded in two weeks in an attic at his parents' place and then I did some of the additional recording at home but it was far from ideal and kind of rushed. For 'The Weighing Of The Heart', I had the studio but the studio had these terrible doors and windows; you could hear the sound of cars and from people coming by so I had to record the album partly in our flat here and partly in the studio at night. It was just insane and I would be so tired; it is just not good for you to work that way and it's also quite stressful. One of my aims with this album was: "Ok, this time I'm really going to take my time and just do things well" and I was able to do it thanks to the renovation of the doors and windows of the studio that happened in late 2013. Honestly, it was amazing to go there at a normal time like 3 in the afternoon and just spend the whole afternoon until 8 in the evening recording and there is no noise and there's light coming through the doors, it was just great you know [laughs]. My first pain-free recording, basically.
At the start of your last tour you had some new songs, I wonder do you have sketches of new songs in your head at the moment or is it too soon?
CS: I have very, very small things but to be honest I'm just concentrating on learning how to perform all the songs from the album – well seven from the eight songs on the album – I'm learning to perform them live because the thing is some of them are really easy because they already existed before the album was recorded; 'Captain Of None', 'I'm Kin' and 'Lighthouse' – these were pretty easy – but the other ones were made in the studio and the thing about using delays is that delay works differently in a studio setting and in a live setting: in the studio it was going into the computer and you're basically using headphones but then it's a different bag of tricks when you're playing through a PA system because then the delay doesn't react the same way. So I'm having to learn how to change the settings of the delays from how I've had them for the recording. And also I have to learn how to perform the songs in one go because obviously on the album, with the luxury of recording, you can always touch up on mistakes and do twenty takes if you need to. So right now I'm mostly concentrating on just that and I have a faint idea of what the next album might be like but I also think I shouldn't rush.
I love 'Lighthouse' which is one of the older songs off the new album. I suppose it shows the inspiration you draw from your surroundings in San Sebastian?
CS: Absolutely. I think in a way 'Lighthouse' is a bit different from the rest of the album because I think it's the only one that doesn't really fit the thematic unit of the rest of the album because it was made much earlier. The thing is ever since I moved here I've always had the idea of having at least one song that would pay homage to the beauty of the landscape here, the soothing quality of it and the magical quality of living by the sea because, in a way, I'm used to it now but I think it's when I see something like a lighthouse, I don't know maybe it's the human element within the landscape of the sea, the flashing lights; there's something about lighthouses that are very poetic. For instance, I always have this fantasy of one day being able to record an entire album in a lighthouse and at some point it would be something I'd love to do. Also in a way I think the lighthouse flashes, they also have enormous musical qualities – I don't know if that really makes sense – there is something like a pulse that really speaks to me and you've seen this lighthouse anyway, it's always the same emotion of seeing that landscape and definitely as far as living here is concerned, I actually find it very beneficial to be living in a place where there isn't very much happening because in a way it forces you to look deeper within you and also gives you more time to work on your own stuff. And that's the way I feel and I'm glad I lived in Paris for many years – and I probably think it was the right place for me at the time – but actually right now I couldn't go back to a big city. I think it's really good to be here and have this balance and also this ability sometimes to completely disconnect from city life, and go to a park or go by the river or sea or go to some hills and completely disconnect and I think that is quite important and quite healthy.
I love your story about when you used to visit the local libraries in Paris, which in turn formed your musical education in many ways? It must have been a whole new world of sounds that opened before you?
CS: I think I'm so lucky that I was able to arrive in Paris at the moment I felt like making music again. Basically what happened from the age of nineteen to twenty-three, I gave up for a moment. From about twenty/twenty-one to twenty-three/twenty-four, I wasn't sure what kind of music I wanted to make and I didn't have the tools anyway to do something original and I knew that I wanted to do something by myself. I knew that I didn't want it to be guitar driven – and I was only playing the guitar at the time – and I think arriving in Paris at that time and having free access to all this music at the time when the internet was barely starting, you know that's like pre-historic times you know for young people reading this now. I think you have to remember that in 1999 there was no way to listen to things that easily and I think it really formed my whole project of making music in a different way through having access to all this different music.
Finally, Cécile, in terms of Jamaican music, what artists would you recommend?
CS: I'd like to suggest the work of the following people; in terms of producers: Lee Perry, King Tubby, Augustus Pablo, Scientist, and the recordings that appear on the Wackies label. For interpreters: the early Tappa Zukie and early Burning Spear are favorites, as well as Noel Ellis, Ras Michael, Stranger Cole, Horace Andy… but it's just the tip of this huge iceberg of excellent music that is the Jamaican music production from the late 60s to early 80s (the period I love the best, with my year of birth – 1976 – being a particular favourite, but that's just a coincidence!)
'Captain Of None' is available now on Thrill Jockey Records.
We're proud to be presenting Colleen (with special guest Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh) live at Cork Opera House on Sunday 3 May 2015. Tickets are €17.50, available at Cork Opera House Box Office (Emmet Place, Cork City); telephone (+353 21 427 0022) or online HERE.
ON SALE: Colleen plus special guest Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh / Cork Opera House / Sunday 3 May 2015
We're delighted to announce a special double-bill concert comprising the world-renowned composers Colleen (France) and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh (Ireland). Each artist has developed a wholly unique playing style and highly distinctive approach to their own respective instrument of choice: Colleen's viola da gamba and Ó Raghallaigh's Hardanger d'Amore fiddle. Taking place on the May Bank Holiday Weekend, this concert will be Colleen's only Irish performance of 2015 in support of her soon-to-be-released fifth studio album on Thrill Jockey Records. In addition, this one-off concert will take place in the intimate setting of the Cork Opera House where the stage itself will be shared by both musicians and audience alike, making for an unforgettable experience. Colleen plus special guest Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh performs at Cork Opera House on Sunday 3rd May 2015, tickets are €17.50.
Tickets are available now from the Cork Opera House Box Office (Emmet Place, Cork), telephone: + 353 (0) 21 – 427 0022, or online from the following link:
The Paris-born musician Cécile Schott has been making music as Colleen for over a decade now: beginning with a string of much-loved records for The Leaf Label (debut 2003 album 'Everyone Alive Wants Answers', 2005's 'The Golden Morning Breaks' and 2007's 'Les Ondes Silencieuses', as well as 2006's 'Colleen Et Les Boîtes À Musique', (an E.P. originally created for Atelier de Création Radiophonique as a commission from France Culture). After a four-year break, Colleen made her long-awaited return to music in 2013 with the release of her album 'The Weighing Of The Heart' via London-based label Second Language, its eleven songs featuring, for the first time, Schott's own voice as well as a new-found love for Jamaican music and rhythm. Colleen's hugely anticipated fifth studio album will be released by Chicago-based label Thrill Jockey Records in April 2015.
While her first album, 'Everyone Alive Wants Answers', was made up entirely of acoustic samples taken from her eclectic record collection, second album 'The Golden Morning Breaks' saw her exploring a wide range of instruments which she all played herself – cello, classical guitar, ukulele, music boxes, windchimes, and a rare 19th century glass harmonicon. After the music box interlude of the 'Colleen Et Les Boîtes À Musique' EP, she made an old dream come true with 2007's 'Les Ondes Silencieuses'– a modern album using almost exclusively baroque instruments (viola da gamba, spinet, clarinet, classical guitar and crystal glasses), focusing on their resonance and the silence between the notes. Colleen's performance at Cork Opera House will mark Cécile Schott's eagerly-awaited return to Cork to mark the release of her fifth studio album.
"An album of unusual sensuality and feeling."
(The Irish Times)
"…a gleaming treasure."
(Folk Radio UK)
"Like nothing you've ever heard. Astonishing."
"Lyrical and full of light…magical."
Ireland's Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh plays traditional and contemporary folk music on Hardanger d'Amore and other fiddles. The masterful musician and gifted composer is undoubtedly a national treasure; heralding a distinctive and utterly compelling voice in Irish contemporary music. In addition to being an established solo artist, he performs with two groups The Gloaming and This is How we Fly, in duos with Dan Trueman, Mick O'Brien & Brendan Begley, a trio with Martin Hayes & Peadar Ó Riada, and as part of many other collaborative projects.
2014 was a remarkable year for Ireland-based composer Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. Firstly, January '14 saw the release of contemporary quintet The Gloaming's stunning self-titled debut album via Real World Records. Subsequent concerts would be performed across the globe (including Sydney's Opera House) to mass celebration and widespread critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. As well as touring with his other band, the Irish/Swedish quartet This Is How We Fly, across both Ireland and Europe, Ó Raghallaigh also performed a series of truly special solo concerts (entitled "In My Mind", a solo fiddle and film show) across the length of Ireland for the month of October, organized by Irish Music Network. Despite the hectic touring schedules, Ó Raghallaigh also released two stunning albums: the solo album 'Music For An Elliptical Orbit' (via Dublin-based label Diatribe Records) and the mesmerizing 'Laghdú', a collaboration with U.S. fiddle player Dan Trueman.
"a seamless and unfettered soundscape… there's enough space and light here for influences as diverse as baroque to minimalism to breathe free… the work of musicians reveling in the moment: a rare find."
(The Irish Times)
"possibly one of the most fulsome and beautiful recordings I have ever heard. Great music has this magnificent power over us, a power to which the heart must yield always and without regret."
(Iarla Ó Lionáird)
"ASTOUNDING… Replete with unexpected melodic twists and turns, the tunes are highly cinematic, painting richly impressionistic images."
(Colm O'Hare, Hot Press)
Fractured Air presents: COLLEEN plus very special guest CAOIMHÍN Ó RAGHALLAIGH / Cork Opera House / Sunday 3 May 2015
Tickets are available now from the Cork Opera House Box Office (Emmet Place, Cork), telephone: + 353 (0) 21 – 427 0022, or online from the following link:
The Story Of An Artist: Iker Spozio
Interview with Iker Spozio.
In our new regular section – entitled "The Story Of An Artist" (named in tribute to the American singer, songwriter and artist Daniel Johnston) – we will be focusing on the artists who have brought their own distinctive artwork and indelible mark to the independent music scene. First to contribute is the wonderful Italian artist and illustrator Iker Spozio, who currently resides in the northern Spanish coastal town of San Sebastián. Spozio's name has become synonymous with the independent music scene over the last number of years, with the creation of record sleeves for such independent labels as London-based Second Language and the Brighton-based label Fat Cat Records. Spozio's work graces the sleeves for such bands and composers as Colleen, Adrian Crowley, Mark Fry, Delia Derbyshire and Hauschka. Over the years, Iker Spozio's reputation for a master craftsman, engraver, illustrator and painter of immense talent and versatility has been widely evident for all to see.
Words: Craig Carry, Artwork: Iker Spozio
"Self Portrait" based on El Greco's "El caballero de la mano en el pecho".
Even if the Italian artist Iker Spozio is not a household name to you, his distinctive artwork has bound to have passed your eye on more than one occasion. In fact, the chances are his artwork adorns some of your most prized and precious records in your collection. Spozio's artistry has adorned albums by some of the most inspiring musicians in the independent music scene. Musicians such as French composer Colleen, Irish songsmith Adrian Crowley, German pianist and composer Volker Bertelmann (aka Hauschka) and the legendary English folk songwriter Mark Fry – to name but a few – have all had their music beautifully adorned by Spozio's immense artistic gifts.
Most notable in his musical work is his ongoing collaboration with the gifted French composer Cécile Schott (aka Colleen). The pair have been partners for many years and their symbiotic relationship has produced a string of truly memorable and everlasting records over the last ten years or so (with Spozio creating both album and e.p. sleeves as well as concert posters), Spozio applies the visuals to Schott's music, both as deeply immersive and enchanting as each other. Their most recent collaboration has come in the form of Colleen's current album, "The Weighing Of The Heart", an album released last May on London-based independent label Second Language. The album is an extraordinary achievement for both Schott and Spozio, where both artists sought new departures in their ever-expanding artistic visions. The resulting work (both in sight and sound) is a true joy to behold.
Iker Spozio's work has thus far been as impressive in its versatility and scope as well as in its unwavering and passionate attention to detail. Throughout his varied work (across commissions, personal work and longterm projects) there is a huge emphasis placed on craftsmanship where virtues of both patience and skill are always in evidence. Spozio's versatility as an artist is nothing short of breathtaking, his portfolio showcasing works across many mediums including watercolour, engravings, monoprints, pencils and india ink. Often, the work is a hybrid of many techniques combined together – where a truly remarkable appreciation for each process' own intrinsic qualities can be discerned – yet such works never serve to lose any sense of vitality as Spozio's own distinctive graphic approach can always be appreciated and admired. For any work which bears the name of Iker Spozio can safely be described as something truly precious and singularly unique.
Most recently, Spozio's work has been published as part of Mark Fry's "Dreaming With Alice" songbook, a limited, special edition publication which collects together for the first time Fry's lyrics and sheet music from his seminal 1972 album "Dreaming With Alice", an album which is today recognized as one of the most defining records of psychedelic folk music. Spozio's work here encompasses a series of twelve specially commissioned engravings which serve to beautifully illustrate Fry's dreamlike and mysterious sonic masterpiece. Like any of Iker Spozio's masterful handmade work, the imagery – like those from an everlasting and recurring dream – will journey straight to your eyes (and heart).
Taken from "Dreaming With Alice" Songbook, engraving.
Firstly, congratulations on the magnificent achievement of the recently published "Dreaming With Alice", the lovingly assembled songbook containing Mark Fry's lyrics and sheet music for his seminal '72 LP of the same name. The project is obviously very close to your heart as you have expressed a deep admiration for Mark Fry (as both musician and painter) in the past, as well as sharing a close friendship over the years. You also featured Mark Fry heavily in your fabulous "Morning" music magazine when you memorably interviewed him back in 2009 for the issue's second edition.
So, first off, I would love to ask you can you remember the first time coming across "Dreaming With Alice?" What effect did it have upon you when you first heard it?
I first came across "Dreaming With Alice" about fifteen years ago, when I was still living in Italy, my home country.
I was just starting to work as an illustrator, back then, but also had a "proper" job as a graphic designer for a company which did websites. This job allowed me to pay my bills and also, of course, to cover my badly needed monthly fix of music!
I used to get my pay and then drive straight away to the bigger town in my district, Varese, where there used to be a pretty big and nice record shop, called La Casa del Disco. I soon became friends with one of its clerks, a guy in his fifties who had lived first-hand all the psyche, folk and folk-rock era. He used to suggest me all kinds of amazing records, describing them with contagious enthusiasm and in the most colourful ways. He's the one who sold me Mark's album, in its unofficial CD version released by Akarma.
I perfectly remember the particular day I got the album and playing it at home: I really got blown away by it, especially by the eponymous song, that seems to constantly appear and disappear like a ghost all over the record.
I still find it hard to believe that I'm friends with Mark, now. It's definitely a pleasure and a privilege to me.
"I Lived In Trees", LP sleeve for Mark Fry & The A Lords (Second Language, 2012).
You created the wonderful artwork accompanying Mark Fry & The A. Lords LP "I Lived In Trees" which was released in 2011 by Second Language. As this was effectively Fry's return to music for the first time in over thirty years it was clearly a truly special project for all concerned. I love how deeply evocative your artwork (including the concertina inner sleeve) is to the music within. I also love how – on the one hand – we have strong dominant shapes and forms, yet, we're also presented with so much texture, imagery, colour and detail. It's one of my all-time favourite sleeves! Could you talk about the artwork for "I Lived In Trees", the process and techniques involved and the resulting sleeve?
Well, actually "I Lived In Trees" is the second album after Mark's "come-back", following 2009's "Shooting The Moon".
I'm delighted to know you like the artwork for "I Lived In Trees" so much, since it's also a favourite of mine. The idea for a tree being the subject of the sleeve came from Mark, while the format suggestion came from Second Language's mastermind Glenn Johnson.
I thought it would be a nice concept to depict a tree that would be visible in full only when the concertina would be completely unfolded. This allowed me to insert various elements, sometimes incongruous, in each panel, making each section of the booklet kind of self-sufficient but also part of a whole.
Technically speaking, the background was painted in watercolour, then all the elements were inserted in the typical collage way, using various papers and textures I had prepared beforehand.
Taken from "Dreaming With Alice" Songbook, engraving.
If we return to the "Dreaming With Alice" songbook and the twelve accompanying illustrations that accompany this special publication. Firstly, just to confirm, these are linocuts?
Yes, they are.
Since there is such an amount of detail and varying focal points across the various compositions, I imagine you must very carefully "sketch" these out beforehand? How does the process between the inception of your idea through to the realization of the completed artwork happen for you?
Yes, indeed, I design, or should I say "plan", everything in detail beforehand, especially when I'm working on an engraving, a technique that seldom (or never) allows one to have second thoughts.
I must confess that I'm quite a perfectionist, when it comes to my artwork. Maybe too much for my own good, since there is always the risk of getting too rigid and clinical in pursue of a perfection of sorts. That's why, especially in recent times, I have been kind of forcing myself to "let go" and surprise myself through less thoroughly planned projects.
I love how you have used both reds and blues separately across the work. It seems to create a distinct contrast for the series as a whole, and seems to represent that idea of fantasy and reality for me. What was the significance of the use of colour for you here?
At first I thought of using more colours than those. But, in the end, I found that red and blue were really the most suitable for the project, both technically and aesthetically. The colour choice for each illustration was based on my feelings and the perception I had of each song in Mark's album. It's hard to explain: I just found some songs to be "blue" and others to be "red"!
Actually, I seldom use more colours than the primary ones, in association with black and white.
Dealing with colour is not something that came really naturally to me. I used to work in black and white only for several years, until I decided to overcome my lack of confidence and try my luck in the technicolour world!
I love how your work can appear quite abstract and fluid here, yet it always seems so rooted in the world of reality and representation. Recurring imagery such as birds, figures, the moon, floral elements and musical imagery are interspersed throughout. The use of space – both positive and negative – is also so striking and makes for almost multiple versions of the same piece. In terms of the series itself, are the individual artworks done specifically for songs in mind from "Dreaming With Alice" or are they more loosely based on the music?
The illustrations are completely based on the actual songs, and they usually feature elements drawn from the lyrics.
Some of the engravings are more descriptive, others less so. I must confess that I have a marked tendency towards abstraction, which I tried to keep restrained in this particular project. I think that abstraction often got to the surface, anyway, mostly due to the fact that at the time I did these particular illustrations I was extremely interested in African art and its tendency to translate reality into geometric shapes and patterns.
The Odyssey project, which I did not long after completing the Dreaming With Alice songbook, shows my more abstract side, and its illustrations, which are still based on the characters and events described in the book, are so minimal that one may find it difficult to immediately associate them with the text.
If the opportunity arose for you to do a similar project for another classic album (of any time or period), which would it be and why?
Hhhm, tough question, here, since I'm such a music "freak" that it would be a hard choice to make: too many wonderful albums around…
A particular favourite of mine, though, is Burning Spear's first LP, which I consider a masterpiece. I would love to illustrate it.
Actually, right now I'm working on a series of paintings inspired by Jamaican songs. They are going to be completely abstract, since I believe that music such as dub, which relies so much on sound treatment, could hardly be translated into descriptive images.
"Run Run se fue pa'l Norte", inspired by Violeta Parra's song of the same title.
Just to talk a little about your earlier work and the formative influences on you as an artist. What were the initial sources of inspiration for you to create art? Were there specific art movements in art history or specific painters you were drawn to at the beginning? Since your work encompasses a wide range of various techniques – such as painting, engraving, linocuts – I imagine there must be such a variety of people who have influenced you in your own approach as an artist?
My father, my grandfather and my great-grandfather were all painters, so art, painting specifically, was part of my life since I was a child. I always drew, but it took me quite some time to make the decision to fully devote myself to painting and illustration. It actually came gradually, and in parallel with my passion for music, since the very first works I got published were for indie labels I followed.
I like almost all art, so it would be difficult for me to choose some specific artists or movements as my favourite ones. I must say, though, that, being an Italian, I surely was influenced from the very beginning by all the Renaissance greats, Piero Della Francesca and Paolo Uccello in particular. The Bauhaus has always been a source of inspiration to me, as well as some "eccentric" painters such as Piero Di Cosimo, Léon Spilliaert and Odilon Redon. In a more "graphic design" context, I'd like to mention Neil Fujita and his work for Columbia Records in the fifties.
For the record, what are the techniques you most commonly use?
I first worked mostly in black and white, using indian ink and various kinds of pens and brushes. Then I really got into engraving techniques, such as linocut. I prefer to mix techniques up, though, so I often combine the aforementioned ones with watercolour, gouache and acrylic paints. I also do monotype a lot, a technique I particularly enjoy, since it gives one an endless array of possibilities.
"The Weighing Of The Heart", LP sleeve for Colleen (Second Language, 2013).
Now, to turn to the music of Colleen and the hugely enriching and stunning work that has resulted from that truly special collaboration. Firstly, I'll point out that Colleen (aka French musician Cécile Schott) is your partner for many years now and you have been creating the artwork for her albums as Colleen for the last decade or so. The resulting "collaboration" has most recently been this year's magnificent "The Weighing Of The Heart" album. It's obviously such a personal and special project for the two of you, not least since it's the first Colleen record in five years. I know it sounds clichéd, but it just so perfectly embodies visually the music within (for example, Coleen's new focus on rhythm, colour, and movement). There's also so much else in the sleeve, including the reference to the Ursa Major constellation, the Egyptian book of the dead and also the location of San Sebastián, where yourself and Cécile now live.
I would love if you could talk about "The Weighing Of The Heart", the artwork and the new elements found in this new work of your's and what influenced you in the making of the artwork?
The making of the artwork for "The Weighing Of The Heart" took me an extremely long time, since I really wanted to give it my best. It's a very important album for both myself and for Cécile, who was getting back to recording music after a fairly long hiatus.
I actually did three different versions of the cover artwork, but never was completely satisfied with what I came up with.
I think that the final one, the one Cécile and I were both happy with, reflects well the changes we've both experienced in our respective arts: Cécile's new poly rhythmic compositions and more "colourful" approach to music coincided with a tendency I had developed to get my works busier and brighter in terms of colour. As far as I'm concerned, I believe it's a consequence of my passion for traditional African art and also an influence of Juan Gris's cubism.
It's funny because I hadn't heard a single note of Cécile's new music until I had finished the artwork, so it's the result of a kind of telepathic communication between the two of us if both music and images work along fine.
"Les Ondes Silencieuses", LP sleeve for Colleen (Leaf, 2007).
It would also be such a huge pleasure for me to ask you about the sleeves for both "Les Ondes Silencieuses" and "The Golden Morning Breaks" here as well. Both those records hold such a special place in the hearts of music fans and both of the sleeves distill so beautifully the space and time in which both those special Colleen albums were made, and embody the particular mood and atmosphere of both records too.
I'm pleased that you like those particular sleeves, even if I must tell you that I find it kind of hard to look back to that particular era of my work now… I don't feel really connected to it anymore. Actually, the cover for "Les Ondes Silencieuses" is probably the very last "official" artwork I did in that pen-and-ink, Beardsley-esque style I had been working with. Oh, well, I still have a soft spot for that sleeve though, since it has such a "home-y" feeling to it… Cécile and our cat are on it, and the landscape is a familiar one: it could well be taken from the place where we live now or from my hometown in Italy.
"Black Magic and Its Expose", engraving, taken from "Master & Margarita".
Last year your project – encompassing fifteen engraved panels, all handmade and hand-printed – based on Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita" was exhibited in the Bulgakov Museum in Moscow. This must have been such a proud and special occasion for you? And this project stemmed simply from your wish to illustrate each chapter from one of your favourite books?
It was a true honour for me to have my illustrations exhibited in Bulgakov's Museum. The museum is actually in the house where the writer lived and wrote some of his books, including "Master And Margarita".
When I got the offer to do that exhibition I was really moved, since I enormously admire Bulgakov, both for his work and for the determination he put into it despite the terrible living conditions and restrictions that were imposed on him by the Communist government.
I just wanted to pay a small tribute to him through my work, but unfortunately got stuck creatively midway through and never managed to complete it.
The original idea was to do 43 linocuts!…
Literature has also played a major role in your work as an artist. Which books and authors have you most admired?
I'm a huge fan of classical Russian literature: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Gogol, Leskov, Lermontov and, of course, Bulgakov.
I also like early twentieth century russian poetry, Esenin in particular.
Generally speaking, I love the golden era of novel-writing, mid and late nineteenth century.
Other particular favourites of mine are Stendhal, Conrad, Maupassant and Tommaso Landolfi, maybe my most beloved author of all. He's not well-known outside of Italy (actually he's kind of considered as an "outsider" also there), but I find he wrote some of the most interesting works in Italian literature, especially when it comes to short stories.
"Arrival at Pylos", taken from "The Odyssey", a series based on illustrating each chapter for Homer's Odyssey, collage, monotype and sprayed watercolours.
Film has equally been important for you, I know in the past you have talked about such filmmakers as Marcel Carné and Tarkovsky. Which films and filmmakers would you recommend the most?
Tough question again! Hard for me to choose a few ones only!
I would definitely recommend some of the classic French movies of the 30s, 40s and 50s.
Carné is a big favourite of mine: I love "Hôtel du Nord", "Le jour se lève", "Quai des brumes" and, especially, "Les enfants du paradis", definitely my all-time favourite movie (along with Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai").
All the French cinema of that era is really interesting though, especially for the particular flavour of the language used.
French is a fabulous language, so rich and inventive!
I also love silent cinema, the German one in particular (Murnau, Lang, Dieterle, …)
Of course I have a soft spot for classic Italian authors, especially Mario Monicelli, and for music documentaries. A particular music doc I'm totally in love with is Margaret Brown's "Be Here To Love Me", devoted to the life and the music of the late great Townes Van Zandt. It's most probably the best (and most moving) music film I've ever seen.
"Mark Fry", monotype, taken from "Morning" #2.
"Norman Jopling", engraving, taken from "Morning" #2.
Lastly, to music, and I have to at this point mention your incredible music publication "Morning" (named after the Peep Show's song of the same name) which you published, illustrated and designed yourself. What's so special and unique about "Morning" is that you effectively went on a personal quest to seek out those bands and artists from the past who you felt were unfairly forgotten and neglected by the music press at large. The resulting interviews are so poignant as the reader can really get the impression that these conversations were from the hearts of the respective musicians and they valued the opportunity so much. The art direction is a thing of beauty too (imagery comprises either your own artwork or the use of previously unpublished photographs) and is such a far cry from the mostly fairly generic nature of music media at large these days.
Could you recount your fondest memories you have had from your time creating and publishing "Morning"?
The concept behind "Morning" was to publish a magazine in the spirit of vintage periodicals such as "The Yellow Book" and "La Revue Blanche", aesthetically speaking, and devote it to the music I really love. It focused mostly on artists I personally felt had not had the recognition they deserved, either in their time or even today, when some "underground" musicians of the sixties, seventies and eighties have been re-discovered and become sort of cult-figures.
My idea was to let the musicians talk as much and as freely as possible about their lives, their creative processes and their careers.
I really enjoyed working on "Morning", especially since all the artists I approached were extremely enthusiastic and committed to the project. It was a truly rewarding experience on a human level.
I only have fond memories about it, so it would be impossible for me to choose a particular one, but perhaps it feels particularly special that Sybille Baier accepted to be interviewed ("because it's such a nice little project", as she said – and indeed it was: I only published 150 copies of the first issue). As far as I know, this interview is the only one she has ever given – isn't that cool?…
"Sibylle Baier", monotype, taken from "Morning" #1.
"Dreaming With Alice", the illustrated collectible songbook featuring twelve specially commissioned linocuts by Iker Spozio (together with Mark Fry's sheet music and lyrics) is available now HERE.
For all information on Iker Spozio and to keep updated with new works please visit:
To read our interview with Colleen please see here, and for our interview with Mark Fry please see here.
Very special thanks to Iker and Cécile for their time, patience and warmth.
Something's Going On: Colleen plus Seti The First & Áine O'Dwyer
We are delighted to present Colleen (plus Seti The First & Áine O'Dwyer) at Triskel Christchurch Cork on Saturday 2 November 2013. The concert will be Colleen's debut Cork performance and will feature support from acclaimed cello-led group Seti The First and Áine O'Dwyer. Early bird tickets are priced at €13 and are on sale now. Full details below.
Posters: Craig Carry
Fractured Air & Triskel presents:
Colleen plus Seti The First & Áine O'Dwyer
Saturday 2 November 2013 / 7:30pm / €15/€13
Colleen is the alias of French musician Cécile Schott who, from 2003 to 2007, released three critically acclaimed albums on The Leaf Label. After a long break from music-making and live performance, she is now back with a new album, The Weighing of the Heart, out now on Second Language.
While her first album Everyone Alive Wants Answers was made up entirely of acoustic samples taken from her eclectic record collection, second album The Golden Morning Breaks saw her exploring a wide range of instruments which she all played herself – cello, classical guitar, ukulele, music boxes, windchimes, and a rare 19th century glass harmonicon. After the music box interlude of the Colleen et les Boîtes à Musique EP, she made an old dream come true with 2007's Les Ondes Silencieuses – a modern album using almost exclusively baroque instruments (viola da gamba, spinet, clarinet, classical guitar and crystal glasses), focusing on their resonance and the silence between the notes.
The Weighing of the Heart, however, sees a significant shift in Colleen's approach: she is now focusing her attention on the possibilities of the voice and on a more colourful and rhythmic approach, using a treble viola da gamba tuned like a guitar and various percussion instruments. The combined influences of Arthur Russell, Moondog, Brigitte Fontaine and the music of the African continent loom large in her new work, and the live show will be a direct reflection of this new direction.
Colleen has played live all over Europe, the US, Brazil, Singapore and Japan, giving more than 150 shows in prestigious or original venues such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and Union Chapel in London, the Britannia Panopticon music Hall in Glasgow, Dublin's Spiegeltent, Brussels planetarium, the Sé cathedral of Lisbon, San Francisco's Herbst Theatre and New York's Society for Ethical Culture, as well as some world-renowned festivals such as The Wire's Adventures in Music Festival in Chicago, Transmediale in Berlin, Mutek in Canada, Présences Electronique in Paris, and many more.
Colleen's performance at Triskel Christchurch will mark Cécile Schott's debut performance in Cork.
"Maybe it's the hummed choral lines with their medieval inflections, maybe it's the Zorba-the-Greek style echoing classical guitar, maybe it's the simple thudding drumming, earthy and minimal. Schott's work here takes you to all sorts of places while all the while keeping your focus firmly hooked on the music, this beautiful music, at hand."
(The Quietus)
"There is a distinct sense that this is an album that's been stowed away in the back of her mind for years, and that what has changed in the last decade is that she has finally developed the ability and the peace of mind to finish what she started. A creative leap forward doesn't always have to mean changing your entire identity, and few albums show that as lucidly as The Weighing of the Heart."
(Fact Magazine)
"The Weighing of the Heart has arrived with sudden, gentle surprise, like a migrating bird that has appeared too early. It is a gleaming treasure."
(Folk Radio UK)
"Precious folk experiments…her muse has been willingly unshackled by nature."
"'The Weighing Of The Heart' doesn't disappoint, despite a considerable burden of expectation. The oneiric shimmer of her music has its contemporary analogs in the likes of Grouper and Julianna Barwick, but on this record in particular Colleen communicates with an elegance and clarity few could hope to match."
Babies, active suspension, 7'' (2002)
Everyone Alive Wants Answers, LP, The Leaf Label (2003)
The Golden Morning Breaks, LP, The Leaf Label (2005)
Mort aux Vaches, LP (live session from VPRO), Staalplaat (2006)
Colleen et les Boîtes à Musique, EP, The Leaf Label (2006)
Les Ondes Silencieuses, The Leaf Label (2007)
The Weighing of the Heart, Second Language (May 2013)
For our interview with Cécile, please click here.
Fractured Air & Triskel presents:
Colleen plus Seti The First & Áine O'Dwyer
Saturday 2 November 2013 / 7:30pm / €15/€13
Early bird tickets are priced at €13 and are on sale now. Tickets are available from Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin St, Cork. Order tickets by Telephone: 021 4272 022 and online: https://triskelarts.ticketsolve.com/shows/873496800/events
Seti The First is the much-celebrated cello-led group comprising the duo of Kevin Murphy and Thomas Haugh. 'Melting Cavalry' was the band's debut album, released last year to wide critical acclaim and championed by everyone from RTE Lyric FM's John Kelly to Copenhagen's finest Efterklang. The band's influences encompass a diverse array of artists, including The Haxan Cloak, Toumani Diabaté, Matthias Loibner and Hauschka to name but a few.
Since the release of 'Melting Cavalry', Seti The First have provided the original score to the soundtrack for Paul Duane's film 'Natan', a documentary on the Franco-Romanian film director Bernard Natan. The follow-up to 'Melting Cavalry' is due out later this year. This concert sees the band's eagerly-awaited return to Triskel Christchurch where they will showcase new material after last November's memorable performance.
"We were delighted to be asked to play a triple header with Colleen and Áine O'Dwyer. It should be a really magical night. We are currently recording our second album which is obviously a big buzz for us. Musically it represents a bit of a departure from our first record Melting Cavalry so we are both nervous and excited at the same time. It will be still cello driven but Thomas's Marxophone is set to take a very prominent position also. We have also recently finished our first soundtrack for Paul Duane's remarkable documentary 'Natan'. It was a real privilege for us to be involved and the experience has whetted our appetite for more. We will be showcasing material from our new record in the Triskel in November."
—Kevin Murphy, Seti The First
"thrilling soundscapes" The Irish Times
"a thing of great beauty" John Kelly, RTE Lyric FM
"Not quite classical, not quite jazz, not quite pop, they somehow manage to weave elements of a multitude of genres (including Flamenco and folk) into pieces like, 'La Bassinette Noir' which, to these ears, recalls the Morricone-inspired textures utilized by Calexico and Giant Sand." Hot Press
Opening the evening will be gifted musician Áine O'Dwyer, hailing from Limerick and currently based in London. Best known as a harpist, O' Dwyer has collaborated with a wide array of musical artists; Mark Fry & The A Lords, The Cloisters, Piano Magic, and United Bible Studies amongst many others.
The beginning of June marked the much-anticipated release of "Anything Bright Or Startling?", the first full length album of O' Dwyer's released on London-based independent label Second Language. The album comprises a song cycle of fragile beauty and ambitious scope recalling the likes of Joanna Newsom, Nico and Van Morrison's 'Astral Weeks.' The album features stunning arrangements composed of harp, piano and pipeorgan, while the album also marks the first time O' Dwyer enters into the world of song. In 2011, Áine released "Music For Church Cleaners" on the Fort Evil Fruit independent label, a collection of improvisations made on church organ recorded at St. Mark's Church in Islington over a seven-month period.
Áine O'Dwyer has performed extensively in a wide range of live settings. This July Áine performs at the Museum Of Modern Art, New York, while in August Áine performs at the Fano free folk festival, on the island of Fano, Denmark. Áine has recently performed as part of the Museums At Night series in London to celebrate the 170th Anniversary of the Thames Tunnel and has toured extensively across both the U.K. and Ireland.
"Ireland's Áine O'Dwyer has treated us all to a beautiful voyage. It's a voyage that sails through the golden harps of sunshine and through the thick sludges of pitch black terror. Arching over all, like an intricate, entangled vine, is an excited beauty…" (Fluid Radio)
"…[O' Dwyer] proffers a potent combination of plangent, arpeggiated folk beauty and soaring vocal melodies alloyed to an almost feral Gaelic earthiness." (Second Language)
For our interview with Áine, please click here.
Fractured Air & Triskel presents:
Colleen plus Seti The First & Áine O'Dwyer
Saturday 2 November 2013 / 7:30pm / €15/€13
Early bird tickets are priced at €13 and are onsale now. Tickets are available from Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin St, Cork. Order tickets by Telephone: 021 4272 022 and online at: https://triskelarts.ticketsolve.com/shows/873496800/events
Whatever You Love You Are: Cécile Schott (Colleen)
Cécile Schott reveals the music that has been inspiring her lately. This May marks the release of Colleen's stunning album "The Weighing Of The Heart" on Second Language.
Words: Cécile Schott, Illustration: Craig Carry
Records I've been listening to:
My boyfriend (illustrator Iker Spozio, who among other things does all my artwork) and I both got heavily into African music from the 70s and Jamaican music from the 70s/early 80s over the past few months. I was already familiar with quite a lot of traditional African music, but didn't know that Africa had produced so many gems in the 70s, and frankly my mind's been blown away by the beauty of some of those records. As for dub, I've been listening to it for a long time, but it's one of those areas where you never get to know everything, and with the plethora of reissues these days it's a never-ending cornucopia !
Some of my favourites:
African Brothers Band (International) – Tribute To Dk
Alhadji Haruna Ishola And His Apala Group
C K Mann & His Carousel 7 – Funky Highlife
Francis Bebey – African Electronic Music 1975-1982
L'orchestre Kanaga De Mopti
Lee Perry
It's too complicated for me to mention one single record as it's almost impossible to go wrong with Lee Perry, who's definitely my favourite dub producer.
Burning Spear – Sounds From The Burning Spear
The Heptones – Sweet Talking
George Faith – To Be A Lover
The Revolutionaries At Channel 1 – Dub Plate Specials
Prince Douglas – Dub Roots
"The Weighing Of The Heart" by Colleen is out now on Second Language.
Colleen is currently on tour, to check tour dates please click here.
Colleen's three classic (and long sold-out) Leaf Label albums – "Everyone Alive Wants Answers", "The Golden Morning Breaks", and "Les Ondes Silencieuses" – are currently online at the Beat Delete Scheme website. The initiative entails fundraising to cover the pressing costs for each vinyl. If you wish to see Colleen's first three LP's on vinyl once more please click here.
Chosen One: Colleen
Interview with Cécile Schott, Colleen.
"To me, it really encouraged me to keep writing because what I find fascinating about writing is that if you take the same subject, say, the grass in Spring. Well if you are a bad poet you can't write anything good about it but you can take ten different great poets and they will all have written something amazing about something as simple as the grass in Spring. And so, it just goes to show, it's the way you do things, and your own way of looking at things which then you have to learn to transcribe into words – or into music – but I think it's the look of the person that really makes something artistic in a way."
—Cécile Schott
Words: Mark Carry, Illustration: Craig Carry
Cécile Schott is an artist in the truest sense. The Parisienne – now a Spanish resident – has been responsible for some of the most beautiful and compelling sonic creations to have graced this Earth. As ever, the music of Colleen bears Schott's unique vision and masterful artistry. Ever since first hearing Colleen's debut album, 'Everyone Alive Wants Answers' (The Leaf Label, 2003) ten years ago, her music has formed an indispensable part of my record collection. The series of universally acclaimed instrumental opuses recorded for the Leaf label are works of staggering beauty. Like any true artist, their output of work bears their mark. This is certainly true for Colleen, where a divine tapestry of beguiling sound is endlessly created. What I love about Schott's music – and perhaps this is the 'mark' – is the deeply sensual aspect of Colleen's transcendent music. The intricate layers of instrumentation (bowed and plucked viola da gamba, music boxes and a myriad of other sources) and intricate arrangements truly awaken your senses. It is music to savour. Ten years after the release of Colleen's debut record, we are fortunate to treasure the newest creation, 'The Weighing Of The Heart' and revel in its artistic brilliance and unwavering beauty.
'The Weighing Of The Heart' finds Schott seeking a new musical path. A central question was posed: "How can I incorporate the voice without losing the characteristics of my instrumental music?" What is most impressive to me is not only how the unique blend of delicate instrumental music retained but how all aspects of the music is heightened. A sonic canvas is etched across an immense sea of colours and textures before your very eyes. The songs are woven from the light of dawn that gently flows through the pores of your heart.
In many ways, I feel 'The Weighing Of The Heart' is a defining moment, not only in Colleen's songbook, but independent music as a whole. To witness an artist venture down new paths and expand new horizons is awe-inspiring. Music's endless possibilities are distilled in the album's eleven transcendent creations. The instrument of Schott's voice interweaves majestically with the divine instrumentation of plucked bass and treble violas da gamba and the more orthodox sounds of classical guitar, clarinet, piano and organ. Furthermore, rhythm serves a vital role to the new sound captured on 'The Weighing Of The Heart'. A gorgeous plethora of percussion, from minimal drum kit and frame drum, to toy gamelan and various bells breathes endearing life to the other worldly song cycles. In the words of Schott: "My music is just about rhythm as it is about melody." A tremendous sense of joy permeates throughout making for a wholly uplifting and fulfilling sonic odyssey.
There is a lovely correlation between Colleen – and this new musical path – and the works of other luminaries, such as Moondog and Arthur Russell. The inception of 'The Weighing Of The Heart' was heavily influenced by Schott's love and admiration of these avant-garde composers; "prompted by my love of Moondog's records." Colleen's music shares the kindred spirit of Moondog and Russell where an undeniable spiritual essence is arrived at. Similar to the unique songcraft of Moondog, an ethereal dimension is wonderfully tapped into by Schott, where the epic and surreal are wonderfully drawn from. A sound is formed that is distinctively Colleen's. Few others could conjure up such delicate emotion through the art of sound.
'The Weighing Of The Heart' was written, played, produced, recorded and mixed in its entirety by Cécile Schott. It simply astounds me how this work can be created solely by one person. The music reflects an artist at the height of her powers where there is a further deepening and refining of her unique songcraft. The songs were captured at home and in a former olive shop (which Schott turned into her rehearsal space), used in the quiet of night once the bustling Spanish life finally ceased. The special spark of creativity is effortlessly captured on these recordings. The resulting body of work possesses an otherworldly realm that transcends both space and time.
Lyrically, themes of the natural world and natural elements form the foundation to the album's sonic canvas. The lyrics for me reflect haiku-like stanzas, where the refrain of words sung by Schott, offer wisdom and divine inspiration. A kaleidoscope of gorgeous shades and textures are formed of a "moonlit sky", "lonely fields", "the moon, the wind" and "the northern sky". The subject matter was partly inspired by Schott moving away from the city and living in the Spanish countryside, "three minutes walk from the sea, surrounded by hills and mountains…where you can actually get away from civilization really quickly and easily." Allow your heart and soul rejoice in the triumphant musical landscape.
Album opener 'Push The Boat Onto The Sand' comprises Schott's mesmerising voice and delicate instrumentation of guitar. The refrain of "Push the boat onto the sand" possesses a meditative quality that effortlessly reels you in. A sublime cascade of looped tones and notes swirl magnificently amidst the sand and sea. A beautiful guitar passage ascends to the foreground of the clouds of sound. The closing choral refrain of "O to sail away" shares the spark of Julianna Barwick where raptures of choral bliss forms footprints in the sand.
As I was walking by the Great Bear in the northern sky
I found the seashell missing from the shore below
'Ursa Major Find' is my personal highlight on 'The Weighing Of The Heart'. In fact, this could be the most formidable creations of Colleen's songbook thus far. Music as precious as this is rarely found. The breathtaking arrangements of Cécile's voice, blended with treble viola da gamba, guitar and piano is something to truly behold. A heavenly spectrum of organic sounds and timbres opens up a sea of infinite beauty. The lyrics concern the planet and the Great Bear constellation, where a seashell is "missing from the shore below". The words mix the real and the imaginary. 'Ursa Major Find' makes the impossible happen.
'Geometría Del Universo' comprises Colleen's trademark treble viola da gamba. This solo performance encompasses many worlds of sound, closest I feel to Malian music. I feel the spirit of 'In The Heart Of the Moon' by Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabeté permeate the song's headspace of delicate viola notes. 'Humming Fields' evokes nostalgia, the passing of time and childhood memories, as a whirlwind of percussion, bells and voice fills your heart and mind. The song could be taken from any one of Moondog's records. The song's intimacy and directness is nothing short of magical where I feel the breeze of the wind rustling the reeds. A magical sense of place and bliss of solitude radiates from the compelling instrumentation as Schott's voice transports you to forgotten dreams.
In lonely fields I've been humming
Only the grass overhearing
The cat woke me up with his dreaming
'Break Away' distills the essence of 'The Weighing Of The Heart' where Schott's voice serves as the glorious instrument that echoes the enchanting sounds of Julia Holter, Arvo Pärt and Moondog. 'Going Forth By Day' is sublime instrumental music evoking pastoral landscapes and colours of spring. I love the rhythm (maracas) that serves as the song's pulse throughout. The use of clarinet breathes new colours and textures to Colleen's achingly beautiful tapestry of celestial sound. 'The Moon Like A Bell' is an ethereal folk gem. The song shares the spirit of Linda Perhacs' 'Parallelograms' where the refrain of "Moon be bright and shine" brings the lament to a fitting close.
'Moonlit Sky' is sublime. I love the cinematic quality captured within the recording. The clarinet melody meanders magnificently throughout, resembling the blowing wind in all its power and glory. The arrival of the Farfisa Compact instrument towards the song's close is the perfect score to the formation of "the moonlit sky". 'Breaking Up The Earth' comprises of bass viola da gamba, voice, muffled floor tom and snare drum. I feel all the elements of Colleen's artistry is allowed to shine brightly here. The hypnotic rhythms stops you immediately in your tracks. Schott's voice adds gorgeous ambient flourishes to the three-dimensional sphere of sound.
'Raven' is a love song with a gorgeous ebb and flow of viola notes. Schott's words are simple and direct, yet have an everlasting hold on me. The lyrics resemble a haiku where a wonderfully vivid short story is condensed within the stream of words:
Raven, why stare at me with those eyes?
Don't you know I love you
Just as you are?
"The time has come to weigh my heart" is a lyric that resonates powerfully on album closer, and title-track 'The Weighing Of The Heart'. The lyrics – inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead – encompass life, death, the after-world and righteousness. A purity is distilled in the words and music that, for me, embodies the triumphant return of the special soul that is Cécile Schott. We are very grateful for your return.
"The Weighing Of The Heart" is out now on Second Language.
Interview with Cécile Schott, Colleen.
I love your new album. It's such an amazing record. For the records before 'The Weighing of the Heart', it was this beautiful instrumental music, but I love how you are able to incorporate your voice so perfectly into the music, while retaining that special sense of beauty. It works very well.
Thank you. Well, basically, I think that was the hardest thing for me to achieve. When I went back to making music – which was about 2010 – I had taken a break for about a year and when I started making music again, I knew that I wanted to incorporate the voice – I knew that – but I wasn't sure how to go about it. First of all, because I'm not really a singer, well I'm not a singer at all actually. But first of all I had to literally find my voice, so that took me quite some time. And then I struggled with lyrics and also even beyond those two problems of learning how to sing and finding the kind of lyrics that I wanted to have. There was also a problem of fitting vocal melodies into my music. It took me a long time to work on the album because sometimes I had the lyrics but I didn't have the actual vocal melody to put inside the song. Or it was the reverse, I had the vocal melody that I really liked on some music but I couldn't see what kind of lyrics to put on there. That really clicked into place quite late, I would say, last summer, you know. I recorded the album from November to January of this year and it's only in August that I finalized the lyrics. I had things ready in September/October but it was really until the last-minute that I was looking for ways of making everything fit together. It's true that when I decided to work on the voice, I was aware that there are so many people out there. Actually, it's the most common combination, you know, in popular music in the wide sense: it's someone singing and they're playing some kind of instrument at the same time. And obviously that's been going on for the longest time in history and I thought, well, if I am going to use my voice now, I have to make sure it's really, really special and I have to keep the thing I did have which was special in my instrumental music. So I did work very hard in trying to achieve that.
You certainly achieved it because it is very much away from that popular tradition. It reminds me very much of Moondog. I love for example 'Break Away' – it's just your voice – but it has shades for me of Julia Holter and these wonderful voices, it works so well. It's amazing.
Thank you so much. I was really worried that maybe it wasn't going to be accepted by people, but thank you – I'm really glad of your compliments.
I read that a lot of the music was prompted by your love of Moondog records. You must be a big fan of his work.
Yeah, yeah, I'm definitely a big fan. It's something that's been growing on me. His music, I loved it from the start but his output is quite large so I think he's one of those musicians where you know maybe you, I don't know – I'm trying to think of when I first heard some Moondog music – and I think it was probably more than ten years ago, but obviously I didn't buy everything from the start. It's not like I got the entire Moondog discography. Then I actually read his official biography which was published, I don't know, maybe three years ago. Actually, I'm always fascinated and motivated by certain musicians – not just their actual music – but also their general approach to making music and almost their philosophy of life. So I think Moondog was very important and also, Arthur Russell, in much the same way. They're people who had a large output but it was quite varied but it always bears their mark, and you can see that they spend, you know, thousands of hours refining their skills. When you listen to their music you know it's distinctively theirs, you know, from the first second. For Moondog, I don't know if you are familiar with his second album for Columbia?
Is that the double-album?
Yeah, now they do release it as a double album. The first one which was very orchestrated and then the second one is madrigals and canons and stuff like that, and it's him and his daughter, so it's like these dialogues between his voice and her voice, and all sorts of instruments. The songs are usually quite short – around the two-minute mark – buy they're like these perfect miniatures, and definitely that record was like a model of what can be done with voices, they're very melodic and yet it doesn't sound like a pop form as such. It's very much, you can listen to it in many different ways and that's what I like, there's a very strong melodic appeal but it's also kind of like an experimental miniature but it's also very human.
What you say there, Cécile, to describe those two artists, you can say the exact same for your music. It has a very distinct sound. If you hear for example something off your first album-or any album-you know straight away, oh that's Colleen, it has its own mark I guess. My favourite song on the new album at the moment is the second song, 'Ursa Major Find'. I just love how those two lines you sing again and again, it really has a special feel to it.
I'm really happy with that song too and, again, it's one of those songs that the lyrics are very simple but it took me a while to find out what the lyrics were going to be. So basically I live by the sea and that's definitely a big influence on my lyrics, just living by the sea. And having moved from a city environment to a smaller place and for the first time in my life actually noticing the natural environment so that was part of the equation in those lyrics. In the other equation is just becoming more aware of the universe, it might sound a bit cheesy but I think it was about two years ago, I watched a series; do you know Carl Sagan?
I don't actually, no.
He was a popular American scientist and he had this series called "Cosmos" from 1980 which was quite famous and I watched it. After "Cosmos", I also watched a couple of other series that felt really inspirational in opening up my sense of history and of being "part of the universe" as it were: "The Ascent Of Man" by Jacob Bronoswki (1973) and David Attenborough's "The Tribal Eye" (1975) and "The First Eden" (1987). It's all about how the universe was created from scratch and things like that. Actually I got quite into that even though my sense of scientific knowledge is really, really poor but just the little notion of the bigger things around ourselves. So I think, in general, some of the lyrics on the album, they reflect this double interest of the immediate natural world you see, and the sense of wonder of the actual universe around us. I was interested in conflating the two and making the impossible happen. This thing about finding a seashell in the constellation Ursa Major is completely impossible, so that's how it gets more poetic. It's definitely not a realistic thing. It's also more about having images. I also worked really hard in terms of having strong images or like a mini-short story in a way, like those two lines in 'Ursa Major Find', it's like a very, very condensed short story, in a way.
Exactly, because it's very minimal in terms of the words used but it's the effect of those words then that makes all that magic happen. Even for me as I listen to it, I feel I am transported to this other universe. It's really quite something.
That's great.
It's very apparent on the new album, how there is a lovely sense of the rhythm and the wonderful layers of percussion that blends so well with your gorgeous instrumentation.
Well, that was the other thing that took me quite some time, apart from the lyrics and the singing. People perceive my music as being melancholic or even sad at times. I still have feedback on this album from people, that say it's melancholy etc and from my end I see it as a much more joyful album than the stuff I've done in the past. And definitely when I discovered the world of percussion and – just in general – just taking a more rhythmic approach to playing. My aim in that was to try to push myself away from what comes to me more naturally and more easily which is the melancholy stuff. 'Les Ondes Silencieuses', the album before that, was definitely quite an austere album in some ways, and I definitely wanted to go away from that. At the time of making the album, I just wanted my music to reflect a sense of joy and movement in a way. So I think getting into percussion and into rhythm, it really helped me approach my instruments differently and to step out of my usual patterns. Because I think that's the thing when you've been making music for a long time, and in my case, I am going to be thirty-seven soon, and I've started to play the guitar when I was fifteen. So, even though I released my first album ten years ago, it's actually been twenty-two years that I've been making music. So I think you know, you go back to your instruments and you do form the same patterns. As far as I am concerned, a part of me think it's OK and another part of me thinks you really have to always push yourself to try to find something new. If only because I would bore myself if I was playing the same thing again and again. So, definitely when I started to learn percussion, it mostly started with learning the frame drum. Then all of a sudden, I finally understood how the basic rhythms are put together, and then when I took my other instruments, it just felt immediately natural to play in a more accented rhythmic way. So I think it's definitely a big step forward and I'm really looking forward to keeping on working in that direction. It's what I really want to explore further is the rhythm and the use of the voice, that's definitely the step forward for me I think.
That's wonderful. I'm also intrigued further with the lyrics; they're almost like haikus. They're very much like words of wisdom where there is very much a sense of the spiritual and the words are very poetic.
Well, thank you very much. Well actually you mention poetry and that's one of the things I did when I was trying to write lyrics. I was writing stuff but I could see that it just wasn't very good. I think one of the ways to go forward when you're having some kind of block is to keep writing and writing and at the same time find inspiration in the best stuff. The idea is not to copy but just to soak up other people's masterpieces, because I do think that, in a way, afterwards it does tend to rub off on you, even if subconsciously. And so I read a lot of poetry. I did read some haiku, although I'm not a haiku specialist. I am a big fan of Japanese culture in general, so that's definitely an aesthetic I was already familiar with. Then I read some famous poetry of English-speaking poets and then I read some classics that I have never taken the time to read, like Walt Whitman's 'Leaves Of Grass'. I read the entire works of Emily Dickinson [laughs]. That took me months and months because that's actually huge, but it was really worth it. Especially for instance her poetry; my favourite things of hers are the poems where she describes the natural world and animals, and also things to do with the natural elements. To me, it really encouraged me to keep writing because what I find fascinating about writing is that if you take the same subject, say, the grass in Spring. Well, if you are a bad poet you can't write anything good about it but you can take ten different great poets and they will all have written something amazing about something as simple as the grass in Spring. And so, it just goes to show, it's the way you do things, and your own way of looking at things which then you have to learn to transcribe into words – or into music – but I think it's the look of the person that really makes something artistic in a way, if that makes sense.
Yes, it does. That was lovely. Even, Cécile, the title of the album, 'The Weighing Of The Heart', it's something very beautiful having those words together.
Well that's not from me because that's actually inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead. So, basically when Egyptian people, mostly people of a certain standard in Egyptian society when they were buried, they usually had a book buried with them. The book was supposed to give them instructions so that they could pass onto the after-world, and so that they could have some kind of after-life. And so one of the first things that they had to do was to go through this weighing of the heart ceremony, where basically there were some kind of scales. On one half of the scales you had the feather of truth or justice (I can't remember if it was the feather of truth or justice), and then the heart of the deceased person was put on the scales. If the heart was as light as the feather, then they could pass on to the after-world. So, basically it is the test as to how you have lived your life; If you've tried to do the right thing, to be a good person. Basically, I thought it was a really, really beautiful metaphor for certain situations in life where you're faced with difficult events and you try to find the right response and not to get overwhelmed by things. At home, we actually have a really nice edition of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. I was reading it and I was really struck by the image itself, you know by the idea behind it and also the words used to express all these steps the deceased has to go through. It really stayed with me and I liked it so much that I chose it as the title of the album as well.
It's a title that works perfectly to represent the actual set of songs on the album, too.
Thanks, I haven't thought of it that way but someone has actually told me kind of the same thing, that they thought also it was a reflection on the balance between the different musical elements and the instruments and the voice on the album.
I'd be very interested to hear, Cécile, about your long-term interest in ceramics and stone-carving. These are a form of art in itself but I'd love to learn how this feeds into your music, because it must be a nice parallel.
Well actually I stopped making ceramics and stone-carving because basically I took lessons when I was still living in Paris. I was going through a period of having no inspiration at all to make music so I really threw my heart and soul into that and it really, really helped me because otherwise, I would have felt really terrible about not making anything creative. The really interesting thing for me to do was, first of all, I think I learned again how to concentrate on something. Because I think my problem was that my music was kind of successful. In my life I ended up spending way too much time dealing with emails, traveling, that sort of stuff and I just wasn't concentrating anymore on making music. I think it's the first thing that was beneficial for me in learning ceramics and learning stone-carving – even at a small level – because, you know, I'm not a ceramist or a stone-carver. You find yourself in a place for two hours, three hours, four hours, and all you do is you throw your ball or you carve your piece of stone. There is no email, no internet, it is just you and what you are doing. It kind of reminded me what went wrong for me, you know, if I'm going to go back to music, that's just what I have to do, it just has to be me and the music and I just have to forget about the rest. So, that was the first thing and the second thing that was interesting was somehow there are parallels between all art. And that in a way all the ceramics that I did and my carved stone – which was a bird – well, in a way they are a bit like my music. In music you have melodic lines and you also have texture, either depending on which instruments you are using. With ceramics it's also the question of line, of colour, of texture and the clay you use. With the bird it is the same; are you going to sand the stone a lot, are you going to keep it rough. So it was just a really nice experience to just try different mediums. In the end I did think: "Well, I do want to go back to making music" [laughs]. That's what I like the best. But for now that's probably what I do best as well.
I'm glad of that anyway. I was very interested to read you were recording the songs themselves at times in a disused olive shop.
Yeah, that's not a marketing thing, it's real [laughs]. So, basically, what happened was when I moved here, I couldn't make music in my flat. I'm a professional musician but my way of doing things is very much DIY because I like working on my own, and to actually get a real, professional studio to myself all the time, you know is obviously beyond my means. So far my way of working was mostly working from home and in Paris, I was quite lucky – at first I didn't have many neighbours – and the place was quiet and everything. Then that changed and after that I moved here to Spain and over here it wasn't possible for me to make music in the flat. So what I did was I looked for a space to rent as a kind of rehearsal studio space. The place that I found hadn't been used in years and it used to be a place where they would put olives and small peppers in brine. And from that place where they would have all the olives and peppers there, and apparently they would distribute these to the local bars. It's really funny because when the people actually see me opening the doors of the shop – it happens like every week – that someone stops me and says, "Oh, are you from the same family as the man who had the olive shop?" So, apparently it was a legendary place in the neighbourhood.
It's a really nice place but the problem is that because it is quite old, the doors don't filter out any noise and it's quite a noisy town, so that's why I had to go and record at night because during the day it was just impossible with cars passing by and people walking by. So that was a bit of a challenge. I'm actually looking for another place – it may not be as nice or as pretty as the olive shop – but I just need to find a place to make music constantly. Because of the way I work, I make music all of the time. It's not like I go into the studio for two weeks and record there. My way of working, ideally I make music and if it's good I want to record it immediately. So, actually I wasted quite a bit of time because of this noise issue.
I can only imagine too, it amazes me to think that you write, play, produce and record everything, it's all just you. Is there a process in your head of how you see how a song starts and ends? It's amazing because you are obviously behind all the stages of the song.
Yeah, well I don't know if there is a process as such. It always starts in the same way; just me and an instrument and just playing. If something good happens I have two ways of remembering the stuff that I've come up with; I try to record it immediately, even if it's very sketchy and I also take notes-I have this kind of tablature thing and I immediately try to write down how I actually played the thing. Then I just go back to things and now with the lyrics it's even more complicated, because I have to think about lyrics. I have to say for this album it really is the first time that it is completely me. The first album ('Everyone Alive Wants Answers') was just samples from other people's records, well it was 95% samples. The second album I did everything myself but, on the other hand, it was recorded through my looping pedal so it wasn't something in terms of sound. I love actually the second album, 'Golden Morning Breaks', I think it's my favourite of the ones I have done. But it wasn't really, let's say, a "professional" sound. And then the third album 'Les Ondes Silencieuses' I got lots of help from an engineer called Emiliano Flores who also mastered my first three albums, and we recorded half of the album in his parents' place in an attic so 'Les Ondes Silencieuses' the really good sound mostly comes from his skills and his microphones.
But then, after that, he sold me a really good microphone and a really good pre-amp. Because I'd been able to observe the way he was recording stuff. Basically, I'm self-taught and it's very hands-on so I think if a professional engineer saw how I make my records they'd be horrified because it's not the right way to do things. So, definitely I learned a lot on making this particular album and especially the mixing was extremely hard but in the end it paid off. Finding the balance between the different elements because there is a lot of stereo panning going on and stereo recording that really brought life to the songs. I mean, the songs were there, everything was recorded but paying special attention to the mix. That really transformed the songs. It's actually something I'm really looking forward to working on – this aspect of making a record – because I think you can go from something that is OK to something that's much, much better by spending time on that.
"The Weighing Of The Heart" is out now on Second Language.
Colleen is currently on tour, to check tour dates please click here.