Archive for October, 2011
An open letter to songwriters: explaining your lyrics makes your music more likeable
Friday, October 28th, 2011
When I first listen to a song, I don’t hear the lyrics, I hear the music. I hear the sounds, the melodies, the various instruments, the key changes, the harmonies. If the music merits repeated plays, I’ll inevitably start singing along as a matter of subconscious habit but, unless it’s blatantly obvious, I often have little idea of what the song is actually about.
If I do manage to discover the true meaning behind the lyrics of a song, it never fails to enhance my appreciation and enjoyment of it. (Two of my favourite interviews on The Pop Cop feature first-hand dissections of Frightened Rabbit’s album The Midnight Organ Fight and Admiral Fallow’s debut Boots Met My Face.)
Disappointingly, though, many musicians regard offering a frank, honest explanation about what inspired specific songs as an undertaking akin to having the most intimate parts of their body tape-measured.
The reason these songwriters adopt the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ stance varies, but there is a common one which particularly irritates me: that doing so would ruin the mystery, with their precious lyrics best left open to the listener’s own interpretation.
Surely I’m not alone in thinking this is nonsense. Why does there have to be mystery? It’s a song, not a fucking magic trick.
Knowing what a song is about makes the song better for the listener. Why? Because you get into the singer’s thought processes; you begin to empathise with them or identify with their experience; you gain a sense of context and place; you are able to separate metaphor and imagery from reality and fact; you can sing the words with a genuine understanding of what the person who wrote the lyrics actually intended them to mean.
A case in point is Trellick Tower, the closing track on Emmy The Great’s second album, Virtue. The lyrics are scattered with religious references, but I defy anyone not to feel more affected by the song in the full knowledge that it was written after Emmy’s fiancé had converted to Christianity, became a missionary and left the country instead of marrying her.
Trellick Tower by Emmy The Great
Easily one of the finest tracks I’ve heard all year is Jack Chasing Jill by a musician who never explains his songs, Beerjacket’s Peter Kelly. As much as I adore all 260 seconds, I have absolutely no idea what it’s actually about (you can read the full lyrics here), so I decided to ‘make’ a video of my own interpretation of the song. Here’s what I came up with (don’t all cry at once):
Obviously, there are rational reasons for musicians not wanting to spell out why they’ve written certain songs. But those who choose to keep the true meaning of their lyrics to themselves are incredibly naive if they expect their fans to be on the same page as them.
Beerjacket – Jack Chasing Jill
October 28, Pivo Pivo, Glasgow (supporting Sam Duckworth) (tickets)
October 29, Electric Circus, Edinburgh (supporting Sam Duckworth) (tickets)
November 10, The Arches, Glasgow (supporting Tom Vek) (tickets)
November 25, BBC2′s The Review Show (11pm)
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An alternative look at Celtic Connections 2012
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
The ever-expanding Celtic Connections is becoming increasingly like the Edinbugh Fringe, with a programme so weighty you need at least a couple of days just to digest everything that’s happening and work out a practical action plan for tackling the multitude of events.
If, like me, your music tastes lean more towards alternative than, say, the Americana/Gaelic/jazz/traditional/world side of things that Celtic Connections also caters for then you’ve still got a heap of options to pick from at the eclectic winter festival which will be held across 18 different Glasgow venues early next year.
Here are some of the highlights, which include label-specific nights from Communion, Chemikal Underground and Rock Action, Admiral Fallow’s biggest headlining gig to date, a welcome appearance from Mercury Prize-nominated duo King Creosote & Jon Hopkins and a visit from quirky Spanish hotshot Russian Red supported by the ubiquitous Rachel Sermanni (check out her new recording, The Fog, at the end of the post). Click on the dates to purchase tickets.
January 20: Communion Records night featuring Marcus Foster + Daughter + Matthew And The Atlas + Bear’s Den, Mitchell Library
January 20: Cornershop, Platform
January 21: Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab) + Jo Mango + Dan Haywood’s New Hawks, Platform
January 21: James Vincent McMorrow, Mitchell Library
January 22: Washington Irving + Jonnie Common + The Dirty Beggars + Siobhan Wilson + Adam Holmes & The Ember, ABC2
January 22: Russian Red (featuring Belle & Sebastian’s Stevie Jackson and Bob Kildea) + Rachel Sermanni, Mitchell Library
January 22: To Kill A King, Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains, Oran Mor
January 22: ‘Bring It All Home’: Gerry Rafferty tribute night featuring The Proclaimers + Ron Sexsmith + Barbara Dickson + Maria Muldaur + Jack Bruce + Emma Pollock + James Vincent McMorrow + Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire (house band), Royal Concert Hall
January 24: Chemikal Underground night featuring Malcolm Middleton + Rick Redbeard (The Phantom Band) + FOUND, Brel
January 25 & February 1: Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow), Brel
January 25: Justin Currie + Naomi Bedford, Mitchell Library
January 26: King Creosote & Jon Hopkins + Withered Hand, ABC1
January 27: Admiral Fallow + FOUND + Chasing Owls, ABC1
January 28: Foy Vance + Findlay Napier & The Bar Room Mountaineers, Oran Mor
January 29: Foy Vance + Dean Owens + Findlay Napier & The Bar Room Mountaineers + Doghouse Roses + Kim Edgar, ABC2
January 29: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Old Fruitmarket
January 29: Rock Action night featuring Remember Remember + Adam Stearns & The Glass Animals, Brel
January 31: Chemikal Underground night featuring Emma Pollock + Zoey Van Goey + Wounded Knee, Brel
February 1: Damien Dempsey, ABC1
February 3: Mull Historical Society + Washington Irving, ABC1
February 3: Laura Veirs, The Arches
February 5: The Dead Man’s Waltz + The Hidden Lane Choir + Gabby Young + Captain And The Kings + The Seventeenth Century, ABC2
February 5: ‘Floating Palace’ collaboration featuring Robyn Hitchcock + KT Tunstall + Martin & Eliza Carthy + Abigail Washburn + Howe Gelb, ABC1
Russian Red – The Sun The Trees
Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow) – The Beetle In The Box (The Pop Cop Subcity session)
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Save BBC Introducing in Scotland campaign: where we’re at
Friday, October 21st, 2011
I’m guessing most people who listen to the BBC Introducing in Scotland show couldn’t care less about the UK singles charts but take a look at it this week: right up there at the very top is Calvin Harris and his collaboration with one of the world’s biggest pop stars, Rihanna.
Back when Calvin was a relative nobody, his songs were played by Scotland’s new music show on Radio 1, then presented by Vic Galloway, and he was invited into the BBC studios in Glasgow in February 2007 to record his first ever live session. There’s no way of knowing if Calvin Harris would have gone on to make a name for himself without that early exposure, but successful music careers have always been driven by a domino effect. The opening of one door invariably leads to another: getting played on Radio 1 results in A&R interest; promoters become more receptive when it comes to booking gigs and tours; labels feel more inclined to invest in an artist vouched for by a show or DJ with a proven track record of talent-spotting.
And make no mistake, virtually all Scottish acts who enjoy a profile outwith our borders have enjoyed airplays or recorded sessions on shows hosted by Ally McCrae or his predecessor Vic Galloway while still unsigned – from Biffy Clyro, Franz Ferdinand and Mylo to Frightened Rabbit, Twin Atlantic and We Were Promised Jetpacks.
As things stand, there are three national BBC Introducing shows – in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – which go out on Sunday nights from midnight to 2am on Radio 1. Each of these shows takes it in turn to simultaneously broadcast to England – therefore McCrae is also heard down south every three weeks.
From the first week of April 2012, the BBC propose to cut that to just one Introducing show co-presented by McCrae and Jen Long, who currently hosts the show in Wales, which will go out all over the UK. There will be no regionalised variations. This means that where before you could expect to hear roughly 24 tracks from Scottish artists on a typical show, you now have bands and solo artists from the entire UK scrapping it out for airplay. Assuming this is rationed equally between the four nations, you’re looking at just six Scottish tracks per week.
You’d think that an action as drastic as removing the only dedicated Scottish/Welsh/Northern Irish content on Radio 1 – and one that’s already shunted out on a scheduling graveyard slot – would only be taken if it meant making massive savings (which is the sole purpose of the BBC’s hilariously-misnamed ‘Delivering Quality First‘ masterplan) yet, for Scotland at least, there are only two full-time Introducing employees – the production team of Muslim Alim and Lee-ann Howieson. For an organisation which employs more than 17,000 staff, the BBC’s proposal to sacrifice the only Radio 1 airtime a country gets in order to save on the wages of two workers is nothing less than ludicrous.
Thankfully, people are paying attention to the campaign. Last week, MSP Joan McAlpine, a member of the Education and Culture Committee, lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament calling on the BBC to keep the show and encouraging her fellow politicians to sign the petition to save it.
She said: “I’m pleading with the BBC bosses not to silence the sound of young Scotland. Introducing in Scotland has blazed a trail for our cutting edge bands and solo acts thanks to the enthusiasm of both Ally McCrae and the previous presenter Vic Galloway. Scotland has always punched above its weight when it comes to great pop music and having a vibrant scene depends on shows like this. A popular campaign saved 6 Music. Let’s hope the BBC bosses listen to the Scottish public as well.
“Scotland contributes £300m to the BBC licence fee and gets only a small proportion back to promote and develop our own talent. The cost of saving Introducing in Scotland is miniscule in comparison to the salaries being paid to London executives and presenters. It’s time the BBC paid more attention to Scotland’s integrity as a nation with its own distinct culture – and that includes its unique brand of contemporary music.”
Audience Council Scotland, who report to the all-powerful BBC Trust with a monthly assessment of how well the organisation is meeting the needs of licence payers in Scotland, have also been in touch with those who set up the Facebook campaign to save Introducing in Scotland. They want to find out “what the show does for Scottish talent in the UK and Scotland’s music scene at home, what appearing on the show does for their profile and why it matters they are heard on Radio 1 instead of/as well as Radio Scotland”.
I strongly urge you to answer those questions on the petition and the BBC’s Public Consulation site. People who have the power to save the show are listening – if you don’t make your voice heard, Scotland’s up-and-coming musicians will lose theirs.
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