What did you have in mind when you embarked on the adventure of this first solo album?
“When I decide to record a record, I have one priority: not to repeat myself. With Laughing Stock, Talk Talk’s arranging and recording methods had reached their limits. For this new album, I wanted a minimalist and acoustic approach. I used the minimum of material, trying to make the titles sound as real as possible.”
Seven years passed between Laughing Stock and this first solo album. Did you spend all this time working on this record?
“Not really. The work was spread over several periods. Some were devoted to woodwind writing, others to notation or the piano. I spent a lot of time playing music for fun. Without thinking about recording an album.”
Which artists do you feel close to today?
“I’ve been listening to Morton Feldman a lot lately. He is a composer with whom I feel an affinity. Especially through his approach to instruments. His composition of string quartet and clarinet is the best I have heard in a long time.”
Could you tell us about the contrast between the moments of silence and the very acoustic instrumentation of this solo album?
“I think music is all about contrasts. Looking for them is a way to find your way. I wanted to create music in which silence is as important as what breaks it. One day I would like to be able to record original acoustic instruments and be able to reveal their fragility. I would also like to be able to write in a new style. For example, with elements of classical music echoing jazz, which itself echoes something else. Music should not be limited to a single element. It must leave an impression before heading elsewhere. You have to set a goal, otherwise composing is pointless.”
Why have you reduced the arrangements to the bare minimum?
“To have a simplistic approach so that each element finds its place when you record. This requires a talented sound engineer. He must understand how you want to create balance and adjust when necessary. Although all of these things exist as a whole, and despite the fact that it may seem insignificant, some instruments are naturally more dominant than others. For everything to fit into a sound framework, you need someone with a high level of technicality.”
Who did you turn to for the sound you had in mind?
“Phill Brown. He worked on The Color of Spring and The Laughing Stock. I know him since a long time. He played an important role in this new album. Contrary to what one might think, it was not recorded live, but the idea was to create that feeling.”
The disc is sometimes reminiscent of Robert Wyatt. Is it an artist you feel close to?
“I get on well with Robert Wyatt. I’ve been a fan of his work since his debut with Soft Machine. He’s an amazing drummer. His singing is also fascinating. The way he executes the vocals on Shipbuilding is breathtaking.”
Ex-Japan David Sylvian is also taking interesting directions. Some of them sometimes remind you of your work.
“It’s hard to say. I know who David Sylvian is but I don’t know his music well.”
Could you tell us about your approach to singing?
“I wanted to sing as naturally as possible. The lyrical aspect is essential. You have to be able to make the lyrics exist mentally so that they are sung correctly. To obtain a good result, it is necessary to record the voices and the music with the same criteria. Without making exceptions.”
Was achieving such freedom of writing complicated?
“I got lucky with Talk Talk. It’s My Life, our second album, was a huge success. This allowed us to have enough money to record The Color Of Spring and Spirit of Eden on our terms.”
I read that your two favorite films were The Bicycle Thief by Vittorio De Sica and Children of Paradise by Marcel Carné.
“Oh yes definitely. Absolutely.”
And can you tell us why?
“Because I find that the narration is secondary in Le Voleur de Bicyclette. It’s more about how the protagonists feel. What I love about this film is the relationship between father and son. She is so powerful. The fact that you take an object like a bicycle that is so incidental, anecdotal, and yet the implications of what that object meant to this family is so vast.”
Do you keep up to date with what is happening in the contemporary cultural field?
“I love the fact that in London you can access a crazy art installation. So much so that it is impossible to imagine a city other than a capital funding this kind of thing. I went to see a Nicholas Pope exhibition at the Tate. He exhibited huge clay models there. There was a strong smell of burnt oil. There was also an industrial soundtrack. The statues were grouped together in a kind of Mexican chapel. It took him more than seven years to complete this work (The Apostles Speaking in Tongues Lit By Their Own Lamps, editor’s note). He developed a disease that prevented his brain from functioning normally, but he continued to work. Mutual Interest, a work by Michal Rovner also marked me. It had three screens broadcasting off-camera images for twenty minutes, with strange zooms. Again, against a background of industrial music.”
You are a Londoner by birth. What is your relationship to this city?
“I like living in London. I feel at home there. This is where my children live. I want them to grow up in a multicultural society. I also want to be able to offer them a wide variety of activities. I just left this town a few years. I was in an album-tour cycle that never ended. I wanted to find a restful, quiet place with lots of space. I wanted to be part of a small community rather than being an anonymous person in London. When one of my sons turned eight, an important age in the development of children, I wanted him to be a little more aware of what the world represented. We moved back to London.”
Do you sometimes find your inspiration in books?
“The power of books is mighty. They force you to work your imagination. In literature as in music, you have to try to find a different force and rhythm. I think I got something special with the lyrics of Westward Bound. I won’t go so far as to say that they are more important than the others, but I am particularly proud of them. They are perhaps among the best I have done. I would find it easier to write music to accompany a book than for a film. A book contains more subtleties. It is rather rare for a film based on a book to be of higher quality than the original story. This is confirmed again with a book by Bruce Chatwin that I read last week. It’s called On The Black Hill. After the book was finished, I rented the movie. I couldn’t last more than ten minutes.”
You seem to be inspired by Ravel’s music. Is this really the case?
“I was made to listen to a piece by Ravel earlier that was supposed to sound like a song from the new album. I did’nt see it. My favorite compositions by Ravel are Mallarmé’s Trois Poèmes, his string quartets and his Miroirs for piano. Particularly the Oiseaux Tristes section, which I find really superb.”
Your writing style has evolved over time. It reaches a new dimension with this solo album.
“It is a natural change. When I started composing, I liked the classic verse / chorus / verse formula. I quickly tried not to repeat myself. This is a development that I find normal. I wasn’t the only one going this way. After the success with It’s My Life, Tim Friese-Greene constantly pushed us to renew ourselves. For Myrrhman, the first title of The Laughing Stock, we wanted to compose a song in which no part was repeated. For the following title, Ascension Day, the first verse was seven bars long, the second nine bars, the third ten bars. It was necessary to add words in coherence with this complex framework. All this in order to move forward. With the new album, I opted for more minimalism in the arrangements. There are never more than four or five bars. There are many acoustic instruments recorded calmly, in the most realistic way possible.”