Would you care to introduce yourself?
Yes, of course. I am Immigrant!
How would you describe the music you make?
Intimate, honest, unlearned. Frequently compromised by the chirping of unruly crickets. And soft-centred. I keep telling myself the next one’s going to be my big, raised-fist human rights record, but it never happens!
How did you start out making music?
I was the drummer in a Glasgow band called Goldrush. We were together for the better part of three years, and it was during that time I started to write songs. Gradually, though, the songs I was writing seemed to fit less with the band dynamic so I decided in the end to make the break and concentrate on doing my own thing.
What process goes into the way you write songs?
It’ll usually start with the guitar. I have the odd moment with the keyboard, and sometimes a melody will just come into my head but it tends to be when I’m sat with the guitar that the inspiration hits. Once I get that initial hook, I’ll build on it, work up the structure and then give some thought as to what I want the song to be about. On the whole, it’s a fairly passive process. Recording is a whole other story!
What are you listening to at the moment?
I must admit I haven’t been doing too much exploring of late, beyond nostalgia-driven Youtubing, but I did really like Nick Duffy and Lilac Time’s Sapphire Stylus. I was also given an album of Bryan MacLean rarities that I really enjoyed. I love the way he plays the acoustic guitar. One album that’s really blown me away recently is Joanna Newsom’s Have One On Me. I’d say that’s the best album I’ve heard in the last ten years. Even now, after a good eight or nine months, I’m still getting into it. It’s got so much depth, and what a transformation in her voice. Some of her singing on this record is just breathtaking. Actually, around the time I first heard it, I’d been despairing a little at the apparent demise of the long player, and wondering whether people would ever again have the patience, or the attention span, to listen to one person for more than five minutes. And were the artists themselves really that bothered any more? But then this 124-minute masterpiece came along and blew all that out the water.
What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2011?
Well, right now I’m in the process of putting a new album out, called No Refuge. I’ve also just begun work on my next album, to be called ‘anti-immigrant’. It’ll probably be quite stripped down, this one, and I’d expect it to be ready in late summer/early Autumn. After that, I’ll maybe give some thought to putting together a retrospective release. That’ll be ten years since the first album came out, so it might be a good time to look back, draw together some of the highlights, and call it a decade. Or then again, I might just make another album!
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Very nice.
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