Gravenhurst – interview with Nick Talbot

 
Bristol-artist Nick Talbot has been making music as Gravenhurst for several years, and he is soon ready to release his fifth album, “The Western Lands” on Warp Records. Gravenhurst’s first two albums, “Internal Travels” and “Flashlight Seasons” were dark, acoustic based albums with a lot in common with songwriters like Nick Drake or Jeff Buckley. On his latest release, “Fires in distant buildings”, Gravenhust explored other sides of his music, and created a noisier, more electrified, maybe a bit shoegazey sound. Everything we knew as Gravenhurst were still present, – the feeling, the calm vocals, the acoustic guitars, but another, rougher dimension had been added. Where will Nick Talbot take us with his new album? We asked him.

First, – have a look at the video for Gravenhurst’s new single, “Trust”, from the 2007 album “The Western Lands”:
[youtube 8dJJl1n1Zqc]

And here’s an older song from Gravenhurst:
Gravenhurst – Still Water

 - On your last album, you tried out a louder and noisier sound. Where do you take us on this new album? Have you moved in new directions or continued to explore the musical areas from ‘Fires in distant buildings’?

I think this album is more melodic and accessible than Fires. The songs are shorter and more traditional in structure, but on the other hand the production is more lo-fi. We didn’t use any professional recording studios, Dave and I engineered it in practise rooms with our friend Simon, and mixed it all on PC at home. So the album is much noisier but not as experimental, if that makes sense. We explored ideas on Fires and then on this album pulled them together more coherently. The lyrics follow a more explicit theme, but I guess you’ll have to wait to hear them to work out what that theme is.

- The title “Western lands”, what does it mean to you? I’ve heard that it is related to William S. Burroughs, an author I relate more to the modern, industrial and sometimes disturbing electronic world of Bronnt than to the music of Gravenhurst. Why Burroughs?

I just liked the name. It sounds mysterious. I hadn’t read the book when I chose the name. But I am a Burroughs fan, and he explores strange dream worlds, which is something I try to do in music.

- On which page in the future “100 Classic Rock Albums”-book will we read about “Western lands” and what will the accompanying article say?

The preliminary results of extensive research by several independent Indie Rock focus groups suggests that it is probably the best album ever made, so it will appear on page one. They won’t need to write about why it is the best album ever made, it will just be obvious, so they will leave the accompanying article blank.

- Gravenhurst started more or less like your solo-project. Today, I guess we can say that the main force in the band is you and your drummer, Dave Collingwood. How do the two of you work together,and how do you make a Gravenhurst song?

Sometimes I write and record demos with simple, sampled drum parts, and give them to Dave for him to reinterpret. The track ‘Grand Union Canal’ on the new album is a good example of Dave’s unique drumming style.

- Could you describe how the band has developed since you released your debut ‘Internal Travels’?

Since about 2001 Dave and I have been the core members. We’ve had quite a few different bass players; people have other commitments in their lives; relationships and day jobs, and can’t afford to tour all the time so unfortunately it can be hard to maintain a stable line up. The live shows influenced the way I was writing stuff; I started writing in the knowledge that Dave would be able to add new elements to the songs. This is one reason Gravenhurst went more ‘rock’.

- You are working on several quite different creative projects at the same time: Gravenhurst, the Ultraskull-comic, a blog and the electronic project Bronnt Industries Kapital (+other things as well?). Is it important for you to work on several different creative fields at the same time? Do you sometimes get inspiration for one project by making
something for another project?

I have to do different things to keep myself sane. Gravenhurst can be quite stressful. I put pressure on myself to write more material as it is my livelihood, but that pressure is usually counter-productive. The best songs seem to come when I’m not thinking about it. Bronnt is very different musically, especially with the new record (which sounds very 80′s horror/sci-fi soundtrack!) and is a lot of fun; it’s Guy’s baby more than mine, so I don’t have to feel as responsible for it. I write Ultraskull to make myself laugh. I write the blog because I love to write. I’ve started writing a book about music and the industry.

- Do you feel that there are some topics that you visit more frequently in your lyrics than others? I have an impression that words that have something to do with water, – the river, – the sea, or nature in general are present in most of your lyrics. Am I right? Is it intentional? Could you explain why?

I find the power of the sea both calming and horrifying. I am fascinated by the landscapes that occur in dreams, that come from within
us. Urban as well as natural landscapes. But there is less water on the new album! I’m working with a different set of symbols.

- How do you work with the lyrics? Are they written seperately from the music or for ‘that special song’? Have you ever considered writing longer texts than the Gravenhurst-lyrics or your blog-posts, – like novels or short-stories? If so, what kind of stories/texts would that be?

I’m writing a non-fiction book about my experiences of touring and recording. I am also working on short stories. I keep a notebook of words, phrases and ideas. One thing I tend to do is write a list of song titles I like then write music for them. I use the titles as a catalyst for lyrics and musical ideas. I named the album ‘The Western Lands’ before I’d written or recorded all of it, so the title helped shape the result.

- Rumours say that you have listened a lot to Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention between this and your last album, and one of the songs on the album is a FC-cover. Has Denny/FC influenced your songwriting and the
sound of this album in any way? Apart from the dreampop/shoegaze-influences you have mentioned in earlier interviews, what inspires you to develop the sound of Gravenhurst today?

Sandy Denny very quickly become my favourite singer when I discovered her. I wanted to cover one of her vocal songs, but as with previous covers, I wanted to do something new with it. I’ve kept the vocal melody to the song ‘Farewell, Farewell’ intact, but arranged it to sound lo-fi and shoegazey, like Flying Saucer Attack.

I find it hard to say what inspires me. I don’t tend to look back, so I don’t remember how things developed. The new album was recorded over a period of two years, in various locations. Some of the songs had been hanging around unfinished for years, whilst others just seemed to write themselves while I was recording. The track ‘She Dances’ (which is about Sandy Denny) has a riff I
wrote in 1998 but only turned into a song a year ago. ‘Trust’ and ‘Hourglass’ were written and recorded within the last year. It was a
very difficult album to make, for personal reasons. I’m taking a break from writing songs for now, I used up all my energy on this one.

- Can you live from what you earn from your music today, or do you have to have other jobs as well? (What do you do?)

I’ve scraped by on it for the last few years; I live cheaply. It’s stressful because it’s not always clear whether you will be able to pay
the rent next month. The money comes in sporadically; with radio play royalties you really have no idea how much you will get. I also write for magazines occasionally. After each album has been made I’ve often had to sell all the equipment.

- All our interviews end with a Top 5 of Everything.  What’s your top 5?

Top 5 books on music-

Our Band Could Be Your Life – Michael Azerrad
England’s Dreaming – John Savage
My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For The Prize: The Creation Records Story – David Cavanagh
No More Sad Refrains: The Life and Times of Sandy Denny – Clinton Heylin
Please Kill Me: Uncensored Oral History of Punk – Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

Cheers!
Nick x

About Knut

Knut started this blog in 2005. He loves music, writing, art, design, reading, movies, aquariums and coffee. Knut is from Norway.