Tom Brosseau

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Tom Brosseau has been quietly picking up plaudits for his latest album Perfect Abandon which he recorded in Bristol with producer John Parrish. Raised in North Dakota Brosseau has been tagged as a folk singer by most reviewers and there’s always been a hint of the unorthodox about him with some of the songs on his last album Grass Punks recalling the likes of Ed Askew, a cult folkie from the sixties (who incidentally shares a record label, Tin Angel, with Brosseau).

Blabber’n’Smoke reviewed Perfect Abandon here and on hearing that Brosseau is undertaking a short tour of the UK (including a date in Glasgow) we managed to have a short conversation with him.

Hi there. Can we start by asking about Perfect Abandon. The album seems to be a bit of a departure from what I know of your previous style which was I think almost a sixties folk feel. You recorded it in Bristol with John Parrish. How did that come about?

The idea for the sound of Perfect Abandon really came about while I was on tour in the UK in 2014 with a band of superb musicians supporting Grass Punks. I have only been the head of a touring band a few times. It’s a thrill. The experience reminded me how much fun, and rewarding, performing with others can be. Though my manager Mary Jones is with me always and I could never imagine being able to get through my career without her, I now had others to share with me the pressures and all the joys of the touring life and performing. Joe Carvell on double bass, Ben Reynolds on Stratocaster and young David Butler on two-piece drum kit.

Were there any particular artists that influenced the sound of the album?

Particular artists, no, but sound, yes. I wanted to make the kind of record I like listening to. Modest recordings, recordings that were always gonna be what they were gonna be. Nothing more. The Bristol Sessions. Sun Records. I grew up playing songs in my bedroom, writing songs in private. It was my own way to escape. I used a Dictaphone to record. Cassette tape recording was always good enough for me- I never needed anything more. Studio production can get to a point where it starts to eat away intimacy. I want my recordings to retain the sense that it is what it is and whatever it is hopeful it is real, genuine.

There’s a sparseness to the album that allows you and your lyrics to stand out. How much of the album is about you trying to find your way in the world?

Respectfully, I’m likely the wrong person to answer this question. Wrong person or at least not the best person. The album material always moves on past me and becomes out of my hands. Personally, what I do know is that I am trying to find my way in the world constantly. I may be a worker but I am also a wonderer. So many avenues I pursue, so many lives it seems I then spend. My stances are traded like a see-saw. I used to think I knew everything. Now I don’t. I used to have confidence. Now I fight to let it out. This one might not be as obvious- I used to want to hold onto my youth. Now I just feel like a kid. Maybe the reality is we are ever changing and at the same time don’t change at all. Some of us go through life pretty even-keeled about it. Some of us go insane. Some of us are simply aware that it’s happening.

Being lost or abandoned seems to be a theme throughout. The opening song, Hard Luck Boy is a narrative that sounds as if it could have been delivered by someone like David Sedaris. Did you deliberately try to make this song different in its delivery from the remainder of the album?

When I wrote Hard Luck Boy I just set down at the kitchen table. No expectations. No pressures. Just see what happens. When I finished there was very little to edit. Landlord Jackie was the same way. I was at a hotel on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee. It was a misty-muggy sunny day. I stayed in. The room was dark and dry and cold. I remember ironing my shirt and slacks. Next to the ironing board was a table, a few sheets of complimentary stationary and a pencil. I was overcome with the need to do some longhand cursive in that environment. John Parish and Ali Chant were in the control room. We did two takes of Hard Luck Boy. The version on the album is take one. I remember thinking to myself, “Don’t worry. Just finish this first take and do another one” because I felt that I wasn’t yet ready. Aside from the fact the song is in the talking format, which makes it stand out from all the other songs on the album, perhaps what you are sensing when you say different in its delivery is my unpreparedness.

Can I ask about your past, where you’re from and how you got into music?

I’m from the Red River town of Grand Forks, North Dakota. I was taught music in my family and community. The importance of tradition was passed down to me from my grandmother, Lillian Uglem. Tradition which among many things included folksongs. At church and in school I received much encouragement to enjoy singing, develop my voice, listen to music.

You’re coming to the UK in September. Will you be performing solo or with a band?

I will be solo this go round.

With songs from Perfect Abandon getting some radio play including several from Cerys Matthews on BBC Radio 6 Tom Brosseau will be playing several dates in the UK from next week. Dates are

Sept 17: Brighton: One Church Brighton w/Jools Owen & Kristin and Mary Hampton
Sept 18: London: Moka East
Sept 19: Stoke-on-Trent: Private Event
Sept 20: Hawarden Flintshire Wale : The Good Life Experience Festival
Sept 21: London: Songkick HQ: free performance but seating very limited
Sept 22: Manchester: The Castle Hotel
Sept 23: Glasgow: The Hug & Pint w/Ben Reynolds (Two Wings)

There’s more information on Tom Brosseau and the recording of Perfect Abandon here

John Southworth.

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Described at one time as “Canada’s best kept secret”, John Southworth has just released Niagara, an ambitious two album set which aims to bridge the two countries divided by the titular falls. Mojo and Uncut reviews have been very positive while Pitchfork described it as “familiar and comforting and vivid and strange, all at once.” Although it’s his 9th album release it’s his UK debut and in support of this he’s playing a short tour (along with Devon Sproule) starting today. Southworth has recruited Ben Reynolds and Kenny Wilson from Tin Angel label mates, Two Wings for the tour and was in Glasgow earlier this week rehearsing with them. A perfect opportunity to meet up and ask him a little bit about the album.

Niagara’s your first UK release. Prior to that you recorded an album of “failed commercial” jingles and a Kklezmer influenced musical. A pretty varied output.

I recorded all those in about a year. It was 2012 and there were a lot of Doomsday prophecies about, that the world would end in 2012. And I thought that just in case somebody’s right, I might as well do whatever I want for one year musically. So in that year I released Failed Jingles For Bank Of America And Other US Corporations which literally is what it is, rejected jingles over a period of about five years and Easterween, a very surreal cabaret operetta with an incredible arranger Andrew Downing, he’s fantastic. I also recorded an EP, West Coast Persona, an older record I had abandoned. Well, 2012 came and went and we’re still here but it was an interesting idea, an interesting exercise. It wasn’t just that however. I’m quite ambivalent about the music industry these days and rather than wait around for other people I just wanted to do what I wanted to do so I went ahead and did it. No commercial intent, just to do it.

Niagara sounds as if there’s some “commercial intent” to it.

Well, that’s a real record. From beginning to end, getting funding, recording, it’s been a four year effort, a real effort to make a real recording. During those years I’ve put versions of songs up on Band Camp, made a few copies for friends, sold them at shows but this was a real undertaking. My motivation stemmed in part from, well, If I was going to make another record, in part work with the industry, I wanted to make something special. Something that required a lot of forethought and it turned out to be a double album. There’s a lot of thought behind it, a lot of fruit within it and hopefully people can spend their time over the next few years really discovering all the gems within it. It is the kind of record where things are revealed with each listen. It’s designed like a book, take your time with it, it’s something that’s long lasting. For those who find it.

Parts of it remind me of Harry Nilsson while others recalled the Italian musician, Paulo Conte.

It could be something Nilsson would do, I’m a big Nilsson fan and on occasion you might hear something on a given song. As for Conte, way back when I put out my first record on a label called Bar None Records who released his albums also. The A&R man gave me all his records but that was a long time ago. I haven’t listened to any of his records for a while so I can’t legitimately say he’s an influence. When I was younger I was more conscious of my influences.

The Conte part, for me, is the arrangements, very rhythmic with some jazz influenced backing.

Well I definitely am coming from a pop background but the more I work with these musicians (the South Seas), I’ve worked with them for ten years now, the process is like making a jazz record. The initial recording of a song is very spontaneous and free with not a lot of constraints except the constraints of the chords and the feeling of the music.

The album is divided into a Canadian side and an American side. To my ears the American side is punchier, a little bit more powerful.

It is. In Canada we’re a little bit more introverted and withdrawn, we tend to go inside a bit more, a bit more nervous types perhaps. In America, it’s a yin yan thing, there’s more of a feverish quality to the energy.

Was there a different approach taken when recording the separate sides?

No. The musicians had no idea this was happening. We did the takes and it then later I was thinking about the feeling, what was more appropriate for each side. I wanted to make a journey on each side, something that intersected and kept balance with the other and it was a nice way to frame a double record. Niagara Falls is a landmark that literally divides the two countries so it’s a lovely metaphor, a starting place. It’s a little cheeky to do but there is some weight to it. It’s a whole lyrical journey that’s happening on the record.

Well, since colonisation started some 500 years ago Canada and the States have developed quite different identities.

Different music. To me I hear a difference. In general I hear more space in Canadian music, we have Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. I wouldn’t say they are particular influences on me but it’s the space which has seeped into my own music whereas for America my big three would be Burt Bacharach, Bob Dylan and Jimmy Webb. There’s a different quality, a different energy to the way the song is constructed and I think it’s to do with the land in essence. I think land generates music. Canada’s colder and I think in northern countries people have more of an internal life.

You’re doing some UK dates, are you solo or with a band?

I’m playing with some members of a band called Two Wings who are also on Tin Angel (Southworth’s record label). They are based in Glasgow and when I was here in the summer we did a show and it works well.

And any plans for the future?

Well right after I get back I’m going to Banff, in Alberta, doing some lectures on music and then after that let the year unwind and then back on tour in February along the west coast of America. And then after that I’m hoping to get to Germany. And if Niagara’s getting discovered, bit by bit, it’s good to see the record get a life so I’m excited by that.

Niagara is available now on Tin Angel Records. John Southworth and Devon Sproule tour dates are :

oct 29 – cheltenham, uk – the strand
oct 30 – london, uk – jazz cafe – facebook event!*
oct 31 – coventry, uk – the tin
nov 2 – gateshead – caedmon hall
nov 3 – edinburgh – douglas studio
nov 4 – york – the basement

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