A lovely little phone chat with Nerina Pallot meant she could tell me all about her 4th EP of the year so far; one per month is her mammoth mission for 2014 and I have no doubt she will accomplish this. Also, she’s confessed to me she had a lie-in so we know she’s getting her rest!
Nerina, in the documentary, 2014, The Year of EPs, you mention that you cut the Christmas EP in just one day, so was it literally that day that you came up with this EP per month idea?
Yeah, pretty much! I remember it was about October or November when we cut the Christmas EP and we were sat down having a quick dinner break and someone asked me ‘Have you enjoyed this process?’ And I responded with ‘Yeah, I want to do an EP every month.’ I got the idea in my head so then I decided that yes, that was what I was going to do.
It’s an admirable task to take on! How you finding it so far? 3 EPs already done, just 9 to go! Has it been as you expected?
Yeah, I thought I would have flagged by now but there are actually loads of different musical things I want to try. I actually really love this new film I saw called 20 feet from Stardom and that was inspiring me in terms of new different music I want to explore, so hopefully, if I can keep being inspired throughout the year then I should pull it off!
So it’s happening quite naturally for you at the moment?
Yeah because the actual act of song writing and recording is quite straightforward. What I need to make sure is that I have enough inspiration to make my material good.
Do you have any specific ideas about subjects you want to write about or, as you’ve mentioned, you’re letting inspiration guide you?
Yeah, I never try and force it. There will always be things subconsciously that you want to write about and as long as your open to it they will pop out. Also, if I become too focused on trying to address specific things then it becomes more of a job than a joy so I’d rather just let it happen.
"Planet Notion: Hello Nerina. You’ve been busy this year. Can you explain what it is you’ve been doing? Nerina Pallot: I’m doing an EP release each month for the whole of 2014. Although EPs are roughly half an album, I don’t think anyone’s put out as many in that space, so it’s quite labour intensive. I just got sick of the album, tour, single… that whole cycle. Also, I think I’m at a point in my career where I can pretty much make it up now. I’ve also realised that a true fan base don’t really care about those cycles. They just care about hearing as much music as they can get their hands on. So I just sort of floated the idea around and got a lot of positive responses and thought I’d try it.
PN: To me it seems quite a daunting prospect. How do you cope with that? NP: It’s daunting in that I that I don’t want it to just be sixty songs that are all the same. I’m not daunted by having to write songs because I’m always writing. I think anybody who makes creative work, whether they’re writing songs or painting, is always doing it, so the output is not the issue. Obviously there’s quality and doing something that, artistically, is a little bit different each time.
PN: How do you find time to do anything else? NP: [Laughs] I’ve got to say, I’ve always been a bit of a sado; I’ve always just been doing music, so even when I wasn’t in the studio doing my own stuff, I was always doing something for someone else. I just find that if I don’t do anything my mind gets a bit despondent. I’m definitely one of those people that have a work ethic, not because I’ve got a work ethic but because I have a slight dark mind that if left unattended goes to dark places.
A Human-t megpróbáltam lejátszani nagy felbontásban a gyengécske gépemen, de a VLC player rendesen kiakadt tőle, és ilyeneket produkált, miközben a hang rendesen szólt:
Musicians usually only give interviews when they have a finished product to plug - in 9.4 cases out of 10, it's an album. You get an after-the-event glimpse into their work, an overview of the process it took to get to that completed project and, often, the same rehearsed responses dished out in similar other articles.
We thought we'd try something different for a change. In a new series which we hope will become a fairly frequent endeavour, The 405 will be inviting itself to artists' recording studios, to sit in on their sessions and learn more about what goes on when a record is being made.
For the past few months we'd been liaising with singer-songwriter, Nerina Pallot, about crashing in on her studio time for her yet untitled fifth album, due out some time next year. But then a couple of weeks ago Pallot decided to take a break from the album sessions and record an impromptu Christmas EP, We Made It Through Another Year. Albeit linked to a new product to plug, this proved an appropriate opportunity to corner her for a chat about how she works and find out what is involved in the making of a Nerina Pallot record.
For We Made It Through Another Year, Pallot has called upon her live band and, together with producer/husband Andy Chatterley, brought five new compositions to be recorded at the legendary RAK Studios, where acts including The Smiths, Arctic Monkeys, Primal Scream, Adele and Muse have previously cut best-sellers. Studio 1, which is where we are assembled today, is itself home to some fine, time-honoured classics such as The Cure's masterpiece, Disintegration, Radiohead's 'High & Dry' and The Pogues' 'Fairytale of New York', to name but a few.
It's a Sunday evening in November. Pallot and her band are recording all the tracks for the EP live, as an ensemble, and Pallot is playing the guys a song she finished writing the night before. The track is a beautiful, instantly catchy, ballad called 'A Christmas Lullaby'. A quick run-through later, they go for a take, which - to us, sitting with engineer Richard Woodcraft, sounds pretty much spot on. To be on the safe side, Pallot & co. lay down a couple more takes of the song - Pallot's voice sounding crystal clear and the arrangement coming across so natural you'd think they had been rehearsing it for at least a week.
While the studio is being set up for recording the next song, we sit with Pallot over a cup of tea and the following ensues.
What have you been up to since the album-era for your last record, Year of the Wolf, ended?
I have basically been in the equivalent of a shed - it feels like that - I've been writing and recording and just really concentrating on pushing myself. I've made four albums and - I think - five EPs but the album I'm working on at the moment - which is different from this Christmas EP, this is a bit of a misnomer because it's a different vibe. All Christmas records should be regarded as something completely separate, it's a genre all of its own - but, the non-Christmas album I'm working on at the moment is quite different to what I've done before and it's been quite an isolated phase. My last album was cut in about 9 days, live. I had worked with a producer, Bernard Butler, and we had a specific vision and a sound we stuck to. That was a process of songs I had written in a raw form and we then made them orchestral or added other instruments on to them. But the new record is very much based on programming - it's quite electronic but it's also quite organic. I know that sounds really weird but I just sort of wanted to do something that was a soundscape. The previous records I'd made were so focused on songs that the production was almost incidental, whereas, for me, I haven't satisfied myself in that I haven't yet made a record that reflects all the soundscapes I'm into.
Can you elaborate on the sort of soundscape you are interested in?
Yeah. I really love Air and I really love Serge Gainsbourg. I love the way that...
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We Made It Through Another Year is out on 15 December on Idaho Records [pre-sale here].
Nerina Pallot @ladychatterley: I love that my son keeps his dinosaur collection in his toy ark. Haven't got the heart to tell them that they kinda missed that boat.
Nerina Pallot will open Barry Gibb's Mythology concerts Barry has announced critically acclaimed singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nerina Pallot will open for him when he brings his 'Mythology' Tour to The O2 Dublin in just two weeks time (September 25). Tickets from €69.50 including booking fee are on sale now and are available to purchase from Ticketmaster.ie and usual outlets nationwide. As a lifelong Bee Gees fan , Nerina is absolutely thrilled to be opening for Barry Gibb on his forthcoming UK & Irish tour. Anyone who has seen Nerina Pallot will tell you that she is one of the most engaging live female artists in the UK today and that the Brit & Ivor Novello nominated Nerina is one of the UK's finest song writing talents, writing songs for artists including Kylie. Her most recent top 40 album 'Year of The Wolf' received glowing reviews from Mojo, The Sunday Times, The Guardian & The Sun, Album of the Week at Radio 2 & had three massive airplay hits including 'Put Your Hands Up'. Her fifth studio album will be released in 2014.
Három évvel ezelőtt, 2010 szeptemberében sűrűn jöttek a beírások Nerinától a twitteren a készülő negyedik albuma studiómunkálatairól, a dalokról.
Majd szeptember 9-én Nerina egyszer csak ezt a váratlan üzenetet tette fel a twitterre:
"...bementünk a stúdióba, és elkészítettük szinte az egész albumot pár hét alatt. Egy csomó dolgot élőben csináltunk, egy nekifutásból; számomra talán a legvarázslatosabb mind közül a Grace felvétele volt. Mindenki ott volt a szobában azon az éjjelen [2010. szeptember 8-9.], amelynek reggelén azután bementem a kórházba és megszültem a fiamat. Én azon a ponton voltam, amikor a terhesség miatti izgatottság elkezd átváltozni tiszta rémületté és az ismeretlentől való félelemmé, és bár a dalt valaki másról írtam, aki hihetetlenül fontos nekem, amikor azt a sort énekeltem, hogy "Te az én vérem vagy és a kicsim és mi szállni fogunk", az szinte fojtogatott. Az ének a felvételen kissé rozogának tűnik nekem amikor a vonósok belépnek, de így hagytuk, mert tudom, hogy egy kicsit elsírtam magam annál a pontnál, mert minden annyira megsemmisítően nyomasztó volt, rettenetes és gyönyörű, minden egyszerre." (Nerina Pallot)
