Conversation with Alan

Hi Alan,

Thanks so much for your thoughts about my work. I appreciate it, and I hope you don't mind that I posted it on the MySpace page. Very cool.

I am feeling a bit guilty, especially when I read your mention of visiting Scotland. You see, Shari and I are planning to come to Europe next summer, but Scotland is sadly not on our itinerary. In fact, you'll be doubly furious when you hear that we are visiting Ireland instead of Scotland. Awful, I know. Neither of us have been there, and Shari has a friend who has raved about biking in Ireland one too many times. Probably the biking and B&Bs and ruined castles and stout are just as good, ahem, much better in Scotland, but there it is. Flame away if you must. We'll come to Scotland the next time, and leave the Irish to stew.

I do have a few responses:

On Sep 22, 2006, at 8:11 AM, Alan McClure wrote:


I've had Seven Fathoms on a lot, and I'm enjoying it very much indeed, from the whole image to the finer details. It took me longer to get the hang of the album than it did with, say, Mist, possibly because there's more 'music' here than before, but that has the advantage of making repeated listenings more rewarding.

I hadn't set out to do that, but yes, I suppose there's more music. More space to think? More space for the musicians to have a bit of an outing. Maybe it gives the listener time to think about what was just sung/sang/singed? Anyway, it's a habit from playing with Don't Panic, where I sing a verse without vocals and then play a verse and let the string players make up stuff.

By the way, I was chuffed and pleased and generally Aw-Shucksed by your wearing of the DP shirt on your album. I like the way it was packaged with no plastic, very home made, and I mean that in the best way.


I occassionally worry that my own stuff is too sparse to hold the attention beyond the first couple of runs through.

Well, your stuff is quite sophisticated musically. And I think that goes a long way towards earning repeated listenings. A song where the structure and chord changes take several listens to figure out is not a bad way to go.

I enjoy the whole concept of Seven Fathoms, particularly the fact that, even though you're dealing with some pretty dark stuff, you never descend into the maudlin or the melancholy, it's up to the listener to catch the connotations. For example, it wasn't until the third or fourth listen that the phrase "I can't hear the fairy bells" really got me between the eyes.

Well, that's the disappearing childhood lump in the throat for you. I got the idea from a really great artist/writer named Chris Van Allsburg. Check him out because he's weird and amazing. Anyway, his most famous children's story is called The Polar Express, and one part of it is a Christmas bell which only children who believe in Santa can hear. For others it's silent. And as the children grow older, they lose the ability to hear the bell.

I have a son heading off to college next year, and it brings the shortness of this time as a parent to mind.

Of course the whole album is a study in fantasies, and being invited into a young child's fantasy world is a precious, short lived thing, which is sure to not last.

Favourites have to include Float Down the Danube, which is just a masterclass in storytelling

That's the one that surprised me the most, and seemed like the newest territory for me. I worked on it for a year, starting with just the melody, and it went through tons and tons of changes. I didn't know what to do with it, but I couldn't set it aside. When it came time for a lyric, I did think mostly of the Decemberists. I got out a map of eastern Europe and made up rhymes. I really took my time to get ones that I liked. My cello player loved it, and on the track you hear about 4 of her performances tracked together.

- very clear Decemberists influence there (HUGELY digging them, by the way, thanks so much for introducing me to them!),

I'm actually traveling to LA to see them next month!

but always with your own palette - If Life is in A Minor, brilliant, love all the puns in there (My fantasy in F or G!! Great!) and a very nice buildup musically too; Uncertainty Principle, just because it chimes so uncannily close to my own views (did you ever hear my song 'No Conclusions'? It was on the Danny and the Sellouts CD, which I'm not sure if I sent you or not. The chorus was "Happy to be reaching no conclusions, no conclusions from it all!")

Yes, I remember that one. You've been a big influence on me. I remember your line about "lives that don't boast any particular goal" quite often, when I think of what bugs me about how some people "live". People who are certain are the people who are really screwing up the world for the lot of us, and it's a funny track because these radical ideas, offensive to some, are crooned in the most easy-listening manner, just gently sent floating out over the ether.

and of course Squeaky Wheels is just as gorgeous an album closer as you could ask for. Overall, your production skills are enviable in the extreme. There's a very theatrical feel to a lot of the album, and in fact Michelle suggested that you should write a musical for your schoolkids after hearing it.

I like musicals. I've thought of writing them. But I think you need to be clear about a lot of things - who is this for? Who will sing this or that? How will it work in this or that setting? - dragons which I can't see myself slaying. I want to be small, under the radar, and just making a little 3 minute song that pleases me. That I can manage, and I enjoy it endlessly.

You have an inherent knack for musical narrative, beyond just the lyrical side - the tunes seem to carry the story as much as the words, if you see what I mean.

Thanks. I think I've worked hard to get to that point. I suspect that the songs from my first 10 years would never get a comment like that. I tried to be patient with these songs, to try out lyrics and not keep them unless they sat well with me for a long time. However, a listen to the new Decemberists, or anything by Bob Dylan will quickly put me in my place: a dad with some recording equipment.

It's an album which will remain on my playlist for a long time. What comes next?

I don't know. I'd like to make a video for that Danube one. I made one for the Fairy Bells on the MySpace page.

aloha,

Jim
http://myspace.com/jimsmartsongs
http://familysmart.blogspot.com/