Is there aunifying theme to this album?
The only albums where Ihad adefinite theme were Tragedy and Loud City Song –they were albums where Ihad an initial poetic inspiration. But often the unifying theme only really becomes apparent while I’m finishing it. With this album, a lot of it was written and recorded under lockdown, and while Iwas pregnant, and after the birth of my daughter in 2020. So alot of it is about life and death, about the body, about me being fixated with lungs, with breathing, with the process of transformation, of seeing your body transform.
Dev Hoff’s fretless bass seems to be avery strong linking theme…
Absolutely, his bass has been a feature of my albums since Loud City Song, but here I really wanted it very high in the mix. It fitted in with capturing aworld that was very fluid, very liquid. His fretless bass plays lots of slides and gliding pitches. And I love the way he writes these counter melodies to the things that I’m playing and singing –areally compelling counterpoint. It linked the languid feeling of songs like “Evening Mood” and “These Morning”, particularly the changes in tempo.
The lyrics seem particularly abstract here –is there alot of stream-of-consciousness going on?