Having predicted Brexit and environmental collapse from day one, Cornershop were determined to stay positive on their first mainstream LP for a decade. John Earls hears from Tjinder Singh and Ben Ayres about how that’s been tough to achieve

INTERVIEW CORNERSHOP

Tjinder Singh admits the creation of the new album, England Is A Garden, was a long and drawn-out process

RANKIN

Our downfall is that we didn’t split up,” announces Tjinder Singh. “If only we’d announced that we were breaking up, we’d be coming back now in a blaze of glory.” Singh and Ben Ayres haven’t been idle in the 11 years since Cornershop’s last regular album Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast. But, because the duo have been quietly working towards their magnificent and maverick new record England Is A Garden for the past decade, Singh is right that no-one knows quite what to make of the return of one of Britain’s most important bands.

“It would have been much easier to release albums for the sake of it,” insists Singh. “Since Judy…, we’ve seen many artists we like release three or four increasingly terrible albums. Why bother? Part of me thinks people deserve more Radiohead. They’ve certainly informed how music has gone since we’ve been away, and it’s been very fucking dry. It’s clinical, it’s bland and people can have that.” Next to him, Ayres looks slightly startled. “Calm down,” he warns. Both men promptly fall about laughing. Cornershop may have a Thery reputation, but it’s ill-deserved: Singh and Ayres are, unless the topic turns to Radiohead or Brexit, funny and calm observers on how the music industry has changed since emerging in the early 90s.

When the rest of the music world was attuned to grunge and Britpop, Cornershop’s music was suffused with choirs, samples, horns, singing in French and Punjabi. 1997’s When I Was Born For The 7th Time was made with hip-hop producer and future Gorillaz collaborator Dan The Automator, which was then a very bold step for a rock band. “We were always ahead of what was happening around us,” notes Singh. “It’s another reason we didn’t mind waiting to get this record out. We’ve hoped people would catch up! I don’t think England Is A Garden would have been received as well as it has been if we’d released it a few years ago.”

We’re in Singh’s local pub in Stoke Newington. Now, the North London suburb is the apex of hipster, but when Singh moved here 20 years ago, it was obscure, out of the way and only convenient for driving back to Singh’s native Wolverhampton. The singer’s accent is still bone-dry West Midlands, the perfect accompaniment for his deadpan observations. Meanwhile, Ayres began working in the press ofice of Rough Trade shortly before Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast and is still there, a friendly and helpful presence in dealing with Jarvis Cocker, Black Midi and Goat Girl enquiries. Singh’s de facto second career has been rehoming local dogs, helping canine charity Terrier SOS until recently.