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Jennifer Castle: “I put everything on this record”

How did you hit on the idea of using Camelot in relation to these songs?

I came up with the phrase “Back in Camelot I really learned a lot” when I was writing the song “Camelot”, in a kind of stream-ofconsciousness way. And it ended up extending into a metaphor throughout the song. Then when we were mixing, I was struck with how disparate the sound of this record is, so I saw it as this umbrella that everything – this nation, all of these regional and provincial ideas – could exist within. And I went with it. I don’t know tons about the details of Camelot necessarily, but I know it’s this kind of mythical place where all of these huge concepts could duke it out for prominence: love, betrayal, God, magic, the people, the state. And when I look around the world today, all these themes are still duking it out. So I thought, ‘Camelot, here we go again!’ Once I named it that, everything just started to vibrate together.

So what was the seed of the album?

Thank you for using the word “seed”. I was touring a lot, then the pandemic really shoved me off the road. A local farmer I know invited me to start farming with him and that really brought me to the seed energy, which really did start to plant the seed of this record. I was walking a lot, I was following the growth cycle for the first time, doing this sort of farm labour, and I was writing, but I wasn’t performing. So things were really insular. And when the songs came it was like when you haven’t spoken to somebody in a really long time – I just threw everything out on the table. In “Earthsong” it feels good when I sing, “Mary, I know it’s thee… Safe and sitting on the seed”, like there’s something good and it’s safe amidst everything.

On a musical level, it feels more expansive than anything you’ve done before. There are gentle acoustic songs, but also more involved, full-band stuff. Was that something you were keen to showcase?

I think that’s really more who I am as a musician. Monarch Season, my last record [2020], was an attempt to hit one type of frequency and ride it throughout, because I’d always wanted to see if I could do that. Whereas my general inclination, musically, is to kind of be all over the place.

Jennifer Castle: “It’s an abstract art and I want it to remain that way”

“Some of these songs are uneasy and potentially problematic”

Did you always envisage this record as being very collaborative?

Definitely. Jeff [McMurrich] and I have co-produced many records together, but this one is the most collaborative. Recording “Blowing Kisses” was the first time the band had ever played with one another. So you’re hearing gifted improvisational players – and then some players I’ve worked with for a long time – discover the song together in real time. I would hand out the sheets and be like, “OK, this is the feel. Hunker down as soon as we hit it. Just stay tight together.” So I thought we did good. And the singers [Victoria Cheong and Isla Craig] are already collaborators of mine. The three of us are in an improvised trio [IC/JC/VC], so that was huge when they came in and arranged their parts. Then Owen [Pallett]’s string arrangements are so classic.

JIMMY LIMIT

“Full Moon In Leo” seems to address the idea of being noticed by others. The title itself is about showing off what you have…

That song arrived on the full moon in Leo one February, two years ago. It just came to me at my kitchen and those were the feelings I had. I’ve been told many times by people, “You should be bigger, you should be better known.” But I’m just doing my work. My job is really to write this music as it comes and so it has that confrontational moment within that song where it’s like, “I’ve got friends going grey/Just awaiting my face/To arrive on a billboard”. But then it turns it right over within the next phrase, when the vocals axe that frustration – keep it real tight. Sharpen your sword.

And who knows how this is going? I put everything on this record. Nothing was held back.

Certain songs feel like you might be navigating your way through a crisis. Is that fair?

Yeah. And that was so important to me, because I don’t feel like I’ve written through those feelings before, or I’ve committed to those feelings on tape. Some of these songs are uneasy and potentially problematic. Maybe there’s a sense of betrayal or uncertainty, or maybe I’m actually still on the dark path and I haven’t seen the light at the end of the tunnel. I wanted to make sure I could bring that onto this record. We can’t bypass the paranoia. This writing has that flavour, and I want it to be there, even though it makes me uncomfortable sometimes.

Do you deliberately leave your work open to interpretation?

It’s important to me to build a song where the windows are open. I want everybody’s life or anybody’s weather to be able to come through them. I don’t want them to be opinions or angles or essays or theses. It’s an abstract art and I want it to remain that way. I’m not so fused to a specific meaning. I’m just trying to take up some space where there’s an ambiguity.

INTERVIEW: ROB HUGHES