Siobhan Donaghy
The singer releases her stunning second solo album this month - we catch up with the former Sugababe to talk about the very intense recording process.
Siobhan Donaghy is a pop veteran at the mere age of 22, having been a founding member of Sugababes, and is about to release her second solo album.
'Ghosts' is a stunning piece of electropop magic released on 25th June, with single 'So You Say' out the week earlier. We spoke to Siobhan about how the album came about, and the intense working relationship with her producer James Sanger, who although having previously worked with Keane and Dido, went back to his ambient roots with Siobhan.
Your producer James Sanger sought you out - how did that come about?
He rang me, and I didn't go and work with him for twelve months because he really pissed me off! Me and James had a really difficult working relationship - I can say that, because now we are like best friends! So he rang, and made quite a lot of criticisms about my last record. He really got stuck in at the deep end straight away. I realised when I eventually went to work with him - because he won me over with his enthuasism - that he just wanted to tear me down to start from scratch. He had a different vision - he didn't want me to go and work with him and make 'Revolution In Me' mark two. So I went to France, and he got me listening to The Cocteau Twins and early Brian Eno, and all this old vinyl lying around the house, and I thought "God, this guy is a lunatic". Half the time we couldn't stand each other, working on the record, but it really seemed to work musically.
It must have been quite intense being out in the middle of nowhere in France.
It was really intense. It's no secret that James was a heroin addict - his Mum had just died, and er, he's got a bit of a reputation as being quite eccentric! He went into rehab twice while making this album, and it made for such an intense working envorinment. I mean, he would come and wake me up at 5am, telling me to come to work. It would really freak me out.
How long did you spend over there?
The best part of a year and a half! It wasn't just me and him though. His girlfriend - now his fiancee, as everything's fine for him now - would be there, and we had an assistant, and friends would pop in and out. It was a bizarre working environment, but it brought out in me such strong emotions - even if it was hate towards him, or loneliness, and wanting to go home. It's made it an emotive record. 'Goldfish' is me feeling so trapped out there. I couldn't have done it in London, you know, go into a studio and be all nice, ooh what shall we write today. There were things that I felt I needed to write out in France. I felt like it almost wrote the album for me.
Can you imagine what you would've done if you hadn't met James?
I don't know... I entertained the idea of making my new record with the people I made the last one with. I think that's because it was my comfort zone, and that's the worst thing you can do. That's something James never was! My management always said "Don't make 'Revolution In Me' part two. You've got to move on and be inspired, and grow as a writer."
You went travelling between albums - do you think removing yourself from the music industry helped?
I think the reason I did that is because my Dad is self-employed, as I essentially am, and you take your work home and constantly worry about it. I was sick of doing that. I took two months off after I left London Records, but the only way I could get it out of my head was to go away. My friends were going away, and I jumped on the tour with them! You're powerless, and work doesn't matter, and there's no point ringing up from Thailand and trying to work things out! It was probably the first time in a long time I didn't think about work.
Because you had been working since you were a child essentially!
It's only now I realise how strange that was! I left school at 14, and was tutored, so I'm glad I went travelling. I had to get back to work though, as my manager told me to stop being such a complete dosser! He also told me to carry on when when it was getting too much in France with James. He reassured me when I told him nobody should be working in these circumstances!
So you never stormed out?
I stormed out many times! I stormed home from France! It's like being part of a family, and you get so involved. When he did sort himself out, we went back and finished the album when he was clean - and they were the most trippy, far-out songs on the album!
Your album can be classed as pop essentially - do you think pop is always where your heart will lie?
Yeah, I think something always ties me to pop, because of my background with Sugababes. People will always see me in that way, and it's more of a media thing. Radio 1 won't go there - they will not play my music. If I had made throwaway pop I would've made it so much easier for myself, I know it! But I knew I didn't want to do that. When I started out with Cameron McVey with Sugababes he drilled it into my head to learn how to write, and not to sit on my arse and let everyone do it for me. of course you can get away with it, people do it left, right and centre, but he instilled in me from a young age to have more musical intergrity.
Do you still DJ?
Not at the moment... Oh I am! On the 29th [June], at Circus, Soho Revue Bar. But it's been a while. It was kind of an intermediate thing, where I'd finished the album and I had a lot of time to kill inbetween sorting out artwork and videos.
What can we expect from your setlist?
As it's a guest slot I can play whatever I like! I play stuff like Brian Eno's 'Mea Culpa' and Primal Scream's 'Come Together', The Knife, some reggae, anything! When you're on for an hour people expect you not to play the top ten dance tracks for the dance hall massive!
Have you got any live shows planned?
On the 15th [June] I'm playing Popstarz at the Scala, I'm possibly playing G-A-Y on the 16th, supporting Kelis, then on the 28th June I'm doing the O2 Arena, supporting Crowded House. We're looking at a couple of tour supports in the Autumn, but I don't want to say who they are yet, as I don't know which one I'm getting! Possibly some festivals. I've got quite an unusual live set-up. It's not like a four-piece band, it's two guys from my old band who are triggering all the different stems that make up the tracks. They mix it live, and play bass and drum pads. We have to get out there first and see how that goes down, as it could go down like a tonne of bricks, or it could be genius!
I saw your showcase at Soho Revue Bar the other week - it works!
Yeah, I thought it went down pretty well actually!
Are you going to do your own little headline tour?
I'd love to, but I've just got to get the word out there. It's so hard to get playlisted - it's very American-based, and British music is all part of a "scene". We'd love to get out there and tour, and use the internet.
It must be frustrating for you because it doesn't fit into a scene it doesn't get played.
Yeah, in two years it probably will! Like 'Revolution In Me' was an indie record and would've fitted right in now! But you can't take it to heart, because it's not a failure. My work is done, and I've made the record I wanted to make and I'm proud of it. I'm not an idiot - I've been in this industry long enough to know I could've made a very different record, but why would I want people to invest in my record for that reason. I'd rather not do it!
Which songs are you proudest of on 'Ghosts'?
I love 'Medevac' - that goes down really well live. That's a song about James and his addiction, and I wrote it just before he went into rehab. Lyrically, it's like British pop music twenty years ago. I started to go into more ethereal mode towards the end of the record - 'Halcyon Days', I don't know what I'm talking about! I listened to Mediaeval music and wanted more harpsichord! It felt so satisfying to make music like that!
What exactly is going on with the title track 'Ghosts'? It's insane!
The story behind it is that I wrote lyrics three times over different melodies. We worked on the backing track first, and let that inspire us. What I did melody-wise on top of it was never strong enough though - me and James were about to kill each other. I thought "I need a pack of fags". So I went to the shops, and it being France, nothing was open, and I thought get me the hell back to London! And I came back and he had flipped all the vocals backwards. I was just like... I had to just bow down, and I thought it was genius.
I couldn't work out if ALL the vocals were backwards, or if some of it was in a foreign language!
It's all backwards, then I sing forward lyrics on top. The backwards vocals sort of sounded like words - full mug my friends, certainly familiar/hear that glitch, so search the orbs" and things like "smother me in full-fat milk". The chorus is "sworn under an oath." I wanted to put lyrics on it, as it had to have meaning, but it is quite random. I was really inspired by Liz Fraser from Cocteau Twins who made up her own language.
Can you tell us about your fanbase?
There are Sugababes fans that have carried on supporting me, and there are those that send me hate mail! The new record seems to be attracting older fans, which is interesting. I've got a large gay following, and they've been brilliant - throughout the last record they've been a constant form of support. There's also the Myspace fans - it's like having an extra record company!
Is it true you subscribe to New Scientist?
Yeah, and I have done for five years! I first got into it for the photography, as a guy I worked with on my last record told me it would inspire me lyrically, and it did! On the last record I wrote a song called 'Iodine', about turkeys, and the iodine on the floor burns them - all for our Christmas dinners. There was also a song called 'XY' about the Y chromosome becoming extinct, but man will never become extinct because it replenishes itself. There's stuff in there about love, and the chemicals involved, and you end up with a brilliant understanding of men and women. The younger generation need to tap into to it, as it's fascinating! I'd rather read it than anything else!
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