Colin Devlin’s new album ‘High Point’ certainly lives up to its title track. A finely crafted record of brooding melancholia, it’s well worth the wait given it’s been eight years since his solo debut ‘Democracy of One’. Jason Barnard talks to this acclaimed songwriter to uncover the story behind ‘High Point’.
Hi Colin, great to speak to you. Firstly, I was hugely impressed with your new album ‘High Point’. How do you write – do you start with a musical phrase or lyric? Has this changed since you started out in The Devlins over 25 years ago?
It’s usually a musical phrase, which them informs the lyric, although there are no rules. The mood of the music kind of maybe will give me an indicator as to where things will eventually end up lyrically. And then sometimes it’s all very quick. And of course if you have a great title the song will write itself a lot of the time.
Tracks like ‘Highwire’ from ‘High Point’ have a bitter sweet tinge. Is that mix of emotions something you recognise?
I think some of my best songs have a element of melancholy in them, I’m not the happy songwriter guy! I’m just more drawn to the atmospheric side of music in terms of mood and emotion.
‘Lost In The Silence’ draws out this melancholic side to your songwriting. Are your songs drawn from personal experiences or are your inspired from other influences?
I think there’s a truth from your own life in all good songs, one like ‘Lost In The Silence’ deals a lot with the interior world. It’s probably my favourite track on the record. It remained pure from it’s initial inception to the finished version.
‘Promised Land’ has backing vocals from fellow Blue Elan artists Chelsea Williams and Lisa Lambe. Do you have much contact with your labelmates and what led to Chelsea and Lisa signing on this track?
Yes I have a fair bit of contact with my labelmates. The whole ethos of Blue Elan records is about collaboration, so I’ve written with several artists on the label and am friends with quite a few, it’s definitely a family type atmosphere, which comes from the top down with label boss Kirk Pasich,
He’s a great guy and a real music lover.
How long have you been working with Pierre Marchand as a producer, how involved is he in shaping your current sound?
Pierre produced the second album for The Devlins ‘Waiting’ in the late 90’s so we have been friends and collaborators for some time. His attention to detail is amazing and he brings out nuances in the music that I think might be lost with another producer. He takes great care to make sure things are as good as they can be, and I think we compliment each other musically.
Where and how do you record? Did you work with a particular group of musicians?
This record was started in Montreal, where Pierre has his studios, and then we did most of the live tracking in Los Angeles in a short space of time. I love working with people who have been my friends for a long tome, it just makes it more fun and it helps to create a great band type mentality as most of us have played together before, so there’s a lot of shorthand there. For High Point we had Matt Chamberlain in drums, Peter Devlin on bass, and Jeremy Ruzumna on piano and keys. Myself on guitars and Pierre Marchand adding additional soundscapes and piano. My good friend Michael Brook also added some additional guitars. Not too shabby a band for sure!
Where are you from and where do you live now? Does that impact your music?
I’m from Dublin and I live in LA. Not entirely sure how it impacts the music, I still feel like I live in Ireland! I get a lot of inspiration when I’m there, but LA has a different kind of inspiration.
But where you are definitely affects how you write, I think that’s very true. Stick me in the west of Ireland for a week and then stick me in Berlin the next week, you are going to get very different results due to the varying stimuli!
What artists, past and present do you admire and why?
I tend to go back to my classics Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Brian Eno Talk Talk, Dylan, Kraftwerk, although there’s obviously plenty of new people I like too, Bon Ivor, The War On Drugs. Really I look for depth in my music I suppose, something with meaning, although I’m not averse to a great pop tune of course.
‘The Heart Won’t Be Denied’ from ‘Democracy of One’ is one of my favourite tracks of yours. Which of tracks past and present are you most proud of and why?
That’s one of my favourites from that record, it’s a very complete song, great atmosphere on the recording also, it’s a live take. Pierre did a fantastic job on that. I also like ‘What Good Is Love’ and ‘Refuge’ from Democracy Of One.
Sometimes you get it right, and it goes back your earlier question of nostalgia and melancholy in my songs, and having part of you live in the songs, although also open ended so that the listener can relate their own emotions in the songs.
And going back to your band The Devlins, ‘Waiting’ is a track you’ll be forever be associated to due to it being heavily featured in Six Feet Under. What are your highlights from being in the band in the 1990s?
Making the records Drift and Waiting were such amazing experiences, coming from Dublin to record for 3 months in New Orleans for Drift, and then Montreal for Waiting. Music can take you to such incredible places. We did a lot of touring on both those records, so there were so many highlights in terms of shows too, Madison Square Gardens, Red Rocks, The Grand Ol Opry, The Albert Hall, so many iconic places, nice to tick them off the list!
How does the current music scene compare from then to today? How has your sound evolved?
I’ve always tried to write for my age, whatever that means, so I hope the music I make now resonates as much with people as my earlier career, I think it does. In my mind I feel I wear a slightly different hat when writing for The Devlins. We are planning record a new record in 2019 as a band which is exciting. In terms of scenes, there just seems to be so much more music out there today that there was 20 years ago. All barriers to entry are gone, not sure if it’s a good or a bad thing, but there is a lot of great new music out there, it’s just trying to find it is the problem!
Do you have any plans for any live shows?
Yes, there are plans for lots of touring in 2019, I’m putting together a tour of he UK and Ireland for late January / early February right now which will be announced shortly I would think, and then routing back through North America in March.
Now that 2018 is drawing to a close – what are your plans for the rest of the year and what would you like to achieve in 2019?
Well I have an album launch in Montreal on Oct 18th which I’m really looking forward to and then should have a New York show coming up in November. Christmas will probably be I Dublin with my with and two small children, but 2019 is going to be a busy year for sure!
Thanks Colin! – Jason
Thank you Jason. All the best, Colin.
High Point is out now on Blue Elan Records. More information is available at colindevlin.com
