Paul Mosley and his Red Meat Orchestra have a new concept album ‘You’re Going To Die!’ Despite being about grief, it’s a life affirming record that’s beautifully written and recorded. Jason Barnard talks to Paul to hear the story behind this remarkable LP.
‘You’re Going To Die!’ is about grief. Can I ask what led you to devote a whole album to this difficult subject?
Thank you. Yes it probably doesn’t make for those Radio Friendly Unit Shifters but it was very much where my head was at and I nearly always do concept albums. Plus I’m at a stage as an artist where there’s really not much difference between what happens if I consider commercial factors and what happens if I just do what I want, so I dived in. Also I was pleased with the songs that came out.
The record displays a range of emotions and in some ways is quite joyful.
Cheers for noticing – yes definitely. Lyrically the album is pretty unflinching but that doesn’t have to mean just terrible things, grief is BIG. It incorporates a lot of reflection and love and gratitude and anger, the lot. So the overall theme this time was a lyrical one, as such I wanted the album sound to be almost a ‘best of’, bringing together elements of everything I’ve done in the past, I’m chuffed with the sound of the Red Meat Orchestra and was happy to still be playing with it for this album.
Did you sequence the tracks in a particular way?
I did. I always do, I love albums as a format and I like to consider how it takes you from one song to the next etc. Initially it was all ‘bangers’ on side one and an extended collage of songs running into each other on side two, like ‘Hounds Of Love’ by Kate Bush. But then I wrote 1 more song (album opener ‘Hello Yellow Crow’) and finished another which hadn’t been meant for the album (duet with Jess Morgan ’Build Your Fire’) and this very succinct ‘get-in, say-your-piece, get-out’ feel took over – I really liked that and though it was hard to let go of the nice idea of a dark, meandering dream like side two I ultimately thought the very ‘to the point’ approach was a better tribute to my Mother, who’s illness and passing initially inspired the album. More her style.
What songs from it do you feel best encapsulate what you wanted to achieve?
Probably two: ‘People Are Idiots’ is a bit of a muso’s song: it’s in an unusual time signature (11/8) with a minimalist, repetitive riff and showcases the full orchestra (harp, tuned percussion, junk percussion, bluesy band, chamber string/brass section, loads of singers) and lyrically is angry but ultimately kind – that’s a lot going on! Yet it bounces along and is good fun.
‘A Week of Rain’ is also in an odd time (5/4) – hopefully you don’t even particularly notice that – but is more focused on me and the piano. It’s definitely sad but hopefully beautiful. I was trying to be honest about what it’s like caring for somebody at the end of life.
What was the writing and recording process?
It was fast – I had been working on another album (a concept album about a whale and a boxer, it’ll make sense when you hear it honest – I’ll get back to it) but with looking after my Mam and then her passing I came back to it and just wasn’t feeling it – so I wrote this in a few months and recorded as quickly as possible. That meant I had to get my many musicians one at a time rather than having time to schedule them all in one room which is my usual approach. But I knew exactly what I wanted from everyone so we could do that. It also meant I made more brutal decisions about what stayed in. It started out much more prog-y and strange and got leaner and more concise as I went along. It led to a much stronger and punchier album.
Your previous release ‘The Butcher’ was really well received. Did this create pressure to follow it up or do something similar?
Thank you – and yes actually, the ‘Whale/Boxer’ project I was working on was very much ‘post-Butcher’ – another story based album, and trying to learn some lessons from that project etc – but then life got in the way and I ended up making this album from scratch. It’s a slightly brutal truth that when you’re a ‘way below the radio’ musician like me the momentum you get with a relatively successful release is tricky to shore up into anything tangible so having taken the best part of a year off to look after my Mam I was really aware that I was coming back with something that was potentially a ‘hard sell’ when I should possibly be being more careful. But as I said, the music world being what it is now maybe we’re all best just doing what we feel most driven to do.
How would you say ‘You’re Going To Die!’ compares to your previous records?
It’s the best one! I’ve got better at the process of making albums and more comfortable with being a ‘singer-songwriter’ – I was always one of those reluctant singer-songwriters wishing I was a cooler kind of musician. But now I’m older and better at it I can combine stuff I’ve learned being a theatre composer and am much surer of the things I *don’t* want to do so yes, I think I am steadily getting better at making the best version of what I do.
The album is beautifully recorded, showcased by songs like ’A Week Of Rain’. Who are the Red Meat Orchestra? Who did you collaborate with for the album?
Thanks very much. They are my favourite people, I properly feel really lucky that they’re up for it. The orchestra basically grew out of all the people I’ve roped in over the years some of whom are still full time musicians – Tom Moth has played harp with me since before he was in Florence and the Machine, cellist Harriet Davidson plays with various Symphony Orchestras and was in my first band Moses, I know BBC Radio 2 folk award winning singer Josienne Clarke from open mic nights. Quite a few are now part time because of parenthood (most of the string players, tuned percussionist Georgina Treloar) and some are just talented novices (cheese-grater/bicycle wheel playing singer Darren Allford). I now write knowing what we have to play with but to be honest I can’t think of anything one of them can’t play!
How long have you been making music?
I played euphonium at Junior school and started writing my own songs about 14 – they were terrible obviously – and I started daring to perform publicly at about 20 and that was the game changer, knowing people would hear the songs really pushed me to think about what made songs good /what type of songs I wanted to write.
What songs that you’ve previously released are you most proud and why?
Probably ‘Skylark above me’ from an album called ‘A Chattering Of Birds’. It’s the one that nearly always goes down well with first time listeners and also the one my Mother said was ‘like a proper song’. And I know what she meant, it’s more straight forward than many of my songs and better for it. I could imagine Roberta Flack singing it.
Also we were just re-learning some songs from ‘The Butcher’ for a live show and even I was surprised at how bloody complicated they are to play – they are pretty easy on the ear but there’s a lot going on in there. So ‘The World Is Flat’ is probably the one on there that I really surprised myself with, it’s pretty sophisticated by my standards – I’m proud that I knew exactly what I wanted all the way through the process and just kept going ‘til we got it.
Who influences you – then and now?
Earliest conscious influences are definitely Billy Joel and Suzanne Vega, then Throwing Muses and Nick Drake and Nick Cave, then Nina Simone, then working backwards and realising how much 80s chart pop had snuck into my head without me noticing and then before that 70’s sound tracks, especially cartoons and animation – I did a whole album called ‘Then I woke up and it was all a dream’ in tribute to Vernon Elliott’s music from ‘The Clangers’. Oliver Postgate kindly described it as ‘lovely and delicious’ and shared it with Vernon’s family who loved it. Also Harry Nilsson and The Beatles of course, more Harry though. Most recently it’s probably Bon Iver and Anais Mitchell and Janelle Monae.
Are there any artists you’d like to collaborate with?
So many – my friend Raevennan Husbandes from Moulette’s and I have been planning on doing something together for ages, we will soon. And I’m working up the courage to ask a couple of people I don’t know personally if they’d be up for joining in (so if anyone knows the singer Heidi Vogel and wants to tell her how great I am it would be appreciated) If it was like Fantasy Football choices, anything goes type thing then: Dolly Parton and Bettye LaVette!
What other projects are you working on?
I have 3 Theatre scores coming up – I just finished the sound track to Little Angels production of Julia Donaldson’s ‘The Further Adventures of The Owl and The Pussycat’ which is playing right now and I’m working on 2 more. I love working with puppet theatre, it’s a specific skill set that I hope I’m getting better at. Also should have included The Muppets in influences.
What are your plans for the next year?
I’m definitely doing a tour as I wasn’t able to for so long – so please keep an eye out for shows near you. And maybe start the project I’d like to get Heidi Vogel on. And yes, more puppets, love it.
‘You’re Going To Die!’ by Paul Mosley and The Red Meat Orchestra is available from Paul’s Bandcamp page.
