Pulling Down a Cloud

It’s a take on a classic story: beautiful, cultured chantuese meets rough-mannered rock ‘n’ roller, and despite their differences, the two are inexplicably drawn together; however, in this case, the romance is strictly musical. Former Belle and Sebastian cellist turned solo performer Isobel Campbell pitted her angelic melodies against the whisky- and tobacco-stained vocal chords of grunge troubadour Mark Lanegan and yielded deeply moving and soulful results in Ballad of the Broken Seas. Befitting of their unlikely pairing, Campbell explained that beginnings of her and Lanegan’s collaboration was similarly improbable. The Glasgow-born singer/songwriter discussed this and the sometimes tedious nature of the music business with Synthesis this past January.

When did you first meet up with Mark?
Well I collaborated with him before I met up with him. I had an EP in 2004 which was called Time Is Just the Same. The A-side is a duet with Eugene Kelly [of the Vaselines] and then when we went to record the B-side [“Why Does My Head Hurt So?”], it was too low for Eugene’s voice, so my boyfriend at the time said, check this guy out [Mark Lanegan]. Before that time, Mark hadn’t been brought to my attention before. I didn’t really know much about grunge or things like that. But when I heard the voice, I thought it was good, so I sent the music and I wasn’t sure if I’d hear anything back. But a few months later, he called up and he said he finished writing up the words for me, to my music, and he sang it on the phone. So we collaborated before we met. That was in the end of January 2003. He was playing in Glasgow that summer, and he said to come along, so I went to see him, and then he was back a few months later and that’s when he said we should do a record.

Did you have a plan B for that song?
I didn’t have a plan B. Since then, I was in Europe doing an interview and I said that no one in Glasgow has that deep a voice, and they said, “what about Aidan from Arab Strap? What about him?” I and was like, yeah, I forgot about him. But I didn’t have a plan B. First of all, I thought I could kinda hear Shane MacGowan singing it, but that might have been too scary. But Mark’s not exactly…[laughs]…the two do have some similarities.

Do you think that affected the final product, working over such a long distance?
No—I’ve thought about this because I’ve been interviewed a few times, but I think that it helped really. I think it sounds like we’re both in the same room anyway, but because of the emotions I wanted to express in this album, it kind of works. Also, I think in a way, because I couldn’t say that he’s like my best buddy, or that he’s like a brother, or something like that, it was like, we don’t know each other so well, but it’s a quite personal record, so the distance was maybe easier for both of us to sing about personal things.

You have another album coming out later this year. How is that one coming along?
Oh, that’s been finished for a while. They just kinda queue up before they pop out.

Do you know when that one is going to come out?
Oh, I don’t know. I want to record again, already. I think by the end of the year, but I don’t know. I’ve been told that it depends on how this one does. I don’t really know what that means though.

That sounds pretty ominous.
I think I probably made it sound more ominous than it actually is, but that’s just me.

Does that put any pressure in your mind on the upcoming album with Mark, or do you not really care?
I really don’t care [laughs]. I don’t really care any more, because it’s a silly ol’ business and I’m quite prepared at some point to go off and do something else.

You’re looking forward to record again. Do you have songs written already?
I write stuff all the time. I’ve got quite a few ideas. It’s one of those things if someone said, “here’s some money,” I’d go book studio time next week. At the moment, fortunately, I seem to have ideas all the time. Not all of them are good, but some of them are.

Do you enjoy going into the studio and just tinkering around?
I do. Yeah. I’ve become a bit of a studio geek. I don’t know if I’ve always been that way, but not necessarily with cutting edge technology, but just like getting things down, and what will sound good with that. I’ve definitely gotten that way over the years.

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