All aboard the Davey train
After a storming appearance at the Eurosonic festival in Holland, Patrick Freyne talks to Cathy Davey about recording, redecoration and ill communication.
The Hot Press Newsdesk, 04 Feb 2008
Musicians need to redecorate every now and again. And Cathy Davey is no exception. “I changed my whole living space around last night,” she says, a little bleary eyed. “I turned my sitting room into my bedroom and turned this little box bedroom into my sitting room. I worked on it until about six in the morning and then I went to bed.” She sighs. “But then it turns out I didn’t like it, so I went back to sleep in my old bedroom.”
This is okay. Because artists are allowed to make mistakes. Davey feels she made a mistake with her first album (Something Ilk) which she doesn’t think completely represented her. This was understandable enough. When she first got signed by Parlophone she was controlled by industry professionals and was subsequently unhappy with the recording process, the live experience and what was expected of her. “I think they thought they were getting something else,” she says. “I hadn’t really performed in front of anyone else or had to record in front of anyone else. So those were fundamental problems that I’d say most musicians get over. But I had some problems getting over it. I think the record company were a bit disappointed at first.”
So Cathy Davey’s very happy she got another chance, and she returned in October of last year with Tales Of Silversleeve, an album she’s decidedly pleased with. And justifiably so - it’s brilliantly inventive indie pop music crammed with fun ideas and recorded in a much more organic fashion than Something Ilk. “My gut feeling for the first album was to do it the way I did this one, but I didn’t really trust my own instincts,” she says. “So this time I recorded in my house and my Dad’s house. I’d kind of proved that it just didn’t work in a professional studio with a producer. And I was also recording in Ireland, so I wasn’t around the record company, which I found quite daunting in the past. I work too much to other people’s needs when they’re around, so it’s best to do it on my own and bring people in when I need them.”
Page 1/3 <Previous 1 2 3 Next>
©Hot Press 2011. Why be a member? | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy