Daniel Land - A Time Of Liberation

The13th AÑO: 4 | NÚMERO 40

UNA R E VISTA IMA GINARIA

DANIEL LAND A TIME OF LIBERATION

[ Interview With Daniel Land by Diego Centuriรณn ]

A TIME OF LIBERATION

3 Perhaps many times we do not realize the passage of time until they tell us something that makes us fall into the reality of the passage of the years.

And it's even more difficult when something of that memory is so fresh. Today we speak strictly of a work from ten years ago, "Voss" by Daniel Land & The Modern Painters. An EP that has a sound so current that does not show us the passage of time.

We communicate with Daniel Land to talk about this work but also his present and the future of the band.

Hello Daniel, Thank you for granting us this interview.

Thank you for inviting me! It's nice to talk to you again.

What do you think when I tell you that ten years of "Voss" have already passed?

Well, it’s funny you mentioned it, because it was in my diary too. I’m pretty freaky with dates, I always have a sense of what I was doing two, three, ten years ago.

That whole time, the Autumn of 2007, was a very memorable time for me, and it's been on my mind a lot recently. I had been toying with the idea of doing something to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 'Voss'.

But I didn’t think anyone would remember or care! Hahaha.

It’s strange – on the one hand, I can’t believe it is ten years. On the other hand, it seems like a lot longer than ten years. Maybe because my life has changed so much in the last decade.

Why the name Voss?

Like a lot of my track or album titles, it's a literary reference. In this case, it refers to the 1957 novel by the Australian writer Patrick White, who is one of my favourite novelists. ‘Voss’ is a lovely, very symbolic novel which deals mostly with Johann Ulrich Voss’s 1845 expedition into Australia's heartland. I read it about two months before working on this EP, and I suppose I felt like I was on a kind of exploration of my own, musically speaking - working in this genre I loved, and really mapping out the territories (or "Boundaries", haha) of the sounds I liked. There are some symbolic reasons why I thought it was appropriate as well, probably too long

ago now for me to properly reconstruct, but broadly to do with the long-term relationship I was in at the time but that was the gist of it.

But also, I just liked the look and the sound of it – 'Voss' is a pretty word, an unusual word, and quite memorable. It’s a good name for a first EP, I think.

It's the record debut. How do you listen to it as the band's presentation work?

I think the record could have been much better produced. I was really still learning about recording at the time, and I'm not very happy with how the record sounds.

But it brings back memories of a really happy, inspired time in my life. I remember that when the EP was finished, my bandmate Graeme Meikle and I were listening to it, smiling, hugging each other, and saying “It sounds like a record!” We were really happy to have finished it, released it, and to have gotten started with our music careers.

Do you remember your feeling when recording these songs?

It felt like a time of liberation.

I had started writing songs with Graeme around five years before 'Voss' was released, and a couple of years later Oisin Scarlett joined us which was when things really started to get serious - but we were all guitarists, and we really struggled to get a 'proper' band together with a decent drummer and bass player.

That whole time in my life, in my mid twenties, was quite frustrating really. I was full of ideas, and confident in the songs I was writing with Graeme, but had no way to release them or perform them. It was only when I saw Ulrich Schnauss's DJ set at The Big Chill in August 2007 that I realised that there was already a significant subculture of shoegaze and dreampop bands, releasing music on a small scale, putting on gigs together, sharing music on Myspace and generally supporting each other's endeavours. And that changed everything for me. To say that my eyes were opened, would be an understatement. I was radicalised! I couldn't believe that, under my nose, a scene had developed which would perhaps accept the kind of music I had already been making privately for years

and years.

It put a rocket underneath me. I was so energised that, within a month, I had written and recorded all of 'Voss' apart from one track - 'The Magic In My Head', which was written three years before.

was very validating and satisfying.

I couldn’t believe how many people bought the EP, from all over the world – it was lovely, and I was always so grateful to have found an audience.

The climate created in this, as in all your works, is calm... If you remember How were you in the wri-

There are three songs from this EP that ended on the first album "Love Songs for the Chemical Generation". Have you re-recorded them for the al-

ting period of the songs?

It was a wonderful time in my life. I was feeling so inspired, and discovering all these new bands whose music I loved, like Sway, Airiel, Mahogany, Auburn Lull, and Fleeting Joys, and I was sort of making friends with Ulrich Schnauss as well who was very supportive and gave me a lot of encouragement. It was a great time in my life.

In retrospect I think things probably were a bit more bitter-sweet than I am letting on; I was in a long term relationship which was just starting to turn sour, and I think some of the feeling of that situation was starting to creep into my songs. But overall I was really happy – I’d been wanting to make music for years and years, and the feeling of things starting to become successful

bum?

They weren't re-recorded as such, but 'Locust' and 'The Magic In My Head' were remixed for the first album. Although they were very minor remixes, really.

With these songs, there’s so many effects on the guitars, captured at the recording stage, that the options for remixing are quite narrow.

We did replace the drums on 'The Magic In My Head' though; the original drums come from a very retro-sounding drum machine, and I was never happy with it. I think it’s one of my worst recorded moments, actually. People like Beach House can get away with using retro drum machines because it fits their sound, but on this version, it always sounded a bit naff to me.

I think for the album versions I mainly just tidied things

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up, put on some extra percussion, but nothing too severe.

And of course, the album version of 'Within The Boundaries' was the version used on the 2008 single, mixed by Ulrich Schnauss and Mark Peters. That had a lot more done to it – it used elements of the 'Voss' recording, but I re-played the bass, congas, and the vocals, and Ulrich and Mark played drums, keyboards, and some other instruments.

If you had the possibility to modify some of the recording... If you could travel in time and be in that moment… Would you change something of the EP "Voss"?

The production. It served its purpose, but I was really

learning as I went along. I was using very cheap instruments, didn’t have access to real drums, or good drum samples. I’ve had ten years of experience in production since 'Voss', and these days I have a Masters Degree in Record Production, so the production on this seems a little… quaint, shall we say. It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to it. But people really seemed to respond to that record, so I’m not dismissing it by any means.

Anyway, music makers can be a bit narcissistic about production – most listeners don’t notice that much or, if they do, don’t really care. Or they find low-fi stuff charming. It’s about the songs, ultimately, and I think there are some good songs on this EP.

Can I ask for a “track by track� of the EP? Within The Boundaries This was the first song I did for the EP, I wanted something big and impressive, and I think I got about halfway there! I was so inspired when I did this, I played all of the instruments, and I think it was all written and recorded in two days. In fact I was so 'in the zone' that I called in sick to my day job, just so I could keep working on it! Haha.

I like how the song is structured, there's this long repeat of this chord sequence at the start, then a bridge, and then the vocals come in, but only for thirty seconds or so. It's not really a song in any conventional sense - it's more an instrumental with some singing on it. But it was a great one to play live, and we opened our shows with it for many years afterwards.

The Magic In My Head This is the only track that pre-dates the EP. It dates back to early 2004, although it was just a demo and was never released. The 'Voss' version is a new recording. I think I was aiming for something like the Cocteau Twins' 'Crushed' with this one. I've always thought it was one of my best chord sequences, and it was one of the most shoegaze things I'd ever written, so it made sense to include it on the EP. Locust I don't know where this one came from. It was another two-day wonder, I started working on it on a Saturday morning, and by Sunday night it was all done, including the mix. I was always grateful for Graeme's help with this song; I had two vocal melodies for the verse, and couldn't decide which was best. It was his idea to use one for the first verse, and another for the second verse, which gives the song a nice unconventional shape. This was another live favourite, we played it for years, and I still enjoy playing it now.

Whippersnapper TAll credit for this one goes to Oisin Scarlett – as I said above, one of the three guitarists in the Painters, and the other key collaborator in the band at that time.

This came from an improvisation Oisin did. We were at my home studio recor-

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ding his guitar parts for another song, and while I was setting up the microphones, he was noodling away on his guitar. I ended up capturing a five minutes of it, without his knowledge – all I did was edit it, kept the best bits, applied some treatments, and it sounded lovely - and a good link in to the next song. It's all Ois's work though really, all I did was tinker around the edges.

Lostening Isn't 'Lostening' a lovely word? It's a portmanteau. I made it up, or should I say stumbled upon it, when I was saying something else. I had no idea what it meant at the time, although I've since had a few theories.

There’s some funny sounds in there – the church bells at the beginning and the end were from the church just outside my house. I lived opposite a big church and graveyard and all of my recordings between 2007 and 2012 were recorded there. The bells seemed to fit the mood of the piece which was based mostly upon a melodic idea I had in 2006, but hadn’t finished.

It’s funny – you can sort of hear some voices at the end of it, that’s actually coming through my bass guitar pick up! I had this really cheap fretless bass and one Sunday morning I was recording with it, and realized it was picking up the sound of a voice – when I turned the gain up, I realized it was the vicar in the Church, across the road, using a radio mic to do his Sunday service, and the bass was picking it up. I always like accidental moments like that, so it stayed in.

Boundaries (reprise) I was interested in reprise songs, alternative versions. I threw this version of 'Within The Boundaries' at the end of the EP. In retrospect I think it was a bit of a silly idea, a bit unnecessary. It doesn't add anything to the EP, the EP should have ended with the bells at the end of 'Lostening'.

A few days ago you have re-released "A single Man". And in that register is "Locust". Do you have a special affection for the song?

Yes, I think it’s probably one of my best songs. It’s so simple – just four chords, there’s really nothing to it. But it was very inspired, and happened very quickly. The songs that come quickly are the ones I seem to favour.

What others songs can't you remove from your favorites?

It changes from time to time. But I love the Voss tracks that ended up on the first album. And then 'Glitterball', 'Benjamin's Room', and 'Love Lies Bleeding' from the first album. Oh, and 'Off Your Face Again', which was mostly Graeme's work. 'Eyes Wide Shut', 'Echo & Narcissus', 'Sleeping With The Past' from the second album. 'New York Boogie-Woogie' and a couple of others from 'In Love With A Ghost', my recent album. There's songs I forget about though, so occasionally something of mine will come up randomly on my iPod and I'll be surprised by it all over again. It's hard to choose between them though.

What are you currently doing? Do you prepare new music for The Modern Painters or for your solo career?

The Modern Painters came to a natural end five years ago, I moved to London and the other band members had other plans and commitments, so it seemed a good time to wrap things up.

I'd still like to make another record with those guys though if the situation allowed it. Like a proper loud 'band' album that reflects the more raucous sound of the live Painters. That's probably not very likely when

we live in different cities, but never say never.

For now I'm making music as a solo artist with the help of my new band, and that's been very enjoyable.

I love the guys I'm working with and I'm really happy with how things are going. Over the last few years I've been doing a lot of writing with my bandmates Gary Bruce and Brin Coleman and that's been going really well. I'm looking forward to more of that, and also getting the other band members involved as well.

What plans do you have for the remainder of 2017 and 2018?

I've nearly finished a new solo record which I'm really happy with, in fact I think it's probably the best thing I've done since the first Painters album. It's a return to the dream-pop/shoegaze sound of the earlier Painters records, but with stronger and more melodic vocals.

I can't wait to release it, but I need to finish it first - so that's what I'm doing with the rest of my year! I've got eight tracks done, but I want another five or so, so that I can do an album and an EP as well. Maybe even two albums, because I've got around thirty song ideas on the go at the moment, and most of them seem really good to me, which is not always the case. It's wonderful - as someone who's sometimes struggled to write - to have had this really unexpected explosion of creativity in my mid to late thirties. I think 2018 is going to be a very busy year!

It is an honor to have conducted this interview.

I admire you a lot and thank you for your music.

Thank you very much, but the honour is all mine.

Thank you for all your support over the years, it means a lot! And of course, say hello to your cat from me...

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