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IT’S been 14 years sinceSwedish-Ethiopian singerEmilia Mitiku had a hitwith Big Big World.Mitiku has found her

feet and her own “vintagepop” sound, whichreflects her influences,who include Etta Jamesand Billie Holiday.In parts there’s beauty

– Winter Beach andYou’re Breaking My Heartshow off her raspy soulvoice – but her cover ofDream A Little Dreamdoesn’t do the classicsong justice and thej a u n t yOoh La Latakes theretro jazzvibe a steptoo far.

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DUBSTEP is provingmore than a passing fad.Modestep latched on to

the scraggy, over-usedend of the genre whenthey formed a couple ofyears ago.They have now

produced a debut recorddesigned to be turned upto 11 by the next genera-tion of adolescents seek-ing the “cool” feeling of asub bass vibrating theireyeballs.Impeccable in terms of

quality or originality itmay notbe, butthis albummost cer-tainly doesits job. PC

EMERGING from the USstate of Michigan is thisquietly compelling band.Over sympathetic folk

and country textures,frontman Matthew Miliadelivers two discs ofthoughtful rites-of-pas-sage songs.Wistful, melancholic,

nostalgic, it’s like openinga family album of sepia-tinted photographs thatsummon fading memo-ries. The poetic quality ofMilia’s tales recalls thework of Richmond Fon-taine’s bril-liant WillyVlautin.T h a t ’ s

high praiseindeed.

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CULANNWHO: PJ Kelly (vocals/guitar), Greg Irish(guitar), Calum Davis(bass), Ross McCluskie(keys), Sean Kelly(drums/vocals)WHERE: Irvine, AyrshireFOR FANS OF: BiffyClyro, Pink Floyd,Frightened RabbitJIM SAYS: It’s difficultto write about anyAyrshire act withoutreferencing Biffy Clyro.The fact is they’ve

become huge ambassa-dors for the area wherethey still live, and it’s nocoincidence the Ayr-shire scene is sohealthy. From singer-songwriters to hardrock, there seems to bean endless flow of tal-ent coming through.I’ve been keeping an

eye on Culann for awhile. Singer PJ Kellyacknowledges theimpact Biffy have had.He told me: “Biffy are

a big inspiration tobands in Ayrshire. Theyhave achieved successon their own terms andthat is something thatevery unsigned bandshould aspire to.”Despite their prog

rock tendencies, I’mreally digging whatCulann do. With myradio head on, five min-utes is far too long for asingle, yet the songshave enough twists andturns to maintain inter-est. A mix of classicand contemporary

rock, with a smatteringof folk, the self-titledalbum’s an impressivedebut. PJ’s brotherSean, drummer withthe band, said: “Wehave a pretty eclectictaste in music. We drawinfluence from Scots,Irish and English tradi-tional music, plus differ-ent schools of punk,metal and alt rock, andgenerally any musicthat is inventive andimaginative.”The album was mas-

tered by Jon Astley,whose credits includeThe Who, The Stonesand Led Zeppelin andthe band have justbeen nominated forBest Rock/Alternativeact at the Scottish Alter-native Music Awards(SAMA’s).They will appear at

the Dirty Weekenderlaunch night at Bakersin Kilmarnock on Febru-ary 23. They also sup-port hot Australian indieoutfit San Cisco at theArt School in Glasgowon March 3.More: facebook.com/culannband Jim will beplaying Culann onIn:Demand Uncut thisSunday from 7pm onClyde 1, Forth One,Northsound 1, Radio Bor-ders, Tay FM, West FM &West Sound FM. Seeindemandscotland.co.uk

EMILIAMITIKUI Belong To You

MODESTEPEvolution Theory

FRONTIERRUCKUSEternity Of Dimming

By SIMON COSYNS

AS far as this beguilingalbum is concerned, AnaïsMitchell is a fair maidenastride a “milk white steed”and Jefferson Hamer is herknight in shining armour.They perform exquisitely craftedinterpretations of centuries-oldEnglish and Scottish folk songsabout lovers, rogues, betrayal andmurder.But they come with a twist, forAnaïs and Jefferson are Americanand they made the album in MusicCity itself: Nashville.What makes it so effective is theway the pair have captured thespirit of the originals while addingharmonies, fiddle, accordion andpump organ . . . all of which aretypical of so much roots music inthe States.Though called Child Ballads, ithas nothing to do with children orchildren’s songs. It’s named afterSir Francis James Child, aVictorian luminary who collectedfive volumes of these wonderfulhand-me-down songs.Two of them, Sir Patrick Spensand Tam Lin, were made famousby folk-rock giants FairportConvention in the late Sixties andnow we can marvel at the latestchapter in their journey.So here, exclusively for SFTW,Anaïs, the singer/songwriter behindthe hugely acclaimed folk operaHadestown, tells the story of herfascinating new project.WHEN did you first discover the Childballads?When I was a kid, we had abook in our house called Rise UpSinging. It was a hippie-erahymnal and included folk songs,labour/union songs, and a few ofthe Child ballads (there had beena resurgence of the ballads in theSixties via Joan Baez, Bob Dylanetc). That was my first exposurebut I didn’t fall head over heelstill about five years back when Istarted listening to AndyIrvine & Paul Brady, Mar-tin Carthy, Nic Jones, DickGaughan, Anne Briggs,Fairport Convention, Pent-angle and the list goes on.What fascinated you aboutthem?As a songwriter, I’vealways been interested instorytelling, and the Child balladsare such fascinating stories,masterfully told.They’re so sprawling, epic,fantastically poetic and they’redifferent from American folkmusic, which is also an inspirationbut tends to be more stark andrepetitive, with more of apercussive, African influence.I love the long lyric lines andespecially the imagery of the Childballads.Can you describe some of the

typical themes of thesegreat old songs?As a non-academic, here’s mysense of them: A lot of the balladsare love stories and it seems likemany of the protagonists arewomen, young women who have to“win” a husband or a father fortheir babies. There are supernatu-ral stories of fairies and witcheswho cast spells . . . lots of shape-

shifting.There’s betrayal andmurder too, and some ofthe ballads depict spe-cific political events.There’s nearly an entirevolume dedicated toRobin Hood stories. Ihaven’t read them all,but I’ve made a dent.How come you hooked

up with Jefferson Hamer to make thealbum?I wouldn’t have made this albumwithout Jefferson. When we firstmet, Jefferson was playing in myband and we immediately sensedthat we had a special harmonicthing together.Jefferson’s one of the greatestharmony singers I’ve ever met andwe shared a passion for thisforeign folk music.The making of Child Ballads wasa deeply collaborative project, itwas really a twin-mind thing.

How did you get that warm live-in-the-studio feel for the recording?We recorded the album reallylive, both guitars and both vocalsat the same time, sitting as closeas we could get away with, giventhe microphone placement, neveronce putting on headphones in thestudio.We worked in Nashville with abeautiful producer called GaryPaczosa, who is most famous forhis work with Alison Krauss. He’sgot a wonderful set-up and a greatear for acoustic instruments, andhe really helped to get the breathinto these songs and the focus onthe storytelling.How did you set about giving Englishand Scottish folk songs an Americantwist?I think both of us wanted to beable to sing these songs that welove so much in our own countryand have them be understood inreal-time by Americans who mightnot be familiar with the archaiclanguage.We wanted to be able to standin our own shoes and sing themand not feel we were playingdress-up at a Renaissance fair orsomething.So in order to make them feelauthentic coming out of our

mouths, they had to bebent a little this way and that.On the other hand, we love theexoticness of these songs so muchand we didn’t want to dilute thattoo far.As far as the instrumentationgoes, that was fairly intuitive andnatural. Gary lobbied foraccordion, we lobbied for fiddle.We worked with some wonderfulNashville musicians and theycouldn’t help but bring their Amer-ican personalities to the music.What do you think of the FairportConvention versions of songs suchas Tam Lin and Sir Patrick Spens?We love Fairport Convention andwere very inspired by theirversions of Tam Lin and Spens.We actually did an entirely dif-ferent recording session about ayear before the sessions thatbecame Child Ballads. In thatearly session we were somewhatFairport-inspired, Jefferson playedelectric guitar and we laid downsome drum tracks and had a bit ofa fantasy of making a highlyproduced folk-rock album.But ultimately we felt we werebiting off more than we couldchew and we wanted to hear thesongs stripped back again to theway we first played them, just thetwo guitars and two voices, withthe stories front and centre.

By TIM NIXON

“WE’RE like this ten-legged,ruthless, brutal machinenow,” states Foals frontmanYannis Philippakis withunbridled confidence.Boasting a third albumrich in grandiosity, subtlety,vision and muscularity, it’shardly surprising he’s notshying away fromcelebrating their careerhigh.If justice prevails,Holy Fire will propelFoals to the highestechelons of a UK bandscene badly in need ofleadership.The 11-song collection is thesum of many parts, not leasttheir self-assuredness as asong-writing unit and theirbroad-reaching ideals.“The only rule was to nothave any rules,” explainsYannis, 26, between bites of aburger at a north-west Londonpub.“We didn’t have a set ofdefined goals. There was verylittle analysis and there wasalmost no talking about thematerial as we were writing it.“We didn’t want it to besomething that engaged withthe brain — we wanted it toengage from the neck down.

Appeal“This time in the bandrecently has felt like the mostliberated out of all the yearswe’ve been together.”Foals travelled the globe,borrowing from a range ofenvironments along theway as they honed theircompositions.They spent time at a friend’sriver house in the suburbs ofSydney, playing outdoors tobreathe life and universal appealinto their creations.Yannis says: “I think there’ssomething blinkered about makingmusic that’s for a niche and thatcan only operate in one sphere.“That’s why we went outside torecord in Sydney — you don’twant to make music that onlysounds good in one borough ofLondon, you want it to soundgood in all types of places.”And there’s plenty to please allkinds of tastes in HolyFire.The starkest example oftheir inhibition-sheddingis second track Inhaler,launching into life afterinstrumental openerPrelude. It features theirheaviest moments to date,with distorted riffs aplentyand Yannis letting ripvocally over the choruses.The catchy mood-lifting pop ofMy Number and Bad Habitfollow, but it’s the buildingbeauty of Late Night that’s boundto attract legions of new fans andearn its place in lists of 2013’sfinest tracks.Out Of The Woods and Milk &Black Spiders prove they’ve lostnone of their prowess for dance-infused gems, while the bluesyrock of Providence provides adramatic shift in direction.

Closing tracks Stepson and Moonburst with atmosphere andadventure, bringing the album toa conclusion full of heart, souland emotion.The collection is the work of aband striving for both uniquenessand mass appeal — and pulling

each off with authenticaplomb.Yannis explains: “It’sa bipolar band. Wehave a desire to makemusic that is fresh,bold, that has courageto it, is experimentaland is not derivative.“We also have adesire to make musicthat has thatunexamined joy of

pop music. I love both equally.”Many bands have tried andfailed to strike that balance, butstudio titans Flood and AlanMoulder spearheaded therecording sessions in the faiththat Foals had the skill set anddrive to successfully navigate thattricky terrain.Holy Fire is only the fourthalbum they’ve co-produced,having helmed Nineties classicsThe Downward Spiral by Nine

Inch Nails and SmashingPumpkins’ Mellon Collie And TheInfinite Sadness, and morerecently Sam’s Town by TheKillers.Yannis recalls: “We wereinterested in working with themand they were interested inworking with us, which was ahuge honour.“We had other people in mindbut the moment we met them, itjust clicked.”They decamped to theproducers’ studio in Willesden,north-west London, for threemonths.Flood and Alan weredetermined to capture Foals intheir purest form, withoutdehumanising their performanceswith studio effects.“We played live as a band asmuch as we could,” Yannisreveals.“There was very little post-production and we left in theimperfections. What saddens meis that so many records bysupposedly free-thinkingalternative bands are playedthrough a digital matrix.”Throughout the process, theproducers frequently fooled Foals

into believing they wererecording demos.It was a crafty move designedto rid them of any tension, andmany of the so-called practiceruns ended up as final takes.“We were duped,” laughsYannis. “That happened a lot.Stepson and Moon were done likethat.“Later on in the process,we’d go there in the eveningwith a couple of bottles ofwine and we’d play a song allnight — five or six hourswithout interruption.“Once we were tired ofplaying it, we’d come out andthey’d say, ‘We’ve got it’.“In that process, you forgetyourself when you’re allowedto just play and play andplay. They captured theessence of songs in the bestway possible.”Holy Fire is out on Mondayand Yannis is justifiably itchingfor people to hear it.However, his fervour istempered by fears that thealbum format is dead, becauseof the vast conveyor belt ofmusic available at no cost.He muses: “The problem isthat the internet has createdthis flippant, appetitive,gimme gimme gimme attitudewhere people think they’reentitled to free music.

Mildew“You can download all of

Fela Kuti’s or Frank Zappa’slife work in ten minutes and itwill sit there and rot andcollect virtual mildew at thebottom of your iTunes.“There was a communicativeprocess there when it was made— an inbuilt respect in the music.“You respect the audience andyou want to make something ofvalue and the audience respectsthat you put your heart and soulinto it.“I’d like to think that that’sstill there but it worries me thatyou make something that falls onotherwise-occupied ears.”Trying to keep pace with therapid-fire, restless modernmarketplace is a source offrustration for Yannis.As a result, he’s alreadyplotting his escape should “livingwithin this system” become toointolerable.He says: “The hamster wheelhas always been there buttechnology has cranked it up sothat the hamster is running at100 miles per hour now insteadof a gentle trot.“I’ve got to the point where Ifeel like if it starts to bother methat much, I will leave and livein the Greek countryside andgrow artichokes.”But vegetable production’s gainwould be a devastating loss tomusic.Whether Holy Fire becomesimmortalised as Foals’ best workremains to be seen, but it’s thepinnacle of their career so far.And, for now at least, Yannisremains committed to the cause.“Music’s the most powerfulthing on the planet and it canchange people’s lives,” he says.“We have a responsibility to dothat.”

NEWNEWMUSICMUSICBy JIM GELLATLYBy JIM GELLATLY

Friday, February 8, 2013 531S