“I went back and forth with the visions.”
Aldous Harding speaks to Tom Doyle.
What was your general approach to writing these new songs? Were they written in an intensive burst in one place or in fits and starts in different places?
“I think of my songs as deep secrets the muse has been keeping from me. Writing feels more like reading. A lot of it is done in silence. Winning a ‘good song’ comes secondary to spending time with the person doing me [the] favour of making it. I focused on pure phonics more than any other record. I needed the sound, not the meaning of the word to stand alone as a poem against its backgrounds. Sound alone as poems. So, instead of trying to show the universe in a lyric, letting the sound of the instruments decide them for me.”
The arrangements on Warm Chris are very minimalist.
Do you abhor sonic clutter?
“I’m dubious about anything beyond my own voice and my instrument. I’m absolutely brave enough to release the phone recordings as they are but sadly not stupid enough. It can be hard to watch them grow past my own limitations. Like watching someone out-parent you in front of your children, in front of yourself. John Parish will confirm this. I almost went swirling into the drum kit when he suggested the beautiful electric guitar you hear on Imagining My Man [on 2017’s Party]. I’m also biased towards layers so… who knows.”
You seem to deliver each song as a different character. How do you decide upon and develop each voice?
“From what I can make out it comes from deep in the references. Remembering too that there are more individual voices than words in my memory. I try to stay with the voice once I’ve started, unless I or John think I might be in trouble.”
Any recurring lyrical themes for you on the album? “I won’t go back and read through them!”
You returned to Rockfield Studios in Wales for this record. Why do you like it there, and does the history of the many great albums made there add to the appeal?
“Of course. I laugh when I hear about the things those halls have seen. I find it impressively modest in every way but its history. It’s one of my favourite places on earth. It feels like stepping onto a ship. Mostly I’m occupied with taking my own modest steps so there’s not a lot of time to talk to the ghosts of the greats!”
There’s a lot of reptilian imagery in the video for Lawn, and a photo of a tortoise in the artwork. What’s the attraction? “A select few became an integral part of the record for reasons unknown to me. I went back and forth with the vision until finally I gave in. It was decided in bed at my mother’s house.”
Your vocal on She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain sounds Neil Young-esque. Was that intentional?
“Not intentional – more necessary. I couldn’t have started or finished that song without those records.”
Jason Williamson is unrecognisable on Leathery Whip. Why did you decide he was the man for the job?
“I saw him play at Panama Festival [in Tasmania] and was taken by his poetic ability and physicality. We talked for a few minutes, and I walked away already writing him an e-mail in my head.”