Three Colours Dark Exclusive Interview |
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lazland
Prog Reviewer Joined: October 28 2008 Location: Wales Status: Online Points: 13684 |
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Posted: May 16 2020 at 07:05 |
THREE COLOURS DARK is the
new collaboration between Rachel Cohen (former singer/songwriter & lyricist
with Karnataka & The Reasoning) and Jonathan Edwards (musician/songwriter
with Panic Room & Luna Rossa - and previously Karnataka).
I have reviewed the debut
album, The Science of Goodbye, for the site, and this can be found at; http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=2377932
The
album is attracting some
extremely positive reviews and press, including a glowing testament in Prog
magazine.
Rachel & Jonathan kindly agreed to an interview
exclusive to Prog Archives, and this is set out for you to enjoy below. Congratulations
on a fine piece of work. Please tell us how Three Colours Dark came to be
formed. RACH: Thank
you! Glad to hear that you are enjoying the album: we are delighted by the warm
welcome that it is receiving. Jon and I have a considerable shared history as
musicians. We started writing music together in the late 1980’s and were two of
the founding members of UK band Karnataka. When the original line-up of Karnataka dissolved in 2004,
we both went on to pursue successful separate music projects, me with The
Reasoning and Jon with Panic Room and Luna Rossa. Jon and I lost touch with one
another when The Reasoning disbanded in 2014, and I took some time out to focus
on my career as an academic researcher. The Three Colours Dark project
gradually came into existence following a casual meet-up in 2018, during which
Jon and I talked about maybe writing some new music together. After this
tentative beginning, it quickly became apparent that something special was
emerging, and we decided to go ahead, make an album and give our project a
name. You go
back quite a long way now. How was working together in 2019/20 different from
those Karnataka days? RACH: The
most obvious difference is that with Karnataka, we were part of a three-person
writing team, whereas for Three Colours Dark, it was just the two of us! Our
Karnataka collaboration (which ended in 2004) was so long ago that we had no
desire or requirement to try and replicate or conform to any of those past
endeavours. Jon and I are very musically compatible: we each have quite
eclectic tastes and inspirations, but we both love strong melodies and epic
choruses, and both of us enjoy listening to and writing music that we connect
with emotionally as well as cerebrally. I’ve been lucky enough to work with lots of excellent music
professionals over the years, but I’d like to express my admiration for Jon.
He’s incredibly talented and has a truly fantastic ear for melody. He also has
the most extraordinary ability to connect with the emotional textures of the
music that he writes, and that’s a rare skill! I’ve never known anyone better
able to write such beautifully heart-breaking piano lines and chord changes.
The fantastic review of the album featured recently in Prog magazine describes
us as “two musicians who comprehend and complement each other”, and I think
that sums it up perfectly! We also share interests in other creative pursuits (we’re
both big cinephiles, for instance), and have a similar sense of humour. All of
that made our working relationship very productive and very easy and rekindling
our friendship has been a big part of it all, too. It was also lovely to write
together with no particular plan, no rules or objectives, and no deadlines: the
creative freedom that comes with that is wonderful. We chose to keep the
project secret until it was finished, which meant that no one had the
opportunity to form any expectations about it, either. From the outset of the
project, our only philosophy was that we’d make sure we were both doing
something that we thoroughly enjoyed and creating something we could feel proud
of at the end. We’ve definitely achieved that. Was
the recording of The Science of Goodbye always planned, or was it an evolution
of ideas? RACH:
Interestingly, that’s a question that we’ve been asked quite a lot! There was
no advance planning involved whatsoever. As I mentioned earlier, Jon and I lost
touch in 2014, and we met up just before Christmas in 2018, just to have a chat
and a catch up. Over a beer (as you do), we got to reminiscing about our
respective music-related adventures over the years. I mentioned to Jon that I
was keen to write some new music but wasn’t sure where to start in terms of
finding new collaborators. Jon said he’d be happy to have a go at doing some
writing together, and the rest is history… Please
provide our visitors with an idea of the journey of making this album, from
writing, to recording, to issue . RACH: I’m
still amazed at how quickly and smoothly everything came together! From that
first discussion in the pub to the day that we sent the CDs for pressing, it
took us just over a year; and that included all the writing, recording,
producing, mixing, mastering and artwork assembling. The whole process has,
without a doubt, been the most joyful and gentle album-making experience I’ve
ever had. Jon and I live in different parts of the UK, so we worked
remotely at the beginning. Jon would send me audio files of ideas that he was
working on, I’d write some vocal melodies and some lyrics, and then we’d
discuss how to develop and build each song. Once we had a rough ‘draft’, I’d
travel over to Jon’s home studio and we’d record a basic demo, which we could
then embellish with additional arrangement parts as we went along. When we had an album’s worth of completed demos, we headed
to Tim Hamill’s fantastic Sonic One Studios and got busy. We started off by
laying down the basic ‘framework’ of each song, and then gradually added extra
instrumental parts and layers and additional/backing vocals as we went along. JON: Some
of our guest musicians came into the studio to record their parts while others
were sent the music and recorded their contributions in their own home studios.
We then added any additional vocal or instrumental parts inspired by the new
parts our guests had played and Tim completed the mix. I know some
artists/bands are happy to hear the mix only when it’s finished, but I’ve
always wanted to be there when my albums are mixed. It speeds up the process as
we can hear the mixes develop and make any changes and try alternative ideas as
we go along. But also it’s a really exciting part of the process hearing the
finished songs come together. We took the finished mixes to Jon Astley at Close
To The Edge for mastering. He’s another lovely guy who’s an expert at what he
does. He’s worked with everyone from ABBA to Zeppelin and I’ve used him to
master most of the Panic Room and Luna Rossa albums, so knew we’d get a great
result. RACH: We’d
planned to have a private album launch party on March 21st and had
arranged a beautiful venue in Cardiff, especially for the occasion. That had to
be cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation, so we’re now well overdue a very
large celebration indeed. Rachel,
before I discuss the lyrical theme of the album, I have to say that I have
never heard you sound better. The vocal performance is simply stunning and
showcases just what we have all been missing since your departure from The
Reasoning. You took a doctorate, and I have been reading some of your research
papers. Tell us about this, please, including work with bodies such as The Echo
Society. RACH:
Thank you for the kind words. I’m happier with my vocal sound on this album
than I have been on most of my previous ones. Much credit goes to Tim (Hamill),
of course, for helping to capture that in the studio. Much is often written
about the technical skill of engineers and producers – Tim has some of the best
I’ve ever witnessed – but it puzzles me that singers don’t talk more about the
relational and psychological skills that are also crucial in terms of
facilitating a good performance from vocalists. If you’re a singer, then your body
is (literally) your instrument. If you feel in any way uncomfortable or anxious
during a recording session, that’s guaranteed to be detrimental to the sound of
your voice. What’s crucial is that you feel relaxed, encouraged and motivated,
with large helpings of humour, gentleness and love, as and when appropriate.
I’ve never enjoyed vocal sessions more, and I think that really shows in the
finished sound. I felt able to express myself openly both vocally and lyrically
and found the whole process exciting and rewarding. It’s certainly restored my
music-making mojo in spades! Thank you for asking about my academic work, too. Yes: I
completed my PhD in 2013 and have worked as a lecturer and a researcher since
then, so my studies and my research career are a big part of my life. I have
multiple areas of interest and expertise, and have published work on many
topics, from forensic linguistics (the study of language in legal contexts), to
film audience studies and popular music studies, through to evaluations of care
and treatment pathways in healthcare service delivery. I recently published a
paper based on my work as project manager of a study commissioned by the
Ministry of Justice, which conducted the first national evaluation of the
Offender Personality Disorder Pathway
(Women’s Services), have just submitted a book chapter about the impact
of the internet/social media on the mental health of young people and students,
and am now working on a study to develop a brief psychological intervention for
people attending emergency departments with self-harm injury, who also have a substance
misuse disorder. My professional CV is a bit eclectic, too, I guess 😊 I also write a blog, in which I take a very nerdy approach
to writing about my experiences as a musician:
https://thewallsofwonderland.wordpress.com/
I’m a lifelong music fan myself and, for me, the most
powerful lyrics are the ones that articulate feelings and emotions that have
universal human pertinence. There is nothing more beautiful than connecting
with a song that feels personally relevant and seems to describe familiar experiences:
that can be very comforting, reassuring and inspiring. As a lyricist, I’ve
always endeavoured to write in that same way. I want my lyrics to connect with
others in ways that feel personal to them and allow plenty of space for
listeners to interpret them and make meaning from them as they wish. My inspiration comes from multiple sources, and not just
from my own life experiences, and I have fully embraced my inner geek on this
album: the CD booklet includes a fully referenced reading list. I’ve been
interested in the subject of narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder
(NPD) and narcissistic abuse for many years, both as an area of research and in
relation to my own personal experiences. The Echo Society UK https://www.theechosociety.org.uk/three-colours-dark
is an organisation that runs workshops, provides peer support and a counselling
service for people who are affected by narcissistic abuse (a very damaging form
of psychological and emotional abuse), and I’d made contact with them a few years
ago. ‘Three Colours Dark’ is actually a reference to the ‘dark
triad’ personality profile: a term coined in a research paper in 2002 (Paulus
and Williams), which refers to three unusually negative personality traits:
narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Since many of the lyrical themes
on our album are relevant to the wonderful work done by The Echo Society, I
spoke to them about setting up a collaboration. I think that music can be very
powerful in offering reassurance and comfort to people dealing with difficult
or painful emotional experiences and wanted to also provide a direct signpost
to a source of (formal) professional support.
My
wife & I have been the victims of narcissistic abuse in a business venture.
Indeed, I wrote a (unpublished) book about it some 10 years ago. I found the
experience of the writing itself to be important as a way of dealing
emotionally with the situation. In my review of the album for Prog Archives, I have described this as
a cathartic performance. An accurate reflection? I’m very sorry to hear that you’ve had a difficult
experience of this kind (and I’d be interested to read your book!). I agree
wholeheartedly that writing can be one of the most powerful forms of emotional
catharsis and creating these songs has certainly been valuable for me in that
respect, too. The overall lyrical ‘message’ of the album, though, is one of
positivity, emotional healing and self- compassion, and of renewed hope for the
future 😊. I am,
of course, familiar with Tim Hamill in his Panic Room production work, but I
confess to having no idea whatsoever that he was such a talented musician. He
brings a huge amount to this project, doesn’t he? JON: When
it came to recording the album, Tim was the only person that I considered. His
studio is superb, and he provides the perfect atmosphere for creating music
there. Being a musician himself, he understands the creative process and the
pressures involved, and always makes sure that there’s an encouraging and
supportive environment for musicians to work in. Tim has a very collaborative
approach and does a wonderful job of helping us bring our musical ideas to
fruition. So, although he’s not a songwriter on this particular project (he is
a fine songwriter in his own right!), his involvement has been invaluable in
bringing the album to life, both in terms of playing various instruments and
helping to refine the arrangements as well. I
would like to discuss the guest artists. Could you tell us how you recruited
Steve, Nathan, Dave, Chantel, and Kate please? RACH: I’ve
been lucky enough to work with lots of fantastic musicians over the years, but
it was really important to me that, on this album, we developed some brand new
collaborations and didn’t just draw on the connections from our past
endeavours. I felt very strongly that I wanted the music and the project to
have an identity of its own. JON: We
knew from the start of Three Colours Dark (since there were only the two of us)
that we’d need certain instrumental elements that we wouldn’t be able to
provide by ourselves. Tim filled in most of those elements for us, but there
were other sounds and textures that we sought further afield. Fairly early on I
knew that I wanted violin to feature on some of the songs, for instance. What we wanted from our guest musicians was for them to
bring their own personalities to the songs. Dave
Gregory (XTC / Big Big Train): JON: We’d decided to cover ‘Ghosts in the Wind’: a Richard
Thompson track that I’d loved for years, and that really seemed to fit
lyrically with the album’s themes. I’d met Dave a couple of times previously,
first at an Esoteric Records showcase gig (where Panic Room, The Reasoning and
Dave’s then-band Tin Spirits shared the bill), and subsequently at the PROG
awards in Kew Gardens, where both our bands were nominees. Dave’s a really
lovely guy as well as a talented musician, and I just thought he’d be the
perfect player to create something special on the song. It was just a matter of
inviting him to do it – I was delighted when he agreed! – and I love everything
that he did with the track. So atmospheric and haunting, and just what it
needed. Chantel
McGregor: We’d not met Chantel, but had admired her playing for a
while, and with the bluesy feel of “Blood Moon Rising”, we thought she could
bring her soulful style and sensual feminine energy to the song. The result is
gorgeous, and really adds to its emotional textures. Kate
Ronconi: We already knew Kate through our mutual music connections
and were familiar with her South Wales based folk-pop band Rag Foundation,
who’ve had a lot of success. Although a couple of violin melody parts were
written in advance, the majority of the lines that Kate plays on the album were
her own ideas, and much of it was improvised during our studio sessions. It’s
such a joy to watch musicians creating in ‘real time’ like that, especially
when they’re doing so as part of a song you’ve written. For me Kate’s violin is
like a silver thread that runs through the album and ties a lot of the music
together. Nathan
Bray: Nathan is a session brass player that we found online. His
CV is extensive and impressive, and he’s performed and recorded with many
artists in the jazz and pop/rock worlds, from Wynton Marsalis and Bill Bruford
to Paloma Faith, Robbie Williams and Mike Rutherford. We sent him the songs,
and he returned them to us with numerous trumpet and flugelhorn parts for us to
choose from. A true professional, and every take was brilliant and unique… we
had real trouble making our final choices, and we’re really pleased with what
Nathan has brought to the songs. Steve
Balsamo: RACH: I’ve
known about Steve and his awesome voice for many, many years. We moved in
similar-ish musical circles in South Wales in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s, but
had never actually met in person. On this album, I was keen to add some male
vocals to one of our tracks (Wonderland: How Can This Be Love?). I’d envisaged
the lyrics over the bridge section as a dialogue between thoughts and feelings,
left-brain and right-brain processes, and the experience of cognitive
dissonance, and thought this would work well as a duet. Steve is a long-time
friend of Tim’s, and so we were lucky to have our invitation to him made less
formally! Despite originally only intending to focus on that one song, the
studio chemistry was so great that Steve kindly sang some additional vocals on
another three songs as well. He has one of those voices that makes you (well,
me!) weak-at-the-knees and is unquestionably one of the most talented singers
I’ve ever worked with. Steve hadn’t heard any of the music beforehand but
connected with it immediately on a musical and emotional level, and it was
really exciting to work with him. He’s also a super lovely person, which helps!
It is,
perhaps, unfair to single out just one performer, but I have to say that I
think Kate shines on the violin and is exceptionally important to the overall
feel of this album. I think more people should hear of her, and I am sure you
would both agree. RACH: I
agree completely! I think that her violin parts add extra emotional depth to
the songs, and really help to emphasise some of the Celtic atmosphere on tracks
like ‘Rainbow’s End’. She has a fantastic sense of melody, too, and helped to
embellish some of the album’s instrumental hooks. The
album was recorded not far from where I live at Sonic One Studios in
Llangennach. The website boasts “a new approach to music recording”. Please
describe this. JON: As
we’ve described above, Tim is much more than just a technician. He’s a very
encouraging and positive presence and will go out of his way to ensure that any
artist he’s working with achieves their potential. He’s a musician, songwriter,
arranger and can be as involved in all aspects of the process as his clients
want. There
is an excellent cover of the Richard Thompson track, Ghosts in the Wind, on the
album. I take it you are admirers of this exceptional artist? How was the track
chosen to fall within the theme of the album? JON: When
choosing a cover for a project there are a couple of things to consider. Does
it fit with the rest of the songs on the album? And can we do something with
the song that will make it unique to us while still honouring the source. We’re
not really interested in trying to reproduce what the original artist created
because that would just be a technical exercise. So what we’ve tried to do with
‘Ghosts In The Wind’ is capture the atmosphere and spirit of Richard Thompson’s
song and display it in a new arrangement that reinterprets it in a way that
people haven’t heard before. And Dave Gregory’s guitar playing certainly plays
a big part in helping us achieve that. Amongst
progressive rock fans, there has always been a somewhat obsessive approach to
categorising the genre into component styles and parts. Something has to be
“symphonic”, “neo” & etc. To these ears, what I hear on The Science of
Goodbye is, aside from exceptional music, a very wide range of styles,
influences, and outputs which make such classification rather impossible (and
this is stated as a compliment). So, over to you. How would you describe this
project? RACH: This
is a deeply political discussion topic, for sure, and one that continues to be
enthusiastically debated! Personally, I wouldn’t describe any of the music that
I’ve made as strictly ‘Prog’, but I am of course very happy that both of my
bands were so warmly embraced by much of that community. Since we weren’t seeking to write for a particular audience
this time around (and had the freedom to write anything we wanted), the album
is quite diverse in terms of style and influences. Much of my own approach to
song-writing is inspired by some of the Pop/Rock music that I’ve always loved
(I’m a huge ABBA fan, for instance!), and I favour strong melodies, layered
vocal arrangements and big choruses. I think this, combined with Jon’s more
wide-ranging tastes and influences, has produced something that happily defies straightforward
categorisation! JON: I
think it’s a very eclectic album. As a listener, I enjoy a really wide range of
music and so my influences and the different elements that I include as a
writer tend to be equally diverse. There are elements of progressive music,
folk, ECM style contemporary jazz, rock, pop… we weren’t aiming for any
particular ‘sound’ for the album – we just wanted to see what would develop
naturally though our musical personalities in the writing and recording
processes, and that’s exactly what happened. It’s hard for me to be objective
about it, of course, but when I listen to The Science of Goodbye in its
entirety, I do feel that although it’s quite diverse, it does have a cohesive
‘sound’ that feels like us. What
instruments are played by Jon & Tim on the album, please? JON: One of
the joys of working at Sonic One studios is that I get to play some of the
lovely instruments that Tim has there. For this album, I’ve played grand piano,
Rhodes and Wurlitzer, various synth and string samples, organ, a little bit of
electric guitar (the easier parts!) and some ebow. Apart from the guest
musicians, Tim played everything else on the album, which includes electric and
acoustic guitar, papoose, bass guitar, and he also did all the drum
programming. Is
this a one-off record, or the start of a lengthy series of collaborations? Since we didn’t begin with any specific game-plan, I think
we’ll just see how it goes! We’ll keep making music together for as long as we
enjoy doing so. We loved making the album and have been delighted with the
enthusiastic reviews and the warm welcome that it’s received so far. We had
many ideas that didn’t make it on to this album, and I think it’s safe to say
that there won’t be any shortage of inspiration or enthusiasm in that
department for the foreseeable future. Are
there any plans for live performances once the lockdown is ended and we can all
safely gather and appreciate fine music again? We don’t have any immediate plans for live performances,
primarily because we don’t have a band of other musicians assembled at this
point. We have discussed the possibility of perhaps organising a handful of
full-scale live shows, though, so never say never! Talking
of which, as we are in the middle of a pandemic whilst doing this interview,
how have you coped with the lockdown? JON:
Personally, I’ve still been working. Aside from being a musician, I also work
for the NHS in a non-clinical role, so that’s helped maintain a normality and
routine that lots of people don’t have at the moment. Of course it’s tough not
being able to see family and friends, but I think that now most of our
interactions are forced to be of the digital and virtual kind, we are perhaps
being in touch more than before, so that’s a positive thing. RACH:
Strange times indeed! I’ve missed seeing my family and friends in person, but
the technological possibilities for video chat, etc. have made that bearable,
and the quality of those interactions has been lovely. My academic work has
been a little chaotic (there’s been a significant impact on research
activities, obviously), but there are some real benefits to the global and
local peace and quiet, and I hope we’ll all learn some valuable lessons in that
respect. The
album is available as both a digital download on Bandcamp for a very reasonable
£8, as well as a cd version for £11 (£12 signed) from Burning Shed. Personally,
I always prefer a physical copy of music, but I would be interested to learn of
the relationship you have as artists with both outlets. RACH: I
always prefer a physical copy, too: I’m from the vinyl generation of music
lovers, and greatly miss the pleasures of spending an evening listening to a
new album and poring over the artwork and lyrics. I don’t own a turntable these
days, but I’m tempted to upgrade my home listening system in light of the
recent vinyl resurgence. I think the digital shift has had a huge impact on how
people think about and use music more broadly as well. I was reminiscing with a
friend recently about the pleasures of anticipating a new release, and all the
activities and feelings that came with it – the excitement of queuing outside a
record store, for example, and the tactile satisfaction of taking home a proud
new purchase. Today’s culture of ‘one-click’ instant gratification (and our
social media saturated world) means that those experiences are probably gone
forever, which is a real shame. Having said that, the corresponding
technological advances have revolutionised the possibilities for writing and
recording, of course. As a wise person once said, “you can’t have your cake and
eat it”! JON: I
already had a relationship with Burning Shed, since they sell the Luna Rossa
albums, too. They’re a company run by musicians, and do a really fair deal for
artists, so they were the obvious choice as partners to sell The Science of
Goodbye. One area that Burning Shed don’t cover is digital
downloads, so we set up our own download shop with Bandcamp. They again seem to
be a really good outlet for musicians to get their music out to a wide audience
and give a good return to artists themselves. I love
the artwork on the cd by Karl James Mountford. Tell us about him, please. JON: Karl
is someone that I discovered when he was studying at the Swansea College of
Art. My wife is involved in commissioning artwork for hospitals and Karl did
some work for one of the local Swansea hospitals while he was a student. He’s
always had a very individual style and, since graduating, he’s become a really
successful illustrator. Karl created the artwork for the second Luna Rossa
album ‘Secrets and Lies’, and both Rachel and I thought he would be able to
provide a great visual match for the music we had created as Three Colours
Dark. We looked at quite a few of his images but chose the image that we used
for its strength and simplicity. It seemed to us to be a good visual
representation of the album that we’d made. You can see more of his amazing work
here… https://thebrightagency.com/uk/publishing/artists/karl-james-mountford We also had a very talented photographer, Jason
Parnell-Brookes, involved to do a photo-shoot for the album. He’s an
award-winning photographic artist who makes stunning work in most areas of
photography from landscapes to portraiture, macro-photography to commercial
work and is also a personal friend. He produced some great shots for us to use
and you can see more of his images here… www.jasonpb.com My
grateful thanks to you for agreeing to this interview. To close, aside from
Three Colours Dark, please tell us about the immediate artistic plans you have. We intend to work on some further Three Colours Dark music
in the not-too-distant future. JON: my
next project album-wise will be the next Panic Room album, when we’re actually
able to get together again. RACH:
Alongside future Three Colours Dark music endeavours, I’m putting lots of
energy into developing my blog at the moment – https://thewallsofwonderland.wordpress.com/
- with a view to possibly publishing a book in due
course! I have undertaken a few interviews for Prog Archives,
and all of them have been a joy. I hope, though, that site members and visitors
will agree that this interview is something special, and I am extremely grateful
to Rachel & Jonathan for providing us with something far more than a
discussion about this riff, or that band member, but a personal reflection that
allows us to understand deeply the creative process behind a very impressive
piece of work. The album is highly recommended, and I would urge all readers
to visit http://www.threecoloursdark.com/
find
out more, and purchase a fine piece of work. Steve Lazenby (Lazland) May 2020 |
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Squonk19
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Excellent interview, Lazland! One of my next purchases....
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“Living in their pools, they soon forget about the sea.”
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