ARTiST: Findlay Brown
TiTLE: Separated By The Sea
LABEL: Peacefrog
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 46:26 min
SiZE: 63,10 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Jan-11-2007
RELEASE DATE: Feb-19-2007
WEBSiTE: www.findlaybrown.com
Track List:
01. I Will (Ghost Ship) 05:17
02. But You Love Me 03:19
03. Down Among The Dead Men 04:31
04. Seperated By The Sea 02:35
05. Loneliness I Fear 04:15
06. Come Home 03:05
07. Losing The Will To Survive 04:16
08. Paperman 04:53
09. Tonight Won't Wait 03:55
10. Don't You Know I Love You 07:12
11. Twin Green Pram 03:08
Release Notes:
Singer-songwriters tend to be utterly wet. If they
could ever prize their arses from those stools of
which they seem so fond, theyÆd prance about
declaring æHullo clouds, hullo skyÆ as per Ronald
SearlesÆ 1950s literary softie Fotherington-Thomas.
And this is often reflected in their music, which
isnÆt passionate and heartfelt so much as saccharine
and grating.
Findlay Brown gives the singer-songwriter back the
edge that made the likes of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon
more than just bardy entertainers. His ambitious
music may be intimate, bare, and dare-I-say-it
sensitive. But vitally itÆs also courageous,
triumphant, challenging and otherworldly.
Emotionally-driven, psychedelic, spiked with wit,
blessed with a cidery traditionalism and foiled with
subtle, yet noticeably modern, production from
SimianÆs Simon Lord, FindlayÆs work is truly
æalternative folkÆ. But he says heÆs ômore
influenced by sixties music in turn influenced by
folkö. Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Band, and cult
auteur Jackson C Frank (whose autonomous album was
produced by Paul Simon) are his own points of
reference.
And Findlay himself is no introspective wimp either,
but the exactly the ægirt lion of a manÆ, to use the
Yorkshire vernacular, who should be picking up a
guitar.
ôWhen I was younger, the plan was to join the army.
I grew up in a tiny town in East Riding next to an
old World War Two airfield. We had hangars and
bunkers on one side and woods and fields on the
other. My mates and I would bomb around in combat
gear building rope swings, riding motorbikes and
generally causing havoc.ö Including taking part in
Gypsy bare-knuckle boxing contests.
ôI did it when I was about eleven for a couple of
years. One of my good mates, (Al Greenwood), his dad
was a blacksmith who did a lot of work for the
gypsies and fought with them as well, so theyÆd put
us in the ring too. ItÆd be kids the same size,
didnÆt last long and was mostly wrestling, until the
other guy said æI give up.Æ But despite all that IÆd
always thought I had to be tough. When I was three,
a guy called Neil Barker, who ended up hanging
himself in a church, picked me up by my ankles and
swung me into a lamp post repeatedly. Six years
later he was sunbathing outside my house so I went
out with a piece of corrugated iron andà well, he
didnÆt so it again. People think the countryside is
idyllic compared to the city. But itÆs worse. Being
a bit cut off from the rest of the world can make
people violent.ö
Music was of little importance to him at that age.
But awaiting the young Findlay was the other thing
that people in the countryside do to pass the time
aside from fighting.
ôI started getting into psychedelic culture.
Heavily. And one time I went around to someoneÆs
house one weekend and they were playing Electric
Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix. That was a kick in the
head û I didnÆt even know it was a guitar making
those noises. My pals and I went from having a few
Pet Shop Boys singles to everything we listened to
being Iron Butterfly, Love, Spirit, Family,
Kaleidoscopeà all these trippy bands and lots of
krautrock. The house we were living in by then was
in York, not the countryside, it was like Coronation
Street and I hated that. But IÆd discovered music
and I was pretty happy.ö
Findlay had never yet picked up a guitar. ôI was
working in the local chocolate factories, Rowntrees,
TerryÆs, the major playersà And hanging out with
lads who were in quite successful bands. TheyÆd jam
together round peopleÆs houses after gigs. One time,
they were doing a John Lennon number and I just came
in with the MacCartney harmonies instinctively û
they were dead impressed. And thatÆs when I thought
æright, IÆm going to have a go at this, and IÆm
going to be better than all of you.ö
FindlayÆs granddad, a successful chef whoÆd lived
through Swinging London, had bequeathed him a set of
the BeatlesÆ autographs. He sold them to buy
guitars. ôSo my first guitar was a Gibson 335, and I
had a Fender Twin, the same as John LennonÆs
set-up.ö
Now living in Ladbrooke Grove, Findlay answered an
ad in the NME and started singing for a band. ôIt
never worked out, but that was the first time I
started listening to electronic music, and up until
then IÆd been totally retro. There was a stage when
I was just walking into record shops and buying
anything from 1967.ö
Stints in various experimental acts followed. ôThe
music we were making was based around noise and
power. I was writing more melodic stuff though. I
found it all a little too sweet - but I could write
a æBlackbirdÆ-type song in a day, whereas a ripping
upbeat Stooges number would take me a month. So, I
thought IÆd play to my strengths. I wanted to do
something really personal from the forefront of my
mind.ö
Inspiration came û ôit was staring me in the faceö û
from a tempestuous relationship with his long-term
Danish girlfriend Marie. He started writing songs to
finally snare her after becoming conscious of being
ôa total nobö, and dispatched them to Denmark in CD
cases packed with dried flowers. As the Silk Spectre
says of her hard-bitten lover The Comedian in Alan
MooreÆs superhero classic Watchmen, ôDo you know
what gentleness means in a man like that?ö
ôItÆs not like the album is all about me and her,
but sheÆs influenced everything like a museö says
Findlay. ôI Will, subtitled æGhost ShipÆ, the first
track on the album, came from the sea separating the
two of us. I imagined her like a wrecked ship, and
myself as the sprit of some sea dog captain, the two
of them searching for each other not realising
theyÆre ghosts. I want to be more like a fictional
character that listeners can choose to be someone
else personal to them, than heard as myself.ö
Whilst many songs on the LP do examine Findlay and
MarieÆs relationship, impetus also comes from other
complex factors like male pride, FindlayÆs love/hate
relationship with a rural upbringing, and other
aspects of his childhood.
Twin Green Pram for instance concerns his twin
sister, who died when she was a month old. ôMy mum
brought a pram for twins and never replaced itö he
explains, as do the lyrics æLying I am but on my
own, an empty space, a beautiful face IÆve never
known.Æ
ôWhen I was young my mum made me read all these
illustrated learning books called Peter and Jane.
And IÆd dream about my sister, and IÆd imagine she
looked like Peter. He didnÆt really look like a boy
or a girl, he had a brown basin cut that was a bit
long, and a red polo neck. Sometimes IÆd speak to my
older sister and wonder what the family dynamic
wouldÆve been like if my twin had been around.
Sometimes I wonder if it wasnÆt meant to be û we
were very poor and my mum didnÆt need another mouth
to feed. It isnÆt upsetting as such, but it is a big
deal to me. And it was terrible for my mum, so I
wrote the song for her.ö
Paper Man ôis my go at being politicalö but displays
a self-awareness rarely found amongst BritainÆs
liberal youth. ôI hate to say it, but I did have
George W bush at the back of my mind. I know itÆs
such a clichΘd thing. I wrote it first,
stream-of-consciousness style, then tried to make
sense of it. ItÆs about how powerful, decisive
people can be the most fragile. The Paper Man is
someone everyone admires but wouldnÆt if they knew
what they were like. He tries to convince himself
heÆs a good person by convincing you. And they do
manage to convince you most of the time û but
theyÆre probably not convincing themselves. And then
I thought: æThatÆs not just George Bush. ThatÆs me
as wellÆ.ö
Come Home is a paean to the more appealing aspects
of country life compared to the city, fresh air as
opposed to hot air. ôWhen I first moved down to
London coming from the north was exotic û the media
were mad for Oasis and everyone said I looked like
Vernon Kaye, which of course I hated. ItÆs about not
fitting in, but in a good way, people in this
industry being so false, and wanting the genuine
article rather than bullshit.ö
FindlayÆs next single, released August 8th, is Down
Among the Dead Men. ôItÆs about trying to give up
alcohol, girls and partying, and how fucked up my
relationship was at the time û æIÆve been running
from the heavens, now theyÆre coming after me.Æ John
Lennon did a couple of songs about his mum being
dead and when I listen to them I think heÆs said too
much sometimes. But thatÆs exactly what IÆm doing. I
think IÆve got a bit of a problem with appearing
weak. The background IÆve had, growing up with the
tough lads, for this life IÆve had to try and
æun-learnÆ a lot of that. When I was little, if IÆd
shown a drop of weakness, theyÆd have had my money,
theyÆd have had my bike, theyÆd have had the lot.
But now I can be vulnerable.ö