George McFall meets with 17 Seconds to buy us a coffee, tell us about his new album and why it’s coming out under his own name.
Given the somewhat intense look Mr. McFall gives on his fantastic new album XIV: Surrounder, it may come as a surprise to some readers just how very nice and down to earth he is in real life. We met on a dark January night in the bar of Edinburgh’s hallowed Cameo cinema to discuss the forthcoming release of his second album – the follow-up to 2012’s debut God Save The Clean – due out at the end of January. He buys me a cup of coffee, settles himself down with a pot of tea and we get on with a very enjoyable chat.
So, given the seven years that has passed since the debut (also an excellent record, in case you were wondering) what has he been up to? Quite a lot as it happens.
‘I’ve been trying to hold down jobs, maintain relationships and working on the new album,’ he says. He also did a degree in History at Birkbeck College in London, where he lives for much of the time. With the exception of drums from Edinburgh drum legend Murray Briggs (of Oi Polloi and Aberfeldy), everything else on the record has been played by George himself. ‘Being able to do a record like this one in a mere six years is quite impressive when you’re having to do everything yourself,’ he says. Really, it’s hard to argue.
Not only that but checking the shelves back home later reveals he also contributed to the two albums released in that time by Dominic Waxing Lyrical, Woodland Casual and Rural Tonic. He’s also written and recorded a forthcoming album with Murray’sbrother, Aberfeldy frontman Riley. They set up the Edinburgh record company, Tenement Records, with friends back in 2010. ‘None of us are doing it thinking that we’re going to sell lots of records,’ he says, though the quality – which also includes Aberfeldy’s last album to date, Somewhere To Jump From – pretty much speaks for itself.
Whereas previous records, going back to his debut single, 2007’s ‘First Blast Of The Trumpet Against The Monstrous Regiment Of Women’ were under the name Clean George IV, the arrival of the first track from the album ‘Autumn’ towards the end of last year was the first time he had put out a record under his own name. ‘There comes a time in life when giving yourself a cartoon name seems trite and embarrassing,‘ he says.
The original name was nothing to do with George IV Bridge in Edinburgh – the city where he grew up – but was,he says cryptically, ‘somewhat ironic‘ . Of that debut single, he jokes about having an idea about writing protestant pop music (believe me, in parts of the Celtic Fringe there are still those who wouldn’t get the joke about that, regardless of churches being places they go for hatching, matching and despatching). The A-side references a notorious pamphlet by the Scottish religious reformer John Knox, while the B-side ‘The Great Highland Crack Epidemic’ was inspired by nights out. ‘I was writing songs from the title backwards in those days,’ he reflects.
Given the distinct sound that he has fashioned, I ask what his influences are. His father is a classical musician, and growing up he was surrounded by the 1980s pop music of the time, followed by a ‘classic rock phase’ and then a period of what may now be regarded as classic leftfield rock, the likes of Captain Beefheart, The Birthday Party and The Fall. The latter particularly sound like an influence on his two albums.
He also enjoys the German progressive rock sound of the 1970s – I tell him that I hear a connection between his music and that of the legendary Faust. This seems to please him and he recalls an encounter with the drummer of the band some years ago who told him that in the future we’d all smoke electric cigarettes. The time has now come, we agree. He played keyboards for a while in the fondly remembered Kling Klang, who drew on the German music of the period, but were eventually forced to split up after a cease and desist notice from Kraftwerk (it’s the name of their Dusseldorf studio).
We also end up discussing the minimalist music of the late twentieth century, he gives the thumbs up to the likes of Americans Steve Reich and John Adams, but he’s rather less than enthusiastic about Philip Glass, perhaps being rather unimpressed when I tell him it was David Bowie and Siouxsie Sioux who got me to rethink my own views on him.
Perhaps given our surroundings on this wet January evening, we discuss the film influence on his work – he describes both his albums as ‘quite cinematic sounding.’ He tells me that he has deliberately courted a hi-fidelity sound on his records. While he is sympathetic to previous generations indie shambling, he tells me quite firmly that ‘in this day and age there’s no excuse! [for low fidelity]’ In his defence, he doesn’t name names. Many of these bands come from north of the border, and in Scotland, the six degrees of separation is usually reduced to two.
Surrounder was finished last summer, and over the next few months he intends to finish not one but two albums under his own name. In addition to that, he has radio sessions and a few ‘little shows’ as he describes them, lined up. Certainly his new album may have been a while coming, but once my broadband finally lets me, it’s a treat for the ears. He ploughs his own furrow, and your record collection should be better for that.
XIV: Surrounder is released on Tenement Records on February 1.
Now, I did write about this over at God Is In The TV, but it’s such a great track that I had to share it here as well.
George McFall has announced that he will release his new album XIV: Surrounder (sic)on February 1 next year. His last album God Save The Clean was released in 2012. It will be released on Tenement Records, who have also released acclaimed records by the likes of Aberfeldy and Dominic Waxing Lyrical.
Ahead of the album’s release, the first track to be made available is ‘Autumn.’
‘Autumn’ is a wonderfully dark single, fitting in perfectly as the nights seem to get ever longer, and fitting in with the peculiarly Scottish melancholia of the likes of Mogwai and Twilight Sad, and processed through the post-punk electric sounds of the likes of Gary Numan and John Foxx-era Ultravox. It has been described as a soundtrack to youthful oblivion; a moving reflection on age, death, rebirth and the passage of time. This is perfectly encapsulated by the video. The single is released on November 30.
The album was written and recorded by George at his Tottenham studio and Ali Moniak‘s Arcadia Audio studio in Edinburgh, and drums were played by Murray Briggs (Oi Polloi, Aberfeldy) and Ali Moniack (Kling Klang). The album was mixed by Aaron Cupples (the Drones, Civil Civic, Kirin j Callinan).
Amongst the titles unveiled so far for the album are covers of the main theme from the Incredible String Band‘s ‘A Very Cellular Song‘ and Dominic Waxing Lyrical’s ‘Change,’ ‘Practice,’ ‘Nargo‘ and album-closer ‘Norman.’
The return of Dominic Harris has been a longtime coming. It’s been nearly eighteen years since the Edinburgh artist released his debut, self-titled album (now going for quite a lot of money on discogs). Those gigs in the past reportedly included blood, nudity, police raids and ‘shoddy transvestisism’ amongst other things.
This album is more band-orientated, and sees him joined by labelmates Riley and Murray Briggs of Aberfeldy and George McFall of Clean George IV (now trading as CGIV); at live gigs Aberfeldy bassist Ken McIntosh has joined the lineup. The album launch a few months ago indicated that this sophomore album from the man once described as punk Jake Thackeray was special, now it gets a full release and it most definitely is.
Quirky and deliciously dark, the album features songs in Waltz-time that suggest Tim Burton shuld look no fruther for the man to write the soundtrack to his next film. With song titled including ‘Scarecrow’ ‘End of the world’ and ‘Hell On Earth’ you know this is no set of demos for the next One Direction album, but rather that of a master maverick songwriter at work. My personal favourite is the sinister waltz that is ‘Janitor’ – but amongst the other highlights are ‘Thursday (Searching)’ and ‘Nightwatchman.’
A gorgeously, dark cult treat.
****
Woodland Casual is released on February 2 by Tenement.
He’s now trading as CGIV. He’s working on a new album from which you can hear and see the utterly thrilling ‘Autumn’ at the top of the page. CGIV is basically George McFall and in his own words ‘whoever he can find to play drums at the time of recording.’ George is currently finishing an album which he would like to think will be ready for release by spring 2015.
‘Autumn’ is released via Tenement Records on November 24.
Earlier this year he released ‘Change’ which is utterly different and can be heard and seen below:
I was pretty impressed by the lyrics for ‘Autumn’ too; so here they are in their entirety:
“hoods up for the long haul
inordinate animal
it’s time to put the child to bed
tame yourself in time for death
last stretch before surrender
undeserving also-ran
time to put your prices up
change yourself in time for luck
activate the five year plan
on the wagon, in the can
a perfect day to overcome
obstacles like love and fun
the grip of fear the knee jerk hate
vibrating nerves in vacant lots
the abstract comfort of aroma
brickdust and bergamot
there is no stone as deep as sleep
at least not for the living
no more fantasies to keep
me from going where i’m going
autumn in paradise
prepare the sacrifice
your every right to lose control
your right to be unreasonable
your right to moulder and to rust
your right to misjudge and mistrust
an autumn hue in everything you see and hear and say and do
the abstract comfort of perfume
of yesterday and soon to come
autumn in paradise
prepare the sacrifice
germanic discipline
a shadow of your future self
there is no stone as deep as sleep
at least not for the living
no more fantasies to keep
me from going where i’m going
after the rain we’ll start again
we’ll start mapping out an ending
a perfect day to pave the way
a perfect day to give up thinking”
