100 Musicians Answer the Same 10 Questions

Part Fifty-Two: Lorna

instigated by dave heaton

Lorna's most recent album Static Patterns and Souvenirs (2005), released by the excellent Words on Music label, is an absolutely gorgeous late-night/early-morning sort of record, dreamy and intimate. It's the second album from the Nottingham, England quintet, which as the one-man project of songwriter Mark Rolfe back in 1997. Their music is consistent in mood but still quite varied, making use of many sorts of instruments. Check out their website and the Words on Music site to learn more.

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What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?

For a long time it's been about using different instruments, writing scores, recording orchestration alongside conventional indie pop music but right now the thing I am most exciting about is making music with my friends and having fun, whether that will reflect on Lorna 3 is yet to be seen, I've tried to musically "chill out" a bit towards the end of the new album. I recently had an experience that made me remember what fun it can be to be in a band, it's all been too serious for too long. Working with a label like words on music is also inspiring and refreshing, without them around I don't know what we'd do.

What aspect of making music gets you the most discouraged?

Lack of success of our previous records, still I'm left with no choice but to carry on. I've also found it really hard to be inspired by hardly any modern music in the last few years. Everything seems so washed up, everything's been around a few times and coming back again etc., everything sounds like it's from 1979 and quite frankly it's boring. Saying that there are a few gems I've discovered of late, one being the last Vashti Bunyan album, everyone should buy it! I also really really enjoyed the new Fiel Garvie album as I think it really showed some bravery and guts in a nice fuzzy kind of way. Calexico never fail to let me down of late either.

What are you up to right now, music-wise? (Current or upcoming recordings, tours, extravaganzas, experiments, top-secret projects, etc).

Trying to finish off album number three (I think I'm allowed to say 90%), then working out how and where we will play it live next year. Starting my own music school and doing a degree in Classical music, phew!

What's the most unusual place you've ever played a show or made a recording? How did the qualities of that place affect the show/recording?

We recorded the strings to the new album in a church, a huge church. We hired it out for the day purely in terms of acoustics and the space we needed, we got a wonderful sound and needed hardly any after treatment acoustically. We've also played in someone's loft in Hollywood (a strange thing for a brit to understand) and a Moroccan restaurant also in Hollywood (even stranger). Over here just play manky pubs so those shows were fun. We also played a 2000 seater auditorium in Spain to a guy who lied about being the major of the town and made us call him Senor!!!!

In what ways does the place where you live (or places where you have lived), affect the music you create, or your taste in music?

It really doesn't, the only truly great outfit from this city was the tindersticks but they left for London to make music. Six By Seven had their moments but also split up.

When was the last time you wrote a song? What can you tell us about it?

Two days ago, called "Summer school", that was the first in a few months….it may just tag it's way onto the end of the next album!

As you create more music, do you find yourself getting more or less interested in seeking out and listening to new music made by other people...and why do you think that is?

That's a cracking question! I think it fluctuates a lot. I often write music because I'm disencouraged and bored by the music scene, then I find something new and go crazy about it (when I discovered coastal in 2000 I spent a year writing slo-fi) then that genre slowly becomes another part of our sound.

Lately what musical periods or styles do you find yourself most drawn to as a listener? (Old or new music? Music like yours or different from yours?)

To be honest I've listened to a lot of romantic era classical in the lat 18 months due to my studies. I always use to feel it was pretentious and felt ashamed of my love of classical but the more I think about it the sillier it is. We are talking about modern music of the last 500 years of our earth being under the "classical" umbrella; rock, bluegrass only really came around 70 years ago so there is still such much to discover the further you go back. Apart from that umm… I've been listening to lots of other stuff lately…if I look at my last played list…. The Smiths, Belle and Sebastian, madness, the lucy show, love, soft eyes, julian bream, Fernando sor, pentangle, vashti bunyan, john martyn, radio department, metallica….lots of old 40's blue grass compliations like the carter family etc., I love that!

Name a band or musician, past or present, who you flat-out LOVE and think more people should be listening to. What's one of your all-time favorite recordings by this band/musician?

Right now I think everything should discover Vashti Bunyan, it's done me the world of good.

What's the saddest song you've ever heard?

Anything I've written, or anything Jason (coastal) has written, hey we should write together and set new grounds.

To check out the rest of the Q&As, click here.