One of these unsuspecting nominees of this prestigious award was Devon-born multi-instrumentalist and prodigious fiddler Seth Lakeman, who in 2005 saw his debut album Kitty Jay nominated in the Mercury Prize along with Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm, Coldplay’s X&Y and, the eventual winner, Antony & The Johnsons’ I Am A Bird Now.
Lakeman, who is due in Australia for the Byron Bays Blues & Roots Festival and two special Melbourne performances alongside Carus Thompson at Bennetts Lane on Sunday April 8 and Monday April 9, talks about his feelings back in 2005 to go from a regional folk artist to the toast of Shoreditch. “It was something that broke me as an artist…” There is a pause then a light giggle as this charming Brit realises the perceived connotations of his last statement, “Not breaking down but ‘breaking’ in the right way. But when I stood beside the other nominees for the first photo shoot, they put me beside Chris Martin because he’s from down here in Devon as well; it was all a bit overwhelming.
“I also seemed to be doing a lot of interviews and promo with KT Tunstall that year as well and I ended up signing to her label with EMI.”
Lakeman also explains that due to Kitty Jay being so experimental and steeped in the culture of Southern England was another reason, combined with his anonymity at the time, he was surprised that he got nominated. “For me I feel that every aspect of Kitty Jay was rooted from where I was from and filled with these stories from when I was growing up and I think that’s why that album still holds a really special place in my heart because it represent me and my upbringing so strongly but was what changed everything for me.”
So what are the keynotes of Lakeman’s upbringing, those factors that lead to him innovating folk music to a degree that it broke into the impossible to crack London music scene? Lakeman talks about his musical upbringing and the key influences on his sound.
“It’s a bizarre one really: fiddle-wise I grew up mostly playing a lot of Scottish, Irish and English tunes and rhythm was a big one for me but I was also in love with singers like Richard Thompson, Paul Brady and Nick Jones – all these storytellers and quite traditional folk singers. But then you mix in some swing jazz and you start to get an idea of what shaped my sound as a young man. But then as a teenager I got into the early ‘90’s vibe of Counting Crows and Crowded House combined with the massive sound of the U2 records that were happening then and the experimentation in production that major artists like Paul Simon were doing coming out the back of Graceland.”
But being in England in the early ‘90s Lakeman couldn’t help but also be influenced by the rising tide of electronic dance music (EDM). He explains how EDM seeped into his music. “There’s a track I wrote called Kitty Jay that was quite a big one for me over here,” mumbles a modest Lakeman in reference to the title track and lead single of the 2005 Mercury Prize nominated album, “which was very much inspired by house music, you know that stomp that drives the whole song on!”
Finally, Lakeman let’s on what audiences can expect from his upcoming Melbourne shows. “On stage it’s going to be myself, my brother Sean, a guy called Ben Nichols who plays double bass and this fabulous percussionist from Ireland called Cormack Burn. The show will be quite upbeat and full on with a vibe similar to…” Again Lakeman trails off in trying to find the best words, it would seem that his enthusiasm for the live show is miles ahead of his speech! “There’s no kick drum you see so it’s hard to describe in linear music descriptors normally associated with rock’n’roll. You know what, it will sound quite Waifs-y but without the female vocals!”
BY DAN WATT
