Caught in the Carousel

Armstrong

Songs About the Weather
The Beautiful Music

Armstrong

Last year Armstrong's debut Under Blue Skies served as a reminder that for pop music to really pop, it needs to know how to punch first. Brimming with songs that could have been slipped in undetected on Aztec Camera's High Land, Hard Rain or Knife, Under Blue Skies was nothing short of a revelation—a buoyant and immensely satisfying offering that announced singer/songwriter Julian Pitt as a major new talent. Capable of pastoral acoustapop or wrenching, wistful ballads, Pitt arrived on the scene as one of those rare songwriters who emerges fully formed, organically endowed with nuance, range and big, big hooks.

The sophomore album is always a rickety bridge, but for this Wales outfit, it proved to be a cinch. Songs About The Weather is a shimmering batch of pop songs that have all the spry delivery of Roddy Frame or the moody orchestral feel of Bacharach in his '60s prime. Teeming with references to the sun, the rain and clouds moving in and out of the horizon, these are indeed songs about the weather, but on a larger scale, they're really songs about the seasons. Channeling The Beach Boys, "Sunshine Feeling" evokes the everclear forever days of summer; "Summer Rain" brilliantly juxtaposes love and loss (and after all, isn't summer about giving and taking away?) and the stunning ballad "Rainfall" delicately suggests that even when you're standing in the sun, there can still be darkness in your heart.

Every relationship is marked in our memories by the wind and the rain, the sun and the surf, the leaves going brittle under our feet. And that's what makes Songs About The Weather such lovely, emotionally knowing work. Whether it's the woebegone "On Gellert Hill," the mid-tempo resilience of "Sway" or the sun-kissed sadness of "Break It In Two," these are snapshots of relationships blooming, thriving and dying, all written with such poetic elegance, such literate aplomb, Pitt emerges here as one of the most skillful recorders of what happens to the heart when it fills up with love or when it empties out and can't take it anymore.

In this space last year we declared that Julian Pitt was the new Prince of Pastoral Pop.
Meet your new king.

—Alex Green

Caught In The Carousel Talks To Armstrong's Julian Pitt:

Caught In The Carousel: Thematically what are the main differences between Songs About The Weather and Under Blue Skies?

Julian Pitt: I recorded Songs About The Weather on my own, whereas with Under Blue Skies, I worked with Mike Cole (ex-60ft Doll who produced it). Therefore, I suppose Songs About The Weather felt more personal. There were a lot of changes going on in my life during 2008 and all of the songs written for the album were happening around that time. I have a method of writing in that once I have a thread of a song, I'm able to carry it around in my head and juggle with ideas, so I suppose the music became a kind of backdrop to the changes in my life. Under Blue Skies was meant to be a direct no-nonsense pop album (as arguably all good debuts should be).

CITC: Some of the numbers here are more melancholic than the work on Under Blue Skies—do you find you're attracted to darkness more than the light?

JP: This is the question that has really got me thinking and the answer is. I'm definitely more attracted to the light. I guess I like writing bittersweet songs (in a similar way that I feel The Smiths or The Stone Roses sound). Take for example, "Perhaps It's Time We Said Goodbye": I'd been listening to many Frank Sinatra albums (particularly albums that were arranged by Nelson Riddle such as In The Wee Small Hours). So I was influenced to write a sad song about a troubled relationship, but I wanted the music to sound overblown and dramatic. I also wanted the lyrics to incorporate a kind of Hollywood movie feel, which is why I mentioned the line "Walking through the rain-swept streets alone/Like Bogart's lost his love Lauren Bacall." (I had Casablanca and The Big Sleep in my mind at the time). Sometimes you probably have to go through a lot of darkness before you get to the light. I would love to think that Songs About The Weather is that kind of journey. (With a positive ending.)

CITC: I love the almost orchestral feel of some tracks—it brings to mind everyone from Bacharach to Roddy Frame's later work. Was this a conscious decision or did the songs just present themselves that way in the writing process?

JP: I very much like orchestration and it is a huge honour that it brings to your mind Burt Bacharach and Roddy Frame, who are two of my musical heroes. Songs from Under Blue Skies incorporated many string arrangements, whereas on Songs About The Weather I decided to consciously have a woodwind orchestrated feel. I wouldn't, however, use orchestration for the sake of using it, it was simply a case that I felt the songs I'd written should be that way. I'm a big 'classical' music fan and hopefully my favourite composers such as Rachmaninov, Ennio Morricone and Ralph Vaughan-Williams have some effect on me.

CITC: Am I way off, or does "Sunshine Feeling" have a bit of a Beach Boys vibe to it?

JP: Yes, it certainly does. I love the Beach Boys very much and I love recording harmonies. They can do so much for a song. I was obsessed with The Byrds for a while who also did great harmony arrangements. "Sunshine Feeling" was written very quickly as if the postman had delivered it in the post.

CITC: What was your favorite moment while making this record?

JP: Probably just being totally engrossed in the recording of a song. At times the recording could be frustrating and solitary. I could be very hard on myself because I always want the recording to sound the way that it does in my head. The album was recorded on a small 12x track digital studio with some old musical equipment, but it was great to achieve a finished album—something I was pleased with as an end result. I also developed some new techniques of arranging orchestration on some of the songs, which was great. I love the surprise of playing something back to myself that's only been an idea in my head for a long time and finding that it works.

CITC: What's next for Armstrong? Any insights about the next record you can share?

JP: The Canadian record label The Beautiful Music (www.thebeautifulmusic) have just pressed up 100x copies of Songs About The Weather, so that's been very exciting for me. I have also been setting up all Armstrong songs ready for downloading via I-Tunes and Amazon, which should be ready sometime in June. Insights about the next record? Well, I'm writing songs all the time and there is a backlog of things to record. The next album is pretty much written in some shape or form. I have new songs with titles such as "Disinformation," "Norman Wisdom" and "Rock Star Rock Star" written. I think the next album will be somewhere in between Under Blue Skies and Songs About The Weather. However, I may release a 5x track E.P next sometime this year with a new album at the beginning of next year.