SCOUT
NIBLETT
“This Fool Can Die Now”
(Too Pure / Beggars Group / Indigo)
VÖ: 19. Oktober 2007
LC 12056
Anspieltips: Do You Wanna Be Buried With
My People, Dinosaur Egg, Kiss,
Scout Niblett ist wieder da und beehrt uns mit ihrem vierten Album “This Fool Can Die Now”.
Das ist mal eine Ansage! Scout holte sich für dieses Album Verstärkung ins Boot – der große Will
Oldham (aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy), der als Scouts Duettpartner auf 4 Stücken (2 davon Cover) zu
hören ist. “This Fool Can Die Now” wurde in Steve Albinis berühmtem Electrical Audio Studio mit
Kristian Goddard und Chris Saligoe als Rhytmus Section aufgenommen.
Gleich beim ersten Track “Do You Wanna Be Buried With My People” bilden Scouts trauervoller
Appell und Will Oldhams gefühlvolle Vocals die perfekte Symbiose, so dass man sich auch fragt, wie
sie zuvor ohne einander existieren konnten. Von dem leidenschaftlichen “Baby Emma” und dem
klagenden “Nevada” über die lauten gitarrigen Stücke “Let Thine Heart Be Warmed” und “Your Last
Chariot”, ist “This Fool Can Die Now” ein Gesamtkunstwerk von 14 Songs, das ein Spektrum von
geladenen Emotionen von Sehnsucht und Trauer zu Resignation und Akzeptanz durchläuft.
Scout Niblett wird im Dezember einige Shows in Deutschland spielen. Daten gibt es in Kürze hier:
Online: http://www.scoutniblett.com/ www.myspace.com/scoutniblett, www.beggarsgroup.de
Ein Interviewtag mit Scout Niblett findet am 11.9. in Hamburg statt. Anfragen bitte an:
Sven Herwig, Tel.: 040.239 087 421, Email: sven.herwig@beggarsgroup.de
Wer könnte besser über das neue Album berichten als Scout Niblett selbst. Der britische Musikjournalist
Everett True führte im August 2007 das folgende Interview mit ihr:
This new album came as a bit of a shock. You've got someone else singing on it, for a start.
"S'a departure isn't it? I just thought it'd be nice to see what my voice sounds like with someone else's. Like
people in proper bands…I sing with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy."
The man with the beard.
"The man with the beard, yeah. I asked him ages ago if he'd like to sing on my album. So I knew those songs
were gonna be duets while I was writing them."
Did you write 'Do You Wanna Be Buried With My People' and 'Kiss' with him in mind?
"I added extra lyrics that I thought would fit."
Did you sing them together, live in the studio? Did you find it hard not to laugh?
"Erm… I did laugh a little. And I also got very nervous, 'cause I messed up quite a lot. He didn't seem too miffed
by it, though, 'cause we had enough time. We did two covers as well – the covers were a lot easier to do, for
some reason."
Beggars Group, Oberhafenstraße 1, 20097 Hamburg,
Fax: 040.239 087 429, info@beggarsgroup.de, http://www.beggarsgroup.de
What were the covers?
"There's 'River Of No Return', which Marilyn Monroe sang, and 'Comfort You' which is a Van Morrison song.
They were a lot easier to do than my songs –'Kiss' was the hardest one 'cause it's so complicated. It's really
difficult to hit the notes in it."
Why the Marilyn Monroe?
"Someone gave me that song on a mix tape, and I fell in love with it immediately. That's it."
Who else guests on this album?
"Kristian Goddard.He was on my first album Sweetheart Fever. And Chris Saligoe, who's like a second guitarisstroke-bass-player. He's been on my last three albums."
This album has been quite a long time coming – three years in the making.
"Yeah, I don't know why. After the last album came out I toured loads. And I find it difficult to write when I'm
touring. And so I stopped touring last year to write this, purposely. It took a year. I've been in Portland."
What kind of space do you need to be in when you're writing a song?
"I need to be on me own, where no one can hear me. That's it. Usually in the comfort of my own home, or
somewhere where I know I'm comfortable and not going to be disturbed."
Do you write tons of songs?
"No. I have lots of ideas for songs, but they don't all end up as songs immediately. I always usually recycle them
at some stage. Usually the time I write the most potent songs is when I'm quite sad – or not necessarily sad, but
that sad where it feels good to be sad."
Do you seek out situations to make yourself sad?
"I hope not. No, I don't. But that's what's nice – when I do feel sad, it's like, 'Oh well, now I can use this to some
advantage'. There's always a double edge: either I'm really sad but I'm gonna be happy about what I'm doing with
it, or I'm really happy but it's on the verge of being sad. And I'm all like emotional. It's when things are in flux, I
think. It's when the moods are changing."
Tell me about the single, 'Dinosaur Egg' – the one with lyrics by David Shrigley. How did that come
about?
"Well, he sent me a book of his…it's called Worried Noodles, and it looks like an LP, but there's no record in it,
just poems. And he asked a few different artists if they would like to turn one of his poems into a song for an
actual album. That's how it started. I got this melody that was already being turned into a song anyway, but I
thought his lyrics worked better than mine. So I recorded 'Dinosaur Egg', but I liked it so much that I decided to
record another of the poems to give him for his album, because I wanted 'Dinosaur Egg' for my record!"
What do you like about the lyrics to that song?
"I like the impossibility of each thing, that he's asking something that's kind of impossible, in a humorous way.
That he just would really like but is obviously not something that he can demand."
It seems quite a Scout Niblett lyric to me.
"Yeah there's no way I could ever have come up with that. It seemed too clever for me. But that's why I loved it.
I tend to get a bit soppy as well as quirky, but that Shrigley lyric was straight down the line, spot on humour in a
really dark way."
It's very direct. It says what it wants to say. That's why it reminds me of your lyrics. I remember you
saying once that you wanted to write songs as simple and direct as a nursery rhyme.
"That's why I like that song so much. I don't think I've mastered that yet, myself. I get a bit distracted."
Do you lead the rock'n'roll lifestyle?
"What does that mean?"
Japes. Mischief. Drunken shenanigans.
"I can be drunk sometimes, but I've got quite a solitary life. It's not really like, wild…I don't go to parties and
stuff. I don't really understand that rock'n'roll lifestyle."
What do you do for entertainment?
"When I'm at home I like to play soccer with the next-door neighbour. He's only six. That's my entertainment.
Kind of being a kid. That's what I always do."
I've been told you're a bit of a fashion icon…
"Apparently, yeah… I don't pay attention to clothes that much."
…and your music's been used in a Stella McCartney ad. What's that all about?
"She asked if she could use it. And I said yes. It made my mum very happy. She was like, 'Oooh! My little girl's
on the telly!'"
Beggars Group, Oberhafenstraße 1, 20097 Hamburg,
Fax: 040.239 087 429, info@beggarsgroup.de, http://www.beggarsgroup.de