Author: Angela Sanchez

 

London-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist James Billett is gearing up for the release of his new single, “Never Lose Flight”, which will be released digitally on May 3.  Popdose is pleased to bring you the exclusive premiere of the video for the song.

Produced by Peter Henderson, whose decades long career includes iconic albums by Paul McCartney and Supertramp (which includes their masterwork Breakfast In America), the emotive, soulful slice of folk pop is taken from a forthcoming debut full-length album which will be released in late summer/early fall.

Says Billett: “I first wrote the original lyric to this song 10 years ago, and it has been through many incarnations during that time – but finally, this is how the song was always meant to sound. “You make my fingers feel like feathers of a wing that will never lose flight” just describes anyone that picks you up and elevates you when you most need it. For me, the song is an ode to the gift of knowledge and experience being passed down from one generation to the next, and a reflection of the gratitude for the sense of ambition and resilience that is instilled in us as children without us knowing it. As we grow older we become more and more aware of what has been learnt, and for me this song documents that realization.”

Listen; watch and give it some thought…:

Never Lose Flight will be available digitally as of Friday, May 3rd, 2019

https://www.jamesbillettmusic.com/

 

 

 

 

If you asked a random person what their most anticipated release of April 2019 was, they likely said Avengers: Endgame. Yet I picked The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Gilliam’s long gestating film about the foolish hidalgo and his adventures.

Quixote was in development for 30 years. Along the way, Gilliam had one of the most famous false starts in history, as captured in the documentary Lost in La Mancha. Since then, he fought insurance companies, producers, and even different casts in order to get the film made. Every film he’s made since 1998 has felt like Gilliam’s Kagemusha – a “practice” film for the epic he really cared about. And when it finally premiered at Cannes last year, Gilliam finally had an opportunity to discuss what it was about the material that made him determined to see it through. It was an opportunity to get inside someone who created some of the best fantasy visions of the 20^th century.

And despite some negative reviews, I wasn’t disappointed. This was the best film Gilliam’s made since Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Yes, it was unconventional and weird at times. The ending is a touch too ambiguous and I could tell there were times Gilliam was being constrained. But it felt like a culmination of everything Gilliam’s said throughout his career. If he never makes another film, he can be satisfied knowing he has the perfect bookend to his career.

But which Quixote are we talking about?

Gilliam said in interviews that he didn’t use the same script that he used back in 2000. This was primarily to bring the budget down so he could find producers willing to finance it. But what does that mean for the vision he fought so hard to bring to the screen?

To my knowledge, the original script has never leaked, but we do get an idea of what Gilliam had in mind in Lost in La Mancha and in some script reviews I’ve managed to locate. Hopefully they will let us know how much of the finished product is what Gilliam had in mind.

Plot

2000 Production: The original concept would have owed just as much to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court as the original Cervantes novel. Advertising director Toby (Johnny Depp) finds an old man in a castle who claims to be the real Don Quixote. He doesn’t believe Quixote, until he winds up back in 1605. The film would have had just as many fantasy elements (including characters showing up in both locations) but part of the mystery would have been figuring out whether Toby had met Quixote or whether this was a hallucination – and Toby having to decide which he preferred.

Today: It’s pretty identical despite Gilliam’s insistence of script changes. However, it’s not as straightforward as outlined. An advertising director (Adam Driver) finds a man who is convinced he is Quixote (Johnathan Pryce) and is taken on random adventures, including a visit to a castle inhabited by Muslim travelers and the fight with the windmills. Yet in the original concept, both individuals find themselves in the 16^th century. That doesn’t happen here – but what does happen is just as bizarre. Toby seemingly finds himself in Quixote’s hallucination, seeing the world as Quixote sees it no matter how nonsensical it is. There’s never a suggestion that anyone has gone back in time, which makes what’s happening all the stranger. Finally, there’s never any ambiguity that Don Quixote is actually Don Quixote. He’s simply a crazy old man. But that does nothing to distract from the boundary between reality and fantasy Gilliam wished to create.

Characters

2000 Production: I can’t find any information beyond the two leads Toby and Don Quixote. We know Gilliam cast others, including Ian Holm, Christopher Eccleston, Miranda Richardson, and Rossy de Palma. There are references to a filming crew and actors playing the same role in the past and present.

Today: There doesn’t seem to be much difference in the characters between the different versions. Toby still has the same job. Quixote’s “backstory” is expanded upon for this film. He’s not just Don Quixote, but a cobbler named Javier who has spent his life as an anonymous man in a remote Spanish village. Taking on the Quixote role allowed him to have meaning in his life. That aspect helped the film and helped us understand what motivated him to live with the fantasy – and why Gilliam kept the character in mind for 30 years.

Cast

2000 Production: What matters more than the characters is how the roles are cast. I’d like to focus on the two leads for the project – Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort. Depp was at the stage in his career where he was known for working with odd ball directors. Not just Tim Burton, but people like Jim Jarmusch, John Waters, The Hughes Brothers, and Gilliam. Rochefort was a prestige actor in Europe who would bring prestige to Gilliam’s producers. Gilliam has always been a fish out of water, riding the line between American and European cinema. He can use elements from both for each of his films but depended increasingly on his European connections after several battles in Hollywood. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote was intended to be Gilliam severing his Hollywood past while acknowledging the people he worked with. The fact that the American actor is the antagonist who doubts Quixote is symbolic of how often Hollywood didn’t quite understand Gilliam.

Today: The strangest element of the cast is how Gilliam reversed the roles. Whereas Rochefort was mostly unknown to an American audience and Johnny Depp had worked with Gilliam on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the final film has Gilliam working in reverse. Frequent Gilliam collaborator Johnathan Pryce (who was cast in a smaller role in the original production) is Quixote while Gilliam newcomer Adam Driver is Toby. This works to the film’s advantage. While Depp would have been a comfortable audience surrogate, we’ve seen him in Gilliam’s world, and it wouldn’t feel as strange. Here, Adam Driver is us. He’s the person trying to make sense of Gilliam’s ideas. Pryce’s jumping into Gilliam’s world is to be expected. Adam Driver is more reluctant, and the fact he hasn’t worked with Gilliam emphasizes how it’s the people like Toby that don’t fit into Quixote’s world.

Themes

2000 Production: Don Quixote was written as a parody of fantasy works from medieval literature. No character could understand why Quixote was obsessed with values from centuries earlier. And now, Gilliam was asking us to look at a Quixote who was even more outdated. Toby finds himself at the same place Quixote was – rich and bored. Quixote is meant to bring out something in Toby – not chivalry, but the idea that Toby’s cynicism was just as much of a shield as Quixote’s madness. Toby doesn’t want to examine his world, so he slowly retreats into Quixote’s.  And, of course, we can’t ignore the original production, where Gilliam’s fantasy was destroyed by the modern world.

Today: The most interesting difference in the finished version is the theme of regret. Toby wants to recapture his past in order to get over his writer’s block. But that romantic idea he had of his past, like Quixote’s, left behind a lot of wreckage. Besides driving Javier to madness, Toby wrecked the village he made his student film in. A young woman named Angelica was promised stardom by Toby but ended up becoming a hooker while trying to break into the entertainment industry. Finally, another big addition has to do with Quixote’s immortality. He is not physically immortal, but an idea that is going to be carried on by dreamers looking for something more in the world.

He’s been releasing albums on a fairly consistent basis since the beginning of his career, but for the first time in a long time, it feels like timing is on Howard Jones’ side. There’s a Republican in the White House – just like there was during Jones’ entire chart run from 1983 to 1992 – and the world is in desperate need of Jones’ trademark eternal optimism, which we’re pleased to say has not waned one bit.

 Armed with a new album Transform, which features three collaborations with electronic wizard BT, Popdose chatted with Jones about the new album, the American metal singer who shares his name, and the wonderful steps his mother took to make the lives of her son’s fans a little brighter. Jones was quick with a laugh throughout our chat, confirming that he is every bit the kind, friendly fellow that he appears to be.

Are you home right now?

Yes I am, I just got back yesterday from L.A.

What was in L.A.?

I had just been touring, doing my acoustic trio. It’s the first time I’ve done it, actually, with Nick Beggs and Robin Bolt. And we just did eight shows around the States just to try out the idea, and it went really well, so I’m gonna do more.

That was actually the eighth question I had planned, to ask you about that tour, because I was thrilled to see that you had recruited Nick Beggs, because I think he’s a criminally underrated bass player.

[Laughs] Yeah, he’s been a friend for a long time, and he was in my band for quite a while, and he’s playing for [former Porcupine Tree frontman] Steve Wilson, and [former Genesis guitarist] Steve Hackett, for years, and he had a bit of free time, so I thought, “I’ll grab him.” And he had a blast on this tour as well, so he’s up for doing more with me, so I think it’ll probably be next year, that we’ll come back to do it.

I’m just thinking, the chops between the two of you, you could form some synth fusion band if you felt like it.

[Laughs] It feels like one of those old time ‘70s super groups, you know? [Laughs] Robin, Robin plays with Phish, and with Marillion, and a lot of prog bands, so between us, there’s a lot of chops going on, and it’s so great to play with those guys. And when we’re not playing, we have such a blast being together. I call it gentlemen’s touring, it’s very civilized.

I have to share with you the outpouring of love that my Facebook friends sent me when I announced that I was interviewing you. Here are a few of the quotes: “He’s my most favorite,” “I’m such a fan,” “Loooooooove him,” and lastly, “Will you ask him to marry me?”

[Laughs] Well, that’s very nice, that’s a very nice comment, isn’t it.

I also learned that you are not the only working musician named Howard Jones. There is an American metal singer.

Yeah, that’s right.

So you’re familiar, then.

Yes, he used to be in Killswitch Engage. That’s right, we share a name. Sometimes, on my Spotify playlist, some of his tracks appear [Note: Jones is laughing through this entire sentence], and I think it must be a bit of a shock for people. We’re trying to get Spotify to alter that, but I think it’s quite funny.

All right, let’s talk about the record. I’m not sure if anyone has said this to you yet, but the world has never needed a Howard Jones record more than it does right now.

Well, that’s a great compliment, thank you, thank you. I feel the same. People are suffering quite a lot with what they see going on, and we all need a bit of encouragement to stand up and get through it, and to turn it round. I think that’s what this record is about. It’s about facing a storm, and not being afraid, and we can do this, we can be hopeful about the future and not get bogged down with our negative self. Challenge the times, starting with our own behavior. Really, have a good look at that, and work on that.

Tell me about working with BT. I will admit, I worried that his hyperkinetic production style would not be the best fit, but you two work rather well together.

Yes, I must agree, it really was a good fit, to be honest. I’ve always been a huge fan of his, because I see him as a real pioneer of his generation in electronic music. I mean, he’s just incredible, what he’s done, his work, and the standard of it, the new techniques that he’s brought for all of us to use, and the software that he writes, it just goes on and on. I don’t feel like that about many artists, so I went to see him down in Miami, doing an orchestral show combined with electronics, because I thought I really need to be there, and he found out that I was there, and he gave me a name-check from the stage, which was a little embarrassing, but very nice as well. Then we met afterwards, he invited me to his studio, we started messing around with his incredible collection of analog synths, and I said, “Look, man, we really should make a record together.” And we made three tracks. It was basically three ideas, and we made them into three tracks. And I just love the results. 

I’m curious: which songs were recorded first, the ones you did with BT, or the ones you did without him? And obviously I’m not talking about the “Eddie the Eagle” song (“Eagle Will Fly Again,” which originally appeared on the 2015 album Fly (Songs Inspired by the Film: Eddie the Eagle)).

It was really mixed in, it was quite a long period of time…you know, he’s busy doing about ten projects at the same time, and I was working on my other tracks for the album, so it was really all muddled up together. They weren’t added later or started…I was working on those at the same time as the rest of it.

I ask this because I felt like, on the song “Beating Mr. Neg,” his production style had rubbed off on you a little bit.

No, that was well under way before, but I’m sure that [BT’s influence was] an element of that as well, though. I think that when you work with someone like that, with such great sonic vision, everyone raises their game, and my co-producer Robbie Bronnimann is a big fan of BT as well. It was a virtuous spiral, to make the best sounding record we possibly could. I think that’s one of the benefits of working with other great artists – it pushes you to do even better.

My wife has a theory that you planted an Easter egg in “The One to Love You.” There’s a piano bit at the end that she thinks is a couple of bars from “Assault and Battery.” Is she right?

It is, she’s absolutely right. That was BT’s idea, he wanted to put those Easter eggs, and references to my early work, and sounds, and riffs, and they crop up all through the track. And then, at the end, after the bit you’re referring to, there’s a sound track, a field recording, of where BT used to go and listen to my albums when he was 14. He used to take them out with his Walkman, and listen to them in this place where I think there’s a railway in the background, and there’s animal noises…he did an ambient recording there. And I thought that was so cool. I was really moved when he told me. I didn’t realize what it was.

What a compliment that is.

I know, I know. It really is. He’s a great guy.

So the bits that I hear that sound like “Hide and Seek,” that was deliberate as well.

Yeah, and the DX7 bass cropping up, and the brass sounds in there as well, and there’s a bit that sounds almost like the riff in “Conditioning.” Yeah, it’s lots of little references.

This is going to sound like a strange question. You have this old timey piano that pops up at the end of “Tin Man.” What I was wondering is whether that was an actual old timey piano, or a synth replicating an old timey piano.

I played it on a high-end sample piano, and then degraded it so that it sounded old. [Laughs] I’m very fortunate, I have a Steinway in my studio, but because I don’t always have as much control over the sound as I’d like, I usually save that for the more acoustic-sounding records. So that’s the truth, that’s how it was done.

I saw you a couple of years ago when you toured with OMD and Barenaked Ladies. I thought that was fitting, because I feel like technology is just now finally catching up to artists like you and OMD.

It was great doing that tour, because I had to work really hard on that tour, because I was opening up. I’m not used to doing that. So I had to really work [Laughs]. I was playing to a new audience – Barenaked Ladies are from a different generation – so I was having to win [BNL’s fans] over as well as my own fans, bless them for coming. But I think my favorite moment was doing “No One Is to Blame” with Barenaked Ladies in their set. That was just so great, because even though they have a different audience, everyone knew that song. And it was like, “Wow, this is so good.”

You told a story at that show about the factory job, and how your coworkers were telling you to give up the music dream and stay in the factory. I’m now thinking, what is the life of Howard Jones, the cling film factory worker? What is that guy doing now?

I literally took the first job that anybody offered me. I was at music college, and left because I wanted to get on with my own music. Got the job in the factory, first one that I was offered, and was able to earn enough money to establish my one-man band thing. I don’t think that guy would ever have stayed in the factory, because it wasn’t what I was meant to do, I knew that. It was a means to an end. But I’ll tell you what, though, I really loved the people I worked with, they were great to me, and I had a lot of friends there. They didn’t think I would ever leave and do what I did, but I did. I walked out, and I got a record deal [Laughs], but maybe I was lucky, you know. I was at the right place at the right time, doing the right thing. You need talent and determination, but you also need a little bit of luck as well to go with it, and if you have the luck, then you’re ready for it.

Is there anything on your musical bucket list that you haven’t checked off yet? I’m guessing not, but I thought I’d ask just in case.

Actually, there is one. I would like to write a song with Paul McCartney. Just one. Because he’s the closest person I feel a kinship to in songwriting.

I can see that.

Maybe that’s a little bit [chuckles]…maybe I’m elevating myself too much there, but there’s certain things that, this sense of melody and song construction. And sometimes I sound a little bit like him when I’m singing, people have said. Not a lot, but a little bit. I think that would be a really great…I mean, I won’t be the John Lennon element, I’ll be the other Paul McCartney. It’ll be McCartney/McCartney. I suppose I’m running out of time for that now, but I’m putting it out there. Maybe it’ll happen.

My favorite sentence from your Wikipedia page, hands down, is “His parents ran his fan club.”

[Laughs] Yeah, they did, yeah. My mother was the driving force, she was amazing. She was the best possible person to represent me, to be honest, because you can imagine the time, the ‘80s, my audience was late teens and just getting into their twenties, so they were writing to my mum with all kinds of teenage problems that they were having with their parents, and relationships, sex, and all that. And my mum would write back to them in the most brilliant, positive way, and she would sometimes quote my lyrics, so she became this global agony aunt for fans, and people still come up to me with, “This is a letter your mum wrote to me,” and it’s this treasured possession. What a great legacy she left! All those people she encouraged all over the world, and thousands and thousands of them.

And I’ll tell you what, what they used to do, so the fans would write to them, and my parents would invite them to their house! And they’d give them tea, and they’d have photographs taken, and they’d show them the memorabilia they had there. And they’d pick them up from the station, people from Japan…they were just amazing. They were incredible.

That is amazing. I didn’t know what you were going to tell me, but that is way better than what I pictured.

Yeah, they’re really, really great.

Years ago, I asked Thomas Dolby about the synthesizer showcase that he did on the Grammys with you, and Stevie Wonder, and Herbie Hancock. He told me this incredible story, but I was wondering if you had an interesting anecdote from that experience.

Yeah, well, I’ve got two big memories from that. Well, there’s three, actually. The first thing is me and Tom were waiting for him in London to come to the studio to start what we were going to do for the Grammys. And we waited and waited, and he never turned up. [Laughs] So we had to re-schedule it for L.A., just before the Grammys were going to be done, which actually was a lot cooler because it was at [Stevie Wonder’s] studio. So at his studio, all four of us were there, and then for some reason, Thomas and Herbie had to go somewhere, so it was just me and Stevie in the studio. So he starts jamming, and I start jamming with him, and we just kept on and on. It’s like half an hour of riffing, and doing grooves, and me and Stevie, yeah! It was a heavenly experience. And I thought, “He must be enjoying it, because he’s keeping on going.” If he had found it dull, he would have ended this about five minutes in, or something. So that was a treasured moment.

The other thing I always remember was, at lunch time, homeless people would turn up at the foyer of his studio, and they would be fed. He’d get food in for them.

Stevie would?

Yeah, that’s right. He would organize it, that these people would be fed. And I thought, ‘Wow, that’s really awesome.’

[Concerned that I may have interrupted him] That’s…sorry, was there more to this story?

No, I can’t wait to hear Thomas’ story! [Note: we’d sum it up here, but really, you should read it in Dolby’s own words.]

I have never heard that story before. That’s great, that’s a killer.

That is the end of my questions, but since the first press release I got for this record, you added a whole bunch more tour dates. Are those going to be acoustic as well, or is that going to be much like I saw with you and OMD a couple of years ago?

The tour over the summer, it’ll be much more of a production than the one with Barenaked Ladies. It’s three keyboard players, and one of them plays guitar as well, which is Robin Bolt, and then I’m going to play some piano as well – I like an acoustic element as well – but we’re gonna do songs that people know, the old stuff, sandwiched with the new stuff. And we worked on the Human’s Lib-era songs to inject a bit of the sound of the new album into it, so it should feel like it flows from the [laughs] historical document to the new album. That’s what I’ve tried to achieve, and I think it’s gonna work really well, because I really want people to hear the new album, but I don’t want them to have to listen to five tracks in a row. I want it to be mixed in with the stuff they’re familiar with.

I saw Depeche Mode a few years ago, and they opened up their set with six songs from the new record, and I’m like, “Guys, come on!”

[Laughs] It’s a bit tough for audiences, that. I saw Duran Duran do that as well, and they did lose the audience for a bit. But people have gotta do what they’ve gotta do, and it’s great that they’re making new music. They’re obviously very proud of it, and they want people to hear it, but I’m gonna mix it in, you know, so that people have a fighting chance.

I’m not saying this as a guy who doesn’t want to hear the new material from the bands that I grew up loving, especially when it comes to a band like Duran Duran, whose last album, Paper Gods, I loved. But as you were talking about, try and mix it up a little bit.

Yeah, that’s the plan. I did the set list ages ago, so we’re doing all-new video material for it that relates to all the songs, and concepts in the music. That’s been a big project as well. And I’ve got a bee in my bonnet about…sometimes it’s overwhelming, and people almost, like, blank it out, there’s too much going on in the video. What we’re trying to do is just have the video occur at certain moments in the song, so it’s not all about, you know, a visual experience. You’re immersed in the song, and then a few elements will come up on the screen that enhance what the song’s about. That’s what I’m aiming for this time.

I think that’s a good call, because again, going back to Duran Duran, I saw them once [in 2005], and they put this incredible video together for the song “Careless Memories,” and it got to the point where I wasn’t even watching them anymore.

Yeah. If people are just watching the screen, that’s not what I’m aiming for. It’s a live experience with the artist, and the video should be part of the show like the lighting is, so that’s what I’m trying to achieve.

Thank you so much for chatting with us. I wish you the best of luck with the record. I really dig it, and I think your fans will, too.

Well, thank you. Cheers, all the best, bye.

We’ve heard about one-hit wonders and even no-hit wonders but what about groups that had multiple hits and still manage to be forgotten when people talk about classic soul? The Soul Children recorded for Stax Records at the height of the label’s popularity, they had three Top 10 pop hits, and they were mentored by the legendary songwriting/producing team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter. And yet they’re often not even part of the discussion of the glory days at Stax.

Hayes and Porter put the Soul Children together in 1968. The lineup included two women and two men and the intention was that the group would take up the slack left at Stax when Sam & Dave had to return to Atlantic Records after the infamous contract dispute between the two labels. The original Soul Children lineup included Norman West, John Colbert (a.k.a. J. Blackfoot), Anita Louis, and Shelbra Bennett. Colbert already had a career that included some solo singles as well as a stint as the lead singer for the Bar-Kays when they reorganized after the plane crash that killed four members of the group as well as Otis Redding. Louis sang backup on some Hayes/Porter productions, Bennett was a singer signed to Stax, and West had replaced William Bell in the Del-Rios but hadn’t found any success as a solo act after that.

“Give ‘Em Love,” a Hayes/Porter production, naturally, was the debut Soul Children single in 1968. The single’s Top 40 success on the R&B chart pointed to even more success ahead. That promise was realized when the group’s second single, “I’ll Understand,” did even better, reaching the #29 spot on the R&B chart. Still, pop success was proving to be elusive until the Soul Children released their fourth single, “The Sweeter He Is.” The two-part single was a Top 10 hit on the R&B chart and the group finally found some pop success when the record managed a #52 showing on the pop chart. As was the case with nearly all of the Stax Records of the day, the backing musicians on the Soul Children records included luminaries like Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr, Duck Dunn, and Hayes himself.

The group only had a minor hit when they tried their luck with a slowed down version of the Sam & Dave smash “Hold On I’m Coming.” The single managed to crawl into the R&B Top 50 but did not cross over to the pop chart. The fate of the Soul Children seemed to be sealed when Hayes stopped working with them in order to focus on his solo career. They didn’t give up, however. They recorded a couple of albums including one at Muscle Shoals and released several unsuccessful singles. Then, in 1972, the Soul Children made their comeback with “Hearsay,” a song written by West and Colbert that turned out to be their biggest hit to date reaching #5 on the R&B chart and #44 on the pop chart.

The Soul Children appeared at the legendary Wattstax concert in Los Angeles in 1972. After a few less successful singles, the group returned to the upper reaches of the charts in 1974. “I’ll Be Your Other Woman” turned out to be their biggest hit, reaching #3 on the R&B chart and #36 on the pop chart.

Storm clouds were hanging over Stax when the Soul Children left the label in 1975. At the same time Bennett, who had sung lead on “I’ll Be Your Other Woman,” changed her name to Shelbra Deane and left the group for a solo career. The remaining trio signed to Epic Records in 1976. They had some success with singles for the label notably the #19 R&B hit “Can’t Give Up a Good Thing” in 1978. During their time at Epic, the Soul Children reunited with Porter who produced an album called Where Is Your Woman Tonight? in 1977. When Stax was resurrected by Fantasy Records in the late 1970s, Porter brought the group back home. Unfortunately, the one album that the group recorded for the newly reconstituted label, Open Door Policy, was not successful and they decided to call it a day in 1979.

The Soul Children put 15 singles into the R&B charts and five on them into the pop chart. When the subject of classic soul comes up they have earned a place in the discussion.

When it comes to the music of John Westmoreland, founder of the band that bears his surname, there’s a lot more to what meets the eye or ears. He was born and raised in North Carolina, and with long locks and a patchy beard, he would not look too out of place on stage with Band of Horses or The Black Crowes. But yet, the singer/songwriter of Finnish heritage studied Jazz and Classical Composition at Berklee College of Music before becoming a founding member and lead guitarist for the West-African fusion band Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba (nominated for “Best African Group” in 2014 by AFRIMA, the All Africa Music Awards). On an Emerging Artists Grant from the Durham Arts Council, he travelled to Peru to study shamanic healing music from Amazonia. 

And now, here he is in 2019, far from all those genres dropping a dark, mournful ballad that would make the perfect elegy for Leonard Cohen; Popdose proudly presents the premiere of ‘The Sparrow’ from Westmoreland’s debut album, Cast Fire:

Cast Fire is an album that meditates on life, death, and the realms of the soul. “Grief is an overwhelming, deep, and beautiful state,” Westmoreland said in advance of the album’s release last week. “I don’t think we should take for granted that grieving just happens automatically when sorrowful circumstances arise.”

The death of Westmoreland’s grandfather led him down a genealogy path to discover that T-bone Slim, one of America’s greatest leftist poets and outsider bards, was his great granduncle. Slim, born Matti Valentinpoika Huhta in 1880, spent much of his life writing essays and songs for the Industrial Workers of the World union before dying mysteriously in 1942. In the 1960’s, activists in the Civil Rights Movement took renewed interest in Slim’s work. For his next project, Westmoreland plans to revive Slim’s poetry and music for a new generation.

In the meantime, Cast Fire begins to steadily heat up and turn heads. ‘The Sparrow’ video was directed by Cristal Alakoski; the haunting collaboration features dance and choreography by Laura Pietiläinen in co-creation with Sade Risku and Marika Aro. Those breathtaking, otherworldly dresses that glow like apparitions emerging from David Lynch’s Black Lodge, are by Minna Hepburn.

Cast Fire is available for download or streaming on all major music platforms.