I AM A workaholic,” Marc Almond admits. “If I look in my diary and it’s empty, I start to freak out.” Even by his own standards, 2013 was a feverishly creative year and now, the first fruits of that industry are about to appear. In February, Almond will release two records, The Tyburn Tree – which is his second collaboration with contemporary classical composer John Harle – and a four-track EP partly produced by Tony Visconti and featuring songs written by Jarvis Cocker and Carl Barât, both of whom also guest. A brand new solo LP, co-written and produced by Lana Del Rey and Britney Spears collaborator Chris Braide is finished and due out in summer; called The Velvet Trail, it’s described by Almond as “very posh, lustrous pop”. In addition, there are UK tours with both Harle and Jools Holland, a couple of [’80s festival] Rewind dates, possibly a free show in support of Record Store Day and “maybe a special showcase in Los Angeles with Chris. It’s early in the year yet,” Almond concedes, “but I’m filling up the diary with as many interesting things as possible.” Clearly, lolling about on his ’80s synth-pop laurels doesn’t appeal. “I just need a challenge,” Almond says, simply. “It’s being conscious that you’re getting older – I’m 56 now – and are in the latter scenes of your life. I don’t want to be morbid, but I do feel driven. It took me a good few years to recover physically and mentally from the [2007 motorcycle] accident, so after I did I was determined to really work on things to enliven my mind and challenge me, and to never stop. I thought that the only thing that was going to get me through it was being stoic, and work. I did feel like I’d been given another chance and I didn’t want to waste it. It’s a terribly corny cliché, but it is true.”
Another part of this year’s workload is the consolidating of Almond’s back catalogue. After “a lengthy and emotionally exhausting battle”, in 2013 he finally reclaimed the rights, so a run of reissues in special packaging is planned, with extra tracks so that “people can capture the essential Marc Almond, if you like”. Rewind is another way of acknowledging his past and provides a balance to his more challenging and serious projects. “I avoided them for years and years, but someone asked me to do it, so I decided to just dip my toe in – I wasn’t sure I wanted to be part of this ’80s experience. But it was 60,000 people singing along to every song and I really enjoyed it. I don’t do them every year, but I kind of look forward to them now,” he admits. “The past couple of years have been great in that things have really come together and I feel I’ve reached this… place. I hate the term ‘elder statesman of pop’ and I hate ‘national treasure’, too. A national treasure is either something really valuable and beautiful that you put on display or it’s a mouldy old relic that you put in a box and lock away.” Almond laughs delightedly: “But I can be both on different days, I suppose!”
0 comments:
Post a Comment