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father and daughter and Chris Wood, but also some long time Emmerson cohorts – Andy Gangadeen, Simon Richmond and Ali Friend, as well as dhol player Johnny Kalsi, cellist Barney Morse- Brown and sitar player Sheema Mukherjee.
“We wanted a band album,” Emmerson explains, “but it was very rushed, on a deadline.” The debut hadn’t recouped the money spent on it, and so Imagined Village needed a label. The answer came in a phone call from Mark Constantine, the owner of the Lush chain, who offered Emmerson the job of writing music for his chain of health spas, and put him on a wage for the first time in decades. (See article in fR338/339.)
Then they became partners in the label Emmerson, Corncrake and Constantine – ECC as it’s known – and The Imagined Village had a home for its second effort, Empire & Love.
“He couldn’t believe how rubbish the model in the music industry was. He wanted a Fair Track label with no middlemen so the musicians really got money. He said the musicians had to take care of business themselves. We make about a fiver a record now. Given that the first album only cost about £35,000 to make, if we’d done it this way we’d all have made a bit.”
And now The Imagined Village have really coalesced, as their more adventurous third album, Bending The Dark, proves. A fair bit of the disc was played live in the studio, “which we didn’t do on the second one. Drums and bass were recorded in one go. It’s not easy because there are ten writers and two producers (Simon Richmond came up with loads of backing tracks) and we’re all cre- ative musicians.”
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For something that could be like herding cats, there’s a real focus to the sound and the songwriting, and Emmerson is careful to point out that “it’s not Simon Emmerson’s Imagined Village. It was the same in Afro Celt Sound System. James and Simon Rich- mond both had huge input. Both bands have just come out of the musical scenes that are around.”
he Imagined Village has also been touring and doing well, selling out most venues. “I was worried about this tour, I thought it might be our swansong. But tick- ets have sold and I’m very positive. Everyone gets paid,” says Simon, while ECC Records has become a very viable label, releasing work by not only IV themselves, but also FLK, Duotone and singer Jackie Oates.
Running a label, Emmerson admits, “was a big learning curve, but I had the chance to rebuild my career and embrace the business side – and it’s actually easy. Making an album is difficult but running a label isn’t. We got Jackie’s album (Saturnine) out and it’s already recouped.” The whole change in approach means that Imagined Village is “a profit share, no manager. It’s hard work, but the payback is playing alongside Martin and Eliza Carthy and how Jackie’s developed and Johnny Kalsi. It’s an organised meeting of all my mates, that’s all it’s been, and get- ting together with our heroes.”
The new deal has given him a living wage, and a chance to do things he’d never imagined. “I’ve done five albums for Lush. I’m working with [producer] Richard Evans. We’re doing ska and lover’s rock with Jackie!”
And part of that music is still Afro Celt Sound System. They remain an entity, still featuring many of the same people, although Iarla O’Lionaird is no longer part of the band. They’ve refined their music, and kora player N’Faly Kouyate even has a new instrument that allows him to change keys and gives more flexibility.
“I’d love to do another Afro Celt Sound System album,” Emmerson asserts. “I’m proud the music’s survived and that people are constantly discovering it. We’re playing to indie kids and festi- vals these days and they love it. But the records take huge amounts of time and money…” And, of course, each record is a commitment of effort, with a tour to follow.
What’s perhaps remarkable is that it’s taken this long for Simon Emmerson to receive the praise he so richly deserves. He’s a man who, by his own admission, has “always been happy making marginal music in the fringes,” and along the ways it’s brought him a fair amount of success, as a producer, with Working Week and Afro Celt Sound System. He’s never front and centre in a band, but someone who’s followed his musical heart for decades, and as they say, if you follow your heart, the rest will come. There have been precarious times, some heartbreak, but he’s finally found the steadiness and security he deserves. And that means he should be able to keep making music for another three decades.
www.theimaginedvillage.com F
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