tune and if the lyrics don’t get you on Going Down To The
Wasteland and Days Gone By the grooves certainly will.
Boden mulled over Floodplain ideas for a year and a half, jotting
down scraps of stories until he had a notebook filled with words
and ideas, before finally taking the plunge to write it properly
during a month out from other activities last summer.
“I’d never written much narrative before and I wasn’t sure
I’d be able to do it. The characters took a while to introduce
themselves and I kept putting off doing it, but in that month
at home it seemed to write itself. I became really engrossed
in writing in the third person and in the end the lyrics almost
came together of their own volition. Then it was just a case of
going into the studio to see what would happen.”
A million miles from what we’re used to hearing from
Jon either with Bellowhead or Spiers & Boden, it’s also
a big departure from his previous solo album, the more
determinedly pop-fuelled Painted Lady. He acknowledges
he’s taking a risk, but Boden has never been one to shirk a
challenge. “Concept albums are easy to mock, but that’s a
professional risk, not an artistic risk. Maybe it’s part of the whole
MP3 culture; everybody is quietly re-evaluating the whole point
of making albums when you can just pick out your favourite
tracks. But I think there’s a trend towards going back to making
albums with a point. It’s one reason why I like vinyl. There’s
something nice about a record where you can’t swap tracks
around. An album is an art form and was recognised as such
for a long time.”
Some of the characters and scenarios which pop up
in Songs From The Floodplain are vague and open to
interpretation and the exact nature of the catastrophe that’s
befallen the earth – whether natural or man-made - is never
fully revealed. This is deliberate.
“I wanted to find out more about the characters and I had to
pull myself back from putting in too much detail. I find it interesting
when you have a story that gives an impression of something rather than
spelling it out. Some of the great storytelling music like Kate Bush is like that,
when you don’t know exactly what they’re talking about but the atmosphere
gives you a strong sense of the narrative.”
Clearly Boden is passionate about his subject matter, but he doesn’t regard
Floodplain as a political album and is adamant that he’s not trying to preach.
“I’m addicted to cars as much as anyone
else is and my carbon footprint is horrific.
But the fact is we’re going to run out of
oil. That’s going to happen and it will
probably be sooner rather than later. I
think we will have to phase out private
ownership of cars and the touring
musician will probably be the first to go
so I will find it as hard as anybody. But
there is a positive side and that’s what
draws me to it rather than the depressing
side. It presents lots of optimistic
scenarios. I do like the idea that my
grandchildren may live in a community
not measured by motorways.”
Boden is undertaking a short tour in
which he’s performing Songs From The Floodplain live along with – for the first time
– some of the material from Painted Lady. “I’m very proud of the songs on Painted
Lady, but I never thought I’d ever sing them on stage,” he says. “I was very careful not
Jon Boden
to market it as a folk album, but with this one I’m not too worried if it’s called a folk
Songs From The Floodplain
record because of the instruments and the subject matter. Lyrically it feels a lot closer
NAVIGATOR21
to what I’m used to doing than on Painted Lady. Eliza Carthy once said folk isn’t ME
music, it’s us music and this does feel like us music.”
And after Floodplain, it’s back to Bellowhead? “Yes – working with Bellowhead is
Click on
always a privilege.” ALBUM COVER
Colin Irwin
to buy now
See last page for tour dates
36
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37