News Track By Track: Mary Epworth - Dream Life

Mary Epworth is preparing for the release of her debut album ‘Dream Life’ due out on Monday (18th June) but she found a bit of time to talk DIY through her first full length effort track by track. Of the release, Mary says, ‘This album took a while to make, and it was a bit of an adventure, with lots of twists and turns. It’s written by me, produced by Will Twynham, and mixed by Thom Monahan, Gareth Jones, Ian Button, and Will. We recorded some at home and some at The Sickroom in Norfolk, then nipped over to snowy Berlin to add some horns. Here’s a bit of background behind the sounds.’

1. Long Gone
I wrote ‘Long Gone’ for a friend’s mum, and my beloved old dog who died in the same week. It means a lot to me, but I wanted to make sure that it didn’t feel like a sad song, more like a really strong outpouring of love for those who have gone away. My Mum’s youngest brother died during the album process, and I went direct from his funeral to the studio to record the vocals. I wanted it to feel real, rather than a perfect show off vocal.

On a production front, this song could have easily just gone the route of a standard band performance, with a country rock thing, but Will (producer) and I wanted to bring out some 70s Beach Boys synth might. The moment where we listened back with the horns and synth bass was the most exciting point of the album process, it felt like we’d got something interesting happening. When I wrote the trumpet licks I think I was trying to sound like Liam Hayes/Plush.

2. Black Doe
I wrote this quite a few years ago, originally as a little finger picked acoustic thing. As you can hear it’s mutated a bit as we’ve worked on it!

This is a bit like my love song to wildlife, It’s written about the strange feeling you get when you are up close to a brilliant beast like a deer, close enough to make eye contact. I’m at my happiest when out in nature, and there’s always something a bit dark and magical about being in a forest, even one you are at home in, there’s always, I think, a bit of genetic memory that you need to keep your wits about you in case you become dinner.

This was the most fun thing to develop, as once we had the pumping disco drum beat under the faltering banjo the song started to have its own monolithic heaviness. We originally got someone to do a proper banjo part but I missed the stumbling sticky quality, so I did my own more suitably inept take. We really wanted the drums to be disgusting. It’s become a bit of a slogan for us that tastefulness is the enemy.

3. Sweet Boy
In my mind this is an Everly Brothers duet. It was a challenge to make this sound interesting without spoiling the simple nature of the song. I love the lushness of the middle eight. This sounds like a sad song but it had a very happy ending in real life. I sent the song to the person I wrote it about, and we’ve been together ever since.

4. Two For Joy
This is a song about singing, about how magical it can be to stand next to someone and peal out harmonies. I wrote this as a duet too, actually, but ended up liking the version with just me on! Egomaniac.

The production on this is deliberately a little claustrophobic, inspired by 70s Iggy Pop solo albums, particularly ‘The Idiot’ and ‘New Values’. We almost called the record ‘Old Values’ in tribute.
I wanted it to feel intimate and atmospheric, and to be quite empty at the same time.

When we got the mix back from Gareth Jones, we couldn’t get over how sexy it sounded.

5. Heal This Dirty Soul
This, like ‘Sweet Boy’, was written in a time when I was hearing my own music as much more like straight country rock. For the record we wanted to take it to a place much more reminiscent of 70s Beach Boys, particularly ‘Holland’ era. I love the big build in the middle, in the mix Thom Monahan brought out all the rich ingredients and turned up the magic.

6. Trimmed Wing
This is another song that has had a few costume changes before it got to this end result. It was a challenge to find a way that the frenetic drums didn’t sound tribal, and didn’t make it sound lumpen and draggy. In the end we decided a uniform, krautrock, cardboardy drum sound would enable it to still feel like it had some movement. I wanted a wall of recorders on this, and Will wasn’t keen so he stuck them through a fuzz pedal and a bunch of tremeloed reverbs until they were just a wall of texture. The recorders are still there but they sound like something totally different. I love Ian Button’s mix on this. We got some non-country pedal steel on this too.

7. Those Nights
This song is about those lovely summer nights where the air is so warm it feels like you are walking through water. It’s also inspired by time I spent on singing workshops in the very beautiful Czech countryside. I wanted the production to feel like that warm night air and sense of magical possibility. This is the last track we finished, and it wasn’t even a candidate for the album until the very last minute. As a result it’s the one I’m always happiest to hear. The novelty hasn’t worn off yet!

8. Six Kisses
This is also about the Czech Republic, the gorgeous green winding hills and clear night skies. Once at the end of a workshop, in mid July, a huge thunderstorm blew up just as we were in the middle of a party. I watched as balloons swept up into the storm and thunder crackled all around. A really magical memory for me, in a place that I love very much. The lyrics at the end are in Romanes, the language that Roma/Romany people speak.

9. Come Back To The Bough
I wrote this after reading Sir James George Fraser’s The Golden Bough, a book about mythology. I’m a hippy at heart, and pretty much believe in a life lived close to nature, and in sync with the seasons. This song is an attempt to lure everyone else into my little woodland glade.

10. If I Fall Now
I wrote this in a moment of joy and bliss. It never became a longer song, as I felt like i said everything I wanted to in those few lines. Will had a field day on the production with this one. Tape loop etc, radiophonic workshop style.

11. Ray Of Sunlight
This is another song where we looked to 70s Beach Boys and Todd Rundgren as keys for production. Will and I are both into that little window of the 70s where synths were integrated enthusiastically into the usual band line up. People hadn’t worked out how to use them yet so sometimes they feel a bit inappropriate. I love an inappropriate synth, so that’s what we did here.

Those high weaving ones at the end are actually me singing through a Roland P/V synth

Mary Epworth’s new album ‘Dream Life’ will be released on 18th June.