Music journalists love to tell you they know all the influences that has gone into a new album, but a lot of the time the artists responsible themselves are left baffled by these comparisons. We thought, why not go straight to the source?
Hen Ogledd are Richard Dawson, Sally Pilkington, Dawn Bothwell and Rhodri Davies, whose brilliant new album Discombobulated is released on 20 February via Domino. Here, in their own words, they let us know what the actual influences that shaped it are, spanning ambient, free jazz, a 70s Japanese folk rock gem and more.
(And for Subscriber Plus tier members only, at the foot of the feature, there’s a handy 20 track playlist. Not a subscriber yet? You can become one here)
Richard Dawson: Discombobulated was about us all coming from a place of chaos, and emotional distress, and figuring some way together. I wasn’t very well. I felt like I’d lost my power. I wanted to include Ursula K. Le Guin in this playlist, because she was a big influence on my thinking. In her Earthsea books, the main character Geb loses his magic, and I read them while we were making this album like, ‘I need the answer!’
With the Shoukichi Kina track, I love the call-and-receive vocals, and the wonky nature of the bass which sounds like it was recorded in a giant biscuit barrel – I avoid things being too pristine. As for Circle, some things from working with them [on 2021’s Henki] that were in play with this album were practical things, like adding stuff from home, and the separation – each band member does a different thing. I started to understand my place in Hen Ogledd better. I’ve done everything by myself for so long, I’m not naturally a good team player. But you think, it will get done – it won’t be exactly the thing I imagined, but that’s even better.
Sally Pilkington: My general ballpark [for the playlist] was ambient music. Feeling quite overwhelmed with the world, having that really gentle, meditative music has been quite helpful for me. Then there’s Arthur Russell. From what I understand of his approach, it seems he did a lot of live performance where he just got up and improvised – it was very alive, and wonky. The spirit of his music is definitely in Discombobulated. The Nala Sinephro album feels quite waterfall-y to me, very sprawling and flowing, and I think it fed into ‘Clear Pools’.
Dawn Bothwell: For me there was a mix of things, listening to Scottish folk music and lots of drone stuff. I think that’s maybe because of my lifestyle at the moment – having a kid.
RD: Dawn’s daughter is on the start of ‘Dead In A Post-Truth World’. Rhodri’s kids also appear in some very key moments in the last track.
DB: I’d been working in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, which is an hour-and-a-half drive from Newcastle. I’d spent a lot of time in the car, listening to things on repeat, and there was one pairing that really struck me: John Strachan’s ‘The Stootest Man In The Forty Twa’ and Jeannie Robertson’s ‘My Son David’. The first is a gung-ho song about going into battle. With everything going on in the world, in Gaza and elsewhere, it has been such an emotional thing to carry with you. This song made me think about that situation, but also in Berwick there’s a retired regiment I got to know that changed my perception on people that get involved in the armed forces. In ‘My Son David,’ the mother is saying to her son, “what’s that blood that’s on your sword?”. He tells her a story to start with, “that’s the blood of my grey mare”, then it’s “that’s the blood of my brother John,” and the last line in the refrain is always “because he wasnae ruled by me.” The track made me think about totalitarianism, and that – as a farming ballad – farming women knew the difference between human and animal blood. So the mother may have known the blood was human, which made me think about mediated violence and observation as a mainstay of warfare and life now.
As for Brìghde Chaimbeul, I saw her perform at Supersonic Festival, and the scurl of the drone she plays on the Scottish smallpipes is amazing. Sally started to take lessons on the Northumbrian smallpipes, and we were keen to include them.
SP: They’re in ‘End Of The Rhythm’, in the background at the end of the chorus.
Rhodri Davies: After my dad died, I was just listening to the craziest, wildest, loudest free jazz – I was generally in a frenzied state, and Discombobulated got me through that.
In the playlist I’ve included Will Guthrie, who plays on the album. In a way he was responsible for kickstarting it, because we were all in different headspaces and he gathered us together and said, “I’ll come to the UK, and we can record.” He’s on most of the tracks, and brings everything to life – he’s like mercury, shimmering between everything.
Other artists on this playlist are influences on my own playing. I think of Pat Thomas’ work as an incredible way of fitting in with people but having a very strong voice. I was fortunate enough to work with Derek Bailey when I was younger. Zeena Parkins was the only interesting harpist on the landscape when I started, with electric harp especially.
RD: The playlist represents some of our different interests, and the band is an expression of all these different approaches. It’s not our approaches that unify us, it’s something else.
Hen Ogledd’s new album Discombobulated is released on 20 February via Domino.
The full tracklist for the band’s Quietus Guest Playlist is below, and available on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer and Qobuz by clicking the ‘Subscriber Plus Exclusive Playlist’ button at the start of this article. On streaming services, one or two tracks may be unavailable depending on your chosen platform.
Selected by Richard Dawson
Ursula K. Le Guin And Todd Barton – ‘A River Song’
Shoukichi Kina – ‘Haisai Ojisan‘
Sun Ra Arkestra – ‘Plutonian Nights’
Selected by Sally Pilkington
Ana Roxanne – ‘A Study In Vastness’
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