4. The RochesThe Roches
I got this record at the same market stall in Cambridge as Forbidden Fruit by Nina Simone. I found it in the pound bin. Then my dad said to me, you’ve gotta listen to this song ‘Hammond Song’ – and I was like, ‘I think that’s on this random record that I just got.’ I just hadn’t heard girls sing like that in my life at that point. They’re all sisters, and I have a sister, and we would sing around the house. There’s not just a spiritual connection, but a scientific vocal cord connection that happens with siblings. You don’t have to be the best singers in the world, but because of genetics, the way that your voices combine has this warmth and richness. I was struck by that on this record, and then it kind of disappeared out of my life for a while. Five or six years later, a friend of mine again recommended I listen to ‘Hammond Song’, and I was brought back to it.
I love songs that sound positive or negative, but with words that are the opposite. To me, ‘Hammond Song’ sounds really sad, but it’s actually quite a warm, nurturing, positive message about sisters coming together. Whereas with Randy Newman and Biff Rose it’s the opposite – happy sounding, but with these dark undertones. Then you’ve got [album producer] Robert Fripp doing that crazy, ridiculous guitar solo on it, which sounds stupid. I love elements of stupid. Is it stupid, or is it just someone being really pure? Just throwing a guitar on something because they think it’s fun to stop being serious for a second.
The album is full of songs about sticking together and the girls helping one another through things, which obviously became a really big part of the record that Black Country has just made. We decided to record one song on the album, ‘Mary’, the way that these girls would record – all round the mic together, with everybody singing all the time in unison or harmony. So these guys really helped make the album make sense. It’s a real Roches sandwich, my life so far.
