A Stellular Selection: Rose Dougall's Favourite Albums | Page 13 of 14 | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

12. Hope SandovalBavarian Fruit Bread

This record is from 2001, and Sandoval and Colm O’Ciosoig from My Bloody Valentine produced it, and Bert Jansch is also on a couple of tracks, so that’s kind of linked to the tenets of my musical education. I suppose it has some similarities to the Bridget St John record in the way it maintains the same atmosphere – there are no jarring moments that break that feeling – it all kind of exists in the same realm but it never becomes boring. It’s also kind of sexy in a restrained way, but there’s also a sense of melancholy to the whole thing; just the texture of the way it’s produced.

I didn’t really know anything about her, because I know loads of teenage girls are meant to be obsessed with Mazzy Star. I found this one a little more unreachable, and I really like that compared with her stuff with Mazzy Star, which is a little more, I dunno, not poppy, maybe self-indulgent? I can’t really explain. It made me really think about how to get the best out of a song. A lot of them are built on just one idea over and over again; it’s not trying too hard. It exists in its own space, and she makes the listener come to her.

And I think the production is just really beautiful. I’ve listened to it a huge amount. She’s also the kind of singer I always want to be – a kind of detached, cool woman – that I just can’t be [laughs]. I try to write songs like that and I just realise that’s not my gig.

I bought it in Rough Trade – I had a spare afternoon and I really liked its description, and I knew Mazzy Star a little bit, but I was actually more intrigued by the fact that someone from My Bloody Valentine had produced it, as they’d made such a big impression on me at a certain point. And then I saw Bert Jansch’s name and thought, "I’ll have to find out what’s going on here".

It’s one of those records that’s so confident in its sparsity. It creates a lovely vibe. That’s a horrible thing to say [laughs]. She’s definitely not pitching herself as an untouchable, ethereal, angelic, virginal woman. There’s something else going on and you don’t know. The whole thing sounds kind of drunk.  

Selected in other Baker’s Dozens: Susanna, Ed Harcourt
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