“Bowie, Prince, and Lou Reed all died while we were making the album and it definitely had a bearing on the time it took,” explains Tim Burgess. The singer first met with Peter Gordon in a Warehouse in London in 2012 and took until now to release the album.
“Peter was very close to Lou Reed, and he was very upset when Prince died. I think he tried to channel some Prince on to the record. I can’t remember which track exactly, but I’m pretty sure it’s ‘Unguarded.”
The track mentioned is a hypnotic glitch-y, smoky New York jazz club influenced, futuristic banger - and just one of nine perfectly fitting tracks that make up Same Language, Different Worlds. Curiously, the time taken, rather than becoming a hindrance to the cohesion actually helped it.
“The beauty of things taking a long time, is you can orchestrate the mood as you go along. You can think ‘I've got this now, perhaps something like this would complete the album,’” explains the singer
Sadly, Gordon wasn’t the only one grieving in the time that they spent writing for this album. Burgess was mourning the death of Charlatans drummer Jon Brookes in 2013 thus impacting on the rate of progress too.
However, the duo managed to write three tracks together before Burgess wrote Modern Nature with The Charlatans. And as with many side projects, life goes on outside of it, whether it is for positive events like writing an album, or the unthinkable: the death of close friends. The only way for this album to be as complete and powerful as this it is was to be patient and do it when the time was right.
It’s fortunate that creative sparks were flying when they were in motion, though. They kept up working relationship for all this time despite being on opposite sides of the pond and in spite of everything that happened.
Their momentum was helped when they put out ‘Like I Already Do’ (feat. Factory Floor) and ‘Oh Men’ for Record Store Day 2015 and 2014, to strong critical acclaim. Despite being a fan of said track, nothing quite prepared me for the level they reached overall. Two brains are better that one they say - and when they come from different musical background yet complimentary ones of this level it results in unprecedented quality.
This originality is helped by the fact Gordon comes from the No Wave scene in New York where breaking boundaries and being creative was the most important thing.
“It was very much like a great community spirit of people making records where anything goes,” explains Burgess of the No Wave scene. “And I admire his [Gordon’s] vision of New York. It’s downtown/avant garde and The Kitchen, a club in the mid-'70s was at the centre of it. It was the before the word ‘curating’ ever existed. Peter would put on acts, music, poetry, by people he really loved there - Arthur Russell did the same.
Being a Mancunian, Tim Burgess wasn’t exposed to the Kitchen scene in the 70s. “In terms of people who were in the No Wave and influenced by it I knew of Sonic Youth but that was about it. It wasn’t until 2003 that I discovered Arthur Russell and Peter Gordon,” explains the singer.
The influence that Gordon has had in New York permeates lots of the subcultures still going and sculpted including some of the most well-known bands: “Thurston Moore would admire these guys as well you know,” says Burgess.
However, Gordon is a gratuitous individual too and his respect Tim Burgerss for writing some of the best songs of the last 30 years is evident in our conversation. Upon meeting there was no fangasming on one side: “Peter had my book Telling Stores and he asked me to sign it and I had a records of his and he signed it,” says Burgess. “We were hanging out for a week because he was doing something with Factory Floor at RCA. So the idea to work together came very naturally and we got on.
That fateful week in 2012 led to a series of emailing tracks back and forth until they’d take their final shape.
“I sent a beat and some guitar playing and some lyrics and some melody - not everything was finished but there was enough to send over a mood….
“From what I can gather, he took that mood and dismantled it and built on it again by using a lyric or a phrase or something. What I would get back was an exciting thing, because it was always unexpected. If I wrote something fast, it would come back slow. If I sent him a slow song it would come back fast,” laughs Burgess. “Because he changed the speed, I would re-record then vocals and he would still use the vocals from the original take. For the most part he used stuff that was very raw,” he explains.
“I noticed that your vocals are toyed about with , stretched out, made to echo, and repeat. He seems to have had fun with them,” I say. “Definitely, the interesting thing about that is it changed the way I would write for the album.
“What I sent to Peter came from an acoustic pop sensibility. Then when he sent it back it would be different For instance on ‘Like I Already Do’ ut has that long, repeating the line: “Like I Already Do”. But it didn't have that when I first made it.
And did this make his writing less conventional? “Yeah, the last song to make the album was 'Ocean Terminus' and I wrote the repeat on that.”
The track he’s referring to is a hypnotic genre less dream. “Brain orgasm music – that’s what Peter’s students in New York described it as after he showed them, ” he laughs “What even is that? It’s head music I suppose.”
Tim Burgess has reached other worldly heights on this album and I hop that this isn’t the end of an era for the two. But it seems the singer is on a mission to make records in different parts of America and get a change of scene, musically.
“I made an album with Kurt Wagner in Nashville because I wanted to make a Nashville record. Which to me is soulful, gospel-y, and country. I enjoyed making that. And I kind of like the idea that my two previous solo album to this were made in LA. This time I wanted to make my NYC record. Now I guess New Orleans would be a great place to make the next one.”
But does he have anyone lined up? “No plans, I haven’t met anybody that I want to work with yet.” “What about Anton Newcombe I ask? “Ahh, we’ve always got something going on, maybe a trip to Berlin would be the next thing.”
Beyond that I wonder if Peter Doherty who he’s had play at Tim Peaks in Kendal Calling last month would be of interest to work with. “I should [work with him]., I'd like to produce a record by him,” he says sincerely.
The idea of two of Britain’s best songwriters getting together and making a record is a great one. Who knows if this will happen - but it’s great thought.
For now hearing some of the most original music of modern times in this brand new record will keep me content. What an achievement and well worth the wait to get it right.
