“Everyday Sun” is a new single from Roddy Woomble, and the first taken from his forthcoming EP. The song is a hazy rumination, where observations on meaninglessness sit alongside optimism. Written alongside frequent collaborator and Idlewild bandmate Andrew Mitchell and recorded in the latter’s Dundee studio, it marks a departure from Woomble’s traditional working methods with either piano or guitar.
“I greatly enjoyed both of Andrew’s instrumental solo albums (under his Andrew Wasylyk moniker), and really liked the idea of trying to read some of my words over his compositions,” says Roddy. Andrew would send over ideas, essentially basic beats, and Roddy would construct lyrics around them. “It was interesting just to have an electronic drumbeat to base my words around,” he says of the experience. A new style of delivery, neither spoken word nor straight-forward singing, adds to the mystique and texture; many lines were also rearranged to strip them of conventional meaning and narrative. “Do our souls cause the desert to exist?” he asks, later lamenting how “everyone lives in a state of forgetfulness” over woozy synth washes and a languid beat.
That intersection of memory and technology provided inspiration for film director Danny Grant, who shot the single’s accompanying video.
“I was watching a documentary from the early 1980s that had a section processed by video synthesizer, and was discussing how the abstraction of the processed images are an interesting representation of memory,” Grant says. “The tech was pretty raw but there was something compelling about the quality of it, and as soon as I heard ‘Everyday Sun’ I thought of those images. There’s some visuals taken from the lyrics – built up cities, empty spaces – and some abstract images, all processed to try and evoke the haze of a distant memory.”
Minimal and hypnotic, it’s neither song nor poem, and serves as the perfect taster for the rest of Roddy Woomble’s new EP and forthcoming UK tour with Andrew Mitchell. “Spontaneous and creative” is how he describes their collaboration – qualities now applied to the latest chapter of one of Scotland’s most acclaimed artists.
“Everyday Sun” is out 4th February 2020.
PRE-ORDER: “Everyday Sun” EP (limited edition vinyl and CD) http://roddywoomble.net
UPCOMING DATES:
26th March – Lerwick, Shetland, The String
28th March – Arbroath, Webster Memorial Theatre
29th March – Paisley, Arts Centre
30th March – Chester, St Mary’s Creative Space
31st March – Coventry, The Tin Music & ARts
1st April – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
2nd April – Winchester, The Railway Inn
3rd April – Reading, South Street Arts Centre
4th April – Brighton, Komedia Studio
5th April – Guildford, The Boileroom
7th April – Sheffield, Greystones
8th April – Middlesbrough, Town Hall
9th April – Saltaire, The Salt Factory
10th April – Irvine, Harbour Arts Centre
11th April – Castle Douglas, Catstrand Arts Centre
6th May – London, Moth Club
24 July – Topcliffe, Deer Shed Festival
