113. David Joseph Discusses Mark Hollis, self-titled

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Multi-instrumentalist and composer David Joseph of Held By Trees has played with several of the musicians who performed on the final two Talk Talk albums, so there is no one better to introduce Al to Mark Hollis’ solo album, which featured many of the same people. In addition to talking about what makes Mark Hollis a special album, David discusses how he became a fan of Talk Talk and how the band has inspired his own work. He also chats with Al about his latest recordings with Held By Trees, which were made at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios.

Al mentioned and recommended a video of Talk Talk performing at the 1986 Montreux Jazz Festival. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTOYdH6tdSQ

Al also noted some previous interviews David did that go into more detail about how Held By Trees came about. This one from Classic Pop is pretty comprehensive: https://www.classicpopmag.com/2022/07/held-by-trees-interview/.

Follow David and Held by Trees! @heldbytrees on both Twitter and Instagram

And, of course, stream/buy David’s music on Bandcamp: https://heldbytrees.bandcamp.com/

You can pre-order Held By Trees’ upcoming twin EPs here: https://www.innersleeve.com/collections/held-by-trees

Al is on Twitter at @almelchiorBB, and this show has accounts on Twitter and Instagram at @youmealbum. Be sure to follow @youmealbum to find out in advance about upcoming guests and featured albums for this podcast.

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0:00 A couple of announcements

2:39 David joins the show

3:23 Why the Mark Hollis album was not a Talk Talk album

4:59 Al makes note of the connection between Talk Talk and Held By Trees

5:34 A Chris Martin interview led David to explore the later period of Talk Talk/Mark Hollis

9:09 Al talks about how he got into Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock

11:10 David explains what distinguishes Mark Hollis from Talk Talk albums

16:51 David and Al talk about Mark’s approach to vocals and lyrics on this album

20:40 David feels that Mark Hollis asks something different of him as a listener

24:43 The songs on Mark Hollis don’t have many hooks

29:14 Al finds a couple of examples of hooks on Mark Hollis

31:31 David talks about the difficulty Mark had in making this album

34:37 David explains how Mark was able to achieve the album’s pure sound

36:24 Al and David comment on the album’s sequencing

40:02 David notes that Mark had co-writers on nearly all of the tracks

44:01 David gives Lee Harris and Paul Webb their due

52:06 David offers suggestions for how to get the most out of listening to Mark Hollis

55:38 David discusses how Held By Trees’ Solace was recorded

1:05:55 David appreciates the reception that Solace has received

1:07:47 David talks about Held By Trees’ upcoming twin EPs

1:09:44 David discusses the experience of meeting Peter Gabriel

Outro is from “In The Trees” (live) by Held By Trees.

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