Sending Signals Matt Royal

Putting last week behind us, this was genuinely one of my favourite conversations I’ve had for the show.

Like many, I was first aware of Isobel as member of Scottish indie band Belle and Sebastian. I found her such a compelling figure. She looked like she had stepped out of a French new wave movie. She was a cello player in an indie rock band. And when she sang, she had this enigmatic, whisper-quiet vocal style.

While still a member of Belle and Sebastian she made a couple of solo albums under the name The Gentle Waves, the second of which, “Swansong For You”, is particularly lovely and one I listened to a lot when I was younger. It was recently reissued for Record Store Day.

She left Belle and Sebastian in the middle of a US tour in 2002. Things were somewhat complicated by her romantic entanglement with the bands frontman Stuart Murdoch, and the unravelling of that relationship clearly ramped up the tension for Isobel.

We get into it in our chat, and I reference some comments she made in a recent Uncut magazine feature, I think it was in the December 2023 issue. If you have access to it, it’s definitely worth reading in the light of our conversation. It was a reminder to me, that for as much as we can get fascinated and a degree of entertainment out of the interpersonal relationships and fallouts in the history of bands we love, on the other side of it are real people and real feelings, and I was certainly reminded of that during out chat.

Isobel also made 3 well-received albums with the late Mark Lanegan, and clearly Mark’s well-documented erratic behaviour also took a toll on Isobel, and that bleeds into our chat as well.

We also talk about her recent single 4316. We delve into her fascinating childhood. It’s a “life, the universe and everything” chat this week. I hope you enjoy it.

Chris Difford is having a very busy year. There’s a new Squeeze album in the works, they are supporting Heart on their forthcoming arena tour, and there’s also the matter of an enormous UK tour in hour of Squeeze’s 50th anniversary. Chris also hosts the podcast “I Never Thought It Would Happen” which is currently on Season 4. Seems like a good time to have a chat, right?

Roll up! Roll up! This episode I’m joined from across the Atlantic by singer-songwriter Jade Bird, who has just released a new EP, “Burn The Hard Drive”, which chronicles the breakdown of her relationship and engagement to a former bandmate.

It’s the first significant release from Jade since 2021’s very excellent “Different Kinds Of Light” album.

We take a deep dive into her creative process and the ethics of mining your personal life, and the lives of others in your orbit, for songwriting content. Enjoy!

Phillip Ingram is one of the founding members of Motown band Switch who formed in late 1976, and after a chance encounter, were championed by Jermaine Jackson. Motown chief Berry Gordy heard the band’s tape and signed them to his subsidiary Gordy label.

Switch were a a consistent presence on the R’n’B charts in the last 1970s.

Switch sort of imploded in the early 80s, although one member tried to carry on with new musicians, and Phillip began working more behind the scenes, recording vocals for commercials, and also backing vocals for the likes of Donna Summer amongst others. He’s also known for his work in film. You can hear him on backing vocals on several songs in the Disney classic, “The Little Mermaid”. He also appears as the wedding singer in the Julia Roberts movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding”. He still plays shows with the current incarnation of Switch which features a few original members in fact.

Phil is also the younger brother of the late singer James Ingram, who you may have heard of.

He was lovely company, and I hope you enjoy our chat. Let me know what you think.

It seems like a good time to take a deep dive into Best Picture nominee, and more importantly, my favourite film of last year, “Past Lives”. This episode I’m joined by the film’s Assistant Director Ben Kahn to discuss his personal impact on the film, creating the remarkable chemistry between the cast, evoking an older digital landscape, and the profound effect the movie is having on people.

Hope you enjoy!

This Friday, March 1st Bruce Hornsby releases a new album in collaboration with chamber ensemble yMusic. The record is entitled “Deep Sea Vents”. It straddles the line between contemporary songwriting and modern classical, and the album has an aquatic theme with all the songs dealing with the ocean, or at least water in some way. The album is emblematic of much of Hornsby’s career in that it veers from the strange to the beautiful to the funny to the challenging. He doesn’t like the easy route.

If you know anything about Bruce’s career you’ll know his mid-80s smash “The Way It Is”, released by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, a powerful piece of social commentary inspired by his life growing up in Virginia, and featuring two piano solos. It’s a song that’s hung around, being sampled by rappers like 2Pac and Polo G. Bruce seems to have a conflicted relationship with the song. He often stills play it live but in a re-worked way, and he seems keen to be seen as a forward-thinking artist, not wishing to be defined by the past.

He was a live member of the Grateful Dead in the early 90s playing over a hundred shows with them. In recent years, he’s collaborated often with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and you’ll see like the likes of Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig or The Staves or Blake Mills pop up on his album credits.

I was a big admirer of his 2019 album “Absolutely Zero” which is well worth your time. Bruce was fantastic company when we spoke, and I hope you enjoy our chat!