Let Em' Talk: The Shipbuilders tell us about debut album 'Spring Tide'
It's been a long time coming but on Friday 6th May, one of the finest bands and scurges of the establishment to come out of Liverpool in recent years, The Shipbuilders finally released debut album Spring Tide. The album is the culmination of a journey that the band have been on for five years. A melting pot of urgent Spaghetti Western soundtracks, jazz-inflected odes to drinking absinthe, disco-tinged surf freakouts and much more, The Shipbuilders’ world is one that implores to be explored.
The ten tracks recorded with Danny Whitewood (BC Camplight, Ladytron) are the product of the inner workings of the mind of Matty Loughlin-Day, a Clinical Psychologist by day, backed by Danny Lee (guitar), Jack McAllister (bass) and Graeme Sullivan (drums), ‘Spring Tide’ is released via Mai 68 Records and sits snugly in any record collection that also has Sea Power, The Coral and The Pogues in it. We talked to the band to get an insight into the album track-by-track.
1) Stranger’s Lament
A gypsy aria influenced song that finds an exiled protagonist longing for the land he had to leave behind, whilst promising of the place he finds himself “if I had a match this place would burn”. Accompanied by accordion and Gregorian backing vocals, this is a haunting, ghostly track that brings to mind The Coral, Scott Walker and the strings of Eastern Europe.
Matty: I had the music for this track after listening to a busking trumpet and accordion duo in Liverpool. The lyrics quickly followed, taking the viewpoint of someone finding themselves in astrange land, feeling disconnected and only able to find solace in his dreams.
2) Le Fee Verte
A wild, raucous ode to drinking absinthe and dancing upon tables strewn with bodies and bottles of beer, 'La Fee Verte' harks back to the dens of Paris and tragic relationship of poets Rimbaud and Verlaine. Backed by trumpet and drunken piano, the song urges all to “leave your mind at the door – don’t be afraid to let go”.
Matty: I was working in a drug rehab centre, teaching guitar when I wrote this – the job was fantastic, but there was only so much ‘Wish You Were Here’ I could hack, so to keep meinterested in music, I delved into jazz guitar. This song is made up on jazz chords – minor sixths – and the lyrics followed accordingly. The sound of Django Reinhardt falling down the stairs.
3) Hanging Me at Dawn
The soundtrack to the greatest Spaghetti Western never made, 'Hanging Me at Dawn' is a barnstorming, urgent tale of forbidden love, execution and raging against the feudal class system. A thrilling, breathless charge of a song.
Matty: This is a favourite to play live. It surges along and has all the core elements of The Shipbuilders – a dark story, hollering vocals and surf guitar. The protagonist is due to be hung at dawn, as the ruling classes have discovered his love affair with a maid of the manor. There’s hope yet as his mate is on his way to set him free, but if all else fails, his beloved is left some instructions – set the cattle free and set fire to the barn!
4) Fault Line
A hook-laden, offbeat anthem that has a shoutalong chorus, an incessantly catchy guitar/trumpet riff and a danceable groove, ‘Fault Line’ would fit nicely on The Clash’s Sandanista, given it’s impressive blending of genre and influence.
Matty: I wrote this towards the end of 2016, the year that we all naively thought would be as bad as it got. Brexit, Trump, Leonard Cohen dying, it just felt as if things were never going to be the same again – the fault line was widening and the gas was leaking. If only we knew just how wide that fault line would get. Still, this isn’t a maudlin dwelling on all of that, but rather a call to arms – a bit “we can sit around and talk about this crap, or we can get our way out of here. And it's a hell of a groove too..
5) Wild Atlantic Way
A smoky, bass-led, meandering song that builds into a surging, roaring chorus that threatens to topple and takes the breath away. The song finds two souls who have been through more than a lifetime would take to tell taking stock on their time together. The danger of slipping into mawkish nostalgia is avoided when one sees in the other “mischief’s twinkle flitter in your eye”
Matty: My wife and I had a holiday driving around Ireland and the Wild Atlantic Way stuck with me long afterwards and I wanted to write a song about it. I’m really proud of the riff that runs through this song. I wanted this to sound like Sea Power covering Dexy’s, covering Van Morrison, and I think we caught that vibe perfectly. The first time I heard the final mix, I was driving and had to ‘do a John Peel’ and pull over and have a little sob.
6) Silk Road
A mystical, eastern-influenced two minute instrumental gives way to a sparkling, infectious pop wonder that sings of unity, travelling through life together, all the while finding solace “safe in the warmth of the light that guides us – like the moonlight on the Silk Road”. All the while sounding like the lost collaboration between the Stone Roses & Echo and the Bunnymen.
Matty: I wrote the two halves of this song on the same day, after listening to – as pretentious as it might sound – a Hungarian classical music record. The two halves then just fell into place and I’m really, really proud of this. Danny Lee’s guitar solo towards the end of the song has me tearing up every time I hear it. It’s a song about banding together – it’s about the band itself - Stay with me one more season!
7) Forest Floor
An eerie, psychedelic shuffle that descends into chaos with an extended outro that features ghostly, wordless vocals, wailing harmonica and tumbling piano, all blown about by a storm of reverb-heavy guitars and motorik drums.
Matty: This is the underbelly of the album, the engine beneath the bonnet. It sings of an impending storm, prophesised by an old sage and queries whether there is hope left in the town or whether it’s best to return to the land and find safety. Ultimately, the hero of the song is trying to find his best to way to survive on the line between the smug and the damned.
8) Northern Rose
A ghostly ballad that is drenched in reverb, haunted piano and lyrics lamenting a no longer present spectre. Sounding like a crooked Irish ballad that has been left to roam the moors for centuries and is consequently, weather-worn and time bent. Is this a song about lost love, death or both?
Matty: There is something new to hear in this track with every listen. The thumping, constant bass, the rolling drums and swamp of guitars with flashes of piano and wordless vocals.
9) The Moon
A live favourite and staple of The Shipbuilders’ set, 'The Moon' is an urgent, fiercely passionate, chest-thumping song with a flamenco flavour that soars as it builds into a chaotic, all-conquering crescendo, courtesy of white hot guitars and thunderous drums.
Matty: I've long been fascinated and drawn towards the concept of Cante Jondo, the folk music of Andalusia that literally translates to 'deep song'. Lorca wrote about it in his poetry and the unspoilt, passionate and morbid nature of it all entrances me time and time again.
Hemingway loved it and it strikes straight to the heart. 'The Moon' came from a contemplation of all of this. It's a song written from the perspective of a soldier in the Spanish Civil War who, while stood underneath a haloed moon, can hear "the wailings of this life and the next collide while lamenting his love's death and pondering if the same fate will fall on him.
10) Same Star
A clattering, rollocking, all-encompassing closer to Spring Tide, ‘Same Star’ segues from section to section with wide-eyed wonder, pondering the stars, the heavens and the nature of time itself. A complex and grand closing finale to the album, it is relentless and wrong foots the listener at every turn.
Matty: A monolith. I wanted an album closer akin to ‘You Set the Scene’ on Love's ‘Forever Changes’,one that feels grand, reflective and ultimate. The lyrics were written when news broke that we, as humans, had managed to land a probe on a comet hurtling through space. The absurdity of that feat blew my head and led to me contemplating the absurdity of time and existence itself.
Perfect for a pop song!
You can follow and find out more about The Shipbuilders on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
As ever, we recommend to buy direct from the artist at gigs or via Bandcamp, preferably on Bandcamp Friday, when the artist gets 100% of the fee.
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