IMRO

THE HEDGE SCHOOLS

''When I sat down to record this album the only thing we wanted was for it to have nothing but real wood and real instruments on it when it was finished." – The Hedge SchoolsIn 2007 two long term friends Joe Chester and Patrick Barrett locked themselves away in a basement studio in Dublin. The aim was to try and capture the songs of Patrick Barrett, who 6 years earlier had suffered a near fatal brain aneurysm. The record would be (almost completely) made up of the songs he wrote in hospital during recovery. With modern advances in digital recording they could have made this record anywhere but having sat in various rooms with acoustics guitars and an old hammer Dulcimer they knew the songs required the simplest and most natural of treatments. They wanted to make a record simply, with lots of wood and “people in a room hitting things.” Chester (a guitarist and songwriter who dons the producers hat) had seen Pat play a show in a church and thought it the perfect habitat for the music. He had noted a basic, primal spirituality in the songs and noted how uplifting they were, surprising (or maybe not) considering the circumstances they were written in. They toyed with the idea of recording them in front of a live audience but then stumbled upon the only studio in Ireland with a full working Hammond and an old grand piano. For better or for worse it was in Dorset Street, on the North side of Dublin and it was February. This was never going to be sunny pop.

They had to record quickly but paradoxically that seemed to bring out the best in everyone. ‘Sunday Song’ with it’s subtle wash of (My Bloody Valentine influenced) guitars underpinning Barrett’s arresting lyrics (“like a Sunday afternoon when you’re dying”) was a case in point. Barrett insists it’s a love song and nothing more. Chester says “It's like everyone's first answer was the right answer, and so there was a great energy in the room with people running around picking up instruments and putting down ideas really fast. It's pretty much the first take. So I guess the answer is the balance was always there. I didn't have to change very much in the mix.” As the process progressed Chester sensed magic. “At some stage during the recording it became very personal for me. I definitely sensed at the time that there were a few ghosts in the room, and a little bit of black magic too. I would say it's the album I'm most proud of being a part of.” Although the songs are intensely personal Chester was able to stand back. “There was sometimes a sense of voyeurism but I felt my role was to create a situation whereby at least the listener is part of the conversation. It would be all too easy for the performances to become inward, but then, music is all about communicating ideas. I think Patrick is all too aware of that.”

Barrett elaborates “The whole near death thing certainly does leave you with a feeling of your own mortality but even though the record might sound it I certainly wasn’t isolated in terms of people and friends I had around me at the time.” So much wood in the studio brought about it’s own momentum. Chester’s Father who lives on a boat sailed to Dublin to donate his old and first acoustic guitar to the sessions, the one Chester had learned to play on. That instrument became key on the record. And talk of Wood made them think of John Wood, a legendary producer from the 70’s who had produced the best work of Richard & Linda Thompson and made some of Barrett’s favourite records. “I love all those Richard and Linda Thompson albums from the 70’s, they have such warmth of soul and songs. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (their 1974 classic) would have, without a doubt, been an absolute reference point. We used the glorious Hammond organ on nearly all the tracks cause it just created a sound that brought all the tunes HOME to a place I recognised. The tones of the wood from the Leslie speaker in something as pure as the Hammond just made sense to me. If I achieved anything like the sounds of those records in my own recording, I’d say JOB DONE.” They also obsessed over sounds on the TALK TALK records on many nights of the recording. Barrett felt Chester created those kind of sounds which gave him the perfect atmosphere to perform in.

‘Kansas’ is another standout track (“thanks for the feeling / days when you make me fine / thanks for the starlight / it’s always yours and mine”), a beautiful emotional acoustic trip down the Yellow Brick Road (“Click your heels / We’re in Kansas”). “It's really just about being able to always be able to come back to a person or a place that makes you feel safe. When you've found it, hold on to it really tight.” Barrett has his own favourite Wizard of Oz character and can ruefully make a comparison to the scarecrow “cause he was looking for a brain, and I was looking for a piece of mine, it is a song about someone who walked part of the yellow brick road with me.”

Even though the record is filled with death defying moments, Barrett is still completely in love with and in awe of melody and it shows on tracks like ‘Butterfly’ and ‘Day One’ where he combines fragility with ghostly melodies. Chester says “eventually the album took on it's own direction and we just followed it. Maybe it was the ghosts in the room.” Or maybe it was because Barrett immersed himself for years in the likes of The Blue Nile, Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout and (the late great) Grant McLennan of the Go Betweens. He says, “I don't think I've made a pop record though I’ve made MY record and that was always paramount importance to me.”

Chester insists the record was an absolute joy to make and although they nailed Barrett’s dream sound he laughs “I'd trade Dorset Street in February for the South of France in August in a heartbeat.”

As to the title Never Leave Anywhere. Barrett insists the one thing he’d never leave anywhere without is “his integrity.”

The Hedge Schools allows Barrett the luxury of a fluid line up and a chance to indulge his love of many instruments and a varied line up.

THE HEDGE SCHOOLS debut album Never Leave Anywhere out this Friday 17th October

Featuring the radio single ‘Sunday Song’

Available from www.roadrecs.com and www.independentrecords.ie

Playing Whelan’s Wednesday 26th November