Listen to badly drawn boy 'One Plus One Is One'
Damon Gough talks us through the charmingly morose 'One Plus One Is One', track by track. Hear his commentary and the album itself, in full, right here.
'One Plus One Is One'
"The title is actually from one day when I had a mental block and thought that was the real answer to one plus one is one. Because one divided by one is one, one times one is one, so I had this notion that one plus one must also be one. And of course it isn't, but it's my own take on Zen..."
[listen]
'Easy Love'
This wasn't going to be on the album but at the time of my friend dying it was October and the song just felt autumnal, it felt pastoral..."
[listen]
'Summertime In Wintertime'
"I like the fact that it probably is the most raucous song on the album, but the sentiment is don't waste your time thinking of the summertime in wintertime. Enjoy wintertime as well."
[listen]
'This Is That New Song'
"It's a sentimental tune. I wanted this album, in general, to sound like that perfect Sunday afternoon. Sunday's a great day of the week but you've always got Monday to follow it, so it's a bummer."
[listen]
'Another Devil Dies'
"It was the hardest song, for some reason, to get right. We did it in one style - it was kind of like a Calexico, Mariachi type trumpet fanfare thing. With stormclouds rumbling in the background, which sounds brilliant but just didn't work for me."
[listen]
'The Blossoms'
"It's really organic, kind of like England of olde - you could imagine it in the Canterbury tales or something, it could accompany the procession of the miller and his mates..."
[listen]
'Year of The Rat'
"The kids were the essential factor in nailing this as a song, 'cos I wanted naivety and not professionalism. Which, again, runs through my work. I just really get a thrill out of employing people on songs that feel like they shouldn't be there."
[listen]
'Four Leaf Clover'
"It's to do with the notion of passing on your good fortune really, 'cos I've had my fair share of it. Just saying 'Borrow my four leaf clover. You can have it. I'll get another one'."
[listen]
'Fewer Words'
"It's probably my best achievement in song writing to date. I don't expect anyone to agree with me but searching for a perfect song that goes in a certain way - nothing gets repeated, there's no chorus to speak of - it's an attempt to say something in as few words as possible."
[listen]
'Logic of A Friend'
"It's a strange song. It's pretty dark, lyrically; 'A beast licking holes in your door' and things like that. It's a bit Edgar Allen Poe or something."
[listen]
'Stockport'
"It's part of the album where there's a bit of respite actually, any intensity that might be there, this gives you a little bit of light to juxtapose the shade."
[listen]
'Life Turned Upside Down'
"From being a 14 year old boy, listening to Bruce Springsteen bootlegs while I went to sleep at night, for him to dedicate a song - my favourite ever song - to my son... It doesn't get any better than that."
[listen]
'Takes The Glory'
"It lands at the end of the record but it was one of the earlier songs that set the tone for what the album's gonna be. It was too important to miss, the opporunity to get this in a song."
[listen]
'Holy Grail'
"It's just, again, a big up to anyone who has any hardships to deal with. Somebody wrote about it saying it was the perfect song for the summer, which is ironic 'cos it's pretty sad. But there's a strange, uplifting quality somewhere underneath."
[listen]
Login to xfm+
latest videos
Spooky clip to accompany the follow-up to the enormo-hit Somebody That I Used To Know.
