More is more
Morcheeba throws caution to the wind in order to Dive Deep
It’s only the fourth night of Morcheeba’s current North America tour and multi-instrumentalist Ross Godfrey already has bruises and scrapes he only vaguely recalls acquiring.
“We went to the swimming pool in the hotel last night at 3 in the morning and our keyboard player was trying to drown me,” Godfrey tells CityBeat from a tour stop in Boston. “We were at a hotel in Times Square and there was a swimming pool in the bar. After a few tequilas, it just seemed [like] the right thing to do. It was bizarre… but we had to do it or I would come away wondering forever why I didn’t try it.”
That now-or-never attitude seems to permeate everything Morcheeba—the English down-tempo darlings composed primarily of Godfrey and his DJ brother, Paul—has done lately. After partnering with singer Skye Edwards on four albums and Daisy Martley for one (The Antidote), Dive Deep—Morcheeba’s latest release and their first with more than one vocalist—is a long-awaited return to the group’s original vision.
“When my brother and I started the band, we wanted it to be more diverse, [but] we kind of got stuck into a routine of making records with the same singer,” Godfrey says. “We were encouraged to do that by our record company as well, because they wanted an ‘identity’ on the band. On this record, we just got [to be] much more free.”
That freedom allowed the brothers to make a record without imposed restrictions. They had long pined for an opportunity to stretch their creative legs, but Dive Deep marks the first chance in the band’s 13-year history to actually do it.
“There were a lot of limitations that were lifted from us,” Godfrey says. “We like to produce albums as if we’re directing a movie, and we always wanted, like, four of five different characters telling the same story from different angles.”
Godfrey says Morcheeba looked to the work of film directors like Pedro Almodóvar and the Coen brothers for inspiration in composing an album of diverse elements “where the sum of the record means more than any individual track.”
The “characters” enlisted to take part in Dive Deep’s cinematic musical tapestry include a multinational list of guest musicians. Among them, English singer/songwriter Judie Tzuke, Norwegian singer/songwriter Thomas Dybdahl (whose contribution Godfrey describes as “the RZA producing a Nick Drake album”) and New York hip-hop producer Cool Calm Pete. The album also features vocals from Manda, a French singer who told the brothers—via MySpace—that her dream was to sing on a Morcheeba record.
“We just thought that it would be rude if we didn’t give her a go,” Godfrey says. “We sent her a ticket, she came to London on the train and we got on really well. She’s a really lovely girl, and she’s got a beautiful voice…. It just felt really natural.”
The Godfreys went out of their way to find artists whose musical skills—not reputation—complemented the type of music they wanted to create.
“A lot of the people that we’ve collaborated with, especially on this album, were just for music’s sake—what would sound good musically,” Godfrey says. “I really can’t stand it when people do collaborations with people just because they want to be star-fucking, you know? We don’t care who the people were or where they came from, just as long as they made really good music.”
Now that the Godfrey brothers have been able to make a record their way, what do they think about the “trip-hop” label that’s followed them throughout their career?
“I don’t think it’s a bad term,” Godfrey says. “I don’t think, for example, the production that Mark Ronson is currently doing is that far away from it. The term has come out of favor, but musically it’s still what people do.”
Godfrey says he does find the term a little bit unfair to the music—in that such broad labels box musicians into a corner—but thinks the intent is still valid.
“It’s just a freedom to mix and do whatever you want to do,” he says. “It’s great that we could sit down and say, ‘Man, let’s try to make a record that sounds half like The Flying Burrito Brothers and half like A Tribe Called Quest.’ So, in that sense, I’m happy to be involved with it and in no way insecure that people… put a name to it.”
Whatever it’s called, Morcheeba’s bringing its music back to San Diego after a prolonged absence. Godfrey says he insisted on the 4th & B date because “it’s been ages and ages” since the band last played here. Not that they’re exactly strangers.
“Living in L.A., I spent a lot of time in San Diego hanging out with friends,” Godfrey says. “I loved just getting stoned and sitting at the beach…. San Diego—it’s a beautiful place.”
Morcheeba performs Saturday, April 12, with Federico Aubele at 4th & B, 345 B St. 619-231-4343.
www.morcheeba.co.uk.
Published: 04/08/2008
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