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End Of Fashion
First
appeared - Issue #11
Grabs asks Justin Burford whether End Of Fashion hung out at the
Bottletree Bakery in downtown Oxford, Mississippi USA. “How did
you know about that?” quizzes the curious lead singer and
songwriter. We explain ourselves by stating that’s where Elvis
Costello and the Imposters ate green pea and onion soup when they
recorded ‘The Delivery Man’. For just on three months Burford,
Aravena, Jennings and Jonsson tracked the eagerly awaited eleven
song, 41 minute album with US producer Dennis Herring.
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His studio Sweet Tea is a short distance from the Bakery. “We had
a great time at the Bottletree but unfortunately Dennis is banned
because he used to date the woman who owns it and they don’t see
eye to eye anymore!” So how was it working with a man who now has
a Grammy for his work with Costello and has recorded amongst
others Counting Crows, Buddy Guy and Jars of Clay? “It was very
eye opening, a real learning curve for us. He had a very different
approach to what we expected. He was actually very interested in
what we do as a four piece. In the past we’ve tended to say to
ourselves ‘we’re in a studio let’s go nuts’, whereas he tried to
get us to play as we would live rather than pretending we’re an
eight piece band. Having said that he certainly liked to
experiment.
The album has energy, and its back to back approach with each
track bleeding into the next resembles an imaginary live set with
some nifty production ideas added. “So you get it then!” exclaims
Justin. “That was the idea behind that. It’s always hard to
capture that extra thing that we have live but I’m proud of the
sound that we got.” Amongst the big choruses, liquid bass lines
and driving guitars soars Justin’s giant batches of lung-bursting
vocals. Did Dennis have any special techniques or advice to get
such singing performances? “He has an insidious way of getting
that one extra take out of you without you really knowing it. We’d
always do the vocals at the end of our noon to midnight routine.
This was at a time when I had literally lost my voice at the end
of the last tour and gone straight into the studio.” New versions
of ‘Rough Diamonds’, ‘She’s Love, Too Careful and Love Comes In’
jostle with gems such as the bloodcurdling screamed ‘The Game’,
the very grand strange relationship themed ‘In Denial’ and the
sweet duet with Katy Steele on ‘Oh Strain’. Grabs congratulates
Burford on a fine pop album that should be out August 1st
and up the charts a few days later.
www.endoffashion.com |
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