Will The Real …

JOHN SAICH talks to singer FIONA MACKENZIE (or one of them, at least) about a love of Gaelic and pop, and working with one of Scotland’s top producers.

In 2008 Lewis born singer and song writer Fiona Mackenzie released her first solo album on Linn Records to great critical acclaim. Produced by Calum Malcolm, Elevate is a sophisticated and lyrically haunting work with a unique northern European sound.

JOHN SAICH: Fiona, you’re known best as a Gaelic singer, perhaps, but what has been the reaction to Elevate?

FIONA MACKENZIE: There’s been quite a gap since I recorded anything. I think for a lot of people I’m a new name so there’s not anything to compare it to. Perhaps for some expecting a Gaelic album they were a bit surprised… most people don’t tell you what they think! I haven’t had a solo album out before, if I’d released a Gaelic album previously it might have been more of an issue.

Fiona Mackenzie

JS: How did the working relationship with producer Calum Malcolm come about?

FM: I met Calum through my work with Anam. When I joined Anam they were about to record their fifth album, so I worked with Calum through that. We got on well and that led me to suggest him as producer for the album I did with my sisters as Mackenzie (Fama Clamosa) on Macmeanma Records. Whilst on that project I handed him some demos, and he really liked the material and wanted to work on it.

In my own songs I can hear the Northern European influence, whatever that may be. I think you can detect it in my voice

JS: Was working with Calum a collaborative process?

FM: He had a huge input. I wrote the songs but you can hear his mark. I had a sound in my head, and so did he – in some cases that was the same but on other tracks it would be completely different. There were even a couple of tracks that didn’t make it to the final album, there was some exploration. But some of the tracks are just how I heard them when I wrote them and it says a lot for him that he got what I was trying to say.

JS: What were your earliest musical influences?

FM: At home, the Gaelic radio station (Radio Nan Gaidheal) was on a lot. My first album was Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside. I was a huge Kate Bush fan, when I was about eight I used to pretend to be her! Throughout my whole life there’s been a parallel thing going on between pop music and what was on the Gaelic station, I was hearing both all the time.

JS: It seems country music is quite special to you.

FM: Latterly, yes. It wasn’t something my parents listened to much. I’m a huge Dolly Parton fan now, I think it’s something I’ve come to over the last ten years or so but it wasn’t a formative sound. Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris is one of my favourite albums of all time, but again it’s something that came to me quite late.

Her sound has got something so nostalgic and haunting, her voice is so special. Also, along with Gaelic radio and pop music was heavy metal, coming from Lewis in the eighties you couldn’t avoid that! I didn’t hear that in my own house but I had a friend whose older brother let us listen to bands like Iron Maiden and Metallica. I wasn’t so aware then of who I was listening to but I thought they were great.

JS: Has song writing always been important to you?

FM: Yes, I think since I was 14 or 15 I’ve enjoyed that process of trying to sing what’s in your head. I’m not prolific in terms of completed songs but I have lots of half-written ideas, a lot of stuff to work on. Unfortunately a lot of songs come to me at inopportune moments. I can’t jot down the notes so I have to rely on my memory or put it down on my Dictaphone.

For some reason a lot of the Gaelic ideas are a cappella but there are a few lovely moments when I sit down with a guitar and almost a whole song comes out in an hour. I feel good about that because then you know it’s an okay song in the way it’s come together.

JS: Did Linn Records have a lot of input to your album?

FM: No, they don’t actually own it, it’s licenced to them. Calum and I worked on the album without the backing of a record company, though with some verbal interest from Linn. We were going to complete it then present it to various companies, but Linn loved the final version.

The fact that they have such a reputation for quality, I’m lucky to be associated with that. I like to think I strive for quality myself. It took a while to release the album and it might take a little while to do the next but I’d rather keep the quality mark. Working with Calum I got so many chances to get things right and reconsider things.

JS: One review of Elevate suggested it has a Northern European sound – is there a particular sense of place in your music?

FM: As far as singers go, the Northern European thing is a big influence. When I sing in Gaelic I don’t sound like I’m from Lewis. I’m never comfortable calling myself a traditional Gaelic singer. I’ve listened to so much different music over the years, like Stina Nordenstam for example, and I loved visiting the Faroe Islands – there’s such a hip culture there. Originally I’d hoped to invite some Faroese musicians to play on the album. There may be something in that landscape that speaks to the Gael, for me it came out musically.

JS: Is Fiona the Gael and Fiona the contemporary writer one and the same person?

FM: I think it’s one and the same now, maybe I wasn’t so sure when I was younger, but most musicians and singers go through that. You have to find yourself. I’ve chosen songs I’m most comfortable with. In my own songs I can hear the Northern European influence, whatever that may be. I think you can detect it in my voice.

JS: So what are the plans for the future?

FM: More gigs. I’m not wanting to tour that much [Fiona has two young children] so I have to arrange things myself rather than through an agent, which can be a challenge. I have a band with Rick Taylor, Mairi Campbell and Derek Urquhart. And then there’s the Fiona Mackenzie thing, the concerts in April.

That’s me and two other Fiona Mackenzies, we’re all from Lewis. I’d originally thought we were all singer songwriters but actually only two of us are. One sings original songs with Willie Campbell (from Our Small Capital). We’re doing a gig at An Lanntair and then one at Eden Court. The concerts are called Will the Real Fiona Mackenzie Please Stand Up. There have just been so many moments when people were getting us mixed up… there are a lot of Fiona Mackenzies out there!

Will The Real Fiona Mackenzie Please Stand Up is at An Lanntair, Stornoway, on 10 April 2009, and the OneTouch Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, on 12 April.

© John Saich, 2009

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