TREE RING CIRCUS

"tree ring circus" - daniel prendiville

In a cynical world, where much music is recorded and released with an eye to "the market", it's a relief to come across an album which is very much a labour of love for its creator and not an exercise to please the punters.

Such an album is "Tree Ring Circus" , Daniel Prendiville's 2004 album from REINCHEQUE.

"I'm too old and cantankerous at this stage in my life to bother composing a piece of work 'to order'", says Daniel Prendiville as he takes a sip from a cup of coffee. "In fact, I have no idea what the record-buying public wants nowadays, and I can't be bothered finding out."

So this is an album made for your own pleasure, then?

"I can't conceive of ever writing and recording an album that I wouldn't want to buy myself", he answers, "so I suppose you are right. The process of producing an album is so tortuous for me that I would never engage in that process if I didn't feel that the album wouldn't be at least as good as an album one might buy in a record store."

What's the album about?

"it's about life, I s'pose. It starts off dealing with a boy's experiences in school and ends up considering the question of one's mortality. It's not the full compendium of life's experiences, but it covers a fair bit of ground."

So it's a concept album?

"Not really. There are no deaf, dumb and blind kids playing pinball machines on 'Tree Ring Circus'! It's more of a 'thematic' album (if that's a word). All the tracks are linked together loosely, but there's no story as such."

You're sensitive about the idea of a "concept album", then?

"It's such a pretentious idea, isn't it? Harks way back to the 60s and 70s when people were willing to hoover up any old twaddle that the music industry would chuck at them. I think (sorry, I hope...) that people are a bit more discerning nowadays."

You've done a lot of work on the vocals this time out.

"Glad you noticed! I have the hardware capacity to multi-track at will, so I thought I'd have a go at using backing vocals as a key element in my arrangements. A few years ago, I experimented with acappella on a cover of XTC's "The Loving". Worked quite well that time, so I wasn't nervous about trying it again for this album. I think the backing vocals work especially well on "Satanists", "London" and "Bewilderburg". I was conscious about not having stacks of vocals on every track."

There are a number of different genres on this album. "Satanists" sounds like a Beach Boy track, while "Idlescent" is reminiscent of the Rolling Stones.

"Thankfully, I'm not such a good musician that I can produce pastiches of other songs and bands. While I accept what you say about genres, my songs are filtered through my limited musical ability. I admire musicians who have the ability to produce accurate pastiches, but at the end of the day, I'm left appluading the accuracy of the exercise, rather than identifying with any emotional content in the songs. On this album, all the songs sound the way they do because I am deeply involved in all aspects of the songs: composition, arrangement, performance, recording, production and mixing. I have no doubt that if I had outside assistance, the songs would sound quite different. "

Better?

"That's not for me to say. Even the finest diamonds have flaws. I'm sure I could write a list of all the niggly bits on the album that might be fixed, but the average listener probably wouldn't notice a lot of these things, so what does it matter at the end of the day? In any event, you've got to have the balls to declare that yes, the album is finished. These things can't go on forever, you know..."

It took you 19 months to record the album. Why so long?

"Well, there are a number of reasons for that. First of all, I wasn't operating to a deadline imposed by a third party (i.e. a record company), so I was able to take as long on the album as I felt I needed. I'd given myself 18 months to do the lot, so being a month late wasn't bad for a one-man operation. I don't have 24/7 access to recording facilities, so in effect, I probably spent the equivalent of six months (possibly less) in actual time on the album. I had a number of technical problems in relation to the recording (principally problems with 'unstable' hardware and software).I had a number of little distractions in relation to side projects, which always sound like fun things to do, but tend to take a bit of time. And I took a few breaks too, just to keep the mind fresh. The last thing I wanted to do was to end up having to rush the completion of the album, as I'd done that before on previous projects and that's no fun at all!"

So how do you think the album's going to do?

"Who can tell with these things? Initial reaction from people whose opinions I value has been very positive. I have been 'road-testing' the tracks on the GARAGEBAND website and have been getting varied reactions. But you'll get that anyway so it doesn't bother me as such. As long as I'm satisfied with the finished product myself, that'sthe main thing..."

Which brings us neatly back to the start of this interview.