School of Language

David Brewis is fast becoming somewhat of an English hero. Lead vocalist and protagonist of successful band Field Music, David is known for a decisively creative and musical approach to his work. But he’s also known under many guises, the one in question here being ‘School Of Language’, his very own solo, and experimental masterpiece. Deep, epic and engaging in a more rock-led aesthetic, it represents David’s embrace of a newfound freedom to create, diversify and follow a different path, as he divulges....

(this interview was orginally published last year, but Im a big fan of David Brewis, so thought i put it up anyway)

When approaching this solo project, what musical ambitions did you have? It’s quite a departure from the field music pop structure, a lot heavier and darker.

I wanted to do something that was put together in a more spontaneous way. One of the frustrations of the last Field Music record was getting the three of us together at the same time and getting all involved. We felt pressured to maintain that with FM at the time. This was more like I’ll do whatever I feel like and be free. I linked that with re-discovering how much I actually love playing guitar. Its more guitar orientated than any of the field music stuff.

Did you record the guitars at a higher level? It’s seems that when you listen to the album it sounds like the guitars were recorded louder to give more resonance.

It’s mainly because I wrote the tunes on my guitar, and the field music set-up was always emphasizing piano and the songs were based around that. There was no pressure to do it any particular way, other than me wanting to do something spontaneous.

Has this been your most liberating project to date then? There’s more of a grungy feel to it all at times.

It has been really liberating but much more like a learning experience, of realising that I can do whatever and whenever. We restricted ourselves by the pressure we put ourselves under with field music. The pressure was always ‘try and make a real record’ but I don’t feel like that at all any more. If I try my best and make something exciting then that’s the best I can do. And if people don’t like it…

You’ve had a busy year it has to be said no?
The first few months was gigging, then spent the whole of March in the US, with school of language, and with band members who I’ve never met before, which was liberating. Then we did UK and European tours and got on with our own thing. I’ve also been recording with various people and writing stuff in between. I’m just totally knackered.

Finally, what with all the sequencing, writing and recording on your own, was it a bit testing and painstaking or did you see it as another liberation?

I don’t find the recording process painful, but a lot of it was definitely painstaking. We’ve been recording for so long, I mean, I’ve got this little four track when I was young and I’ve got about 14 years worth. Also this was the first time I’d recorded straight onto computer, but it was a big help. It was fun more than anything, another learning experience. New ways to mic up, new technical challenges… but a lot of the fun is the challenge. There’s nothing incompatible with recording interesting performances; personally, I love the recording process. It gives you the framework in which to do a performance.