Simple Kid on anodyne vitamin pills
We love the music of London-based, Irish songwriter Simple Kid. He produces what is described on Wikipedia as being ‘Lo fi country, hip hop, 60s pop crossover’. Phew! With that in mind, we spoke to him recently: I have a theory that countries with cold climates tend to produce better songwriters. Do you agree? ‘Coming from freezing cold Ireland, I’d agree of course. Probably the fact that when the weather’s that bad, all one can do is drink whiskey in a cave and howl at the moon to pass the time. But then I think of that Brazilian guy who wrote The Girl From Ipanema — Antonio Carlos Jobim — and with a name like that, I guess it was pretty hot where he came from. And that’s a pretty seriously good song. So, back where we started, I fear’. How much does the tradition of Irish folk music and the words of the literary greats of the country coarse through the veins of any young kid growing up there? ‘I’d like to think that. I really would. But sadly I think a lot of folk there aren’t so aware of that stuff anymore. I feel really lucky because I was, let’s say, ‘an enthusiastic imbiber from an impressionable age’. I often found myself in some craggy old bar on some island or other arm wrestling with some craggy old bearded weirdo — not unlike my older self really — who’d be regailing me with tales of Brendan Behan or Sean O’Casey. Character building stuff I tell thee’. Did you toy with four tracks and the like from an early age and what were your first demos like? ‘No. I didn’t record myself till I was about 20 years old. I used to sit for hours on end and compose songs that I would commit to memory and hope and dream that one day I would get to record them. This was pre home-computer days of course: write the lyrics on a tablet of salt type thing’. Where is music heading? How will albums sound and be listened to in ten years from now? ’10 years from now? 2017. I like to imagine that albums will come in the shape of little anodyne vitamin pills. All music will have been reduced to one minimalist sonic pulse which comatosed citizens will digest like robotic sheep. All other music is banned by the evil Lord Cowell. But in a far far away planet, a bunch of bearded hippies, who bear a striking resemblance to 70s tennis superstar Bjorn Borg, have just discovered an old 8-track recorder and an LP called ’2′ that belonged to their long dead father — The Simple Kid. To be continued!’
Listen to the Simple Kid song, Serotonin and watch the video.
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Alison Whittington said | 23 August, 2007
Saw Simple Kid play the other night at Union Hall in Brooklyn. Very fun show. All the cool kids were there dancing around.