Polly Scattergood : Interview

With her pale, childlike face, and a look of innocence veiling her entire being, it almost looked like Polly Scattergood had clambered into a dressing up box, draped herself in sequins and mother's heels, and was playing at being a grown up when she appeared on stage swathed in a solitary spotlight. In fact, at many times throughout the evenings’ performance it was easy to question her youth, as she looked so vulnerable on stage, despite being backed by a 3-piece band.

Yet once she opened her mouth to sing, the breathy and distinctive vocal of this new female artist, in a long list of others that have surfaced this year, it became obvious that all recent glowing reviews of her debut record were justified, and possibly underrated. And although the aesthetics appeared young, the emotional complexities behind her sound conveyed maturity far beyond her 23 Years.

Supported and championed by Rob Da Bank, who described Polly as the Kate Bush of the 20th Century, it was no hardship to connect the dots. For although it took her the first half of the show to properly conceal her nerves, a wildness behind the eyes, and creeping stage presence, appeared to possibly rival anything the chanteuse Bush has ever done. The same eerie and dramatic vocals amalgamated with a storytelling edge and the often dark and ominous nature of the lyrics were immediately distinguishable to the past works of Kate Bush, yet in a completely original way. Moreover Polly advocates herself that she had been writing songs years before she had ever come across any of Bush’s early records.

Her “poetry in motion” style of lyricising took you through a series of challenging issues, especially whilst she moved from over-exaggerating words and phrases, to simply whispering them. She offered a sensitivity, which was endearing, whilst evoking a fantasy aspect to her creative work. Imagine if you will, a real life Alice in Wonderland, discovering her sexuality, darkness, insecurities and personal strife, whilst penning it all into a song and repackaging it as her own “Pollyland”. That’s what you get on record and that is 100% what you get live. A blank canvas that Polly Scattergood (real name) has superbly made complex through the building blocks of her brutal honesty.

This headline show at London’s Cargo was an opportunity for Scattergood to share the limelight with the other female protagonists dictating the industry this year, as well as with her fellow Brit School alumni whose ubiquity continues to remain current. And with her contagious, and slightly mad, stripped down pop effort, it was obvious to anyone present that the recognition she too is due, is within reaching distance.

We spoke with a nervous yet excited Polly shortly before her headline show to regale ourselves with her origins as a songwriter, the history with label Mute, and what she thinks of the other females also gracing the airwaves currently…

4TR: When did you realize you wanted to be a singer/songwriter?
Polly: I think music has always just been around in the house ever since I was little and like there’s always been an out of tune piano there for me to make noise on.  My mum and dad have always listened to a lot of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen and so I have grown up around it, but there was never really a moment when I thought this is what I want to do, it’s weird, I just knew I was going to do it.

4TR: You are a graduate of The Brit School which more than ever has been highly publicised as a result of the other success stories that have stemmed from it's hallowed halls. Because of that people assume it’s a precursor to a fame factory, is that the case?
Polly: I think it was almost a victim of its own success, because its basically the only performing arts school in the UK that’s free which that you can go to when you’re 16.  I went there because I couldn’t get into my local 6th form college, so that was the only place that would kind of take me and when I got there it was just like any other sixth form but you can just study music, which is what I did.  I think the reason people have come out of there and continued to work in the music industry is because you don’t have to pay to go there, so I certainly felt very lucky to be able to go there to study and so worked really hard and I think it's that which probably spurs people on, especially when you are around other creative people. 

4TR: Is it true you wrote 800 songs when you were there?
Polly: Er no [laughing] it’s not true. I counted half way through being there and I had about 800 songs, but that’s because I started writing when I was like 12 or 13, so that was mainly in the years before I went to the Brit School.

4TR: ‘Luka’ by Suzanne Vega was one of my favourite songs growing up, so I was really interested to hear that it was a favourite of yours. You have since been quoted as saying that a song like 'Luka' shows you don’t have to shout for music to be heard, what did you mean by that? And does that go someway to explain your ethos as a songwriter?
Polly: Well I wouldn’t say that was my whole ethos, I know the quote that you are talking about and I don’t remember saying it in exactly those words.  What I did say was that was the first song where I realised you could have a piece of music which has layers to it and it sounds happy.  To me it was a summery tune and I used to put it on when I was getting ready to go out and I loved it and still do, then my friend explained that it was actually about abuse.  And so when I listened to it again knowing that, I realised how clever it was to be so uplifting in its tune but have such sad undertones.

4TR: Some of your music has similar dark undertones to it; do you deliberately follow a similar concept in that on the outside it’s pretty and upbeat but inside its come from a darker place or situation?
Polly: Definitely, you know that’s the kind of music I’m into; I love that in films and books and artwork and everything.  I love things that say one thing but if you want to delve into them further they also say something else, but its up to you to find that.

4TR: In that case are you writing from an autobiographical perspective?
Polly: I would say a lot of it is autobiographical, but I don’t mean it literally; like for example when I say I have a dog and a gun, its just an image I had in my head which I thought was powerful and strong.  I don’t like it when people take it too literally, I mean it’s not all autobiographical, but then I don’t think you can write a song without experiencing the actual feelings you are writing about.

4TR: Another quote I read was where you described the way in which you write as being akin to a storyteller?  Again is that true?
Polly: Kind of, I think like any songwriter if I just sat down and wrote about my life it would probably be massively boring and I don’t think anyone would want to listen.  I think you have to colour in bits and add sparkle with the words, but for me the meaning has to be real.  I would never sit down at a piano and think I’m going to write a song about some fictional thing I have dreamt up in my head, I have to feel it.

4TR: You have received a huge amount of support from radio dj’s, specifically Rob Da Bank who described you as the Kate Bush of the 21st century.  How does that backing inspire you?  And is Kate Bush an inspiration?
Polly: It’s weird, I wouldn’t say I agree with it, but firstly Rob Da Bank has been so supportive right from the very beginning and he  even played a little demo I sent him years ago.  The Kate Bush comparison is something I find obviously very flattering because she’s incredible, but she’s not somebody who I listened to or particularly listen to now.  I listened to one of her records first when I was about 16, but by then I’d been writing for years and already had my own style.   Actually I would say my main influences are much more people like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen.

4TR: Your music is very focused on your vocal as opposed to being all about big production values, why is that?
Polly: Yeah definitely, well when I started writing songs I just did it in my room starting on an old guitar that was my mums and also bashing away at the piano.  Then when I moved to London I didn’t have enough money for a piano or anything so I got a tiny toy keyboard and played that and then went to school so I could play a proper piano in the daytime.  So I never really understood where you could go to record and I didn’t have access to things like synths or computers even, so the production of music was something that had completely gone over my head.  Then when I got signed to Mute I got access to their studio which is just amazing, and full of old fashioned synthesizers and stuff, which completely blew my mind.

4TR: Would you say Mute helped to progress your sound on the album?
Polly: Definitely; I’m very strong on what I like and what I don’t like, but I always knew the lyrics were the bit I loved and felt strongly about.  Production wise I knew I didn’t want to be a female singer sitting playing the piano, but at the same time because I didn’t have access to anything else I didn’t really know what else I could be.  So yeah Mute definitely gave me the opportunity of playing with different toys and working with experienced people who I could call on and so I learnt a lot from that.

4TR: You released your self-titled debut album earlier this year, just as we are noticing a rise in the amount of female artists releasing material.
Polly: [laughing] Isn’t that typical!
4TR: I guess you never anticipated that happening and what effect if any it would have on your music?
Polly: I think its funny because I’ve been writing for quite a lot of years now and making music and thinking there’s not many female singer songwriters out there, but then I release my record and suddenly there’s loads.  But I really think there is so much room for all of us, like I listen to Little Boots and stuff and there’s just so many incredible people doing different things. There’s room for room everybody because what is music ultimately? It can be anything, there’s no boundaries so everyone can get in there together.

4TR: The album was released in March this year, which by the way is a fantastic debut, but how do you feel it has been received so far?
Polly: It’s weird ‘cos its me I don’t really know, its very hard to judge something that you are inside.  But I was pleasantly surprised at the reviews because I always expect the worst and I understand that the music that I write wont appeal to everybody and so for that reason I fully expect to read a review and for it to be awful, so to have the nice ones come in you know was a real surprise.  I mean who am I ultimately, I’m just another girl along with everybody else making music aren’t I, and the fact that people are bothered enough to write reviews about my music is just amazing.

4TR: With your experience of writing songs over the years culminating in finally having the chance to record a full studio album, when you heard the first playback of your record was it everything you had hoped for?
Polly: [laughing] Well I crashed my car, so it wasn’t a great experience when I listened to it for the first time.  I ran into someone else! It was weird, it definitely wasn’t what I expected because I didn’t know what to expect.  I mean firstly I never expected to be able to do an album, and then secondly even when we were half way through it I never knew what I wanted it to be.  We just kind of went into the studio, me and my producer Simon Fisher-Turner and neither of us really knew what to do with me [laughing], so we just played around and it eventually ended up being what it is. You know I could have gone on for another year or 2 years and I think it would have gone into something completely different again. 

4TR: In that case do you see yourself doing something completely different with future recordings or is your sound now a true interpretation of you and where you want to be?
Polly: Yeah at the moment my sound is 100% me and where I want to be, but then I don’t even know myself what I’m going to be like in 2 years time.  What I was 3 years ago is different to what I am now, well the core is still the same tbut he exterior has changed, and I change what songs I like by the day, so I guess the musical style will inevitably be different, maybe more grown up because I will have grown up more by then.

4TR: And are you still influenced by Joni Mitchell etc?
Polly: Yeah but I listen to lots of other things as well like Portishead and Mylo and I have a broad range now of musical tastes overall.

4TR: Do you replicate the songs identically for your live shows or do they change in order for you to be able to convey them appropriately in that environment?
Polly: I tend to change the set depending on the show because it keeps me on my toes a bit and then I have my band behind me because that’s the only way we can recreate the sounds properly. For example a song like 'Nitrogen Pink' has 124 guitars on it,[laughing] so it’s taken a very long time and a lot of rehearsing to get it right because it’s such a complex sound with lots of layers which we want to do justice to when performing them.

4TR: And finally your work has been described as poetry in music, is that a fair interpretation as you see it?
Polly: Maybe, but I don’t really know where the line is drawn between poetry and lyrics or thoughts and lyrics.  I just write about what I feel, whether I am writing a song or even a blog on my MySpace, its just whatever is in my head at the time which can be random and unexpected.  Thats the way I like it and the way other people seem to like it, which ultimately for me is the most important thing.

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