In the post-punk landscape of the late '70s and early '80s, the Raincoats sounded like no one else. A British, all-female band that employed off-kilter rhythms, childlike melodies and searing violin, the Raincoats released four albums before disbanding in 1984. Ten years later, fan Kurt Cobain changed all that when he urged Geffen to re-release their albums. After a brief reformation, which yielded 1994's Looking in the Shadows, they called it quits again. Another decade has passed and Ana da Silva, former guitarist and singer with the Raincoats, has a solo record out on Germany's Chicks on Speed Records. The same spirit of experimentation and playfulness that guided her former band's musical output is evident in the fractured innocence of her new songs. Although the technology was unfamiliar to her, Ana recorded The Lighthouse in her flat using a sequencer, a digital 8-track and two microphones. The result is a mysterious, endearing record that fulfills her desire to "create worlds for the listener to roam in."
The Lighthouse is wonderful. What was your process in making it?
I had bits of ideas about some of the songs for a while, but I didn't know what I was going to do with them. We got the Raincoats together, and then stopped again, so I started looking into equipment to see if I could do a few bits more on my own. I came across the Yamaha QY70, which is a very small machine. It's about the size of a paperback or a videocassette and it's got a sequencer, more than five hundred sounds and a mini keyboard. I bought that to start working on things and I just worked with it and worked and worked, and started thinking, "This actually sounds quite nice as it is." So I played with each song a lot to make the sounds really good, and then I just decided to use it as the final thing. It's something you can use with batteries and headphones, and you can do it anywhere. It's pretty good!
What influenced you to pick out the Yamaha device? Did other people suggest it to you, or were you just fooling around in the store?
I just inquired a lot and went to the shops and looked at magazines, just trying to make heads or tails of things. I had to go to Portugal [a lot] at that point because of having to look after my mother — I thought it was something I would just take with me and work up ideas, but then I found out it was good enough in itself. They sell [the QY70] more as a songwriting device, but I think it's better then that, really. Then I bought a digital recorder, a Roland 8-track digital recorder. I put [the QY70] into it and then I recorded the voices with backing vocals and everything, all here in my flat. I just did it.
I like the different vocal tracks. I think they add a lot to the songs. There's a dream-like quality to several of the songs that's very intriguing, and the vocals sound warm and present. What kind of microphones did you use?
I used two mics. The first one was an AKG. It was a cheap mic, a bit like a ShureSM58-soI recorded most things with that mic, but then I thought, "The vocals don't always sound that great. I'll invest in a nice microphone." So I went and bought a Rode NTK. I had the AKG for many years — I remember buying it for us to rehearse with the Raincoats. It's only a cheap mic. But what happened with a few of the songs, when I actually recorded with the better mic, I just didn't interpret the songs as well as I did with that other one — it just didn't sound as nice and I thought, "Oh well, who cares if it's a cheap mic or an expensive mic?" So some of the songs are with the cheaper mic and some are with the NTK.
I noticed Stuart Moxham [Young Marble Giants] plays on the track "Modinha". Did you also record that on your digital 8-track?
No, that's the only song that I didn't do on the album. It was something that he was asked to do for a French label that was doing a tribute to [Antonio Carlos] Jobim. He thought it would be a good idea because I'm Portuguese and Jobim, being Brazilian — I'd be speaking the same language. He asked me which song I'd like to do and I chose that one. I went to his house and recorded the vocal and some slide guitar as well, which you can hear — that was me, everything else was Stuart. So it sounds a bit different, the voice is more up front and there's less reverb, but I just really liked it. So I thought I'd put it on the record.
What is your songwriting process, in general? Do you usually start with a rhythm, a melody or vocals?
When I was with the Raincoats, I used to first write the lyrics, pick up a guitar, play chords with it and just work it a bit. So I'd have a guitar part, a structure of the song and a melody, and then I would bring the song to the band and everybody would add in their instruments. We'd all bring our songs into the band and then work on them together. But with this, it's been a bit different. Some things already had the lyrics, so I worked the music for those lyrics. But other things start with the music and I just develop it from there.
Do you make music every day? Do you have a schedule you follow?
No, I'm very disorganized and very slow. I'm a snail. I wish I could organize myself to do that, but I just get so distracted with everything. But I managed to release this album and I'm so happy about that. Now I'm concentrating on doing the next album.
Do you think you're going to continue to use the Yamaha QY70?
I'm going to use the QY70, definitely. I also have a QY100, which is the next one up. It's slightly different — it's got the SmartMedia card so you can load the songs on it, because there's a bit of a problem with the amount of memory. I can only have about seven of my songs on it — so you have to use another one or find another way of dealing with it. I'm working with it at the moment for the next thing. I might use guitar in the next one, so maybe at the end, if I find I don't have enough tracks on the digital recorder, I might put everything into a computer. I don't know yet. I feel like I want to try and keep it simple.
Keeping it simple is often a good plan! You took the photograph on the CD cover too, right? It fits well with the music.
Yeah, I was very happy I took that photograph — I didn't have a clue that I'd done that. I got the film developed and there it was. Sometimes you take lots and lots of pictures and nothing is special and then that one — I think it's because it's a bit washed out and the colors are a bit strange. I think if it had been done with a digital camera, it would have done it more perfectly and it wouldn't have been as nice.
Do you find when you're songwriting it's a similar sort of thing, where you just play around with stuff and then eventually you hit on something unexpected?
Yeah, I just try things. I haven't got very set ideas before I start something. I just start fiddling with a thing, just making sounds and then things start shaping up and you think, "Oh what if I did this bit here or that bit there?" That's how it goes really.
When you were in the Raincoats, did you do any multitrack recording at home, like cassette 4-tracking?
No. I had a 4-track, but we never used it with the Raincoats. I used it on my own to fiddle about with things, but I didn't know anything about equipment really. We used to go into a studio with somebody producing, or helping us produce, and things would just happen. I'm a bit computer phobic, but I'm trying to get into it more. All that stuff like "digital" and "MIDI" — I didn't know what those words meant when I started doing this. It was a really difficult thing. The instruction book for the Roland recorder was written, I think, by someone who is not an English speaking person, because it was so odd at times. Just understanding what it all meant was really difficult.
It's pretty impressive that you weren't savvy with the equipment at all and yet you recorded a whole record.
Yeah, I'm still astonished and impressed with it! [laughs] If my brain goes back five years ago or a bit more, I could never envision that I would do anything that sounded like this. I used to play guitar and sing, that's all — and suddenly I make a whole record. I didn't know you could do something like this. If you put your heart and your effort into it, you manage to do it.
And do it quite well.
[laughs] It doesn't sound like the small operation that it really was!
