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?
