Preview: David Ford, Fibbers, York, January 17 (From York Press)

Preview: David Ford, Fibbers, York, January 17

2:42pm Friday 11th January 2008 in Music news and reviews By Charles Hutchinson

Once he was Dav Ford of Easyworld, a band formed out of boredom at being "the only musicians in Eastbourne not in Toploader".

Since turning solo, former Brighton University cleaner David Ford has released two albums of doomed romanticism that bring a Tony Hancock humour to life's disappointments: 2005's I Sincerely Apologise For All the Trouble I've Caused and Songs For The Road, released last October.

True to that album title, those songs are now on the road.

CHARLES HUTCHINSON put in a call to Ford's Eastbourne home ahead of three days of rehearsals for a tour that visits York on Thursday.

How do solo shows differ from your days in Easyworld, David?

"It can be a bit strange at first, but you grow into it: sometimes you can have more flexibility than is helpful, whereas if you're in a band there's a structure you adhere to.

"For this tour, I've just been writing the song list down, and from the two albums I've no idea what set I'll do yet, as I like to put on a show, and it's not so much about finding a theme to a show but creating an atmosphere whereby the show works as a whole.

"So it's not down to picking my favourite songs but finding the ones that work best together for the best atmosphere."

The latest album has lush strings and a Motown vibe. Will you be recreating that sound with a band in York?

"I think there'll be two of us, possibly three of us... I know, with one week to go, I probably should have made that decision by now.

"I'll certainly be going on the road with Hannah Peel, who plays the piano, violin, trombone, and sings too. I've been working with Hannah for some time; she's been touring with me since the summer after I met her in Liverpool, where she's an acquaintance of my manager.

"We'll rehearse in Eastbourne for three days, but we know the songs already from touring last year."

What character will the songs take on in performance?

"Hopefully, the character remains similar as far as meaning or intensity is concerned. That's something that we'll try to do that doesn't have anything to do with the arrangement but is all about getting the song right.

"I don't ever use anything prerecorded as I consider that to be cheating - I think it's jolly bad form he says this with an exaggerated old-school English accent for comic effect - but that makes it more of a challenge for me because how much can you do with only a couple of people? I like to think that we've always been able to go the extra mile by putting the effort in."

Yet maybe, despite those efforts, you have not received the recognition that your classically English, literate songwriting warrants in your home country. Does that frustrate you?

"I don't get frustrated in the way that other people assume I would be by not being on the cover of magazines or selling millions of records. I think I've done pretty well to make music for as long as I have and to make some quality records in that time. I've had friends in bands who have never had the chance to make a record and that would be much more frustrating."

I'm Alright Now - the one with that fantastic lyric "Another evening of sublime self-destruction to the tune of a thousand cigarettes" - will be released as a single on Monday. Do you still believe in the power of the single?

"I kind of think that singles are dying out. We live in an age of tracks rather singles, and I don't mind singles disappearing, but I do mind albums disappearing.

Singles have just been a way to get a song out there, but an album is like a movie rather than a half-hour TV episode. It's an entity in itself.

"Even with the advent of people now shuffling the track order or burning their own albums, the artistic aim for me is to make an album that you can put on at the beginning and listen right through to the end, but a lot of the decision-making that goes into a record isn't artistic.

"At least with the first solo album, I had no label, so I had 100 per cent input, and that's my favourite way of making a record.

For the second one, there was a certain amount of dialogue; but I wouldn't accept any other way than me turning the wheel; others can make navigational suggestions but I steer the course."

Does that in part explain where there are only nine tracks on Songs For The Road?

"I rarely listen to anything for more than 40 minutes. I don't like this modern idea of filling an album with 18 tracks till a CD is full, just because we have the digital formatting to do that. I think we have only a 40-minute attention span, and I still think in terms of an old vinyl album with a side one and a side two, and finishing side one on a high."

Is there any other reason for releasing a short album?

"Yes, I don't write that many songs!"

Given that you once called a song Cheer Up (You Miserable F***), people will assume you're a pessimist. Is that so?

"I consider myself to have a positive outlook, and part of that 'positivity' is looking at things and thinking 'this should be better', so maybe I'm an idealist rather than an optimist. A lot of what I do is moaning but it's not without hope or a wish for alternatives. I don't like to listen to songs that are just sad; there has to be at least a ray of light."

• David Ford plays Fibbers, York, on Thursday; tickets £10 on the door.