Nerina Pallot Interview
Three years after the gold-selling 'Fires', singer/songwriter Nerina Pallot returns with new album ‘The Graduate’, an album of piano-driven songs high on happy pills, woozy electronics and beefed up bass.
> Buy the album.
Self-produced and recorded in the North London studio she shares with her husband, Grammy-nominated producer Andrew Chatterley, 'The Graduate' took shape after two turbulent years in Pallot’s life. The first found her struggling with any sustained creativity in the midst of the promotion and touring in support of 'Fires'. The second was a case of writer’s block caused by meeting and marrying Chatterley. The problem was one not often found in pop - she was too content to want to write songs.
The impetus to return to writing came only after Pallot’s record label, tired of waiting for a follow-up to 'Fires', sent her to the States to work with Linda Perry, the one-woman hit factory for the likes of Christina Aguilera and Pink. At the same time, Pallot made the unusual step of returning to university to complete the English degree she had started while making 'Fires'.
How does it feel to be a graduate?
Do you know what? It meant more to me than anything, really. Because it was harder this time, to do it this way ‘round, and because everyone thought I was mad. The last year was a lot of work, and I thought it’d be fine, you know – trying to finish a record, and run a marathon and do my degree.
What made you want to go back to academia?
It was two things: I wanted to finish [my degree], ‘cause I don’t like leaving things unfinished. And the other thing was that I had terrible writer’s block. Really bad writer’s block. And I knew that when I’d been to uni before, it just gave me so many ideas lyrically. I think there’s a very big leap from my first album to my second album lyrically. I’d put money on that it was because I was doing my degree.
Do you get your inspiration from literature? Does it move you to write?
Definitely. And I’m a terrible magpie as well… I get a lot of melody inspiration, but lyrically I need a springboard, and I nearly always get it from literature.
Can we expect a Nerina Pallot novel in the future...?
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. But I’m so lazy, I can’t conceive doing it.
There seems to be a theme of procrastination on the album. Your new single, 'Real Late Starter', for instance...
I think with me it’s a fear of failure. I have that recurring dream where I’m naked in school, like a lot of people, and I think that comes from never wanting to be wrong. When I was a kid, I was that annoying child who always had her hand up. And I’m very competitive with myself, so I always want to go out in the world and get an A+. And so what happens is, I don’t allow myself to finish things in case I don’t get an A+, which is stupid. ‘Cause, you know, very few people keep getting A+s. So I never finish anything because then I can never be told it’s not quite right. Isn’t that sad?
Well, 'Real Late Starter' is rather tragicomic...
The big thing for me is that [the video’s] set in an 8-year-old’s bedroom, because what I’m essentially doing is living out that girl’s dream… to the horrible conclusion: fucked up.
Was filming that video as fun as it looks?
It was! We had a miniscule budget, but I’m very lucky in that the director – who had just made a Jay-Z video, Run This Town, hilariously enough. Marc [Klasfeld] is a genius, and he makes all those $2m videos. God bless him, he was all like, ‘Ah, love your songs. What’ve you got? We’ll go have fun, I’ll think of something,’ and he came up with the most mad treatment. We have a really similar sense of humour, actually.
You mentioned once that you altered the parentage on your Wikipedia page to read ‘Love child of Elton John and Kikie Dee’…
And some bastard came and took it off! They should’ve let it stand, it’s a fabulous story! As a 5-year-old I secretly dreamt I was Elton and Kiki’s child.
Do you think people are confounded by the fact that you can be serious about what you do but also have a sense of humour about yourself?
Well… They clearly take themselves too seriously. I think people imagine that if you’re a singer-songwriter, you walk around with a notebook and a long skirt in the fields, going, ‘Oh, look at the moon and the stars.’ If I meet people like that, I just want to fucking punch them. I would love to see a slightly more… inclusive pop mainstream that was a bit more humour-led and a bit less po-faced. And more crap dancing. I would like to lead the charge for crap dancing. So I think when we make the 'I Don’t Want To Go Out' video, that’s got to have a lot of shit dancing.
So that’s the next single? When’s that being released?
That will probably be in the new year. When I finish the tour and everything.
The tour-only EPs you did were a grand idea…
Yeah, I’m going to definitely do more. I get a bit frustrated by the notion of saving everything up for this 10-song thing. I’m making music all the time. And I think that now, with the way technology is, and the way you can connect with your fanbase… If I’ve got music that’s ready to come out, I’m just going to keep feeding it out in that way. Now I’m thinking about doing a regular EP and then a box set at the end of each year, with maybe short stories to go with it or illustrations.
How much involvement did you have with this album cover?
Totally. I went and bought the [rabbit costume]. I already had a couple of rabbit costumes.
Wasn’t for anything weird, was it?
No, no! I have a very normal marriage. I just saw this suit in a fancy dress shop near where I live and I thought it was quite fabulous. […]I think of myself as a slightly twisted Victoria Wood. I’m like indie Victoria Wood. I don’t mean indie music, but I mean indie compared to Victoria Wood. And I feel me in the rabbit suit screams ‘indie Victoria Wood’. I could be completely wrong.
No! Just get Julie Walters.
I know. Can you imagine, me and her doing a duet like Mamma Mia?
What sort of comedy rocks your boat?
Curb Your Enthusiasm. Obsessed. Family Guy. Completely obsessed. Frasier. Totally obsessed. Ab Fab. Totally obsessed.
Okay, so next question is a.) Are there any Little Nerinas in the pipeline and b.) Would you ever threaten to adopt a Romanian baby?
Can I just say that while there are Little Nerinas in the pipeline, not at this moment in time. It’s definitely part of the plan, yes, definitely. Would I threaten her with a Romanian orphan? No, I’d just put her in the cupboard like my mum did.
'The Graduate' is released on 5th October 2009, released by Echo.
Written by Polis Loizou.
