1991
On The Frontier With
Robyn Hitchcock
by Carl Arnheiter
Robyn Hitchcock is a frontier of songwriting, one barely reached and crossed only with great consideration and preparedness. Peering beyond the boundary, you have insight into a strange world, filled with objects of an overworked and prolific mind. Suddenly, you realize you are in the domain of Robyn Hitchcock, guardian of the land's gates.
Hitchcock is definitely unique in the music world. Writing with the cunning of a politician, he has the remarkable ability to see an object from several points of view at one time, twist phrases, and torment the cliche. His words and melodies offer the possibility of travel down unknown paths, his voice acting as a sardonic tour guide. Such a realm is found on any of Robyn's sixteen albums, and with the release of Perspex Island, the limits continue to expand.
At first listen, Perspex Island sounds Pop-y, different than the rest of his catalog. Its catchy guitar riffs and straightforward, love-filled lyrics make the album appear to have been dissected before release. However, Robyn's songwriting is so brilliant and, combined with the talent and control The Egyptians exhibit over their instruments, the album is taken to greater heights. Though the lyrics may seem "scaled down", Hitchcock insists that nothing has changed at all.
"I really haven't dropped anything. Really, nothing much has changed. I've been writing love songs for years. It's simply that this collection of songs doesn't have anything particularly grotesque on it. There's no point where the pictures, kind of, leap out and stop the songs and say, 'Okay, hold it. We're now going to have a display of words for your benefit and mine.' They are more reined into the songs so that they don't achieve too much prominence. I still like the same things: transparencies, sea creatures, foliage. It's not as if I'm a born-again humanist. Just, sometimes imagery can clutter the song (and then it can strangle whatever emotion there is underneath)."
The songs themselves radiate a newfound feeling of relief, which is found throughout the entire album. As it turns out, this is something he's been looking for for some time.
"They're very satisfying to sing because they don't have so many things getting in the way. What you don't have to do is coast frantically from one verse to another, and keep changing mood. I try to get one mood in a song at a time -- whereas in the old days, I think I used to try and get two or three moods in each song. It was very jumpy. All that's happening to the stuff is that it's getting more and more settled."
Which is quite a change from his days with The Soft Boys who, in order to keep themselves interested in the music, needed to change tempo every thirty seconds. "The idea was to not settle on anything in case it became too boring. But the trouble," he says, "was, if you didn't settle on anything, you get nowhere -- and give no one a chance to focus. So everything becomes a blur."
Because of this type of playing, Hitchcock has been plagued with the problem of categorization all throughout his career.
"By the time Queen Elvis came out, we weren't much of an Alternative phenomenon anymore. There's no such thing as an Alternative record. You know what a Country record sounds like, and you know what a Metal record sounds like; but you can't tell what an Alternative record sounds like because it covers a multitude of different styles."
Though Robyn offers no solution to the problem, he adds, "I'm simply thinking not in terms of sound, but in terms of market (which, again, we've never fitted into much). Hopefully, the album will get on the Top 40, and stuff like that. That means we'll probably sell more records. But it doesn't mean we're going to sound any different, or that we'll fit in any other category. It'll be quite interesting to see what they really call us."
"Interesting" is right. The one-time underground sensation -- the master of pretense -- played in the same set as Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch. Maybe Hitchcock's world is reality, and what we see and hear is the twisted land. Hitchcock offers solace.
"People have been telling me that I should cross over for ten or eleven years. And I just, kind of, got fed up with them saying, 'Go on, do it.' And I'd say, 'No.' Unfortunately, there's another practical thing to consider: that a career doesn't remain level. Careers either go up or down, and ours have been going up. Infinitessimally slowly -- but it's gone up. Each record has outsold the previous one -- sometimes a lot, sometimes a little -- over the past eleven years. I mean, I would rather go on the Top 40 than have to go and work in a bank (if I was confronted by that armed figure of fate)."
Another change that came about was a natural one -- one even the great Robyn Hitchcock had no control over. Much like a fine wine, Robyn has aged gracefully. And this has carried over into the music. Where The Soft Boys and early solo material was hectic and at times chaotic, Perspex Island offers peace and tranquility.
"I think it's a matter of me getting older. As you get older, you don't want to create something so fast, so jittery. My daughter listens to stuff I find abrasive: Front 242, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry -- bands I would probably like if I were young. I've been listening to Bryan Ferry (who's a bit older than me), and I've been interested in that sort of thing for a while. This is probably the first record that's got that sort of feel to it. I'm not really concerned with shaking people up anymore, but I would like to convey some kind of feeling in the song -- at least to myself."
This change is also necessary. Whereas Hitchcock thought that he would be following behind in the steps of songwriters before him, for the new album he decided to change his ways and cut ahead of them.
"I'm kind of sick of appealing to the people I already appeal to, the way Dylan or Van Morrison does. You just go on making the same records for the same people until you die. And then maybe, after you've passed away, there'll be a little speaker in your headstone playing the same stuff out to the other people who've all gone and got buried with you in the cemetary because they're such big fans. It just gets sterile, finance aside."
And so we have the ever-changing world of Robyn Hitchcock. In this, the fourteenth year of a storming career, we have only reached the eye (where all is calm). But who is to say what the future holds? Only the stones remain (and know for sure).
COPYRIGHT NOTICE