Hackney People
Gwyneth Herbert
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Break-ups are tough. First it’s arguing over appearances, then you stop listening to each other. Next thing you know you’re fighting over the music. “We outgrew each other. Actually that makes it sound a lot easier than it was, it was harsh!” laughs Hackney-based singer Gwyneth Herbert, reflecting on her departure from record label Universal. Now with her ‘jazzy-folky-bluesy’ new album, All The Ghosts, on more modest label Naim Edge, critics have almost unanimously showered the LP with accolades for its bewitching characterisation, while praising the artist as a gifted songwriter and lyricist. |
And first track, So Worn Out, is very local. “It’s about stumbling off the 277 bus on Mare Street and seeing lovely Dave by the Texaco garage who keeps Star Wars figurines in his right pocket and Star Trek in his left. And he can speak fluent Klingon,” she explains. Adding: “It’s about that time early in the morning when Hackney turns into this magical place, when it’s at its most alive. It’s my favourite place in London, it’s not airbrushed by chains and there are loads of local, quirky places to hang out like Broadway Market or The Dolphin Pub. Actually, I’m getting a bit worried because they gave me a free T-shirt last time. I think it means I go there too much.”
Gwyneth also loves the borough’s parks, no mean feat considering she was raised in a green Surrey village. Brought up on a diet of Lou Reed, Joni Mitchell and other great 1970s storytellers, what followed were the ‘teenage cider years’, Durham University and a move to London with guitarist Will Rutter.
“At the time we didn’t have any contacts or money, so we’d just walk into restaurants and pubs to play songs. Kind of like selling jazz door-to-door.”
But her sound caught the ear of Universal at a time when new-jazz stars such as Jamie Cullum were getting success. She readily signed and before she knew it, was on billboard posters, televisions adverts and ‘Parkinson’. It became clear however, the studio already knew who they wanted her to be.
“They tried to put me in the Norah Jones category, this new young jazz generation. Record companies like working to a formula and I was just overwhelmed to be involved with such a massive label. I turned up, sang and got my hair cut the way they wanted it.
Okay, the hair might have been more important than the music,” she says.
After being told what to wear, how to speak and what to sing, the cracks began to show.
“By then I’d started writing a lot, while they wanted big band covers. It became obvious I wasn’t the artist they had signed. But I did meet some great people and worked with some amazing musicians,”Gwyneth said.
Yet despite the recent success on her own terms she is still being labelled.
She says: “First it was Britain’s answer to Norah Jones and the female Jamie Cullum. Now it’s Ray Davies and Joni Mitchell and there’s this huge responsibility; it’s kind of scary. In a way, though, being compared to so many artists is great because it means it’s hard to place me in any one category.”
She’s currently writing a musical about Phyllis Pearsall, the creator of the A to Z, as a homage to her early days in London, as well as learning the ukulele.
She says: “Our next song is ukulele based. When everyone heard it they said ‘What an amazing song. Stop writing dark, weird character songs. Write happy songs with four chords.’” Why four chords? She smiles: “Because that’s all I can play.”
Curriculum Vitae
- 1981 Born in Wimbledon
- 1983 Moves to Bramley, Surrey
- 1999 Studies English at Durham
- 2004 Releases ‘Bittersweet and Blue’
- 2006 Leaves Universal Records
- 2007 Becomes Blue Note’s first UK signing in 30 years
- 2009 Releases ‘All The Ghosts’
More information
Visit www.gwnethherbert.com
Page updated: 15 Jun 2010
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