Eugene McGuinness tells us about the world that informed his new album, Chroma.
Portraits Of An Album is a brand new feature on RFB and with it's creation it seemed fitting to get one of our all time favourites to have the first stab at it - Eugene McGuinness. We asked the singer songwriter to offer us a simple image and a sentence for each track from his new album to help get an idea for the world in which his record was created and he chose the kitchen sink approach. Learn about the coffee cups, baby brothers, cowboy films and running shoes that inspired his latest album, Chroma below.
"Me and my brother had been trying to write a rock tune with one chord. I did 'Godiva' and he did 'XXX' for his band The Bohicas. That said, his does go to another chord once or twice. Show off."
"This song in a way started the whole feel of the album. It flew out of me one morning and made me focus only on the side of me that is quick and instinctive. It opened the doors to the rest of Chroma."
"It's a quote from There Will Be Blood but if you choose to think about Kelis or tasty drinks, then that's ok too. I'd go for the Oreo Shake."
"Dan [Carey, producer - Ed.] and I used a limited range of tools on this album. This guitar was for the beef. There's a lot of beef throughout chroma so this was the beef button. He had this other guitar which had no bass strings and made everything shimmer. That was handy too. Sweet & Sour."
"There's a lot of phone chat on this album. Phone etiquette. How it can mangle us in a million different ways."
"What I was saying about 'Amazing Grace', this one was written over the same cup of coffee. Freezing it was... That's the price you pay."
"This is the oldest tune. Written years ago whilst touring in France. We missed our flight and had to wait all day in a hotel reception in the middle of nowhere, this kept me occupied."
"If I ever write something fast, you can be sure that I only really do it so I can listen to myself while running in the morning. I am Rocky Balboa."
"Wrote this with my little brother, the large potato you see resting graciously on my lap. This photo perfectly reflects my struggle to breakthrough Dominic's huge presence."
"I never planned for Fairlight to touch this record. It was done with Dan half a year previously. But it did - SONICALLY - point us in the direction of Chroma so we thought it deserved a tip of the hat."
Watch the video for 'Godiva' below.
Chroma is out now on Domino.