‘Between Punk And Thatcher’s Fall’ by Lyndon Morgans | New Album, ‘Of Gods And Men’ | Interview

Exclusive track premiere of ‘Between Punk and Thatcher’s Fall’ by Lyndon Morgans, taken from the upcoming album, ‘Of Gods And Men’, out October 28th 2022 via Junkyard Songs.

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‘Of Gods And Men’ is the first album from Welsh songwriter Lyndon Morgans to be released under his own name, having put out his previous eight albums under the Songdog moniker. Over the course of the record’s 15 self-penned tracks, Lyndon continues his exploration of his favourite themes – the passing of time, lost love, sex, death, ageing and psychic overload.

In addition to fellow Songdog regular Karl “Pod” Woodward, who provides the distinctive Mellotron sound that peppers the album – and also designed the cover art – Lyndon is joined on this album by several guest musicians, including Mathew Conner on drums, backing vocalist Colleen McCarthy and producer Alex Franklinos on bass.

His previous albums as Songdog include 2020’s ‘A Happy Ending,’ ‘Joy Street,’ ‘Last Orders at Harry’s Bar,’ ‘A Life Eroding,’ ‘A Wretched Sinner’s Song,’ ‘The Time Of Summer Lightning,’ ‘Haiku’ and ‘The Way Of The World’. Lyndon’s tracks have been praised by the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Robert Wyatt.

‘Of Gods And Men’ by Lyndon Morgans album pre-save link.

‘Between Punk and Thatcher’s Fall’

It was some kind of golden age, man, I was the Lord of the Strings,
the guitars felt like engines to gun, we came on like kings.
And then there was Iris,
with a smile like a lighted fuse, bought me a glass of Havana rum, said I’m gonna be your muse —
a peroxide blonde with polka dots,
a tattoo of a snake crawling up a cross,
she kept my balls in her leather trophy sack….

Remember those wild, wild days between punk and Thatcher’s fall?
What have you got – I mean, REALLY got — if you can’t waste it all?
Some of us shone like quasars, some threw up in pre-dawn streets,
others hunted for a place called the fuck-out-of-here, but didn’t life taste sweet?
Rebel songs and south London blues,
all I got left to show are some bad reviews,
now I feel like a lightning bolt in exile on a kiddie’s carousel.

I used to live for beauty, I lived for the beat,
now the only drum I hear beating still is sounding my retreat.
But say hello to all the old gang for me, to Spoons and all the rest, all those nights at Harry’s bar, weren’t they just the best?
I’ve got hot flames of bourbon ablaze in my guts, the sun hates to shine, it just does ‘cos it must.
I’ve been unwrapping the good times from the dustsheets I keep ‘em safe under.

I’ve been re-living those times with Iris, she burned the hottest of us all, I’ve been diving down to the wreck of Time, you still got that Les Paul? The years I’m loyal to are over, I’m on a permanent losing streak,
my first heart-attack is in the post and all my old bones creak,
but if I had any money I’d stake it all on those years between punk and Thatcher’s fall, on those crazy and wonderful years between punk and Thatcher’s fall.

“The songs speak of heartache and disappointment but sonically the soundscapes hark back to magical days, the happiest times of my life”

How long did you work on ‘Of Gods And Men’?

Lyndon Morgans: A few of the songs on the album I’d had around for a while already — one, ‘My Own Worst Enemy,’ for maybe twenty-five years! — and I wrote the rest during the Covid lockdown over the period of about a year. Then Karl Woodward and I worked on the songs every day from March through August 2021, coming up with the arrangements and demoing the tunes as we went. We started the recording proper in mid-September and finished in early December, working a week on and then a week off. I suppose the whole thing took a couple of years.

What makes your latest album different to Songdog releases, that you decided to release it under your own name?

Our drummer left just as the project was due to begin, plus we intended using the Mellotron quite heavily on the record, giving the sound a different texture to the ones we’d done previously. So those factors, plus coming out of a long lockdown, made it all feel like something of a fresh start, so I decided to use my own name rather than the band’s. Karl, a member of Songdog from the very beginning, had no problem with the change of name, though he was as heavily involved in this record as he was in any of the others, even more so.

What’s the typical creative process for you like and was it any different for the latest album? Can you share some further words about the recording and producing process?

Each time we make a record it’s always been the same process, first of all I have all the songs ready and then we rehearse them heavily and work up the arrangements in detail and then we make the record. Some of the stuff we’d prepared doesn’t necessarily work out like we’d figured and so doesn’t make the cut, but other things happen instead, happy accidents or some sudden red-light epiphany blown our way from the Muse’s own cherry-red lips. I’d love to try building a record from scratch in the studio, but I don’t see that as a luxury ever coming my way! I’m no kind of tech-head, so I just play and sing what I’ve written and rely on the producer to get it down and sprinkle any magic he may have in his goodie-bag. Alex Franklinos did this one and its predecessor, ‘A Happy Ending,’ and he’s a wizard on the tech front. He played bass on both the albums too, he’s a man of many gifts. He has a special talent booster button and it’s set perpetually on ‘STUN.’

Would you like to talk about the songs?

As I said, one tune, ‘My Own Worst Enemy’ predated Songdog entirely, a handful more the band had been kicking around in rehearsal for a while. The instrumental track, ‘The Mooch’ started life as just something we’d plonk around on as a warm-up at rehearsals. We’d done a version of ‘Song For A Five-String Guitar’ for our fourth album but there hadn’t been room for it there so we re-did it with a new arrangement this time out. ‘Wild As Ophelia’ we’d tried recording under another name for the ‘Joy Street’ album but we’d failed to capture it that time, though I knew I really liked the song. So I was pleased to have been able to attend to a few things that felt like unfinished business as well as working on the brand-new material which comprises two-thirds of the record.

Do you think there’s a certain concept you were trying to capture?

Any concept I might’ve had pertained to the sound rather than the songs. The subject matter of the songs themselves was formed of my perennial themes, but the new element was the use of the Mellotron. I’d always loved it ever since I’d first heard it on ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and a lot of the psychedelic stuff of the late Sixties, sacred times to me. I finally got my hands on one and I knew I wanted these songs drenched in it! I suppose it’s a little like Leonard Cohen having taken up the synthesiser on his ‘I’m Your Man’ album, the songs were still very much Leonard’s own specialities we’d all come to know and love but the instrumentation was new. With ‘The Queen Of The £10 Deal’ we were trying to reference that beautiful late-Sixties Easy Listening sound but undermine it just a bit with some ‘inappropriate’ lyrics. The folky instruments we’ve always used are still there, they form the record’s armature but with this lovely thick Mellotron impasto applied. The songs speak of heartache and disappointment but sonically the soundscapes hark back to magical days, the happiest times of my life.

How would you compare it to your previous Songdog album, ‘A Happy Ending’?

‘A Happy Ending’ and ‘Of Gods & Men’ were both recorded in the same studio — Shrunken Heads in South London — and with Al Franklinos producing, but I think that the songs on the new album are maybe a little more direct. Not that I set out to make them so, it’s just the way they seemed to emerge. I’m pleased with both records, and Al says he thinks we all pushed the boat out a bit further on this new one. But both records are my babies and I hope they both grow up to be million-sellers.

Are you planning to play some gigs?

We’re playing a London show at St Pancras Old Church on November 11th, we’re doing it as a four-piece, myself on acoustic guitar, Karl on keyboards, Bethan Frieze on violin and Jonny Bridgwood on double-bass. The set will consist solely of songs from these last two albums. ‘A Happy Ending’s’ launch gig got pulled in 2020 due to Covid, so it’s sharing the honours with the new LP this time out. Then we’ve a show booked in Santander in Spain and one in Bristol on November 25th at Zed Alley in Bristol. Next year we’ll play anywhere anyone asks us to.

“My life is really concerned only with my songs and my music”

What else currently occupies your life?

My life is really concerned only with my songs and my music. Everything I get to do or not do revolves around that. I’m currently trying to write an album’s worth of new songs, I’m about four songs in, but it gets harder, the effort to avoid repeating myself, so I write more slowly, I’m more critical of the stuff I produce. I read a lot, watch a lot of films, it all feeds back into the songs. A Beckett a day keeps the philistine away, I find. I fast, too, and I’m passionate about animal rights. I feel so busy all the time, life seems relentless.

Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

I buy a lot of records. The stuff I love most has always been about the great songwriters, the usual litany of names, Dylan, Joni, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman, Scott Walker, Nick Cave and others. But of the newer artists I’d recommend Aldous Harding, a singer/songwriter from New Zealand but based in Wales. She’s got something all her own. And she uses a Mellotron! I like Wet Leg too.

Thank you. Last word is yours.

Last word? I hope you like the new album. It’s available from October 28th. And thank you for your questions!

Klemen Breznikar

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