When 2017 rolled around, I had no idea whatsoever who Paul Draper was. Something has clearly changed, because here we are one year later, and I’m writing enthusiastically about his first solo album Spooky Action. How did it come to be?
I was flipping through the new summer issue of Prog Magazine, when a highlighted quote on a page stopped me in my tracks. “We’re like Buckingham and Nicks, except without the cocaine and the fucking.” Hmm.
These words were spoken by Catherine Ann Davies, a.k.a. The Anchoress, and came from a piece about the making of the Spooky Action album. I started reading the article to find out more.
The whole thing was peppered with snappy and interesting quotes from both The Anchoress and Draper, talking about their very interesting working relationship and the making of the album. They clearly have a unique interpersonal dynamic, and this was really what got my interest off the bat – as referred to in the Buckingham/Nicks quote. “A better comparison might be Eurythmics,” the Anchoress would quip later in the article, “but of the two of us, he’s the diva!” I have later found this to be absolutely true.
All in all, the piece ended up really intriguing me, and I ordered both of their solo albums.
Going back slightly, The Anchoress and Paul Draper have in reality been floating in and out of each other projects in recent years. When Catherine Ann Davies launched a solo career under the moniker of The Anchoress some years ago, Paul Draper ended up helping her and was enlisted to produce her debut album.
Confessions of a Romance Novelist was released in January 2016 and it is incredibly solid. The album won her several “album of the year” and “newcomer of the year” type accolades and earned a lot of positive reviews and praise. As an artist, The Anchoress reminds me of artists like Kate Bush, and as she still is very young will be a very interesting artist to follow for years to come.
Paul Draper has been active longer as an artist. He started out back in the 1990s as the frontman of British indie rock band Mansun. When the band ended on bad terms during the recording of their fourth album, he took a time-out from releasing music. He even had a cancer scare which fortunately he recovered from.
For years Draper would do the odd collaboration and work on songs for other artists, while fans were clamouring for him to make a comeback with his own music. Online petitions were even made to show that the desire and support for more music was still out there.
The partnership with The Anchoress must have had a positive effect. After finishing work on her album, he decided it was time to work on his own material. Happily, The Anchoress reciprocally co-wrote, engineered and contributed vocals on his album – first on two EPs, then moving on to a full-length album which turned into Spooky Action.
Davies also performed on his first solo tour this year, but will sit out the next leg in Feb/March 2018 due to long-standing touring commitments with Simple Minds (who she has been performing with on vocals, keyboards and guitar since 2015). I am hopeful that they will keep collaborating, as they truly bring out something unique in each other. I assume they must feel similarly as they have worked so closely together across both of their projects.
So, then. Spooky Action. A lot of people had waited for new music from Paul since Mansun imploded, and if the album contents is anything to go by, the process of recording appears to have been cathartic as he picks over the pieces of failed friendships with blunt honesty.
In an interview with NME, he stated “I had a lot to write about. I wrote down all of my thoughts about what happened to me in Mansun, and what happened to me afterwards. It was just another form of therapy. It’s been a cathartic process. I don’t work in a professional manner, I do it to heal something – whatever that is. I got a lot of anger out and I’m on the other side of it now. It’s taken a lot to get there.”
He added: “I’ve dealt with it, and the music was just one of many processes that repaired me as a person. The music started out quite vengeful and ended in a happy place, just being happy and privileged to make an album.”
Indeed, the song titles read like self-help revelations. “Never trust your friends, just keep your eye on them,” he warns in Friends Make The Worst Enemies. He then tellingly observes how “You don’t really know someone til you fall out with them” in the song of the same name, which boasts a nice, repetitive rock pattern that adds to the album’s cumulative hypnotic effect.
Draper is pretty frank in his delivery, but it does not come across as the rants of an angry man. The words are well considered and chosen for good repeat effect. They have stories to tell and are delivered with a punch.
He remains conspicuously quiet for the first three minutes of the space-chase-sequence opener Don’t Poke the Bear, once he finally lets loose he rarely lets up.
The following track is followed by Grey House, which is full of melody and invention, successfully combining rock moments with arty synth pop sounds. Spooky Action quickly reveals itself as a showcase for the sheer excitement of experimentation.
The production allows for silvery strings as well as shambling grooves. A track like Who’s Wearing the Trousers pounds with delicate urgency, with a fantastic synth solo by The Anchoress which adds to the feeling of 1980s influenced pop-prog running riot.
There are also room for reflective moments – on The Inner Wheel, he wrestles with the question “Is medication the answer, or is ignorance bliss?” with the music stripped back in thought.
My personal favourite on the album has to be Jealousy Is A Powerful Emotion, which features more lovely, sweeping synth work which boosts the track into an epic, crowd-friendly anthem with a soaring chorus. Draper really sings his heart out in this song, and one can only imagine what inspired a song with such a title.
It may have been a long time in the making, but Spooky Action is exactly the album that long-time fans of Mansun/Draper have been waiting for – or as in my case, it was the album I wanted to dig into but didn’t know existed until I happened to stumble over it. It was an incredible discovery. It is rare to find an artist who puts so much of themselves into an album, delving into deeply personal and painful subject matter with incredible honesty and integrity. That alone makes this such a fascinating listen, but just going by the music alone, this is a fascinating, creative, and diverse offering.
The album brings everybody up to date with Draper’s considerable struggles, but in using music as the ultimate weapon he hopefully goes some way to exorcising his demons. It marks an incredibly powerful beginning to a new solo chapter for Draper, who never stopped having a lot to say.
Spooky Action is a fantastic album, and possibly my biggest new discovery of 2017. If you are willing to open up for it, I am certain it will take you by surprise.
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