ROOTS ROOTS

MANOEUVRE MANOEUVRE MANOEUVRE

James guitarist Saul Davies has

relocated to the Scottish town he grew up in. It's a move that has informed the band's latest album. David Pollock talks to him about keeping it real and not

being forgotten

'I t’s an interesting time for us,’ says James guitarist Saul Davies. The band have long since escaped their status as 1980s indie also- rans and crossover Madchester and Britpop-era success story to become one of British music’s most enduringly familiar success stories. ‘There’s a lot of stuff out there, isn’t there? A lot of bands, lot of artists, lot of i lms, lot of games, the internet: there’s a lot of shit going on. It’s easy to forget a band, so when people tell us they like the record and they want to talk about it, it’s quite gratifying really.’

‘The record in question is Girl at the End of the World, the Manchester- formed group’s 14th album in precisely two decades since their debut Stutter in 1986. As heard on the comeback single ‘Nothing But Love’, there’s a folksy, homespun edge to it, even if the group have returned once again to electronics (Brian Eno is involved again). Davies explains that it’s an album which sounds very much like the place in which it was written: Scotland. It wasn’t a cosmetic or convenient choice, but rather one born of where many of the band’s senior members now find themselves. Although singer Tim Booth lives in America, bassist James Glennie has lived a few miles

80 THE LIST 7 Apr–2 Jun 2016