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July 6th, 2008
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No singer, no problems

Morcheeba happily settles on a rotating cast of vocalists
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By James Scanlon
For The Prague Post
April 23rd, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
The brothers Godfrey are recording and touring again, sans Skye Edwards.
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Morcheeba


When: Wednesday, April 30, at 8
Where: Lucerna Great Hall
Tickets: 790 Kč, available through Ticketpro and at the venue
With no permanently placed singer, Morcheeba recently emerged quite triumphantly from an identity crisis which had been plaguing the band for almost five years. By recruiting a whole bunch of singers through the most unlikely source of a MySpace Web page, they ended up with guests ranging from Judie Tzuke and rapper Cool Calm Pete to relative unknowns like Thomas Dybdahl from Norway and Bradley Burgess from Folkstone, England contributing to their sixth studio album, Dive Deep.
As the original masters of down-tempo, chill-out mood music, Morcheeba was initially charged with sparking off the new genre of trip-hop — a mid-’90s superficial fad coined by the self-important UK music press that lumped together bands and artists like Portishead, Tricky and Coldcut.
Dive Deep, however, is not only the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. It also marks the start of an experimental new era for Morcheeba mainstays Ross and Paul Godfrey.
“It’s about searching within yourself and fighting any sea monsters that might be lurking,” explains Ross rather excitedly. “It’s a very cathartic record.”
Things were never the same after the departure of original singer Skye Edwards in 2003. Her naturally soft, sultry voice won over the hearts of all Morcheeba fans. Indeed, many felt it was the very signature of the band. Eventually though, internal feuding over the creative direction of the band led to an impossible situation. And, while Morcheeba was never that comfortable with the trip-hop tag, it stuck, arguably quite mercifully, as it enabled the band to shift units on every continent.
Looking back on the situation, Paul recalls, “It was great selling millions of records, but we were nervously exhausted and our working relationships deteriorated very quickly. After our fourth album, Charango, we weren’t even on speaking terms, and the tension on tour was making us all sick. So Ross and I decided to part with Skye.”
For quite some time afterward, it was like Morcheeba had been put on a life-support machine, with the Godfrey brothers abandoning camp and going off in two very different directions. Ross, it seems, traveled to South America, Asia and Africa, and even ended up forming a new band called The Jukes. Meanwhile, Paul moved into a log cabin at the bottom of his garden.
But coming to grips with reality again a little later on, the two felt the necessity to bring the Morcheeba beast back to life. This time, though, it had to be on their own terms, without any major record company pressure.
The Godfreys found a complete contrast to Skye in Daisy Martey, who they drafted for The Antidote album. Her voice, strong and quite dominant, took away the calm, smooth essence of what Morcheeba was really all about. The Antidote was basically a disaster, and according to Paul, “It left us in near-ruin.”
With all this in mind, Dive Deep is a poignant revelation from the personal perspective of Paul. “When I was listening to it come together, I listened with my whole body,” he says. “I could feel it bubble up from my calves through my gut and my chest, and burst into ideas and moods that we could channel. It turned out to be the depression-beating therapy I really needed, and I’m so proud.”
The band has just completed the North American leg of the Dive Deep World Tour, which Ross describes as “exhausting but fun.” He adds, “I love playing live and traveling, so it is my ideal job.”
As for the two forthcoming shows in Brno and Prague, Ross enthuses, “I love the Czech Republic. The people are very nice, and the beer tastes good. Our sets will include four or five new songs sung by Manda and Bradley Burgess, who both appear on the album. But there will also be a lot of old favorites, and we have a bit of a wig-out jam too.”
Guess it’s all part of doing it their way.

James Scanlon can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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