GRAEME RONALD HAS BEEN ONE of Glasgow's most prolific and notable indie musicians over the last few years. As well as being a touring member of Mogwai, the 28-year-old has spent time in intelligent electro-rockers Multiplies, short-lived but much-loved indie pop group The Royal We and their even shorter-lived follow-up, Sexy Kids.
"Partly I guess this is because I don't have a job," he says, "and the more things I do in music, the more I can justify not getting one. But I get a real joy from playing music, and from working with different musicians. There hasn't necessarily bee
n a common thread – The Royal We was a collaborative effort and a more traditional pop group, so I couldn't necessarily indulge my interests in Krautrock or classical music there – but every band I've been in has informed the way that I play an instrument and given me new ideas about music."
His latest incarnation is a solo project, Remember Remember, for which he's taken the studio auteur's approach, looping found sounds and diverse instruments, most of which he plays himself. Influences stretch from Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Angelo Badalamenti and Brian Eno to Nirvana, Outkast and Sonic Youth.
That said, Remember Remember has existed in various forms throughout Ronald's life – he even considers four-track recordings he made in his bedroom as a teenager as "a kind of proto-Remember Remember". Certain experiences have been handy, though, particularly the period he spend as an additional onstage guitarist for Mogwai.
"I wasn't friends with them before or anything," he says. "Barry (Burns] just saw me when I was in Multiplies and asked me to play some big shows, to go on tour in America and Europe with them, which was such a huge boost to my self-esteem as a musician and as a person. So when I came back from that tour, I was determined to make music on my own and not have to rely on being in a band to do it."
Ronald's first album under the Remember Remember guise is being released on Rock Action, Mogwai's own record label. It was recorded at Green Door in Glasgow, a new studio which uses all-analogue equipment. "Although I'm trying to make an album which sounds contemporary, I'd like to think it has a lot in common with 1970s ambient music," he says. "Brian Eno is a massive influence on me. I find early electronic music a lot more interesting and pleasant to listen to than contemporary dance music. Early Kraftwerk, to me, sounds much more futuristic than much of what's being made today. I'm also kind of obsessed with Steve Reich. I mean, I'm not all that familiar with a lot of the recording techniques he used, but his music is very repetitive, it just kind of builds and builds. I'm trying to recreate, but not necessarily rip off, that kind of feel."
From gentle piano instrumentals to cut-up samples of him and various guest musicians – including Belle and Sebastian's Mick Cooke and, on handclaps, Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite – Ronald's self-titled album meets the aim, sounding both comforting and adventurous all at once. At one point, he compensates for his lack of drum-playing ability by building a rhythm from the sound of office stationery.
"You can use a stapler as a kick drum and a pair of scissors as a hi-hat," he says, "so that it sounds like a drum kit. But other times I've just made collages, where I've used different found sounds to create background loops. The thinking behind that is, when you're sitting at home listening to music it's not the only thing you can hear. Someone might be making dinner in the next room or people could be working outside – you hear all these other ambient sounds cutting into the music and I wanted to actually incorporate these into the recording. I guess I like the idea that people might not be able to tell what sounds are actually coming from the record and what's coming from elsewhere.
He pauses for thought. "I mean, I don't want to make any claims for being hugely original or for pushing the envelope, but I like to think that no-one has written the melodies I have before." And then another beat before the punchline: "I'd also love to be able to say that I've literally recorded the sound of an envelope being pushed. In fact, that's given me an idea for the next album …"
• Remember Remember's debut album is out now on Rock Action, and will be launched with a live show at Bar Brel, Glasgow, tomorrow night. Tel: 0141-342 4966.
The full article contains 792 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
