Irish Times Interview April 7th 2008

PENNY DROPS FOR ARTIST KNOWN AS CHEQUERBOARD

John Lambert has devised the kind of record that sits effortlessly between easy listening and intricate tunesmithery,
writes Tony Clayton-Lea

IT'S LIKE A TRICKY puzzle that over a period of time - albeit time that moves at a leisurely pace - reveals itself to be not a puzzle at all, but rather an undulating, dissolving sequence of melodies, rhythms, tonal shifts, textural swathes and quite telling examples of one man's passion for getting things not just right but perfect.

We read regularly about the state of Irish rock music - where it's at, how bad it is, how terrific it is - yet rarely do we read about the state of a type of music that not only doesn't bear the hallmarks of rock, but which actually ignores it. Penny Black is the title of the latest album by Chequerboard, a one-man operation/ cottage industry headed by graphic designer/artist John Lambert. Lambert, in the guise of Chequerboard, has been floating around for several years. His first album, Gothica, was released in 2002, and this was followed three years later with a mini-album/EP called Dictaphone Showreels. Each record was released with a minimum of fuss and hype - so much so that only those interested in the kind of music loosely-termed electronica arose from their slumber and took any notice.

The music reflected Lambert's view of how music should interact with our environment. It didn't seem so much that he was particularly enamoured with the likes of Brian Eno's filigree ambient and interactive soundscapes as with the notion that music must - if it's to have any worth or substance at all - be able to infiltrate, dig deep and stay there.

The latter is certainly true of Lambert's Penny Black; taking as its base influences a subtle amalgam of acoustic guitar (a little bit of Spanish, a little bit of Mason Williams' Classical Gas), subversive, swirling melody lines and more pop nous that he might perhaps give himself credit for, Lambert has devised the kind of record that sits effortlessly between easy listening and intricate tunesmithery.

Unsurprisingly, he has been championed by the likes of left-of-centre radio presenters such as Donal Dineen and John Kelly. With the former, Lambert has teamed up for several live multi-media gigs, and it was through one of these that he was asked to be part of a fellowship programme ("a smaller version of a residency," he says) in Sligo's Model Arts Centre Gallery.

"They give you space to use and a studio," explains Lambert. "It was their first time giving it to a musician." As he describes it, he was "desperate to get out of Dublin and get some fresh head space", so he grasped the opportunity of a new career in a new town with both hands, and in March of last year moved to Sligo, from where he painstakingly constructed Penny Black in between keeping the bailiffs from the door with his graphic design and website work.

Considering his musical output and his background in listening to Autechre (acclaimed free-form music UK duo) and Aphex Twin (Irish-born Richard D James, dubbed electronica's most out-there experimentalist) while studying at Dun Laoghaire's College of Art and Design in the mid-90s, it is little surprise that rock music was not an option.
"I was always interested in guitar music," avers Lambert, "but I don't think I would have ended up doing rock music. I was involved in the singer-songwriter area for a while, but I slowly drifted away from it by listening to more instrumental music. I grew up with the likes of Pink Floyd, Beatles, Mike Oldfield, and I've always liked the sound of classical guitar in unusual musical environments. There are touches of that in Pink Floyd's work, gentle guitar music. Aside from that, I have a big mix of influences - everything from the Incredible String Band to This Mortal Coil."

(Click on above image for enlarged version )

Is he the obsessive sort? Judging by his music it would appear to be so; you can imagine him tinkering, tweaking and fine-tuning melodies and rhythms into the early hours of the morning. "I'm not sure really if I'm the obsessive type. If I'm into an artist, I like to get all their stuff and read into their background, but they're few and far between. In teenage years, your appetite is so voracious that you swallow everything. It's much more subtle now."

Is he precious, then, about what he does? "Absolutely. It's something you learn as you go on. I'd be more interested in spending time getting one piece right than doing five pieces that were just okay. I prefer to think of it as quality over quantity, which is probably why there are big gaps between albums."

In between Lambert's 'real' job in graphic design/website and whatever pittance he receives from music is a middle ground wherein he is just about settling for a slice of each type of work. Would he give up graphic design for music, or is music purely a means to a cerebral end? Lambert admits to not wanting to lose the visual elements that inspire him, so to balance things out he's veering towards placing his work in art galleries and playing the occasional gig. I'd be very happy to move into an area where I was just doing art pieces that related to the music and relating music to the art. Making art and selling music, making music and selling art - that's what I want. That's what I'm hoping for, anyway, the little pocket-sized dream I have."

And it seems as if it might be possible, which is encouraging." Does Penny Black achieve what he wanted it to? "I suppose it does. Essentially, it's a guitar album. I wanted it to be quite dramatic, quite intense - and lean, if you like. I hope it has achieved that. I suppose I'm as happy with the end result as I'll ever be, even though there are always things I'd like to change. I do go over things with a microscope for weeks on end, which I suppose - in answer to a previous question - does make me something of an obsessive." No regrets, then, about not going down the Black Sabbath or Queens of the Stone Age route? "Oh, God, no."

Chequerboard is one of the special guests performing with German electronica musician Ulrich Schnauss at Dublin's Button Factory on May 2nd at 7.30pm (€17).

Penny Black - along with Gothica and Dictaphone Showreels - is available from selected record shops and through the website
www.chequerboard.com