Gareth Dunlop has had a storied career to date, from winning awards, having his music featured in TV shows & films, travelling & touring with major artists & releasing two critically acclaimed studio albums, there is very little he hasn’t achieved. Two years on from his last release, Dunlop returns with his 3rd album, ‘Welcome to the House of I Don’t Know‘.
The record finds Dunlop in fine form, embracing a richer, fuller sound but maintaining those trademark soulful infused vocals. With the record out in the wild and Gareth just back off a successful tour, we thought he would be the perfect person to give us a few insights into each track.
Church
Church is about finding your own group of like-minded thinkers and enjoying the life you have instead of worrying too much about what might come after it. I grew up with the threat of fire and brimstone but as I got older, I got more ok with the ‘not knowing’ side of living.
I knew I wanted it to be the first song on the album… and the last track that we would cut for the project. The idea was to build the track towards an arc of chaos using every instrument, sound and voice that would feature throughout the album.
For The Rest Of Ever
I was told once that making a career in music is all about sheer persistence. It’s something that stuck with me and kind of keeps me pushing ahead even when I don’t feel like it… the down side of that is I rarely stop… and when I do it doesn’t last very long. ‘The Rest Of Ever’ is a day dream about the other side of that coin. Where there’s nothing to do, nowhere to be, and no hill to climb… and what I’d do in that world.
Go Down Swinging
‘Go Down Swinging’ is for my daughter… She’d taken a knock to her confidence and I wanted to write her something… I wanted her to have a song that told her exactly how I see her and something that empowers her to always stand her ground and never turn a blind eye to who she is. Her own defiant anthem. It was the very first song we cut for the record in an untested room… I can re-call the sigh of relief when we heard the drum sound coming back through the speakers. There was a feeling of “OK…this might just work”.
Just In Case
The notion for this song came one night after I listened to my Dad and my late uncle talk about their good old days… recalling the late nights and wild times they had growing up together. I had the idea written down but didn’t go near it for a long time because I wasn’t really sure how to build around it.
I dug the idea back out the day after an exceptionally late night with my wife… it felt like a good time to write a song that justified the hangover. The original demo was a lot slower and laid back… but as soon as we got it up on its feet in the studio it kind of took on a life of its own. It’s a song about making the most of the here and now and trying to live more in the moment.
Back Yard
I’m definitely not alone in feeling like certain objects, sights, sounds and even smells immediately bring you back to a place and time. There’re certain things and happenings in everyday life that transport me back to growing up in my childhood home. Little, tiny things that immediately make me think of my mum, dad, brother and sisters and how life felt back then. ‘Back Yard’ is about those things and the feelings that come with them.
Every Little Inch
I’ve spent a lot of time away from home through music… it can be hard at the best of times but one thing I’ve picked up along the way is that you don’t have to be standing next to someone to feel close to them. ‘Every Little Inch’ is about just that… and a few other things that I’ll keep to myself.
We tried to cut it a bunch of different ways… in the end it felt right to strip it back and just let it be.
Small Talk
I’m guilty of being pretty socially awkward.. or at least finding myself in socially awkward situations way too much. I do that thing when you walk away from an interaction and immediately say to yourself ‘why the hell did I bring that up’??
It’s kind of a running joke in our house.
’Small Talk’ is a deep dive into my lack of ability to gently pass the ball back in a conversation from time to time.
I Don’t Feel You
I started writing ‘I Don’t Feel You’ years ago after one of the greatest moments I’ve ever not felt. I walked into a bar knowing a “certain someone” (who I was once pretty hung up on) was going to be there. I thought it was going to be a tough night with weird feelings and it was none of that. An encounter of sheer blissful nothingness.
It’s a song that’s been hanging around on a hard drive for the longest time… never quite finding a home on previous projects. This time it just seemed to fit.
Naive
‘Naive’ is about putting your faith in the wrong person… and how you can sometimes fool yourself into thinking that the next time it’ll be different.
We built most of this one on an 80’s 4 track ‘Teac 144’. That particular machine has a grainy, unpredictable quality that does something almost twisted to the audio at times… it felt like the right way to track ‘Naive’ given what I wrote it about.
All We’ll Ever Need
I wrote this song around a pretty chaotic period of time… I’d been on the road touring a lot and when I wasn’t doing that, I was travelling for studio work and writing. One of those seasons where it’s hard to catch a breath. ‘All We’ll Ever Need’ is about making that moment to shut the world out for a bit… and hold on tight to what really matters.
I had this kind of ‘Wizard of Oz’ idea where the verses lived in the black & white and the chorus would explode into colour. We muted a little parlour guitar and paired everything back into an almost old timey folk world on the verses and then hit the chorus sections with a cacophony of synths, pounding drums and distorted guitars to try and get that scene change across.
