Mellow, melancholy deep sea dive

Bap Kennedy talks to Gerry Quinn about the changing course of his music and the thrill of working with Mark Knopfler

BELFAST born singer- songwriter Bap Kennedy releases his new record, The Sailor’s Revenge, this month. The 11-track, self-penned album is produced by Mark Knopfler and is Kennedy’s fifth solo record since the demise in 1996 of his band, Energy Orchard. Written for the most part in his native Northern Ireland, The Sailor’s Revenge maintains the singer’s laid-back country-soul groove. His lyrics reflect a more introspective view of life than those on its predecessor, Howl On, which was inspired by childhood dreams and the Apollo 11 moon-landing.

“I wanted to make the previous record because I’d read a book about the space missions and I was really fired up about the whole thing,” says Kennedy. “But this album has been simmering away for a couple of years. Mark Knopfler and I had talked about making it a few years ago, even though the songs hadn’t been written yet. I had an idea that it would be a very personal sort of record.”

The Ulsterman, who has in the past collaborated with Steve Earle and Van Morrison, is delighted with the new disc and, in particular, the part played by Knopfler in producing it. “When you make records you never know who’s going to hear them,” he says. “It just so happened that Mark came across one of my records called The Big Picture and really liked it. Then out of the blue I got a phone-call from him asking if I’d like to come on tour — that was about five years ago.

“Anyway, I went on the tour with Mark and struck up a friendship. He was interested in what I was up to and we actually came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea to work together and make a record. He wanted to have a go at producing it and it was one of those things that came together, very gradually. I was about to make Howl On and he was about to make his last record Get Lucky, so the time wasn’t right. It took a couple of years to get to do it. We recorded it last year.

“A record is almost a snapshot of where you are at that time — where you are in your life. Sometimes you look back at some records and you don’t recognise yourself.”

Recording is an interesting process, he muses: “I think this is a good record and I’m really pleased that Mark’s on it and produced it. It’s really great to be able to realise your ideas with someone like him.”

Not only did the former Dire Straits frontman produce The Sailor’s Revenge but his signature guitar sound adorns the 11 beautifully crafted tracks. “It was a very intense writing process for this record,” says Kennedy. “The first song Mark heard was the title-track. He loved the whole feel of the song and he also loved the title. He thought it might be a good idea if we went down a mellow, Celtic, melancholy route.”

One such song is the album closer, Celtic Sea. “I was looking for ideas and I don’t know how I came across it but I discovered that there is a Celtic Sea — that one just seemed to write itself,” says Kennedy. “The sea is such a great metaphor. It’ll never run out of steam as far as I’m concerned.”

Another is the record’s opener, Shimnavale. “It’s a real place,” says Kennedy. “It’s a small area, a little neighbourhood, a couple of streets near Newcastle, Co Down. If you look out the window, you can see the Mountains of Mourne. A friend of mine has a house there and when I was writing for the album I went to stay for a couple of days. I came up with a few songs looking through the window at the mountains. The whole idea of people having to go away and leave a beautiful place — the idea that life is so short, so transient, and the things you have to do to make a living — the idea that beauty is under your nose. These were the ideas and themes that came from my time there. Some people have asked me if Shimnavale is a state of mind and I suppose it kind of is.”

* The Sailor’s Revenge by Bap Kennedy is out now on Lonely Street Discs.