FOUND’s Factorycraft: a track by track tour by Ziggy Campbell

Anti Climb Paint
Written at the arse-end of an epic argument, this is an acidic plea to a lover. Friend of FOUND, Nuala Kennedy recorded some vocal harmonies to add to the relationship imagery.

I’ll Wake With a Seismic Head No More
I was lucky enough to be invited to work on some music in Belgrade recently. While there, a Serbian friend of mine translated a poem she was reading about Lake Palic in Subotica. I was really inspired by the clunky imagery so I decided to appropriate some of it for this song. The album was going to be called Subotica for a while.

Machine Age Dancing
FOUND were asked to create a live score at the Edinburgh Film Festival for a Norman McLaren short called Camera Makes Whoopie. An eerie scene in the film, where large robots dance menacingly at a Machine Age Dance initially inspired this song. Kev’s schizo-glitch idea evolved in to a malformed Beach Boys style pop tune, and lyrically it became a celebration of the long-awaited weekend.

Blackette
I wrote this song after spending an eventful month in New York. That doesn’t really explain why the song apes the sound of the British glam era, or why there are bursts of Joe Meek style sci-fi sounds. Your guess is as good as mine. Sorry.

Shallow
This track was painfully difficult to get sounding right at Chem 19. Paul Savage agonised over it. At one point I declared it a complete write-off before Paul turned it round and managed to make it (in my opinion) one of the finest moments on Factorycraft. It’s a eulogy to all the empty factories, shops and houses in my dying hometown.

Lowlandless
This song tells the story of friendship lost through hardship. Kev’s Detroit-inspired beats and Tommy’s strident, Nirvana-esque bass might make for an odd combination but to my ears it sounds more accomplished than anything we’ve done to date.

You’re No Vincent Gallo
I was thinking of that mad, psychedelic feedback on [13th Floor Elevators classic] Slip Inside This House and the persistent motorik of Kraftwerk when I wrote this. I wonder what Vincent Gallo would make of it. I bet he thinks it’s pish.

Johnny, I Can’t Walk the Line
In order to get that classic “Bang, Bang…” guitar twang, Chem 19 engineer Jamie Savage brought in a battered old guitar which was used on the first Delgados record. This was another tricky one to get right due to the twists and turns within the song. Paul Savage saved the day again. Thanks Paul.

Every Hour that Passes
I’d been trying for ages to get Kev and Tommy to sing. Only now are they finding their confidence. They’ve developed a unique singing style which I like to call ‘Bawlsetto’. I can’t get enough of it. Here’s yet another grubby, backhanded love song. I always liked that line in [Burns' poem] Green Grow The Rashes, O that goes, “The sweetest hours that e’er I spent, were spent among the lassies,” so there’s a cheeky wee take on that.

Blendbetter
The lyrics for this one include a slightly out of place nod to 80s blue-eyed soul boys Hue & Cry. I’ll say no more on that matter. We used a deliberately out-of-tune guitar and a sample of a hoover to create the moody, sci-fi inspired backdrop to this song. The outro features the only live drums on the entire record, which I insisted on playing much to everyone’s annoyance… because I’m painfully shite. We recorded all the vocals in one day due to a tight budget. I remember screaming the last colourful line of this tune right before my voice packed in.