Spotlight On... Almost Nothing

As a member of Idlewild, Roddy Woomble is somewhat of a household name. But alongside his work with the prolific Scottish outfit, Woomble has been releasing solo and collaborative works since 2006; most recently, he released his eponymous debut under the moniker Almost Nothing last month. Working alongside four different producers – Scott Paterson, Andrew Wasylyk, Le Junk and Luciano Rossi – Almost Nothing sees Woomble moving in an even more electronic direction than ever before, with more than a few cuts ready for the indie dancefloor.

An exercise in artistic freedom, Almost Nothing arrived digitally in September alongside a beautiful 100-page journal, aided by GoldFlakePaint’s Tom Johnson, and tomorrow (6 Oct) sees Almost Nothing come to life even more with a physical release courtesy of Assai Records. To help celebrate the record, we wanted to shine a spotlight on Woomble who has kindly talked us through the album track-by-track.

Instant Love
‘Things which are repeated are pleasing’ – can’t remember who said that but it’s certainly true of the pop song, and this is a good example of repetition giving words their meaning. I’m not really sure yet what instant love is, but it sounds more hopeful than disintegrating reality which I sing about in the verse.

Almost Nothing
Like many people in 2022 I got very into Stranger Things 4. I grew up in the 80s and the music used in the show is very evocative for me. Andrew Wasylyk has the same Juno synths that the ST theme music was recorded on, so we were just mucking around with it in his studio space in Dundee trying to make up something cool. Sometimes I write words especially for melodies, and other times I have words and I just make them fit – this was more like a poem that I made fit.

Anything Whatever
Written with Scott Paterson at his studio in Glasgow. Alongside Instant Love this song helped influence the direction for Almost Nothing. Scott listens to a lot of modern electronic pop music. I don’t, but the combination of our different tastes made for a pop song with a subtly anthemic chorus. I guess it's more of an existential pop song – ‘...become what you are, everything you are has gone before...’ 

Returning Shadows
[This was] recorded with Shimon Joseph [aka Le Junk] in his home studio in north London. All my recent albums have been recorded in a series of home recording studios – I much prefer it. For a start it’s less costly, it’s more relaxed and usually these are homely, idiosyncratic set-ups that can often influence the music made in a good way. Also, lots of personnel touches – Margo the cat (at Luciano Rossi's, aka Lucci), scented candles and unusual herbal teas (at Scott's), a wine fridge (at Shimon's), and one of the largest collections of old keyboards in Dundee (at Andrew's).

Better Than You Belong
‘Perfect understanding will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure’, so said A.E. Housman, and he’s right – sometimes it’s better to just belong to the moment while you’re in it, or the song. This was also Scott and I trying to write a song for Radio One knowing that it would never get played on there. My own taste in electronic music? Suicide, Kraftwerk, DJ Screw, The Knife, Daniel Avery, that sort of thing.

True Time
Written by Scott and I, he started the recording, which was then expanded on by Andrew, finished by Shimon and mixed by Lucci – so a (remote) team effort. I like its smooth and strange disco feel towards the end. I’m interested in the concept of time. True time is actual, apparent time. Like the moment you’re reading this – that’s true time. Making records sometimes feels like making documents to defeat time.

Dialogue Trails
I like watching planes passing over me on the way to America and thinking about people having conversations up there in the sky. Or watching people talk to each other when they’re not listening to what one another are saying – this happens much more as you get older. You start hearing the same stories again and again. I guess that’s what I mean by 'dialogue trails'. Almost Nothing – I guess it is a feeling, an idea, a conversation that’s almost not there – invisible, meaningless – but not entirely.

Made It To Fade
Sometimes I think we all play at existing surrounded by everything that is destined to fade away – that’s a pretty cheery concept for a pop song! Almost Nothing are at the forefront of the middle-aged Scottish existential electro-pop movement! All four of us worked on this one again (remotely) and it’s the only song on the record featuring an electric guitar.

I Know Where I’m Going
Written and recorded with Lucci in his home studio in Hackney in a day in November 2022. I had a basic demo idea on my phone and most of the words, so we just spend the day building up a song, which he later mixed. It’s probably the happiest song on the record, with a lovely, light melody. There’s a famous 1945 romance film by Powell and Pressberger called I Know Where I’m Going, which is set on the Isle of Mull. It’s not about that, although I do like the film. 

If Not Tomorrow
I don’t tend to write songs about things, I write nice lines and connect them to each other and let the music give them their meaning. That said, there are a few lines in this that actually happened to me – I was in fact once alone in a room in an empty house by the sea that had the entire horror works of Stephen King and Edgar Allen Poe on the bookshelf, on the Island of Tiree in 1999.

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The Almost Nothing journal and digital album are out now; the vinyl release is due on 6 Oct via Assai Records

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