Mostly Autumn

John Silverwood interview with leader Mostly Autumn's Bryan Josh
Originally published in issue 1 of World Of Adventures magazine.

"I love autumn. That stretch into the winter is a beautiful and romantic time. It's my favourite part of the year." So speaks Mostly Autumn front man Bryan Josh. He is an intensely likeable man whose warmth and passion for both life and music is clearly evident in conversation with him.

Even a casual listen to Mostly Autumn's music will bring an instant recognition with the mid seventies Floyd sound. Bryan's guitar and vocal style are very reminiscent of Dave Gilmour but the addition of more traditional Celtic instruments such as violin, flute and whistles, as well as the joint female lead vocal of Heather Findlay, give the music a greater depth.

The band were formed about 3 years ago after Bryan had written 'The Night Sky', a track that eventually closed the first album. The death of his father provided the basis for the music and lyrics on some of the albums stand out tracks. Coupled with the fact that a lot of the writing is done in the Northern Lake District, a beautiful, mountainous and largely unspoilt area in North West England, the scene was set to produce an album that conveys more emotion than most bands can ever wish to achieve.

Brian

"Some of the stuff is very close to the bone." continues Bryan. "It's very much from the heart. There would never be a song from Mostly Autumn that didn't have some sort of feeling. I like to think that it's very honest and very real. It's like 'Heroes Never Die' (another track from the first album) is very emotional but at the same time very positive.

The band served their apprenticeship in pubs and clubs in and around York but they were given more national coverage by Martin Hudson of the Classic Rock Society (who labelled them Mostly Awesome!) and then Malcolm Parker of Cyclops records who eventually signed the band at their headline gig during the CRS's spring Prog Fest in May (pictured opposite - top right). Cyclops redistributed the bands first album 'For All We Shared' and have just released their brilliant new opus 'The Spirit Of Autumn Past', which will get a national release in October through Pinnacle Records.

The new album, very much picks up where the first one left off. If anything the songwriting is even stronger and all the emotion is still there as Bryan confirms. "The title track 'The Sprit Of Autumn Past' really sums up the mood of the album. It's the idea of going back somewhere you've been before, the memories still linger and the atmosphere's still there. Sometimes it can be very lonely and sometimes it can be a good feeling and really uplifting."

Another real emotive piece is 'The Gap Is Too Wide', which closes the album. Written by keyboard player Iain Jennings as a tribute to his late mother, the song begins in a very frail fashion but builds beautifully into a monstrous epic. Utilising Iona's Troy Donockoly on Uilleann Pipes as well as cello and a choir, the songs takes the listener through a roller coaster of emotions, leaving you with a real lump in your throat.

Heather & Bob

"'The Gap..' sort of sucks you in. It's almost like the album finishes after 'Spirit... part 2' and then 'The Gap...' is like an extra thing but it's still within the boundaries of what it's all about. But it's a song that needs to be given a chance, its definitely second or third listen before it hits you. It's so frail at the start and it was a case of holding it back and not unleashing the power too soon. We held it to the point where it seems that the song's going to fall apart and then we bring in the choir and the drums and the pipes. We arranged it to that very last second where you think the track's almost gone. It was very emotional track to record because it was Iain's mothers choir and he was conducting them. You couldn't deny the atmosphere and at the end, we were all in tears

"Another great track on the album is 'Evergreen' I think it's lovely. It has a great atmosphere about it. I wrote the music about a day before and I played it to Heather and she already had some ideas and words for a song and the melody went with it exactly. So the music was paired with the concept of Heather's words and it was like a marriage of two ideas that came together completely. It was originally two halves but it came together so easily."

Having the choice of male and female vocals gives an opportunity to use one or the other (or both) on a particular song depending on the mood.

"We see how the song progresses and use whoever we think will be most suited to sing the song. Heather's a far better singer than myself. I don't profess to be a great vocalist but there is a lot of feeling there which I try to get across but there's also a lot of emotion in Heather's voice and there's a lot of subtlety as well."

Malcolm & Brian

The good news is, that there seems to be a constant supply of high quality songs for the band to use for future albums that will hopefully keep up the high standard of material already released.

"I don't mean to sound arrogant but I'm not worried about the future. All the songs just seem to happen and fortunately there are a lot of songs that we didn't use on the second album because there wasn't room. These songs will probably be used on the next album in one form or another. There are about 5 or 6 altogether, in fact one track called 'Then We Danced' is a magic piece but it was too similar sounding to 'The Gap... '. That will certainly be on the next album. It's very delicate and beautiful but at the same time very powerful"

Whatever happens, the future looks very good indeed for Mostly Autumn. Their new album 'The Spirit Of Autumn Past' will be released through Pinnacle soon but you can hear it now by ordering it directly from Cyclops Records, who also stock the bands first album, 'For All We Shared'.