Excitement is in the air for the creative forces behind Guillemots, Fyfe Dangerfield. Having already released his debut solo album “Fly Yellow Moon” and currently writing new Guillemots material, his 2010 diary looks nothing short of busy.
Dangerfield is currently supporting Corinne Bailey Rae for a few shows before moving on to London to gig in April, but despite going solo he is keen to assure his fans that this isn’t the end of the Guillemots: “I haven’t left Guillemots at all, we’re very busy at the moment. I just thought I’d do my own thing as well.”
His debut album “Fly Yellow Moon” was released in January to fairly positive reviews and has seen him be compared with Leonard Cohen and Damien Rice. Dangerfield, though, doesn’t feel he was heavily influenced by one particular artist.
“You’re influenced by everything you hear all the time. All kinds of stuff, random bands I might see but forget the name of. I never think I want to sound like somebody – what’s the point? You’re never going to be as good as that thing that you want to sound like.”
His current run of gigs comes to a close at the end of April with two shows at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre. Earlier this month he was a part of the SXSW festival in Texas, one of the biggest music festivals in the world. He simply describes the experience as “full-on and hectic”.
Having played many shows over the years with Guillemots and under his solo guise, Dangerfield explains that playing alone feels different: “It’s different because it’s different people.
“I’m playing each gig just myself with a couple of string players. In the band, a massive part of what the band is, is the way we bounce around off each other on stage. The solo shows are more about what I feel like doing. I love them both in different ways. I love playing with the band, but it’s time to do something just myself as well,” he said.
Regardless of where his solo career takes him, Dangerfield is eager to downplay any preference: “I wouldn’t say I prefer it, I love playing with Guillemots. It’s not about which one’s best.”
It’s been a while since Guillemots’ last release – which was two years ago with “Red” – but recording of their eagerly awaited third album will commence next month: “We’ve been writing for about a year. We haven’t really stopped doing stuff, we just haven’t been doing anything publicly. We’ve been writing, we’ve got tons of stuff ready to record.”
For both Guillemots and Dangerfield, the next twelve months look set to be busy and one thing’s for certain – he’s not going to be short of music to make or places to play it.