Archer on target again

Iain Archer’s fourth album, Magnetic North, sees the Bangor-born singer delivering his strongest set yet, as he turns his incredible songwriting talent to songs about his home of Northern Ireland. Even the album’s title refers to being drawn back to a particular place or time, returning home.

“I found in hindsight that the idea of home was recurring a lot in the subject matter on at least four or five songs,” notes the softly spoken singer. “There’s a constant running thread of Belfast, Bangor and the North Coast. It’s amazing when you put a bunch of songs together and then draw lines through them. You rarely expect that there are going to be any common threads, but it’s nice to see that your mind’s at work, even when you don’t know it.”
While most of the songs referencing his home are full of fond memories and stunning imagery (‘Collect Yourself’, ‘Frozen Northern Shores’), the current single ‘When It Kicks In’ is an angry, emotive look at the darker side of growing up in Northern Ireland, where sectarian violence was always just around the corner.
“That song erupted out of me,” he reveals. “In September 2005, Northern Ireland beat England in the footie, and I was so excited. I walked through London the next day, being really proud and happy. Two days later, the whole of Northern Ireland was shut down in some of the worst rioting we’d seen in years.
“Going from that sense of elation to being so crestfallen filled me with a sense of dismay and that song came out. It brought up this sense of my own experiences of the self-destruction that exists there. Things can get to a certain level but then there’s an element, not of people but in people, that will pull the rug out and destroy the things that have been built up and are so good for everyone there. But I think the chorus of the song is celebratory. Although the lyrics depict this really graphic image of violent Ulster, it’s much more about hope, the hope of people seeing the consequences of their actions.”
So what was it like to grow up during that period of the Troubles?
“Those situations are the extremes, the exceptions to the rule,” he proffers. “The rest of the time, there were things that appeared normal that weren’t, be it being spoon-fed one particular brand of dogma or the physical things like being consistently searched going to the shops of having guns pointed at you. But the other side of the coin for me was growing up in a seaside town, right by the shore of this beautiful tranquil bay where I went sailing. It’s a complete dichotomy. Also, there’s the steadfast standpoint of being brought up in this rigid religious framework, with an undercurrent of segregation and violence. It’s really confusing for you as a kid. It takes a long time to un-knit that web of confusion. I think that’s why it’s coming out of me now.”
Archer is keen to stress that ‘When It Kicks In’ isn’t any great political statement. It’s one person’s gut reaction to life in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.
“My songs don’t make judgements or statements,” he says. “There’s no fingers pointing in anybody’s face. I just write what I know and try to be true to myself.”
Writing what he knows has served Archer well. Magnetic North has seen his tunesmithery take a huge leap forward. He admits that this album is a lot less introspective than previous work, with at least half the songs about reaching out and making a connection with people.
“I’m always writing about dysfunction in some shape or form,” he confesses, “but I think there might be a nugget of hope on this record.”
At times in the past, Iain Archer has struggled with the idea of himself as a singer-songwriter. Now, however, he seems far more comfortable in his own skin.
“The more records I make, the more I carve out my own identity, as much for myself as for anybody else,” he agrees. “It’s not like I won’t be exploring more territory, but there’s a certain amount of confidence that comes from knowing where I stand and what I’m trying to achieve.”