Kirsty MacColl is nothing if not diverse. The offspring of legendary folk singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl (best known for penning Dirty Old Town and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face ), Kirsty tasted fame with a trio of 80s hits: the quirky There s A Guy Down The Chipshop Swears He s Elvis , her version of Billy Bragg s A New England and, of course, her duet with Shane MacGowan on the unforgettable Fairytale Of New York .
While it has been some time since her profile attained anything close to those heights, her new album,Tropical Brainstorm, shows that she is not content to tread water. The record is almost totally comprised of Latin-influenced tracks onto which are welded MacColl s typically wry, observations-of-suburbia lyrics. Truth be told, it misses the mark as often as it hits, with an over-reliance on programming stripping the music of its essential vitality. The paucity of outstanding tunes and the uneasy fusion of MacColl s voice with the material don t help much either.
Nonetheless, it is an interesting departure, which can conjure up some powerful moments on the likes of Autumngirlsoup and Designer Life .
So, how did the project come about?
I spent about three years from 1995 not really listening to anything that was sung in English, because I got so caught up in Cuban music, MacColl says. I was totally into it to the point where I thought, I ve got to learn Spanish because otherwise I can t move this thing forward . I was completely immersed in that whole culture.
Having said that, she continues, I think it s important to point out that this isn t a purist Latin record, nor was it ever intended to be. If it had been, I d have worked with just Latin musicians, but I wanted to introduce Cuban and Brazilian rhythms into my sort of songs.
MacColl s marriage to ace producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Simple Minds, The Pogues) foundered prior to the making of Tropical Brainstorm. While this inevitably led to considerable pain, eventually Kirsty came to believe that it was time to start again, and to do things I hadn t done before.
This album is much more positive than the last one, she continues. I was going through a bad time then, and while the songs were good, it was a very sad record. I made a conscious decision that I wasn t going to make another album until I felt a bit happier!
Given the length of her career, and the seriousness with which she clearly takes the art of songwriting, does the fact that MacColl has had most success singing other people s songs rankle?
It s not particularly bad to be associated with something that you like and that is successful. They re good songs. Yeah, it would be nice to get some kind of recognition for my own material which is much more personal, but I think people associate those songs with me because I made a good job of doing them.
As befits the daughter of a radical socialist father, MacColl has always been keen to display her social and political awareness on record. Given her involvement with various left-wing causes, what does she make of the current Blair administration?
She pauses for thought: On the one hand, you think, Well, anything s better than having the Conservatives for all that time. On the other hand, I don t really think there is a Labour Movement anymore. There certainly isn t a Left in Britain anymore. There s the middle and there s the far right and that s it.
I can t understand why Blair won t support Livingstone for Mayor of London. Everybody wants Ken.
Politics aside, MacColl retains a fierce pride in her accomplishments over the course of her career:
I don t feel any kind of shame when I listen to any of my albums. I think they ve got their flaws, but essentially they are sincere pieces of work. They weren t made to please or to appease. Making music with integrity is the easy bit. It s all of the other stuff that s hard.
Tropical Brainstorm is out now on V2