Talkin’ to an angel

Best known as a producer (he won a Q nomination for his work on ex-wife Sinéad O’Connor’s 'Universal Mother' album) and as the rhythmic lynchpin of Jah Wobble’s 'Invaders Of The Heart', John D Reynolds now looks like establishing himself as a creative force with Ghostland, the musical entity founded with guitarist Justin Adams and cellist/composer Caroline Dale. The trio’s second album 'Interview With The Angel' is effectively a vessel for everything from 21st century sacred/devotional music to trance-ambient to the most potent pop.

Reynolds: “I think I formed Ghostland in the end ’cos we’d been touring with Jah Wobble for seven years and with Sinéad quite a lot as well, and I thought, ‘I’m putting so much effort into other people’s careers, I may as well just take a hold and start to drive the ship myself’.”

Of course, Reynolds also had a walk-on part in the recording of ‘You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart’ from the 'In The Name Of The Father' soundtrack, a song that, when performed by Sinead at the Tivoli some years back, had quite an effect on its author.

“Oh yeah,” John recalls, “after that show Bono told me he cried when she was singing it, I saw him around a couple of weeks later. I think he was over the moon. It was kind of an obscure thing to do ’cos it was a film soundtrack.”

If Reynolds’ expertise with rhythm and atmosphere has long been a matter of permanent record, then 'Interview With The Angel' showcases his prowess as a songwriting partner. ‘Faith In Love’, delicately interpreted by Cara Dillon, could be top 5 material in the hands of the right chart act, while ‘Sacred Touch Of Beauty’ is required listening for anyone interested in the kind of soundgardens tended by Bjork or Kate Bush.

Much of the material was recorded in the informal surroundings of Reynolds’ Notting Hill flat. If those walls could talk: he’s recorded everyone from Can’s Jaki Liebezeit to the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan there, with the bathroom doubling as a vocal booth. And speaking of Nusrat, Reynolds also knows how to coax the blue notes, particularly when working with O’Connor. Her vocal inflections on the intro of ‘Angel’s Eyes’ off the new record suggest nothing so much as the keening of Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares.

“Yeah, I think sometimes it’s like a quarter tone or something is used, slightly different scales,” he says. “I was trying to study them when I did the Natasha Atlas record, I got into studying a little bit about the scales, and so did Justin, and I kind of applied it to some of the tunes we did with Sinéad, things like ‘Petit Poulet’.

“I remember a funny time when we played in Poland, and with all the 4/4 tracks we played in the set they liked it, but when we played ‘Petit Poulet’, ’cos there was something in the rhythm, everyone in the audience started to dance in a kind of waltz way. It was the weirdest thing to watch, ’cos it was always a track that people didn’t know what to do to in America, people would love it because of its choral quality but they wouldn’t really respond to the rhythm. Different parts of the world have different pulses they live by.”