Robert Wyatt

He’s got an incredible range ­ like seven octaves or something
crazy ! Robert was probably the most spontaneous one. After I finished
the record [Medúlla] I felt that someone or something was missing, and maybe it
was the more improvisational thing that the voice does to be soulful.
So I thought he would be excellent at it. I literally called him up,
and he said yes. He got a CD the next day, and I drove to his home,
which is three hours north of London. We set up a laptop and a
microphone in his bedroom, and he sang all day. Basically, he would
replace my vocals and obviously add a little bit of his own, too. Then
we got drunk in the evening. The next day we were going to continue,
but we decided it wasn’t necessary, and I just went home.

That’s so great ! It must have been so satisfying to do something so quickly, because some of these songs sound like bigger productions, with all the choirs. Was that fun to do ?

Yeah, you’re spot-on. It was so fun to do. You just want something instantaneous, you know ? So you enjoy it so much. And going to Robert’s house—he’s got such a charming little house with his gorgeous wife. They told us tons of stories. It was just so much like going into somebody else’s universe. It was just delicious.

Interview Magazine November 2004