» Music: The Miserable Rich
They’re neither miserable or rich, but The Miserable Rich don’t let that get in the way of a good song or two…
Formed by singer songwriter James de Malplaquet and cellist/pianist William Calderbank and named after performing at a party for rich Italian aristocrats (“they didn’t seem to be enjoying themselves: if you can have everything you want the only surprise you can have is by being disappointed.”), The Miserable Rich are making a name for their distinctive chamber pop, where the lead instruments are the violin and cello.
Their new album, Of Flight And Fury, was recorded at various band members’ houses in Brighton in 2009, and stitched together by producer Al Scott. The result is a bitter-sweet concoction of self-deprecating and often morbidly funny lyrics sung by James (who is not a million miles away from the vocal sounds of Love’s Arthur Lee and Love’s overall sound circa Forever Changes) and worked into shape with the help of experienced musicians Mike Siddell, Jim Briffett and Rhys Lovell.
“The guitarist works nights and, at the time, I was working days, and with people stomping on the ceiling [his neighbours] it wasn’t a particularly easy job to do,” James says. “We thought it might take two weeks, but it took eight months!”
Their first album was recorded with the help of 15 or so muical friends, but it’s all change this time round. “With this one we decided we’d only play the instruments ourselves. There was this little rule that everybody had to play at lest two instruments and sing; Will won the championship – he plays about nine instruments…”
James is fighting back the hangover he’s enduring following the private launch of their album the previous evening in London. “My dad, who is 87 and very hard to please – he was a jazz drummer who played with the BBC Light Orchestra and many of the greats – was there and he said to me: ‘Bags of enthusiasm’.
“I’m proud of the album, but strangely people seem to think the live show is better! I think that’s because the music requires concentration. When you play live, people are forced to confront the intensity of what we are trying to do.” For Brightonians, the song ‘Somerhill’ might particularly resonate with its references to the school of the song title and the legendary Basketmakers pub. It’s also a song about falling for a yummy mummy.
“The Miserable Rich also fits in with the idea of music serving a function of brightening your day, like a lot of African music is about escapism, and even European wartime music like ‘Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag’. You don’t have time for the meaning of life if you are just trying to live!”
But surely you can find the time for The Miserable Rich in your lives…
The Miserable Rich, Sat 19 June, West Hill Hall
