In The Bag: Pagan Wanderer Lu - Fight My Battles For Me

One of the UK's smartest and most inventive songwriters, the hugely prolific Bolton-bred, Cardiff-based Pagan Wanderer Lu discusses his new record.

What's it called? It's called 'Fight My Battles For Me' - which is what Nelson said to Custer at Agincourt.

Where, when and with whom was it recorded? It was recorded in Cardiff by me at various points during 2007-08 mostly in my spare room, and partly at Cardiff's top secret music location known only as 'The Barracks'. It was then mixed and mastered by the incomparable Oli Horton of Trademark at his studio Dreamtrak in big London. Two people make guest appearances on the album. Their names are Laura and David.

What can we expect? A plethora. Not a plethora of anything, just general plethoracity. Also some juxtaposition. Plus various things 'thrown into the mix'. And the sound of [two seemingly incongruous bands] having a fight. On drugs. At a disco. Compered by Steve Albini. On drugs. In a lift. Basically it's a summary of everything that PWL has been for the last few years. Some new songs, some new versions of old songs. The idea was to have a record which would act as an introduction to people who'd never heard me before (i.e. most people) and also move things forward a bit for the faithful few. For the new folks what I do is electronic indie-pop - trying not to use the electronic aspect as a crutch for shit songwriting, which is what most electronic acts do. I've been to see bands where I spend the whole gig looking at their gear and thinking 'wow I want one of those' and afterwards I can't remember what their music was like. Other than it was probably a bit like Muse with some drum loops and a synth. I predict that 'a bit like Muse with some drum loops and a synth' will be the sound of 2010, for better or worse... 'Electronic indie-pop' usually means 'sounds like the Postal Service', or 'sounds like New Order' if you're over 35. I don't think I really sound like either of those though. Some people call it 'indietronica' - which is a lazy cobbling together of two now-meaningless journalistic terms, and explains nothing. Put it this way, the record which got me into music was 'Common People' by Pulp, because it was this glamorous, intelligent, meaningful pop song. It had something to say without being some gut-bleeding preachy crap. It didn't matter if you considered yourself a 'common person' or sympathised more with the daft posh bird trying to slum it - you could easily have a laugh at yourself and the other side at the same time. It's a very British thing to use humour to make a serious point without being too serious. So I think that's what I'm trying to do lyrically. I want to write in a way which isn't ashamed to be clever, but without being elitist or obscure, and without these cheap 'look! I read the same book you read!' references that some people use. Musically I just try and make something which puts good, intelligent pop in an interesting context. I like bright colourful sounds and lots of melody and I like songs that aren't predictable. I don't want people to be able to tell from the first 30 seconds of a song how it's going to sound all the way through. The album reflects that too. It's kind of all over the place in terms of how it sounds. People could love one song and hate another. I think that's an underrated quality these days. [tangent: I knew a band who had a famous independent label beginning with M interested in them. This label were telling them their sound was too diverse because some songs were a bit new wave and some songs were a bit indie. Like the average person's brain would melt if they heard two consecutive songs which were in two slightly different sub-genres of guitar music. That's what happens when you immerse yourself in industry nonsense, you start believing terms like 'indietronica' mean something to people who care about music.] Basically - I want to make a record which only I could have made, something that honestly reflects what I like and who I am. Not some posturing nonsense, howling into a chasm about girls and getting wasted as if there's nothing more interesting than stuff people already think about anyway. And I'm pretty sure I've done that.

When's it due out? March/April-ish.

When will it leak!? I leaked it myself last year. All the cool kids are already bored of it.

In a Ragged word? Lepidoptery