In Spinal Tap, Nigel Tufnel notoriously referred to D-Minor as the ‘saddest key,’ right before wryly revealing the title of his somber classical piece, “Lick My Love Pump.” In general, any minor key evokes a somberness, while major keys, most would agree, sound much more joyous. On the title track to Patrick Wolf’s new album, The Magic Position, the young Irishman reaches a sort of revelation as he sings, “I’m singing in the major key.” A bit meta-, somewhat existential in a way, but with “The Magic Position,” Wolf’s almost shouting his mission statement from the rooftops.
Wolf’s previous record, Wind in the Wires, was significantly darker, fraught with cryptic morbid narratives like “The Libertine” and noisy, angst-ridden tracks like “Tristan.” Still, even with such grey, harrowing songs, Wolf displayed a true knack for accessible melodies and baroque arrangements, the center of many of them being his trademark violin. The Magic Position retains that accessibility, as well as the string-laden grandiosity. However, Wolf says that his aim on this record was much different.
“I knew I wanted to turn a corner off the last record,” Wolf says. “I wanted to write more songs in a major key and focus on happiness and all the wonderful things about life. I wanted it to be about love and joy. I also wanted it to have a much brighter sound and have a hi-fi quality, not sound so depressed.”
Part of the joy, and the pursuit of the major key on The Magic Position, comes from the oldest of musical inspirations: love. It’s a theme held throughout the record, and one that even spawned the title of the record, which Wolf explains is “about being with someone and starting a life with them. And we very much believed in magic. That sounds sort of new age…but make believe is a big part of creating something. And for two people to make a life together, just out of nothing, for me that was magic. And magic is perfect—it’s a perfect vision of two people.”
Earlier this year, Patrick became the subject of many a head-scratching blogger’s ‘WTF’ post, thanks to a YouTube video of Wolf performing a duet of “When Doves Cry” with Charlotte Church on her British television show. In perspective, this is akin to Josh Groban and Feist covering “Let’s Get It On,” stateside. In spite of the bizarre nature of the event, Wolf found it to be both a positive and amusing experience.
“I was approached by Charlotte Church to be on the show,” Wolf says. “It was amazing and kind of hilarious, and just a great song to do. People, I think, take me too seriously, so it was just a very fun thing to do. And Charlotte is just this amazing celebrity. And I’m a big Prince fan as well.”
Visually, Patrick Wolf is as striking as his music. Standing at 6’4”, with dyed, bright red hair and a wardrobe that spans from flashy, glittery shirts to cutoff shorts, he has the sort of look that only makes sense on an eccentric entertainer such as himself. Yet, Wolf insists his look is of little consequence to his art; it’s the music that matters most.
“I think people look at my visual and assume that my visual comes first and my music comes later,” Wolf says. “And it’s completely the opposite. Music always comes first. The visual is the last thing I think about, but because I look a certain way, people seem to think that it has more importance. Music is my life. It’s my obsession. “I’d do this naked if I had to.”
--Jeff Terich
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PATRICK WOLF's THE MAGIC POSITION is out now on Universal Records.
http://www.patrickwolf.com
http://www.myspace.com/officialpatrickwolf
Buy Album from CD Universe
