Matthew Hedley Stoppard and The Glass Delusion – Runt County
Interview and review by Neil Mudd …
On the wall in front of his writing desk, the poet Matthew Hedley Stoppard keeps a copy of a painting by Belgian surrealist, Rene Magritte. In the picture, luminous songbirds calmly watch a young girl savagely devour alive one of their own. It is beguiling and visceral, an epithet which might just as easily be applied to Hedley Stoppard’s writing.
With his first collection, A Family Under Glass, widely attracting critical praise, the Leeds-based poet is about to enter a fresh phase of activity: August sees the release of Runt County, a collaborative project with Hull musicians The Glass Delusion, supported by a short tour.. It is not the first time the artists have worked together: a split single – on minty green vinyl – appeared on the band’s own Adult Teeth label a few years ago. The accompanying video managed to suggest both P.G.Wodehouse and David Lynch (often in the same moment). Having enjoyed the experience of working together on the single, Lewis Young, one half of The Glass Delusion, was the catalyst for a full album. Initially daunted by the prospect, Matthew explains, ‘We’ve often discussed how music can compliment poetry and vice versa. I soon found that some of my verse suited the music Lewis sent.’
Being based on opposing flanks of Yorkshire necessitated an unconventional approach to song-writing. The music was mostly recorded beforehand by Lewis with the poet’s words in mind. ‘Where the words didn’t quite fit,’ he says. ‘I edited the tracks and after a bit of back-and-forth, we ended up with the finished product.’ Only lead single (You’ll Find Us In The Parks) was written in the traditional manner, but Matthew says he was ‘astonished by how well some of the poems and songs blended organically.’ This is certainly born out by repeated plays of the album. The music has a sinewy, brooding quality that underpins the sublimated menace of Hedley Stoppard’s narratives.
The staccato dissonance of opening track, Quite Contrary, sets the tone. The music bristles with post-rock edginess rubbing up nicely against Matthew’s jittery wordplay. Seemingly the story of a suburban recluse with a neat line in home-grown vegetable redistribution, things soon take an unexpected, disturbing direction. Similarly Study Of A Bachelor harnesses a driving Velvet Underground rhythm to its seedy tale of ‘a flea-bitten mongrel grinding out emotions.’ Matthew is particularly pleased with the result, commenting that ‘the movement in the music matches the movement in the poem.’
The album is shot through with characteristic mordant (Northern?) wit. Matthew and Lewis each cite John Cooper Clarke and The Fall as influences – ‘few artists come close’ – while in the poetry stakes Simon Armitage and the figure of Philip Larkin loom large. The spidery presence of Mark E Smith is all over the single (with its echoes of Bingo Master’s Breakout) and the majestic Exile, whose Dickensian grotesque wears a blackened grin ‘like a Bolsover coal seam.’ Elsewhere, however, there is a resolutely different ambience – Mothers Sleep … with its ‘headache of dead flowers’ and ‘suede impervious to spear-thistle’ could be Ted Hughes sound-tracked by Pere Ubu. Revenge Song drones and pulses in all the right places calling to mind musician John Cale. It is nastily precise stuff: imagining himself an avenging bullet, its protagonist says, ‘I sever the spinal chord on my way out / feel how graceful I make an exitwound.’ It is the poetry of eloquent thuggery.
At one point, the pair employ – whisper it – an experimental approach. Lewis explains that for Discovery On The Outskirts Of Matlock, ‘I recorded the xylophone blindfolded and in a sort of meditative state. I recorded the guitar with the aim of almost not playing it at all. Matthew did a great job of matching his words to this madness.’ Such an oblique approach pays dividends accentuating Matthew’s fractured tale of childhood trauma: ‘a kicked pine cone led you into the ruins of Arkwright’s empire and wild garlic hell.’ Originally, set to a classical piece of music by composer Ben Mungovin in 2012, Matthew says the results ‘were rather unorthodox, but nothing like what Lewis came up with.’ A spastic gamelan, it is one of the album’s standout tracks.
There are plans to publicise the release of Runt County with a short tour. So far there are two confirmed dates in Hull (The New Adelphi Club, 26th August) and Leeds (Sevenarts, 28th August) where, as well as performing together, there will be poetry open mic slots and special guests. Audiences have been told to expect ‘tweed and typewriters,’ confirming suspicions of a potential sponsorship deal with The Chap magazine.
Outside of the album’s release and live gigs, diaries look full. ‘I’m certain this won’t be the last time I work with Matthew,’ says Lewis who will be releasing new material in October under the name My Pleasure. Matthew agrees that future collaborations are a distinct likelihood, but for now ‘I want to concentrate on writing better poems. I feel I have neglected the practice of sitting down to write bloody good poetry that is accessible yet challenging.’ If Runt County is anything to go by, he has already made a great start.
The single You’ll Find Us In The Parks is streaming now via The Adult Teeth Recording Company, and will be released as a free download on 11th August. Listen here on Soundcloud or via Bandcamp: The album Runt County is released on 1st September. Preoder via Bandcamp.