Ditch the game plan, go for broke

Irish singer-songwriter Cathy Davey is ‘in a good place’, she says, and with a residency of three gigs at Whelan’s this month, she has finally figured out how to enjoy every bit of her performances

HOUSTON, WE don’t have a problem any more. One of Ireland’s finest songwriters, Cathy Davey, has finally taken control of the things that once threatened to bring about her downfall.

It’s farewell to preshow vomiting, sayonara to freezing on stage and auf wiedersehen to putting herself in positions of which she disapproves.

“I’m in a good place,” says Davey, who is gearing up for the two remaining shows of her residency in Dublin’s Whelan’s venue. “The problem with anyone who is judged on their work as an artist is that whenever they say they’re in a really good place, it usually means they’re going to write something that is quite boring. So I’m not the judge of where I am, but I know I’m at peace with knowing how to balance what is needed out of me to sustain myself as a musician.

“Because record sales are so low, one of the ways to make money is to gig. But, instead of doing the normal thing, I’m happy I can do something like this residency – a different kind of gig each week – which will keep me so interested that it will have the right kind of energy.

“I’m also happy that at this point in my life I can figure out ways to make sure I can enjoy every bit of it.”

It hasn’t always been so. Davey has in the past fought fiercely with herself to enjoy something she was clearly not looking forward to. Why even allow herself to be drawn into battle? “If you could read yourself like others can read you, then you’d be a lot better off,” she says. “Gigging suits some people but not others – and it suits some people only at certain times. When something is that vague there’s probably no fixing it.”

Simply put, when Davey is happy touring, she’s very happy, and when she’s not, she’s not.

“There’s probably no cure for that, either, and that’s problematic – although perhaps no more problematic than being over confident and getting knocked back. Really, though, I don’t think my problems are any weightier than other people’s. In relation to performances, all I ever want is for everyone to be honest.”

Throughout her recording career, Davey has been nothing but direct and genuine. Across her albums to date – Something Ilk(2004), Tales of Silversleeve(2007) and The Nameless(2010) – she has deftly mixed surreal dreamy/nightmarish states and intriguing narratives with a different kind of pop music.

At present, Davey seems to be at the most interesting intersection of her creative life; The Namelesswill be followed by what she describes as "a version or some form of an album that might not be released as an album". Pardon?

“It’s a new concept that is an equivalent of an album; or rather, I’m working my way around that idea.” She proffers a look that implies even she is confused by the ideas swirling around in her head.

“Themes and concepts are emerging, but they need – like any project that’s worth its weight – to develop through a few notebooks. There is no game plan or deadline for what comes next, but I do know that I love writing to concepts, and that one song isn’t enough for each idea. Erm, I’m not exactly sure what it will turn out to be . . .”

Or when such a work will arrive, but no matter. Davey wants to make the new songs part of something different, and not just to make an album for the sake of it.

“I want it to drive itself and for it to drive me along with it, so that the momentum is coming from the right place.”

It’s all connected with Davey’s new-found strategy of doing things for the right reasons. The ideas for the Dublin shows are wrought from the same mindset.

“If I’m going to gig,” she says, “then I’d rather do them for the sake of challenge than for just the standard reasons. I feel like I might short change people if I do the expected show. That way you find yourself doing a gig that two years ago you’d have rather died than played. Doing it in a way that works for you is the key, and if they’re not then you can shape them a little to be so.”

Davey also adopts the Dave Eggers “just say yes” approach.

“Just say yes to gain the experience,” she nods, her blonde hair falling from her forehead over her eyes, “and then you’ll have an educated answer for anyone who asks should they do this, that or the other.”

Three times the charm

Show No 1 (last Thursday, February 2nd)

"It was quite strange for me, because I haven't been that comfortable with playing gigs in Dublin – it's a bit of a fear of performing to a home crowd, I suppose. But I felt very relaxed and that could have been because it was part of the three-week residency – it felt like home to me. I didn't play new songs – it wasn't that kind of show for me – but I did play a few songs from my first album (2004's Something Ilk). I was always embarrassed by it – you're pretty much listening to your teenage self, and you're just mortified – but now I think it deserves a second shot. And so I played the likes of Holy Moly, Hammerheadand Clean and Neat.It felt good revisiting those songs, and I sang them in the way I should have sang them eight years ago."

S how No 2 (February 9th)

"I'll be doing the Dublin Fringe show, Songs That Scare Children. The show doesn't necessarily feature songs inspired by direct nightmares, but it includes music from movies that would colour the memories of your childhood – like, for instance, music from the Charles Laughton film Night of the Hunter. Whenever I think of a certain room in my house I remember being in that room after I'd seen the film. And that gives the memory a colour and a feeling that to me is eeriness itself. Another movie that I've taken a song from is the 1964 movie The Naked Kiss– the song is Mommy Dear,which is very, very disturbing. I suppose 'Songs That Scared Catherine as a Child' might be a better title."

Show No 3 (February 16th)

"This show is all about vocalists, all female, from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s – people such as Marlene Dietrich, Julie London, Jane Russell, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday. It's interesting that so many people hear the name Jane Russell and just associate her with her breasts in the movie The Outlaw, but her vocal performances, her timing and her musicality are wonderful. There are a couple of Mamas and Papas songs, too, as well as Nancy Sinatra."

Cathy Davey performs at Whelan’s, Dublin, on February 9th and 16th