Dublin duo We Cut Corners have released their fourth album, Impostors. Alan Corr talks to them about imposter syndrome and things falling apart
You might say Dublin-based indie duo We Cut Corners are a pair of well-rounded blokes.
Guitarist/vocalist John Duignan and drummer/vocalist Conall Ó Breachain both have "proper" jobs in education, both share a healthy obsession with music, both are well-spoken and well turned out in hipster chic, and both are articulate ambassadors for their brand of kinetic indie rock.
However, delve deeper into their collective psyche and another picture begins to emerge. "The art of appearing to be normal is quite an achievement." says Duignan early into our interview. Connal laughs his slightly manic laugh at this insight.
They are a study in contrasts - Ó Breachain is, indeed, given to laughter, while Duignan seems more watchful and cautious.
Together they are one of the finest under the radar acts in Ireland. Since 2011 the pair have released quality albums with a disciplined regularity that befits their tightly-strung and sprung sound. Their latest, Impostors, is another refinement of their arty and angular guitar attack and unhinged vocals intercut with more folk-infused moments.
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Elegant but also seemingly on the edge of collapse, WCC combine Elvis Costello-like wordplay ("ice pick eyes" and "a cartoon Christ up on the cross" feature on the new album) with the nervy herky jerky sound of early Talking Heads to address themes of paranoia and unease. There is a also a track on the new album called Rainy Night in Slomo, and it’s more than just a cute pun on The Pogues’ song.
"We’re a two-piece and if something goes wrong, something really does go wrong because there’s nothing to hide behind."
Both write and sing and like its three predecessors, Impostors is likely to be nominated for a Choice Music Prize but it’s that album title that has been raising eyebrows.
"We saw a theme of impostor syndrome emerging and it’s something that we would feel is quite prominent in our lives across many facets to the greater or lesser degrees," says Duignan. "So instead of titling the album Impostors we decided to write a piece of music that would bookend it.
"It sounds very weighty but the album has more levity than the weighty thematic thread we’ve gone for suggests." adds Ó Breachain.
So how does this impostor syndrome manifest itself in their lives? "I think when you’re engaged in a live performance and when you’re walking out on stage in front of a crowd of people you don’t know and you probably feel you’re ill-equipped to do so and that at any point the wheels could fall off.
"That’s something John and I have always struggled with, maybe it’s inherent in the fact that we’re a two-piece and if something goes wrong, something really does go wrong because there’s nothing to hide behind.
"We’ve always struggled with the feeling like we’re getting away with it and every time a gig is over we think thank god, we survived and there were a couple of incidents in the early days where we felt we didn’t survive.
"And then there’s the writing process. I write music but I’m not a writer, a drum but I’m not a drummer, I sing but I’m not a singer. As John said, that theme in the songs kept showing up in different facets."
"That has to be some carnal fecking madness and maybe with this record we’ve really hit on that."
They are calm, collected and cool but under that swan-like serenity are they constantly in turmoil underneath?
"I would hope so. I hope we project something that appears to be a lot more cool and collected than it actually is," says Duignan. "I don’t think you could attempt to produce art that is thought-provoking and will excite people without having some level of, I don’t want to say mania, but to be somewhat touched by a bit of madness.
They started making music when they met in college twenty years ago. "Both of us had no prior experience of being in bands," says Ó Breachain. "We were both obsessed with music and we recognised that in each other very early on so it was literally over a shared love of acts like Radiohead and David Bowie.
"We would put their songs on in the jukebox in the canteen in college and it was like `who put that tune on?’ It was that and sitting down and talking about songs like Paranoid Android by Radiohead and how complex they were."
Over the years they’ve developed into a tightly drilled unit but that overwhelming feeling of things falling apart seems to be mounting with each new release.
"The ebb and flow of the records, there’s been elements of that unhinged thing," says Ó Breachain, who with his long hair and goatee looks like some kinds of Renaissance throwback.
"We gravitate towards that- a bit of raucous and rawness in the music. That has to be some carnal fecking madness and maybe with this record we’ve really hit on that. These songs really seemed to come together quickly."
The duo’s last album, The Cadences of Others, was recorded in a church in Dublin suburb of Drumcondra and for Imposters they atmosphere and possible romantic.
"This time we ended up recording in a studio in Delgany called The Meadow and it turned out to be the most beautiful studio owned by Fiachra Trench and run by his son Rian who engineered the album. The studio is on the grounds of a farmhouse that was once owned by a Russian novelist I believe. If I’m not making it up, someone else is making it up."
"We wrote the album quickly and recorded it quickly. It was very reactive and synergetic."
If there is any justice in the world, these two may have to give up their "proper" day jobs.
Alan Corr @corralan
Impostors is out now on the Delphi label.
We Cut Corners plays Sunday 28th October 28th - The Spirit Store, Dundalk and Friday 2nd November, The Monarch, London.
