John Cale says his lockdown music was filled with “aggression”
Following the release of his acclaimed 18th studio album POPtical Illusion, John Cale has reflected on the “aggression” that fuelled the album and its predecessor during the lockdown period.
The Welsh musician is best known for his work as a founding member of the pioneering rock group The Velvet Underground. Led by frontman Lou Reed, the New York-based outfit were closely linked to artist Andy Warhol and blended rock with avant-garde sonics as well as deeply nihilistic and sexual lyrical themes.
A widely influential act due to such aversion to tradition, since departing in 1968, Cale has continued experimenting with genres as a musician and earned a revered reputation as a producer, working on records by the likes of Patti Smith and The Stooges.
On June 14th, Cale released POPtical Illusion via Double Six and Domino. Featuring the lead single ‘How We See The Light’ – which arrived in March, and May’s ‘Shark-Shark’ – the record follows on from 2023’s Mercy, a record boasting a string of notable collaborations, including the likes of Avey Tare and Panda Bear of Animal Collective, Weyes Blood, Dev Hynes and Fat White Family. Last year’s album was also significant as current events, such as the presidency of Donald Trump, Brexit and climate change, inspired it.
In a new interview with The Observer, Cale reflected on what inspired POPtical Illusion and revealed that just like Mercy, it emerged from “a huge tranche of songs” he penned during the pandemic. Naturally, this collection of music had a different edge to it: fury. Yet, in true form, it wasn’t anger in the typical sense.
“The lockdown sort of dictated what was going on, so my anger showed up fairly regularly,” Cale said. He then explained what inspired this sentiment: “Political stuff, mainly. I wasn’t really worried physically by what was going on with the lockdown, but there were some things that really annoyed me.”
Consequently, Cale began writing tracks “with a great deal more aggression than I have in the recent past, but it was a different kind of aggression – a kind of romantic aggression”. He said this particular form of anger manifested in several ways, ranging from ‘Company Commander’ being a vehicle to condemn “rightwingers burning their libraries down” to the fairly explicit ‘I’m Angry’.
He concluded: “My songs have an interior logic, but I also think people want to discover things for themselves when they listen to them, just as they would when they read a poem.”
In a four-star review of POPtical Illusion, Far Out‘s Jordan Potter wrote: “Where the aptly titled POPtical Illusion lacks in eclecticism, it gains in coherent personality. Lyrically, Cale explores characteristically macabre and anguished themes; haunting echo effects give his timeless vocal sonorous stature. Meanwhile, the album prospers from discerning productional finesse and an ingenious weave of classical and contemporary textures.”
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