The yearning voice and sullen temperament behind the languid and lush Scottish outfit Travis, Fran Healy has been laying low of late. The primary task on his to-do list: commune with his diverse surroundings while recording his first solo effort in New York, Vermont and (mostly) Berlin. Whether the new Wreckorder (Ryko) benefits from that far-flung trio of locales—or guest appearances from Neko Case and Paul McCartney—is largely irrelevant to anyone who’s not already smitten by Healy’s majestically restrained brand of mope-rock understatement. The 10-song collection occasionally recalls the quieter moments on the already-pretty-quiet The Invisible Band, Travis’ 2001 LP. Only here, Healy turns even more insular as he’s left to stew in his own introspective juices. Healy will be guest-editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with him.
Healy: Wings Of Desire is a movie by German film director Wim Wenders. I was introduced to his work through a friend, Jude, in Glasgow. She showed me Paris, Texas. It blew me away. I called my band Travis after the main character in that movie. Then a few years later, at art school, they showed a documentary about Wenders followed by a screening of Wings Of Desire. It’s a stunning movie made moreso when I later discovered that Wenders had written it as it was being shot and only started out with a vague outline. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds make a cameo, and Berlin looks stunning in black and white. It was shot when the Wall was still standing. I live in Berlin now, drawn there by the allure of the city I saw in that film. Every day I ride my bike around and feel like I’m on some giant set.
Video after the jump.
