It’s hard to imagine where indie music would be without Gina Birch and her unfettered creativity. During her iconic post-punk tenure with the Raincoats, she embodied and helped shape the female-led DIY contingent’s most endearing and enduring traits—both in her native England and elsewhere. For Trouble (Third Man), just the second solo album in a storied career that spans numerous mediums, Birch unveils her most inclusive sonic vision to date, intertwining elements of rock, dub and electronic music. Recorded at the London home of Grammy-winning producer and Killing Joke co-founder Youth (Paul McCartney, Verve), the album features contributions from members of Birch’s live band. Also in the mix: longtime collaborator Helen McCookerybook, who’s worked with Birch on multiple film and music projects over the years.
Though the album’s six-minute centerpiece, “Causing Trouble Again,” couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than a feminist call to arms, most of the LP finds Birch in a more introspective mood. As she told MAGNET’s Hobart Rowland, that was pretty much by design.
It’s a little surprising that your first-ever solo album, I Play My Bass Loud, came out just two years ago. What finally motivated you to go that route?
It’s funny and thrilling, actually—and no one is more surprised than me. Since having recording technology on my computer, I’ve never stopped playing with ideas around music. Over the years, I’ve collected a lot of songs—some that even felt almost complete. So when Third Man was interested in putting out a yellow seven-inch vinyl to celebrate the opening of their London shop, things quickly developed into the idea of releasing an album, thanks to (Third Man’s) Dave Buick.
I’m a film and video maker, a painter, a mother, a maker of things and a writer and performer of songs. I fulfil myself with a creative pursuit in whatever way presents itself. I’ve been playing on and off over the years—sometimes solo, sometimes with my band the Hangovers, and sometimes with Red Crayola or even Dorothy, the pop duo I had with Vicky Aspinall in the ’80s. A solo album is another strand for me. I think technology makes it more possible, as you can keep going back to work you’ve made and adding to it. It’s almost like you’re playing with another version of yourself.
You worked with Youth again on Trouble, so there must be some great chemistry there. How would describe your relationship with him?
We had a really good relationship on I Play My Bass Loud, and Youth is an interesting person to work with. He’s constantly coming up with ideas that seem impossible, but when you stop and think about them, you think, “Why not?” He thought my new songs were almost like hymns when we’d recorded them—and that we should gather a large choir and perform them in St. Paul’s Cathedral … He has great, far-out ideas. His brain never stops working, but sometimes he’s distracted from what’s right in front of him by being in his imagination.
Trouble seems like a pretty personal album.
I realized that if I was going to make another album for Third Man, I should start to get the songs prepared. I opened up to things that happened inside and outside—nothing was off the agenda. I just embraced the thoughts that ran through my head and started to play with them as the beginnings of a song. Some of them developed into this album, and many more are waiting in the wings.
There’s a great story behind the video for “Causing Trouble Again.” It must have been a lot of fun getting everyone involved.
It began with a Super 8 cartridge I had when I was at Hornsey College of Art in 1977. I was very interested in Derek Jarman’s Super 8 films and got myself a camera. When deciding what to film, among many other things, I thought it would be interesting to perform and film the same thing for the duration of the cartridge … maybe a bit of Andy Warhol, or process art perhaps. Feeling kind of inarticulate and unsure, I decided I’d scream for the duration of the three minutes. I had this film developed, put it in my pocket and never showed it to anyone. Later, little bits of it were cut into projections I was making and occasionally screening behind or before live performances. But the film was never screened in its entirety with sound.
Lindsay Young heard about the film and asked to see it. When she did, she wanted to project it at 3mm wide and make it the main image of Women In Revolt! Art And Activism In The UK 1970-1990, a 2022 exhibition she was curating at Tate Britain. I was stunned. Over 100 women who made work between 1970 and 1990 were invited. I thought it would be important for us to build on this. To cut an even longer story short, I decided to collect names of women who’d inspired us with their courage and talent … to make both a song and a work of art. The video has 30 women artists and musicians. I’m very proud of it.
The Raincoats were such a looming presence in the post-punk era. How do you see this latest generation of indie-rockers following your lead?
As the Raincoats, we’re always extremely happy to hear that our work has opened things up for them and given them courage. I was very inspired by what happened with riot grrrl and beyond. I’m happy that more young women now have access to making their own decisions and using their own voices to tell their own stories. I like people doing things that don’t play the game and find their own way.
See Gina Birch live.
