Pigeon Spins Featuring an Interview with Autofiction

Patrick T Jenkinson - AUTOFICTION

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Interview with AUTOFICTION

(º)> AUTOFICTION spans 14 years of songwriting. What finally convinced you to shape it into an album?

Happenstance really. I'd written a song in lockdown – Lancashire Rain, which opens the album – and decided that if I was going to do something with it, I should probably do something with my old material too. Most of the songs were actually written between 2009 and 2011.

(º)> You started these tracks on an iPad during a tough time. How did that limitation shape the sound?

I found guitars tricky, and all of the songs had been written with guitars in mind, but I didn't really think of it as a limitation. There wasn't any way that I was going to be able to gig so without needing to worry about how I would recreate things in a live setting, I found myself with a lot more creative freedom. There still isn't any way I can gig, but I'm not even sure if I want to. My last gig was with the Librarians Shhh in 2019 at Haworth Art Gallery in Accrington – I refer to it as my "Candlestick Park"

(º)> Some songs were reimagined after being recorded before; what made you want to take them in a new direction?

That varies from song to song. Some songs, like Apocalypse and Song for a Dreamer, went in a different direction because I really like the original recordings and wanted to test the versatility of the songs. Jimmy's Bar is interesting because my Dad recorded it as an acoustic folk song with me playing acoustic bass, but he briefly worked with a producer who was looking at putting drums and synths on it. It wasn't right for my Dad, and it didn't work out, but there was a good idea in there – which I've fleshed out on the album.

(º)> What’s the emotional thread that connects these tracks across such a long period?

These songs are mostly me cosplaying as my younger self, or reflecting on my younger self. I look at the lyrics now and realise I'm talking a load of crap, which I didn't realise when I wrote them. It turns out I've become an unreliable narrator, but I quite like that idea, and that's why the record is called AUTOFICTION.

(º)> How did working with Nick Sagar at Studio 3507 elevate the project?

There wouldn't be a project without Nick and Claire at 3507. I programmed out the tracks on the iPad, but I had no way of recording vocals, and no clue when it comes to mixing and mastering. I needed a professional, and Nick is comfortably the best producer I've worked with. He usually knows where I'm trying to take a song before I do!

(º)> Song For A Dreamer leads the visuals. Why was this the one to spotlight first?

I'm probably going to get pelters from some of my former band-mates here because when I first wrote Song for a Dreamer, I pushed it heavily, and I'm sure they got sick to the teeth of it. It wasn't really like anything I'd written before, and I was really happy with it. It's a bit different fifteen years on in that I'm a bit more emotionally detached, but it's a duet with Clare and I think she's given it a new lease of life – so it's back at the front of the line!

(º)> What did it mean to include vocals from your niece Clare and a song from your father, Tony?

It's been great. I'd always wanted to do something with Jimmy's Bar, and I think my version sits nicely alongside the original. Clare has an innate feel for music. You would never guess she's still a teenager from listening to her vocals. Hopefully, we can get some more duets recorded before she becomes a megastar! It's nice that the album has that intergenerational input.

(º)> You stepped away from music in 2019. What pulled you back in?

Finding a new way to do things. I never intended to step away; it's just that life happens sometimes. I didn't really have an outlet. I was working more hours, starting a family, and so on, then there was the pandemic, and my wife getting long covid when our son was 18 months old. I just needed to find a new way, and when I started dabbling with Garage Band and Logic Pro, I realised that it was something I could do to my own timetable, and fit around my other commitments.

(º)> The album wasn’t planned, but now it’s here. What does AUTOFICTION represent for you?

It represents the end. Or at least the end of one era, and the start of another. These songs are my life's work up to this point. Now that they’re in the rear-view mirror, I can leave that part of my life behind and concentrate on the future.

(º)> After AUTOFICTION, what’s next for Patrick T Jenkinson?

The follow-up album. As I was making AUTOFICTION, there were a lot of ideas that didn't work, but I kept hold of them and fashioned new songs. Enough for a second album, which I'm working on already.

(•)> That's all Folks! Check out AUTOFICTION on the Pigeon Spins Playlist