Doctoring the house

You know, for all their prolific output, jobbing deep house producers are a fairly lazy bunch. Lazy because they’re quite happy to keep on churning out house tracks and only house tracks when it comes to an album. How many producers have tried their hand at something different, something new?

One who has (and still is) is Brit and former San Fran exile Charles Webster. His new album, Born On The 24th Of July does all that and more. Its ten tracks, as opposed to being a collection of singles, come from a fairly unusual perspective (given the genre) – a songwriting one.

“I write my music around a few chords, more like a traditional songwriter,” says the reserved Mr Webster down a far-too-quiet mobile phone line, “rather than just turning the machines on and seeing what comes out. I co-wrote most of the lyrics (with relatively unknown and extremely good guest vocalists Del St Joseph, Steve Edwards, Lisa Lindley-Jones and sometime Massive Attack collaborator Sara Jay). What usually happens is I’ll work on a chorus, I’ll come up with that, and then work on the lyrics with whoever I’m collaborating with at the time.”

It’s a formula that works extremely well. The album – combining melancholic acoustic guitars, voodoo soul, and lush house grooves with distinctive and sometimes jaw-dropping vocals – is a marked step forward from his previous Presence incarnation which achieved both critical and commercial success, troubling charts both in the UK and US.

“With the Presence album, I didn’t really see that as an artist album, it was more a collection of singles put together,” he reckons. “This is the first time that I’ve ever tried to make a proper album, a definite album. Actually sat down and worked out how it was going to flow.”

Why are so many others content to not to follow a similar path?

“I don’t know really,” he answers hesitantly. “Maybe some of them find it too difficult – or maybe they’re just too lazy! I’ve never really been afraid of trying new things, so I have no real difficulty with it, I suppose. I think too many of the others don’t really try to break the mould – and sometimes, there’s nothing wrong with that. I mean, I’ve bought records by artists that sound like the same idea over and over again – but I still buy them.”

Born On The 24th July was preceded by a single, ‘I Understand You’ (included on the album) that was a slice of deep Moodymann-esque house. All very well, but why pick the most obvious choice as the precursor to the album? “Well, because it was the only one that was fully finished,” laughs Charles. “But the label wanted to do a house one as the first single. You see, I don’t really see what I do as this or that label, it’s just the music I make, house-based or not.”

Fair enough, but after this almost landmark record – both personally and musically – where next for Charles?

“There will be another Charles Webster album, and I’m still making house stuff as Love From San Francisco – I’ve just completed a bunch of remixes that’ll be coming out over the next few months. The next single from the album is going to be a downtempo one, but there will be house mixes on it too.” Hmmm. Seems you can take the 4/4 out of the man…