Julie Feeney on David Bowie

A celebratory week of all things Bowie continues on hotpress.com as we head stateside to get Choice Music Prize winner (and 2012 nominee) Julie Feeney's first impressions of The Thin White Duke's 24th album, The Next Day.

"Straight off, I can tell that it's a masterpiece," the Galway songwriter states. "There's something about it that goes in under your skin. One of the many things that has always intrigued me about him is his rate of harmonic shift. When he changes the harmony, the modulations and the key shifts are really, really magical. It just brings you into another place. That's one of the most striking things."

As a classically trained composer, Feeney has an appreciation for the technique and craft Bowie brings to the table.

"When I did a cover of 'Everyone Says Hi' [see below for video], actually going through it the harmonies are completely not what you would expect. With the chord changes, you don't expect them to go there. I never really thought that about David Bowie until I started going into his music to find the key changes and all of that.
"It's a constant shifting – you're in a particular place and then you're brought to a new place. It's like you're outside on this lovely mountain. You're walking and you have this gorgeous feeling. Then you're going around a corner of it and get a new surge. Say the air hits you in a different way, the scenery looks a different way. That's what it's kinda like."

She also thinks his time away has given a sense of melancholy to proceedings.

"The poignancy. There's a deep sadness there. He's touching the core of some very, very deep sadness that he can't even describe. It's like he's channeling something from somewhere we can't even get to. It is that thing Johnny Cash has on the last ones before he died... I know that's weird to say!
"Because Bowie is the most sprightly person, whatever age he is. So I'm not being ageist but there's definitely something he's reaching. You can't quite put your finger on it. There's a poignancy and a deep sadness there.

"I don't really know any other music that affects me that way. Maybe classical music would. He's really got such depth. What an artist.The poignancy, too."

As for specifics thus far, the controversial cover art gets the thumbs-up ("I think it's really cool!") and 'Where Are We Now? has had the most impact.

"Oh my god, the melody. All morning it was in my head. There's a fragile beauty to it. It was a total surprise to see something so beautiful and so powerful arrive after so long. It did knock me back. It came out of the blue. A guy who's been supervising me in New York worked with him, so I'd been thinking about him."

Apparently, a meeting between Feeney and Bowie is trying to be arranged.

"He's a capricorn as well," she laughs. "I'm a capricorn! I don't even know star signs that well, I'm just trying every way I can to justify that I'd get on brilliantly with David: 'Me and David Bowie would get on great because...' I'm trying to come up with reasons!"

She's been a fan since getting into Low a few years back. Now that it is apparently written in the stars that they will meet, how would she react?

"Well I met Suzanne Vega but I probably freaked her out. I just made a mess of it, I wasn't properly set-up. I was just a regular person, I didn't tell her I made music. So with David Bowie, I'd prefer if he'd heard something before we met. But c'mon, it's David Bowie! the whole world wants him right now! How would I feel? Completely humbled, overwhelmed. Probably say nothing. Dumbstruck."

Currently gigging in and around New York, Feeney has just completed the libretto for her first opera and is working on the music. Julie Feeney's third album, Clocks, is out now.