Perry Blake: On his first studio album in 13 years and tackling the ups and downs of the music industry

He may not be a household name in Ireland, but Co. Sligo born musician Perry Blake has enjoyed musical acclaim and success in a rather roundabout way. Ever since he released his self-titled debut album in 1998, Blake has been a hit in France, where he’s a firm fixture on national radio and has soundtracked numerous French films.

Despite the consistent success he’s found throughout Europe (he was asked by French singer Francoise Hardy to produce seven songs on her gold-selling album Tant de Belles Choses), Songs Of Praise is Blake’s first official album in a whopping 13 years. An odyssey of distorted electronica, ambient music and otherworldly soundscapes, it’s a beautiful, unique creation. The question which everyone will be asking, however, is what Perry has been up to in the meantime?

“I did make some other records,” he tells me, talking from his home/studio in Sligo. “I started off making a country album – almost by accident – in 2006. But I was signed with Warner France for seven countries – it was a licensing deal through my own label – and I got badly stung. I spent 50 grand on a record and I put all the bells and whistles on it, recorded all over Europe, and they wouldn’t release it. So I’ve actually licensed it to the label I’m with now [Moochin’ Around], and with PIAS, and we’ll be putting it out eventually.”

According to Perry, he found himself “bogged down in the nasty stuff” of the music industry for a while. From not having his album released to disputes over royalty payments, the musician faced a tough few years when it came to getting his proper dues from his music.

“You end up losing the will to create stuff if you’re not getting paid at all,” he explains. “I was lucky, in a way, that I’d done pretty well over the years. That kept me going.”

In the midst of not releasing studio albums, Perry Blake wasn’t slowing down on the creative front. From ghostwriting for others to creating a reality TV show (he refuses to elaborate more on this point…), to optioning a children’s programme, he’s dipped his hands into numerous different creative streams over the years.

“You have to be very creative in your real life as well as your artistic life. It’s not how it was say 20 years ago, where you get big advances or any of that.”

Finally, Perry started again making his own new music.

“I didn’t want to make the same record again, so I started this album as a kind of EP and I started working with different people. I had about 35 songs and I’d signed with Moochin’ About and they were asking about an album. So I was focused on making this, because it’s good to an extent when you have people behind you and you have a deadline.”

Songs Of Praise bears the hallmarks of everyone from Bowie to The Cure across its 12 songs. This was undoubtedly due to the influence of Kevin Metcalfe, who mastered the album.

“I love what he did with The Cure – the Disintegration album,” Perry nods. “I love a lot of what he’s done over the years, including with Damon Albarn’s Everyday Robots album. He’s in his mid-sixties and he’s still perfect. He’s also got a really good head on him for vinyl and CD, and the vinyl was very important for me because I didn’t think I was going to put out CDs, but apparently people still buy them.”

Perry has been hugely successful in France but less so closer to home. Does he have any feelings on why that is?

“Ireland’s been very weird,” he says. “People say, ‘Why don’t you play here?’ I would. I’ve played a handful of shows here for a few hundred people, but a lot of the time it ends up costing you money if you use a band, and you don’t pack out shows. And apart from Other Voices, I’ve never been invited onto TV in Ireland, even though the last record went high up in the charts in 2006. I don’t know about Ireland, maybe my music isn’t to people’s tastes. Maybe it’s just too melancholic. I’m not complaining. It works. Thankfully it works.”

• Songs Of Praise is out now on Moochin’ Around/PIAS.