Wedding Present delivers "Seattle-soaked" album

Fact: A song called "Queen Anne" appears on the new Wedding Present album, "Take Fountain."

Fact: So do songs titled "Ringway to Seatac" and "Larry's" — the latter an allusion to Larry's Market.

Fact: The album was produced by Seattle-based Steve Fisk, who recorded much of it at Seattle's Robert Lang Studios.

You don't need to call "CSI" to figure out something very Seattle is going on here, with this acclaimed British band from the late '80s and early '90s. Influential disc jockey John Peel championed the Wedding Present, which enjoyed a reputation for the unpredictable, once releasing an album filled with Ukrainian folk tunes, elsewhere releasing one new single each month for an entire year (1992). Though the Wedding Present never quite matched the huge following they've enjoyed in Britain here, they have been quite influential on younger indie-rock bands on both sides of the Atlantic.

Singer-guitarist David Gedge — who traded in the Wedding Present for a long, three-album Cinerama detour — was living in Seattle when he recorded "Take Fountain." This is the first Wedding Present album in seven-plus years, recording during a quiet residency in our fair city.

Gedge's new Wedding Present album seems to try to simultaneously deal with love past and love present, heartache and heart-warmth. He writes as poignantly and evocatively as ever — a British reviewer calls his new disc "a glorious union of Gedge's romantic past and his latter-day pursuit of lust, as explored by the eclectic Cinerama. So there are chiming guitars and melting cellos, fragile heartache and angsty, punchy rhythms."

This column bounced some questions off him in an e-mail exchange, with his answers coming from "a tour bus somewhere in between Oslo and Copenhagen." (He returns to Seattle to play Neumo's on April 17.)

Q: What brought you to Seattle, and are you still in residence there?

A: I was living in Leeds, in England, until the end of 2002, when I split up with my longtime girlfriend and partner in Cinerama, Sally Murrell. I was feeling extremely sorry for myself and just wanted to escape, really. I'd always fancied the idea of seeing what living in America would be like ... I could do my job anywhere in the world, to be honest, all I need is a guitar and a pen and paper ... so I thought I'd give Seattle a shot. I knew a lot of people from there, too ... not least Steve Fisk the legendary record producer, and my new girlfriend, Jessica.

The Wedding Present actually have recorded in Seattle before ... when we did "Watusi" for Island Records 10 years ago, so I already knew the city pretty well, too.

But my current home is a hotel room! We're doing so much touring this year that there didn't seem to be any point paying rent for an empty apartment in Seattle, so we let it go.

Q: Judging by your new album, Seattle has seeped into your subconscious — perhaps? How, if at all, has Seattle influenced your songwriting and/or music?

A: Well ... I didn't want it to be my "Seattle" album or anything ... that sounds a bit too much like a concept album to me ... but on the other hand I did want to refer to my surroundings. And our friend Lincoln Mongillo took some great photos of the city that I really wanted to use those on the album sleeve. So yeah, you could say it's a Seattle-soaked LP!

Q: Did the song "Larry's" come to you in Larry's Market — or if not, where?

A: It was based on something that happened to me just after I arrived ... but it was in the street, which wasn't quite as interesting! So I just kind of elaborated. I decided I wanted to relocate it to a supermarket and I quite like the name "Larry's" ... although most people outside of the area assume it's the name of a bar!

Q: And how about "Queen Anne" — what's the geographic/psychological story behind that?

A: That was where our apartment was ... and Ringway was the airport in Manchester from which I first flew to Sea-Tac.

Q: What are some of your favorite things about Seattle, and is it a good place to make music?

A: Indeed. The band all came over and we had a great time. Fisky (Steve Fisk) is fantastic. He captured exactly what we wanted and threw in a load of his own crazy ideas as well. And he's such a nice bloke.

Let me see ... what have I missed since I left Seattle? Well ... KEXP, the little pho places in Ballard, Golden Gardens, Whidbey Island ... and my friends ... and just the all-around relaxed, arty feel of the city, I guess.

• Luke Temple, another new import to Seattle, is receiving hearty pats on the back for his debut with Seattle's Mill Pond Records, "Hold a Match for a Gasoline World." The Boston Globe called Temple's recording "quite beautiful in a timeless fashion." Pop Culture Press suggested Temple's record "may well be the strongest solo effort since Elliot Smith's 'XO.' "

And the Austin Chronicle, in a South By Southwest festival preview, said, "Luke Temple's elegant way with words and movements ranks with the greats: Cale, Lennon, Buckley."

Born in Massachusetts, Temple recently moved to Seattle from New York. For more, visit www.millpondrecords.com.

• Maktub, the Seattle band that always seems to be one step from the big time, has a new album: "Say What You Mean" comes out Tuesday. Details: www.maktub.com

• Brandi Carlile = hot.

Rolling Stone mag just called the Seattle pop-rock diva (in the Hunter S. Thompson issue) one of 10 artists to watch in 2005. Her big-label — Columbia Records — debut is still a ways off. She plays Neumo's on April 23.

• The local hip-hop album of the month has to be Grayskul's "Deadlivers" — a new Oldominion spin-off featuring Onry Ozzborn and JFK. The two Seattle rappers bounce crazy, creative rhymes all over the speakers, and if it doesn't always make sense, the beats are intense and seemingly urgent. For samples and more info, visit www.oldominion.net or www.rhymesayers.com.

• Seattle pop-rock band Acceptance has an April 26 release date for "Phantoms," its Columbia Records debut. The band plays El Corazon on Saturday. Gatsby's American Dream plays from its self-released new album "Volcano" at El Corazon (the former Graceland) on Friday.

Tom Scanlon: tscanlon@seattletimes.com