Neneh Cherry’s fifth solo album, Broken Politics, asks questions – angry questions, thoughtful ones, questions for which it is acknowledged there simply are no answers. Cherry and those with whom she collaborates seek to expand her palette to create the potent electronic pop for which she is renowned.
The album has been in the making since 2014’s Blank Project and she claims that Broken Politics is more reflective, less angry or forceful. She accepts that these things take time: “I haven’t always been so good at getting things out so quickly, and it still took a while – but that’s okay.”
Broken Politics was recorded at the Creative Music Studio in New York, founded by Karl Berger who was a band member of Neneh’s father Don Cherry in the 60s. Neneh felt she was in a familiar space, able to listen to stories about her father whilst she spent time with Karl and his wife.
“I’m very shy about taking on big themes with the airs that I’ve got a solution—who has the fucking solutions?” Cherry admits while talking about the album’s title. “I like writing from a personal perspective, and the time we live in is so much about finding your own voice. People have been left feeling misheard, misunderstood, and disillusioned. What the fuck can I do? Maybe politics starts in your bedroom, or your house—a form of activism, and a responsibility. The album is about all of those things: feeling broken, disappointed, and sad, but having perseverance. It’s a fight against the extinction of free thought and spirit.”
Of her writing partnership with Cameron McVey, Cherry says “The thing I love the most about our creativity is our harness.” McVey commented “Neneh’s a songwriter’s songwriter. Our creative partnership is a trip. It’s a magical journey we’ve been on for many years now, yet she never ceases to amaze me with her sweet words and melodies.”
Kieran Hebden was just as crucial to Broken Politics, for the entirety of the album’s production. “She had rough chords and vocals already done for songs and she would send me demos of these recorded at home or even just on her phone sometimes.” producer Hebden said. “I would then come up with an arrangement and instrumentation for the track and we got together in the studio and recorded vocals over my arrangement.”
“It was a joy that he wanted to make another record with me,” Neneh says about Hebden. “He’s serious in the most beautiful way—he only does something when he really wants to do it. His heart goes into what he’s doing, and he thinks beyond the songs.”
Of the vision Cherry has which is inevitably absorbed by Broken Politics, she says “I have a name. You have a name. We’re not just these faceless mounds you can put in the ground. We’re human beings with lives and stories.”
Neneh is at Stylus 12 February 7 – 10 p.m.
https://www.leedstickets.com/eventinfo/5859/Neneh-Cherry
