WONGIE DISCOVERY: mcalmont & nyman - take the money and run

mcalmont & nyman - take the money and run
[what a strange but awesome collaboration between two different artists. but this is the bio of the wonderful project (thanks to xolondon for the intro)

It was mentioned on the grapevine that Michael Nyman might be interested in working with David but this was all hearsay until 2007 when David in creative frustration decided to join Facebook. Nyman contacted him within a week. They remembered their first encounter to each other and quickly began plotting a collaboration. During a hastily arranged lunch meeting at The Fishworks on Upper Street Michael stated that he was far too post modern to write about feelings and David had a Eureka moment as he had become bored with the navel gazing futility of penning love songs about his own feelings and at 40 wanted to create something more worthwhile with his lyric writing.

At this point Gericault’s Raft Of The Medusa emerged as a subject of interest but instead of pursuing that specific angle David became fascinated with the life of the 19th French painter especially his determination to create documentary canvases based on contemporary life; battle-field injury, asylum inmates and shipwreck memoirs. Using this approach as an inspiration it was then decided that David would select Nyman compositions and use them as backing tracks.

David listened to and absorbed the music and then turned to the worldwide news web for suitable story sources. Rather than inspire pieces based on heartbreak or the trials of love this process enabled writing of more pertinent pieces on subjects as varied as 21st century Piracy (Going To America), trafficked prostitution in Europe(A City Called Turin), Lothario world leaders (In Re Don Giovanni), assisted suicide (Friendly Fire), reality television (The Glare), international jewellery heists (Dorothy), African orphan migration (Fever Sticks and Bones), banking errors (Take The Money And Run) and Drug Mules (In Laos).

It was also felt that the songs were most effective when written from the first person point of view of individual characters in researched reports. This approach provided an emotional engagement with the subjects that is lost by the time their stories emerge in the glare of the 24 hour news media.

This process of course caused initial concern for McAlmont because he was taking already brilliant compositions, adding to and adjusting them. Fortunately, Michael Nyman was delighted with the result.]