Background

There’s an intriguing duality to Minnie Driver’s sophomore release, SEASTORIES that can be traced directly to its geography: some tracks were recorded in New York with Ryan Adams and his group the Cardinals, while others were laid down in Los Angeles with the award-winning actress-musician’s backing band. The result is a compelling album that builds on the strengths of Driver’s acclaimed debut, EVERYTHING I’VE GOT IN MY POCKET(Zoë/Rounder), while taking the singer/songwriter in refreshing new directions.

Along with dreamy ballads like the bluesy “Cold Dark River” and the confessional “Coming Back to Life,” the new album serves up such stirring numbers as the spirited country-rocker “King without a Queen” and the slow burner “Sorry Baby,” featuring guest vocalist Liz Phair. “There was a whole flavor to the New York sessions that was darker and more insular, while the L.A. vibe was open, sunnier and more hopeful,” recalls Driver. Then there are songs like the Latin-tinged “Mockingbird” that were written on one coast and recorded on the other. Adds the English-born Driver, who lives in Los Angeles: “I really like that the album offers a mix of the two places.”

Lyrically, SEASTORIES navigates the deep waters of a subject central to most songwriting: love. But Driver never approaches matters of the heart in any kind of facile or predictable way. “Love is Love” arose from a failed affair and yet manages to find beauty in the aftermath, while “How to Be Good” concludes that the best recipe for a successful relationship is, ultimately, to love oneself. And “London Skies,” a minor-key epic imbued with a moody soundscape, speaks of the constant, unconditional love of a parent-in this case Driver’s father, Ronnie. “Love doesn’t have to be the cookie-cutter kind, or the Hallmark kind, to have a resonance and impact on who we are as people,” says Driver. “I’ve written songs about people who are no longer in my life, who have hurt me or who I have created a distance from. But that love will always be there. You can still learn a lot from a love that has been lost.”

Produced by Marc “Doc” Dauer, who also helmed her debut, SEASTORIES showcases Driver’s maturity as a vocalist as well as a songwriter. Dauer attributes that growth to the experience Driver gained while performing more than 100 shows in America and Europe, including opening a crucial 30-date tour for Australia’s revered Finn Brothers, of Split Enz and Crowded House fame. “Minnie was singing to a pretty sophisticated music audience every night, to people who had never heard of her before and had come to hear Neil and Tim Finn,” says Dauer. “She had to go out there and win them over. That helped her confidence tremendously.”

Among the people she won over was Ryan Adams, who contacted Driver, professed himself a fan and offered to help in any way he could. “Ryan and his band had just finished recording the Willie Nelson album Songbird at New York’s Loho Studios,” recalls Dauer, “so Minnie and I just moved right in and started working with them. It was a bit of a trial by fire for Minnie, because she didn’t know Ryan or his band and had to really step up for those sessions.” Adams and his band wound up on four tracks on SEASTORIES, including the midtempo ballad “Beloved” and the evocative “Lakewater Hair.” Driver calls Adams a highly inspirational collaborator. “Ryan’s a passionate performer who takes his work very seriously,” she says. “I learned a lot from my interaction with him.”

The West Coast sessions for SEASTORIES proved equally fruitful. Working with a band comprised of Dauer on guitar, bassist Al Wolovitch and Wallflowers keyboardist Rami Jafee, all of whom contributed to Everything I’ve Got in My Pocket, the recording took place in a relaxed atmosphere with about 90 per cent of the music captured live off the floor. “Lakewater Hair,” especially, has a raw, visceral quality. “That’s a one-take deal,” says Driver of the track. “I didn’t play guitar in time and the band has to keep up with me. But I wouldn’t change it because it’s very real.” She adds: “On the first record, we created a beautiful sound symphony that I could hide behind. By stripping it back this time, I exposed myself more and made it easier for people to hear what I have to say.”

Bi-coastal in nature and starkly confessional in content, SEASTORIES amounts to a powerful musical statement, serving notice that Driver the singer-songwriter is here to stay. She’s firmly committed to following the musical dream that began when she was a teenager. “I can’t imagine not making records and playing for people,” says Driver emphatically. “It’s so much a part of my life and who I am.”

The Final Word…

“So, I’ve been writing music my whole life, long before acting I was singing up a 400 year old oak tree developers were threatening to cut down. It was a protest, I was 8 and I wore a kilt . My english teacher (Bob, who played the guitar and looked like John Fogerty) and I got on the local news, but they cut that beautiful tree down anyway. Music from that moment seemed like a powerful tool if you had something to say. I’ve been working on having something to say for a while, I was signed to Island in a band when I was 19 but we made a terrible record and drank most of the development money, they quite rightly dropped us and I went off to live in Uraguy with my sister, we were completely broke and selling vintage jeans on the beach to rich kids from Buenes Ayres. I got a call one day at the post office that EMI were interested in signing me so I came back to London took the meeting and in the same week auditioned for, and got cast in the movie ‘Circle of Friends’. I got fat for the role which seemed more impressive than it actually was (muchos doughnuts are not hard to swallow). The movie went better than the meeting at EMI and so I got side tracked by an amazing career. And now I juggle. Life is big and broad, and too short to be pigeon-holed into one little box, it never fails to astonish me, however, how many people don’t want you to be able to do more than one thing creatively… I refuse to subscribe to this impoverished way of thinking and plan to carry on making music, movies, babies, dinner and stories until I drop. ”