The Art of Longevity Season 6, Episode 2: Blancmange

The Art of Longevity Season 6, Episode 2: Blancmange

Author: The Song Sommelier November 27, 2022 Duration: 41:22
In this episode, Fenner Pearson chats to Neil Arthur about his writing process and how he works on the Blancmange albums, with Benge acting as his foil and producer, and his collaborations with Fader and Near Future. Arthur touches on the number of ideas “buzzing and fizzing” around his head that has led to him recording sixteen albums in eight years. This in turn provides an interesting insight into the whole process of releasing an album in 2022 compared with 1982! Perhaps what comes across...

The Art of Longevity, hosted by The Song Sommelier, sits at the crossroads of music, history, and the often-unseen business behind it. This isn't a typical interview podcast; it's a series of candid, in-depth dialogues with artists who have built careers spanning decades. Each conversation explores the real journey-how these musicians have weathered the industry's constant shifts, creative droughts, and commercial pressures to not just survive, but to continue evolving and connecting with audiences. We get into the specifics: the collaboration that saved a career, the business decision that changed everything, the fanbase that grew quietly over years. The discussions move fluidly between past triumphs, current projects, and future ambitions, always grounded in the artist's personal definition of success. It's about the resilience required to make art for a lifetime. Tune in for these uniquely honest reflections on what it truly means to last.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 93

The Art of Longevity
Podcast Episodes
The Art of Longevity Season 6, Episode 6: Editors [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:58
The egoless band can go a lot further than most bands. A strong element of that is embracing creative changes of direction - agreeing on it and being brave about it. Let’s face it, something we know about longevity is th…
The Art of Longevity Series 6, Episode 5: Gaz Coombes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:13
Let’s face it, there is a patchy record for solo artists that began in popular 90s bands. Some crossed the rubicon to a credible solo career and some didn’t. While Gaz Coombes enjoyed the full glare of the spotlight of t…
The Art of Longevity Season 6, Episode 4: Rumer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:12
Rumer’s arrival struck a similar chord to that of Norah Jones some six years earlier i.e. refreshingly out of time. Those singles Slow, Aretha and their host album Seasons of My Soul arrived so fully formed although (as…
The Art of Longevity Season 6, Episode 3: The Delines [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:27
The Delines’ world is a sprawling, blue collar soap opera. Flawed characters, aimless drifters, chancers and grifters, barroom fights, beat-up cars, parking lots, convenience store robberies, messed up relationships and…
The Art of Longevity Season 6, Episode 1: Aqualung [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:33
After fading from view in the UK after "Strange And Beautiful" (a top 10 hit in 2002), Aqualung was hardly consigned to the legend of the one hit wonder. Instead Matt Hales went to make his name and build his career in t…
The Art of Longevity Season 5, Episode 7: Suede, with Brett Anderson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:34
Suede (or, The London Suede for our friends in the USA) has reached 30 years in the business (well, minus the seven years the band was officially split in 2003). As singer Brett Anderson hits mid-50s, you cannot accuse h…
The Art of Longevity Season 5, Episode 6: Death Cab For Cutie [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:26
How to characterise an American indie band over almost three decades and 10 albums, each with a subtly different flavour? One recent review I read described Death Cab For Cutie as “masters of dreamy, emo-tinged Americana…
The Art of Longevity Season 5, Episode 5: Embrace, with Danny McNamara [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:20
Before I spoke with Danny McNamara, he’d emailed me to say how much he loved Brett Anderson’s quote - the one we’ve set out to make famous on The Art of Longevity. Not only did he recognise it as capturing the band’s car…
The Art of Longevity Season 5, Episode 4: Alela Diane [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:33
Having helped pave the way, Alela remains at the heart of a very strong current movement for female troubadours - a scene driven by the success of the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Angel Oslen, Julien Baker and even Phoebe…
The Art of Longevity Season 5, Episode 3: Interpol [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:27
Interpol have honed their craft over 20 years since they ‘blasted’ onto the scene in 2002 with Turn On The Bright Lights - another one of those infamous overnight successes (actually the culmination of five years of hard…