Original cinematic soundscape musician and producer Alan Rowland and songwriter Carol Nichol have released a new album Northern Crown.

“It’s a mammoth task trying to mix on our equipment set up in a box room at home, it’s D.I.Y. – it’s low fi”.

A toxic mix of Stooges/Springfield/Velvet Underground gave birth to 2017s Pow and 2021s Poor Little Rich Girl. Both sparked with creative energy leaving their third album big shoes to fill.

To find out if they’ve got the right size and same passion I caught up with Carol in old favourite the Centurion Bar in Newcastle’s Central Station. 

“Thing is it’s sad to see storytelling becoming censored in the arts you see it even with comedians now, that is what the album is about. We’re having a go basically”.

“The track ‘Little Vultures’ and the lyric ‘drowning statues’ deals with the people who want to wipe out history instead of preserving it. Just Stop Oil protesters throwing a tin of soup over a Van Gogh painting. What’s that about? He died in poverty”

“They’re targeting big sports events and slowing traffic down stopping people getting to work on time. They’re targeting the wrong people. It’s about the killing of culture. We should rejoice in our culture and celebrate it. You had to laugh when people wanted ‘Delilah’ by Tom Jones banned!”

The album has 11 tracks building slowly and throwing in a surprise or two.

“We’ve got a strong running order and a very diverse range of tracks. The song ‘Bubblewrap’ has a go at middle class privilege, the arts are dominated by them. Not only acting but music, they want you to sing about utopia, sunshine and everything’s alright out there”

“We are banned by the BBC for ‘Snowflake Generation’ which was on our last album, although it was played on Amazing radio in USA and here in the North East on the Keith Newman show on Northumberland Radio”.

“We’ve got the cinematic track ‘Chinatown’ with its 60s Latin vibe and then ‘Starlight’ which gets dark, a woman is in a boot of a car and is going over a cliff – it’s a bit Thelma & Louise.”.

“The track ‘Kiss of Life’ is a dig at politicians during lockdown they had their raucous parties when people couldn’t kiss their loved ones goodbye”.

“Neil Tunstall came in and recorded some bass on ‘Creatures’. A song about man’s cruelty to animals which I hate, again it’s us having a go about what’s going on around us. There’s a lot more grit in this album”.

“On this album we have kept to the cinematic music by including two soundtracks, one is a loose ballsy swagger for maybe a film soundtrack that hasn’t been made yet!”

Film being a theme right through this album. British actor Albert Finney is pictured on the front cover, a still from one of my favourite films ‘Saturday Night, Sunday Morning’.

“My mum got me into the gritty, working class, kitchen sink dramas, films like ‘Get Carter’. The reason why I chose Albert Finney is that he grew up working class and made it big in Hollywood films and turned down a Golden Globe and an O.B.E. He wasn’t interested in all that – he was the real deal.”

“It’s a sort of celebration of working class heroes like Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, these people wouldn’t get into the acting business now, it’s saturated with the privileged, the middle class who pay their way into the industry. We need the working class ethic back in music and acting again.”

“Savage Silence’ was my mother’s poem which I used in a song. I dedicate the album to her as a thank you for influencing me into being creative and introducing me to the golden age of 60s, 70s film and music which I adore. Also to remain true to your creative passion as music is an art, and not to sell out to the manufactured mainstream and the masses”. 

“I really enjoy putting it all together, we love the process, we’re looking at writing new stuff now. We’ve also had two more TV syncs from our soundtracks ‘Bury My Skin’ and ‘One Drop’ used in the second series of Warner Brothers Swedish TV drama ‘Partisan’. (Series 1 & 2 available to view on All 4).

What can we expect from the fourth album?

“Well I don’t write Adam and Eve type Ed Sheeran stuff I don’t think I’ve ever wrote a song with lyrics like ‘I love ya’ baby!”

Alikivi    August 2023

For further info or to buy a copy on CD contact Lowfeye on their social media page: 

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Link to previous Lowfeye interview:

A FISTFULL OF MELODIES : Durham band Lowfeye | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE (garyalikivi.com)