Their thoughts (and mine)

From the archives: An interview with Paula Frazer and Jamie Meagan of Tarnation, written on April 6, 1997

BACK in 1995, a band called Tarnation released an extraordinary album called 'Gentle Creatures' on 4AD – and promptly split up.

Jump to 1997 and there's another band called Tarnation – and an even more extraordinary record, also on 4AD, called 'Mirador'.

Linking the two bands, and two very different records, is Paula Frazer, a Georgia native with the voice of a prairie angel and a background which gives new meaning to the word eclectic.

With musical experience in everything from country, gospel and punk to Bulgarian women's choirs, Frazer's electrifyingly pure, knee-weakeningly emotional voice brought a daring, dramatic edge to the country gothic of 'Gentle Creatures'. Now, with a completely new band behind her, she's doing the same – only more so – on 'Mirador'.

The spooked western atmospherics are still there, and the spirits of Patsy Cline and Roy Orbison still flit through Frazer's songs, but now they're joined by ghostly echoes of everything from the Birthday Party's dark menace to Ennio Morricone's lush soundtracks and Duane Eddy's twangtastic tremelo. It's a rich, intoxicating brew, and the perfect match for Frazer's remarkable voice.

The singer makes no bones about the reasons for the disintegration of the original Tarnation.

She said: 'There was a bit of a conflict in the other band over my stuff being too dark. There were certain songs they just didn't get, like An Awful Shade of Blue. We tried to be very democratic about it, but it never really worked out.

'They had the idea of it being more of a partnership, which I was naive enough to try. But it seemed to dilute everything for me. So they went and started a new band.

'This band is totally different. I'm much more happy with this set up. When I first moved to San Francisco I was exposed to things like the Birthday Party and Joy Division, and I love that kind of music, so it's great to be able to put that in there.'

Tarnation is still far from a one-woman band, though – the huge difference in the sound of the two records shows the impact of new members Alex Oropeza (guitar), Joe Byrnes (drums) and Jamie Meagan (bass).

Meagan and Byrnes both bring a new dynamic touch to 'Mirador', but it's Oropeza who really expands Tarnation's sonic canvas, adding irresistible Spanish guitar to 'Your Thoughts and Mine', slashing and twanging across 'There's Someone' and cranking up the unforgettable riff on a cover of garage rock classic 'Little Black Egg'.

But as Dubliner Jamie says: 'It would cause too many problems if we were all writing for Tarnation. Paula writes the stuff, and we're all fine with that. We all have our other projects.'

Meagan had already heard and admired Frazer's earlier work, and he jumped at the chance to join the new lineup.

'I love listening to Paula's voice. It's haunting, but soothing at the same time. What we've tried to do is bring in a more atmospheric sound to surround the voice. I wouldn't say what we do is country. I'd describe it more as soundtrack western. It's atmospheric. I'd even say it goes back to stuff like Roy Orbison and Patsy Cline. It is quite 50s-ish.

'We definitely knew the sound we wanted. We used a lot of old amps – nothing newer than about 1967. I don't think we have any instruments that go beyond that year.'

And for Frazer, 'Mirador' finally marks the debut of the real Tarnation.

'There was a lot of really cool stuff on Gentle Creatures, but it was kind of limited in a way. This is definitely more dynamic and more ornamented. It's much closer to what I had in mind in the first place.'

Paul Carnahan, 1997