“I think it was Björk said that it’s like harvest time for a musician,” says Lyndsey McDougall, lead singer of Belfast indie-punks New Pagans, “We’re excited to see how people respond to it.” Their second album, Making Circles of Our Own, just released on 17th of February. Lyndsey spoke to Noizze about her alternative songwriting process and all about her experience of the music industry – good and bad.
Making Circles of Our Own continues the New Pagans tradition of taking an unusual approach to songwriting, looking at topics and themes that you wouldn’t find in your typical indie-rock album. “I use songwriting as a memory thing, and I think that comes from being dyslexic, actually. I use songwriting to capture those things I don’t want to forget,” says Lyndsey. One example of this on the new album comes in the form of ‘Karin Was Not A Rebel’, a song about Swedish interior designer Karin Larsson: “She’s a really interesting character because she’s largely overshadowed by her husband, but he was painting her interiors, yet she’s kind of underplayed in the story. I want to talk about her because I don’t think she’s been talked about enough.”
“A lot of music that I listen to seems to be about love, relationships and all of that is really important, and people connect to that probably more easily than they will to a song about Karin Larsson,” she explains. “But for me, when I was growing up, I always loved songs that mentioned a poet or a story. I love learning.”
“"I always loved songs that mentioned a poet or a story. I love learning"”
This eclectic style of writing gives us a view into Lyndsey’s busy life outside of New Pagans – as well as fronting an up-and-coming rock band, she’s also raising a family and getting a PhD studying another of her passions – Irish embroidery. “I’m looking at women’s contributions to churches in Ireland and the masonic order and looking at how they made objects for these organisations and what their agency was, why they were doing it. I just wanted to be able to capture some of the reasons that these women were making. We just assume they were doing it for fun, or they were doing it for money but it’s not always as simple as that.”
Elsewhere, she turns to more personal experiences. ‘Fresh Young Overlook’ details some of her experiences of ageism in the music industry, an issue that Lyndsey is keen to draw attention to. “I think it’s something that’s really important to talk about. There’s this pressure on young people to get things done by a certain age. My whole thing about this album, I think there’s a running theme of just taking your time and not letting anyone rush you through life.”
You only have to look at the language used in the music industry to talk about women over the age of thirty to recognise the power in Lyndsey’s words. “I’m going to be 40 in November, I’m proud of that. I’m proud of who I am and where I am in my life. I’m a confident 39-year-old woman in a band, and I’m going to shout about it!”
Related: New Pagans – Making Circles Of Our Own | Album Review
Irish culture also plays a role in Making Circles of Our Own, notably in the slow-paced album closer ‘The State Of My Loves Desire’. “This song plays on that idea that as Irish people, we’re still fighting this post-conflict trauma and this idea of yourself,” Lyndsey explains. “We’ve described it as a love song because I love Ireland. But I get very frustrated because we fight a lot amongst ourselves. Even on a smaller level of families, and I don’t know why we always want to fight each other”.
Northern Ireland has always had a strong music scene, but it’s always been painfully underappreciated and underrepresented in the wider industry. Indeed, as a Northern Irish journalist, this is the first time that I’ve heard an accent like mine on the other side of the Zoom call. But Lyndsey maintains that it’s a scene on the rise: “There are bands coming up all the time,” she says. “It’s certainly a very healthy and exciting scene.” With bands like New Pagans along with Enola Gay and Cherym paving the way, there’s hope that Northern Ireland’s days of invisibility are a thing of the past.
“"I’m going to be 40 in November, I’m proud of that"”
Unfortunately, though, it’s not an easy time to be a band. The cost-of-living crisis and Brexit complications are hitting touring musicians from all angles, something that New Pagans learned the hard way. Their run with Skunk Anansie in Europe saw them playing to bigger crowds than ever before, and while it was a worthwhile experience, Lyndsey reveals that they were “close to breaking up” by the end.
“It was a bad run of unfortunate events. The petrol prices were three times the amount they are now. Things just kept coming for us; venues wanted 50% of our merch and that’s the only way bands can make money now, touring and selling merch. Everything was just against us.”
Thankfully, the prospect of Making Circles of Our Own and a genuine love for what they do kept New Pagans on their path. And despite the difficulties that they faced on the road, their stint with Skunk Anansie proved that they can play to 8000 people, and that they can do it well. “If nothing else,” Lyndsey determines, “we realised we can do it.”