New Zealand Listener – June 01, 2019

54 LISTENER JUNE 1 2019

M

any Kiwi musicians find keeping

a roof over their heads can get in

the way of releasing their music,

but only one can claim the dis-

traction to be renovating a centuries-old

villa in a medieval Spanish village.

Scott Mannion has been working on the

intensely personal Loving Echoes for the

past seven years, drawing

on the pangs that came

from ending a nine-year

relationship. But in that

time, the multi-instrumen-

talist/songwriter’s European

OE turned into something

more permanent: he found

a €175-a-month rental

house in the picturesque

mountain village of Chelva,

70km from Valencia, then bought a build-

ing down the road, married a Greek artist

and discovered the painfully slow process

of amateur DIY.

There have been other challenges, too.

A few years ago, a bush fire tore up the

valley and he was forced to flee, freak-

ing out about the instruments he’d left

behind and his lack of insurance.

Then there were the visitors. During our

chat on Skype, I recognise the room and

the view from an interview with Auckland

band The Beths a few months earlier. They

stayed seven weeks, and are just some

of the many Kiwi musicians who know

there’s a Mannion bolthole for downtime

during European tours.

L

oving Echoes is very much Mannion’s

own work, but will be vaguely familiar

to those who remember his time with

Auckland duo The Tokey Tones. This time,

though, the music has bold, multi layered

production, lush strings,

haunting synths and kooky

harmonies and melodies.

It also bears some hall-

marks of many of those

visitors. As the co-founder

and big chief of Lil’ Chief

Records, the 41-year-old is

still very connected to the

New Zealand music scene.

Over the past year, for

example, he’s been involved in releasing

two highly acclaimed albums by label-

mates Princess Chelsea and Jonathan

Bree. And lots of familiar names – Ryan

McPhun, Lawrence Arabia, Jonathan

Pearce, Bree and Chelsea – crop up in the

credits on Mannion’s album.

However, Loving Echoes’ long gestation

has been as much to do with the tinkering

of a confessed perfectionist as the visits

and the shared music files.

“It was different from the past with The

Tokey Tones and having all those people

from Lil’ Chief there,” he says. “Then, we

could all be in the same room to work on

The pain

in Spain

Despite the distraction

of villa renovations,

Scott Mannion

has finished a very

personal project.

MUSIC

by James Belfield

ideas as a band. Most of the time, this was

more of a lonely venture.

“Four years ago, before we had this

house, I had the songs I was happy with

• it’s just taken this long to get them fin-
  ished. I still listen to the record and hear
  things I want to change. But I have to let
  go. I can’t keep tweaking.”
  Another feature is the input of Spanish
  friends. Xavi Muñoz (who usually plays
  with Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier) is his tour-
  ing bassist, Clara Viñals adds french horn
  and duets on Somebody’s Else’s Dream and
  Your Kinda Love and artist-neighbour Ben
  Lustenhouwer provides the cover art.
  Mannion will tour Loving Echoes in
  Europe later this year, but as for coming
  “home”, he’s not sure he could afford New
  Zealand prices, not sure he could make
  music here and not sure how his new-
  found happiness translates to songwriting.
  “The breakup of my relationship was so
  important to how the record came about
  that I’m struggling with writing music
  now that things are stable. I tend to write
  a lot when there’s the madness of new
  situations or change.” l
  LOVING ECHOES, Scott Mannion (Lil’ Chief/
  Rhythmethod)

Released June 7.

Scott Mannion: drawing on the pangs that

came from ending a nine-year relationship.

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