House of Cosy Cushions is an international music troupe encircling multi-instrumentalist Richard Bolhuis. Occupying in a very real sense the space between music and art, they will exhibit new album Spell at its launch at The Workman’s Club Friday 28 March.
Richard, your 2014 tour begins in Ireland. Why is Ireland so important to you? What is it about Irish people that makes them so receptive to your music?
I moved to Ireland in 2005. In the four years that I lived there I met a lot of musicians that I still work with to this day. There is always so much chemistry and energy when Stephen Kiernan – the drummer in House of Cosy Cushions – and I play music together. We met in Dublin and ever since, even though I’m back in Holland, we get together to play gigs and record whenever we can. John Haggis (Band of Clouds) would invite us back to his house after gigs in Waterford and it was a feast of friends: Deaf Joe, Katie Kim, Black Robots, Percolator; back then they all lived in Waterford.
John Haggis recorded our previous album Haunt Me Sweetly. He played a few tracks from the Burrows album Winter that he was recording. Burrows is a project by Kate Glavey. I fell in love with the album. John played Kate some of my tracks and without even meeting her she sent me vocals which ended up on the Haunt Me Sweetly track “Tigress”. Then we met and we had this strange immediate friendship because of the collaboration. I’m thankful that a lot of Irish people are so receptive to the music. But I guess it’s not up to me to say what the reason could be. I just hope I can come back here to perform regularly.
Can you talk about the changing line-up in House of Cosy Cushions? Is it an open-door policy, or a loose collective of musicians?
I would say it’s a loose collective. But Stephen Kiernan (drums), Dominique Brackeva (trombone) and Saskia Meijs (viola) are primary band members. Our gigs and setlists vary all the time and we also play in various line ups and settings.
In October you created an art and music installation at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Was this separate from House of Cosy Cushions’ usual musical performances? How do you incorporate visual art into live music?
I tend to react to the space we play in. In a place like Paradiso (Amsterdam) I think it works to play in a sober setting devoid of visuals, as the place itself has so much character. In the Van Gogh Museum it was an installation with film loops projected on large canvasses, paintings and sound installations. So this was a completely different experience. We played live music as part of the installation too: Saskia Meijs played her loop-driven viola and Bastian Teeuwen played the singing saw. I played guitar loops most of the time, but also harmonium, tapes and harmonica. It ended up being a 50 minute-long improvisation.
What can people expect with the launch of your third album this Friday at Workman’s?
It will be the first time that trombone player Dominique Brackeva will join us on stage in Ireland. Stephen and I haven’t gigged together in ages. We played a Slovakian tour in this line up a few years ago. It felt so strange as we hardly rehearsed before we played our first gig. One of the reasons I love playing with Stephen and Dominique so much is that they feel everything they play. Sometimes during gigs I play one of my songs that they have never heard before. And it’s these moments you can’t repeat. It baffles me that they respond so naturally musically. On the new album and also live, quite a few tracks are driven by my guitar loops, and I’m looking forward to the improvisations.
What was the recording of Spell like?
I took my time and was guided by my intuition; there was no release date planned. I woke up one day and the album was finished. I never really produce records, I just try to keep every recording as raw as possible. I was in the studio with Erik Hulshof who recorded the tracks. Ian Chestnutt recorded Stephen’s drums in Dublin on two tracks – they were just perfect. I don’t think we even touched them when we mixed “Black Bat Dance”. I collaborated with Saskia Meijs on “Mountain” and “Kerkje te Oostum”. We used to talk quite a lot before recording. For this recording it was just communicating through music. Saskia really blows me away. The way she treats her viola, they’re these mesmerising sounds she comes up with all the time.
Who is “Wolf Bolhuis”? How and why were his heartbeats used in the song “Black Bat Dance”?
Wolf is my fifteen months old son. He wasn’t born yet when I recorded his heartbeat. I thought the recording of his heartbeat sounded beautiful. It was the initiation of “Black Bat Dance”. You can hear his heart beating at the start of the track. I recorded it on my little portable cassette player that I carry with me quite often. Almost every recording I make on it sounds distorted.
What are Spell’s themes?
All my songs are love songs and my instrumentals are love songs without lyrics.
The album is not an easy listen. Tracks like “Girl with the Insect Dress” and “Black Bat Dance” are very nightmarish and dark.
It’s amusing to hear so many different reactions. Some people tell me how they can just ease into the album and enjoy it from start to finish. Other people think it’s extremely dark and uncomfortable. From my point of view it is a euphoric album, unsettling at times. Most of all it was a pleasure to make.
It’s funny, these scary soundscapes are in total disconnect with your band name.
Again House of Cosy Cushions has a different meaning to different people. I’ve heard friends of mine associate the band name with a mental asylum, a place to meditate, and if you take it literally it is a comfortable place to be. It all makes sense to me in some way. I feel more of a connection with the band name when it comes to the drones and sounds on this album.
The final track, “Kerkje te Oostum”, is Dutch for “Church of Oostum”. What is the significance of this particular church?
It’s a church in the north of Holland, near my hometown Groningen. It was built in the 13th century. I enjoy cycling to this old church. It’s surrounded by the typical Dutch flatlands, and the great thing about flatlands are the vast skyscapes. They almost dictate the countryside. The church and its surroundings evoked music to me. I collaborated with Saskia Meijs on this track. She created this wide sense of space with her viola loops.
As a visual artist, do you feel one medium or creative faculty complements another? Is there any one you prefer?
I have no preference. I remember that some of my tutors at art school thought I should stick to one medium. I’m so glad I didn’t listen to them. When I work in my studio I work on paintings, drawings, sound installations, songs…and most of the time I don’t even realise what I’m doing. It’s only when I make a selection that I can be shocked by the rubbish I created. But then on a good day I end up with a song that I still sing years later.
When I work on installations I want the visuals and music to complement each other. I then pay a lot of attention to the space itself. I’m dying to work on the installation in the Church of Oostum later this year. I have it all in my mind. But it will never be what I expected it to be. In my mind there is thunder and rain. So there is a fair chance it will be a sunny day when the installation in the church takes place.
Is one medium more valued or more personal to you than the other?
I hope not. For me they are both personal and it’s always my aim to create something personal. That’s what I love about quite a few of the musicians I met in Ireland. They just love music and don’t seem to regard it more highly than anything else. It’s just a way of life.
House of Cosy Cushions launch new album Spell at The Workman’s Club, Wellington Quay, at 8pm Friday 28 March. Online tickets €8 available here.
