Pop Spotlight

Kemp also recalls a remarkable moment in the album’s conception when a spell of writer’s block was broken by an unexpected intervention by a fellow musician. He’d been sitting by the piano for hours to avail when the phone rang: “It was Richard Hawley. We chatted for a while and I told him I’d been going round in circles trying to write something that day. He said ‘Okay, here’s what you do. Go over to the piano and sit down’”. Kemp obliged. “‘Put your hands out over the keys. I’m going to go now, and you’re going to write a fucking brilliant song.’”

Sure enough, the encounter led to Gary producing the McCartney-esque Work – a semi-autobiographical tune in which he celebrates the unsung heroics of a parent’s everyday life. In Work, Kemp embarks on a trip down memory lane in an evocative account of his Mum and Dad’s working life. He says, “I remember going into the factory with my Dad one morning. I have this vivid recollection of the moment he put his brown overalls on over his clothes. To me he was Superman putting on his cape.”

The song’s outro builds into an uplift of staccato strings while Kemp repeats the mantra “Got to make it work”. The statement almost takes on new meaning with each repetition – partly summarising the song’s narrative whilst also acknowledging the pressure we put on ourselves in every aspect of life; from relationships to health issues to career decisions.

It’s on the album’s final track I Know Where I’m Going that Kemp reaches his resolution. He sings, “I know where I’m going, I plan to take a rest there”. Clearly Kemp finds his peace of mind on the album’s full circle moment. He said, “It’s the most personal on the record… It had to go last – it just made sense”.