Grammy-nominated U.K. singer-songwriter David Gray will perform at Royce Hall on Tuesday as a part of his “Lost and Found” tour.
Gray’s performance will sample from his newest album, “Foundling,” and other works from throughout his musical career. He spoke with the Daily Bruin’s Heather Nivin about his inspiration and his songwriting process.
Daily Bruin: How did you come up with the title of your tour “Lost and Found?”
David Gray: I called it “Lost and Found” because it’s going to be based around “Foundling,” and the songs from “Lost Songs,” which is an album I made just after “White Ladder.” I feel like the few things are covered, and I just want to let everybody know that the show isn’t going to be a big hit show, it’s going to be an acoustic show, and it’s going to be taking from a lot of material that isn’t so well-known.
DB: Will you be primarily performing songs from your newest album?
DG: I think I’m going to go much deeper than that ““ it’s becoming a bit of an overview of my whole career. I’m going right back to the beginning and into a few unexpected nooks and crannies.
Basically what we’re doing is reinforcing everything we do here in kind of an acoustic way, so it’s not like a rock show, it’s more of an acoustic show with real piano and harmonia and the cello and acoustic guitar and everything else. So it’s going to be much quieter and more delicate and more like a record coming through the speakers.
DB: You released “Foundling,” in August of last year. How is the sound of this album different from some of your earlier ones?
DG: Yeah, this one’s like the most quiet recording I’ve ever made, you know. It grew in the quiet spaces between the songs when we were making. … Basically I made two records at the same time, and one of them was “Draw the Line,” which was by and large more of a band record, but when we’d get worn out, I’d send everybody home for the weekend, and I’d carry on and record and write either on my own or with one more person. And they’d be very quiet songs. When we starting popping everything out at the end of the recording process, it was clear that there were two distinct types of songs, and I gathered one lot and that became (the album) “Draw the Line,” and the other lot became “Foundling.”
DB: Where did you draw inspiration for “Foundling?”
DG: Obviously, I think my stuff has got a kind of “heart on sleeve” kind of style. Not that it’s all just autobiographical spilling my guts out all of the time, but it’s from the heart. … “Forgetting,” which is the third song on the record, could be the quietest thing I’ve ever done. And it’s a very incredibly simple idea for the lyrics, and then I found some incredibly simple chords, and not very much happened, but somehow it becomes very dramatic. Sometimes by taking all the other stuff out of the music and just leaving nothing, hardly anything, just the piano and some vocals, you get more from it sometimes, you know?
DB: What is behind the name “Foundling?”
DG: It’s a bit of a not very well-known word anymore. It’s like an orphan, an abandoned child, and the second song on the record, the title song, is one of the things I’m proudest of on the record. It’s a quirky, strange tune, strange lyrics, and the hook line in it is “at the feet of love, a foundling in the reeds.” It’s a bit like Moses, I suppose. And I guess that’s what I think we all are, just slightly abandoned to life. Whether we’re brought up in the system of a family or not, you experience the world, and the shock of it, and good luck to you. It’s that type of song, really, that gives the title for the album. But also, the album sort of arrived at my door, you know.
DB: One of the most popular tracks on the album is called “A Moment Changes Everything.” Was this song in particular based on a specific moment?
DG: That was just an extra track that got added. It wasn’t conceived as part of the record at all. … But that one wasn’t a part of the plan. In fact it’s probably the most ill-fitting choice of songs for the whole package. I was approached to write a song for a football tournament, and that’s when I wrote this thing. And they wanted something sort of a euphoric sports song. And I gave it my best shot and never thought anything of it, and unfortunately someone let the cat out of the bag, and of course everyone at the record company loved it. And eventually it was like a train that I couldn’t stop. So it found the light of day. … I guess its so up-tempo compared to anything else that it’s a nice addition. It’s not one that came particularly straight from the heart.