The former Everything But The Girl and Massive Attack singer has a new album out all about love and life as the years roll by. She’s still very much on-it though, getting Ewan Pearson to produce and members of Hot Chip and The Invisibles involved. Thorn’s cultural recommendations are pretty sharp too.
Book
“I’m quite enjoying Luke Haines’ book Bad Vibes at the moment. He’s just described a 1986 Felt gig that I’m pretty sure I was at. Very accurate and hilarious description of Lawrence from Felt, and also Robert Forster appears wearing a tweed cape. I remember him buying that cape, at a village fete in Sussex when he and Lindy were staying at a cottage there with me and Ben. Hundreds of years ago.”
Movie
“Harold And Maude, which was made in 1971 by Hal Ashby. It’s a very black comedy – the opening scene sees a young man apparently hang himself and be ignored by his mother who finds him. It’s not a comfortable movie to watch, but it is very funny and also quite moving. Bad soundtrack by Cat Stevens, but you can’t have everything.”
TV show
“Anything that’s going out live and involves judging people’s performances – X Factor, The BRITS, Britain’s Got Talent. Then I can settle down with a gin and tonic, fold my arms and join in with the rest of Twitter in making sarcastic comments. If that’s not possible, then I’m happy with Mad Men or The Thick Of It.”
Live act
“I saw Ian Dury And The Blockheads quite a lot when I was about seventeed or so and they were fantastic live. I remember standing down the front with a drink in one hand and a St. Moritz cigarette in the other thinking it was the coolest place in the world to be. Ian Dury scared me slightly, but then I met him years later when he was presenting a TV show I appeared on. After that I used to bump into him from time to time up at the shops, and he was always lovely.”
Gadget
“I love my Omnichord, which I bought really cheaply on eBay. It’s a little bit knackered and unpredictable, but when it’s happy and working properly it’s brilliant for writing songs on, and I love the bit that sounds like a celestial harp when you stroke it. Though it will only do that if you lick your finger first, which sounds a little bit weird and pervy, but is true.”
Holiday destination
“I had a great holiday in Mykonos with a recently divorced girlfriend. We looked across the sea to the little island of Delos, and not a cloud appeared for a week, and the men at the hotel were all gay, so it was perfect, not a care in the world.”
Restaurant
“Anywhere, really, that can make a proper martini. If they can’t make you a martini before your dinner, I hold out no hope for any restaurant. And no, I don’t want a chocolate martini, or a passion-fruit martini. What are you, mental?”
Exhibition
“I remember taking the kids to the Dan Flavin exhibition at the Hayward Gallery a few years back, when they were still quite small. It was all brightly coloured fluorescent tubes of light everywhere. They kept asking me, ‘Is this the exhibition? Aren’t there paintings?’”
The album ‘Love And Its Opposite’ is out May 17th
