Walk Then Dance is the solo project of Ian Goulding, an Irish musician living in Scotland. Having spent most of his life in Dublin, Ian played in a variety of bands in the city (Murdock, The Great Lakes, Airstrip One) before moving across the water ten years ago. 2021 marks the first release for Ian as Walk Then Dance and he has drawn on a range of styles and influences, all hinting at different parts of his life.
[A] TOUCH SENSITIVE - SUPER FURRY ANIMALS
This track is squirreled away in the middle of the Rings Around The World album, but featured more prominently as the opener on practically every mix tape I made after its release (so I’ve put it right up front in this list). I was fortunate enough to see SFA play this live a few times and it always blew me away – the chopped line at the start, the middle section piano break, and the synth lead are all remarkable. It’s a very unique song in the Super Furry’s back catalogue, but the choice of instrumentation is something that’s heavily influenced loads of my own work (like Music From The Balconies and Wolves In The Hall on the current album).
RADIOACTIVITY - KRAFTWERK
Not to put too fine a point on it, when I discovered Kraftwerk my musical direction changed overnight. Up until then, I’d been playing in guitar bands but once I began to listen to more electronic music, I gravitated toward synths, drum machines and grooveboxes (I’m looking squarely at you, Roland JP8000 and MC 303). None of Kraftwerk’s tracks immediately influenced me as much as Radioactivity – not only because of the electronic sounds but also the seemingly simple musical structures that draw you into their world in an understated way. It began a twenty year love of synths…and writing tunes in C-minor.
LA FEMME D’DARGENT - AIR
Moon Safari was the semi-permanent soundtrack to at least a few of my teenage years (and seemed to be played endlessly at every party I went to as well). I don’t think there’s any song I’ve heard as many times in my life as La Femme d’Argent – if I could have written any piece of music, this is the one. Beyond the loungy synths, it features my favourite bass line of all time – that Hofner tone and the cadence of the line is something I’ve regularly attempted to “borrow” over the years. Very niche trivia alert: the opening bongo/guitar loop is taken from an Edwin Starr track called Runnin’, which features in the movie Uncle Buck (resulting in a serious double-take if you’re not expecting it!).
TAKE A CHANCE - MR FLAGIO
Yet another really long track on this list, and it’s an Italo-disco infused banger; eight minutes of arpeggiators, guitar hooks, vocoders, a natty drum machine and soaring vocals. From bitter experience (and frequent failure), I’m well aware of how difficult it is to write a song that’s this long and still holds the listener’s attention throughout – but Take A Chance manages it magnificently. I do occasionally worry that the opening arpeggiator has broken me slightly, as it’s a default pattern that I use a lot when writing new music. That said, it invariably sounds great.
BLACK APPLE - THE REDNECK MANIFESTO
One of the best opening tracks that I’ve ever heard. The Redneck Manifesto have been a huge inspiration to me for over twenty years, and I know that’s the case for a lot of other Irish musicians out there too. Whilst Black Apple has lots of different elements coming together (especially in the outro section), I think the strength of the song comes from a sense of equilibrium. Like many of the Rednecks’ songs, absolutely nothing dominates for too long. If there’s one thing I’ve consistently taken from them, it’s the importance of finding the balance in whatever I’m writing.
AIEAOA - THE YAMASUKI SINGERS
I could have picked almost any song from Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki for this list…an album which, if you haven’t heard before, I insist that you check out. It’s one of the few records that I never get sick of; one of those rare albums that keeps on giving throughout. In terms of melodic content, a relentless barrage of hooks, and ubiquitous call-response structures, this record has been a massive influence on my songwriting. Here’s some more trivia: This album was co-written by Thomas Bangalter’s father, Daniel, who recorded under the stage name Daniel Vangarde (…oh, and he also penned the dance floor classic D.I.S.C.O).
DIRGE - DEATH IN VEGAS
Erm, it’s another album opener. That makes four so far on this list. Apparently, I like them a lot. I’m not mad about D.I.V. generally, but I loved this track from the moment I heard it. I’m a big fan of blending drum machines and live drums – there are loads of examples of this dynamic out there but the drop at 2.14 is always a reference point for me (plus perhaps Fade to Grey at 2.06…ooh, that’s nice). Another moment that always jumps out to me in Dirge is when the synth line goes up that octave towards the end (4.48) – such a powerful (and easily replicable) little trick!
SPORTS MEN - HARUOMI HOSONO
I was listening to Philharmony a lot when I was writing Walk Then Dance, and there are small influences from it all over the record. This album appeals to me both because of the quality of the music and its relative simplicity…but maybe simplicity is the wrong word. It feels like there was a clear vision for the record, and it doesn’t have the clutter of lots of different views and opinions on what the direction should be. Sports Men is a great example of this, and it’s all killer, no filler – a perfect pop song in my opinion, from start to finish. It’s also a fairly odd song, lyrically speaking; I was listening to it when writing this, and it’s the first time I ever looked up the vaguely unintelligible opening words…”Twitching, throbbing, twitching, throbbing”. Quite.
KYOTO KROWS (IN RIVERS IN RAIN) - HC CLIFFORD
Every now and then, you come across a band you’ve never heard of before and they immediately speak directly to your musical tastes. HC Clifford is someone who I randomly found browsing Reddit, and then spent the next few days listening to everything he’d ever released. Japanese Canopies is the first of his records that I heard, and this is my favourite track. I mentioned a singular vision in music when I was talking about Sports Men, but it’s perhaps even more evident in Kyoto Krows – all of the small imperfections, quirks and noises are intentionally left in, and I have so much respect for this approach. When it comes to inspiration, perhaps no other artist / album on this list did so much to make me realise that it was time for me get off my arse and release some music.
PUSH IT OUT - THE BETA BAND
I’ll finish by going back to the start - The Three EPs was released in 1998 and was an album that I could almost viscerally sense changing how I thought about music. It remains a collection of songs that I go back to frequently, and I’m always, always inspired by it. It’s so strange in places, and contains so many different ideas…and yet it’s an entirely cohesive body of work. Again, I could have chosen anything off this record but I picked Push It Out because a) the style of cymbals at the start is something I love to use, b) it’s another long track, which I’m a demon for writing, c) it’s the sort of song that I sometimes worry is dying out, and d) I very vividly remember my brother and sister absolutely hating it at the time, and being completely baffled by how I could possibly like it. Thanks for putting up with the many years of me writing absolutely crap music - this one’s for you.