Van Morrison's new album is released on June 13. Courtesy Image
VAN Morrison has just released another single from his forthcoming new record, Remembering Now.
Cutting Corners follows the previously released Down To Joy, which featured on the soundtrack to Kenneth Branagh’s 2021 film Belfast, as tasters from Morrison’s first collection of original music since 2022.
Released on June 13, Remembering Now follows his covers albums Moving On Skiffle and Accentuate The Positive, and features the same band - Richard Dunn (Hammond organ), Stuart McIlroy (piano), Pete Hurley (bass) and Colin Griffin (drums/percussion) - who have worked with him since Three Chords and The Truth in 2019.
Its strings were arranged and directed by Fiachra Trench (Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello), whose association with Morrison goes back to Avalon Sunset in 1989, and performed by the Fews Ensemble led by Joanne Quigley.
Other contributions come from Michael Beckwith, the founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center, lyricist Don Black and folk artist Seth Lakeman.
The east Belfast star sat down with veteran journalist Dylan Jones for a one-to-one conversation about the new album, his enduring creative spirit and constant connection to Belfast.
Remembering Now feels like a classic Van Morrison record, but it also sounds very contemporary. Can you explain your thought processes behind its creation?
Well, there really isn’t a thought process. It’s more like, for want of a better word, a psychic process or the other side of the brain process.
The thought process comes in when putting it together later on. In the beginning it’s just instinct, intuition, sometimes randomness.
It’s more like being a receiver - you’re receiving info, ideas, and concepts.
For the last couple of years you’ve been making records which celebrate the past. So why did you want to do an album of new material now?
Remembering Now is released on Friday June 13 (Coverart)
Well, it was going on in parallel. The recording process isn’t completely exclusive. The songs were running parallel to other projects, and a lot of them were recorded during the same time period.
The last few projects I put out, it wasn’t a matter of the past — it was my nostalgia. People have their own nostalgia, and so do I.
It was going back to the beginning, what gave me the impulse to do this.
I was getting quite a lot of negative feedback during this period, so myself and the musicians just wanted to do something that was going to be fun.
We weren’t trying to make any statement. We were just going to have fun and go back to the beginning — this is why we got into this in the first place.
But the other songs were being written and recorded during the same period.
What’s your favourite song on the record?
I don’t really have a favourite. I guess Stretching Out would probably be my favourite at this point.
The song Down to Joy was first heard in Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast. How did it work? Did you get to watch the film before writing it?
Yeah. I watched the first draft of the film. During lockdown I did an interview with Nile Rodgers and Paul Williams. I was explaining to Nile that Kenneth came from north Belfast.
I drove over there and remembered visiting in the 1960s. I had friends there. We played music together. I had this vision of walking down the road in north Belfast, and that’s how the song started — “coming down to joy.”
I had an image of these young guys coming down the street, having fun, laughing. That’s how it started.
With Remembering Now, there’s a big emphasis on string arrangements. Was that a conscious decision? They work beautifully on the record.
It was just that I wanted to work with the arranger [Fiachra Trench] again. I hadn’t worked with him in a while, so I got in touch, sent him some of the songs, and we went from there. I wanted to reconnect.
He’s very good — we’ve worked together a lot, so I don’t have to explain much.
What’s the process of making a record?
It’s a work in progress until you get the right take or the right arrangement. The song stays the same, but arrangements can change.
Usually, I do a demo with myself — mainly on guitar, some on piano. Then I go in the studio, start with the drummer, play him the song.
We run the song with guitar and drums to find the tempo, beat, and approach. Then I bring in the bass player, run it with bass and drums, get the bass part together.
Then I bring in keyboard, figure out what he’s going to play, then guitar.
Once everyone’s learned the song, we’re ready to do a take.
Van Morrison is releasing his first album of original material since 2022. Picture by Bradley Quinn Photography
Where do you like to record these days?
Doesn’t matter. The engineer is really good — he can record anywhere. Most of the rhythm section was in Cardiff, so we recorded there. Two keyboards, bass, drums were there.
I brought in a guitar player from Limerick and myself — so basically, it was based in Cardiff. Sometimes we recorded in Bath, either at Real World or at a hotel there.
Why did you want to work with lyricist Don Black again?
Don Black was a bit of a wildcard. I wasn’t looking for a co-writer. I used to listen to his radio show on songwriting.
I met him at the BMI Awards — we were both up for Icon Awards. Later I got a CD with his song Days Like These on it. I thought, “I could have written this.”
So I asked him to send me lyrics if he had anything that might suit me. He sent Every Time I See a River. I put music to it, recorded it — it worked.
So he keeps sending me lyrics, and most of the time it works. It wasn’t really a choice. It just happened. The universe kind of set it up.
When you do those collaborations, you’re not actually working together in person?
No. They just send me lyrics, and I do the rest. Don doesn’t write music. I was going through my library and found Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes. I used to be into it years ago and wanted to get back into it.
I looked for local centres — found an interview with Michael Beckwith instead - it resonated. Later, at a party in Malibu, someone mentioned Agape.
I asked Roma Downey about it: she knew Michael and set up a meeting. I met him and visited Agape. It just went from there.
There’s a strong sense of spirituality in this record, as there often seems to be in your work. How have your personal beliefs changed over the years?
Well, it’s not a belief. It’s an energy. It’s a frequency. That’s how I see it - a frequency.
And is that frequency a creative frequency? Do you feel that you are channelling that?
Yeah, it is - absolutely.
Do you have to wait for that, or can you summon it?
Most of the time, yeah. Sometimes you wait, but most of the time, you have to summon it. Other people meditate or use other methods. I have to actively summon it.
Pre-order Van Morrison's forthcoming album 'Remembering Now' and receive it on release day, June 13th.
Featuring 14 all-original tracks, including the new singles, 'Down To Joy' and 'Cutting Corners'.
As a creative person, having done this for a long time, does that make the process shorter?
It depends on the individual. I had to work my way through this. You have to deal with the energy. Back in the 1970s, I didn’t know how to deal with it — it was burning me out. People around me were burning out on drugs. One of them almost died.
So I was given this book by Carl Jung, Man And His Symbols. I started to discover what it was about — projection. When you’re famous, people constantly project on you.
This happens to everyone, but with famous people it’s amplified. It can destroy you if you don’t understand what’s happening. Or you can work your way through it.
So I had to learn to deal with the energy and the negativity. The media constantly projects negativity — they think that sells. So they create what I call a “third party.”
There’s you, and there’s the audience — that’s a two-way street. But the media creates a third thing that people start relating to instead of you.
That took a long time to work through and come out the other end, learning to handle it.
There’s you, and there’s the audience — that’s a two-way street. But the media creates a third thing that people start relating to instead of you — Van Morrison
Most artists have an ‘imperial period’, seven to nine years of great music and creativity, then they fall off. But where you are different — maybe like Bob Dylan — is that you’re still making records as good as 50 or 60 years ago. You must be aware of that?
Yeah. Basically, I’m coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what’s commercial. That’s where I started, and that’s still where I am.
I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton. And the blues. And then the skiffle scene — Ken Colyer, Chris Barber, Lonnie Donegan.
So it’s a jazz approach — not trying to be popular for a set time. Not being manipulated by the system. If your system is empty to start with, you can avoid getting sucked in.
You must have a vast amount of material you’ve recorded but haven’t released?
That’s right. Yeah. It’s just massive.
Bob Dylan has a parallel career of releasing unreleased material and many think it’s better than what came out at the time. Would you consider doing that?
Yeah, I would: I just don’t have a system together to do it yet. Everyone talks about it — “Are you gonna put your money where your mouth is?” But nobody’s come up with a plan. It’s just too huge.
There’s so much good stuff. Distribution can only realistically handle one record a year. I don’t have a team. I’d need a team of people to figure it out. And we don’t have that yet.
How has your relationship with Belfast changed over the years?
Everybody’s has changed — even those who stayed and didn’t go anywhere. The sense of place has changed.
I made a documentary in the 1980s — I think it was called A Sense of Place. It featured poets like Michael Longley, Gerald Dawe, Seamus Deane, Derek Mahon. It was about that theme — place.
My old English teacher, Davy Hammond, was a folk singer, broadcaster and documentarian. He may have coined the phrase “sense of place.”
The documentary subject matter ties into Remembering Now. It’s about the landscape, the earth, the whole thing — not just the city. That’s what Kenneth Branagh was getting at with his film Belfast.
It’s a full connection to the land and people.
Van Morrison and his band perform on Cyprus Avenue as part of the Eastside Arts Festival
The album does seem to have a strong theme around Belfast. Was that intentional?
It’s just the way the songs came about. Part of me has never really left the street corner. I’m still that guy hanging out there.
I still see some of those guys around. Part of me is still there.
It’s about staying connected to that original energy, that original impulse that got you into it in the first place. And if you can do that, then you’re always drawing from the same well. It’s the same creative source.
It’s not about trying to recreate the past. It’s about being in the present with that energy still flowing. So you can still create new things that are just as vital.
How do you maintain that sense of integrity over such a long period?
I just try to stay true to the music. That’s the bottom line. I don’t care about trends or charts. I don’t care about what people think is cool. I care about the music — what feels right to me.
That’s what keeps it alive for me. That’s why I’m still doing it.
I don’t care about trends or charts. I don’t care about what people think is cool. I care about the music — what feels right to me. That’s what keeps it alive for me. That’s why I’m still doing it — Van Morrison
Are you still as passionate about making music as you ever were?
More so, maybe, because I know what I’m doing now. Back then, I didn’t always know — I was figuring it out. Now I know what works, what doesn’t. I have the freedom to just do it.
Do you still get nervous before releasing something new?
Not nervous, but curious. I wonder how it will land — what people will hear in it?
But I don’t worry - that’s not my job. My job is to make the music.
