Jackie Leven – Bodenständigkeit, Selbstfindung und Mystizismus

First of five Gaesteliste interviews by Ullrich Maurer with Leven, on the release of “Defending Ancient Springs” (2000). Maurer introduces Leven as an “oddball” who found a home at Cooking Vinyl after Doll by Doll. Leven says he has rediscovered the magic of songwriting from his beginnings; as Doll by Doll's singer he was a boy, today he is a man. He explains the album title with the (pseudoscientific) idea that water has a memory: every person is born with a kind of inherited memory, which one defends in old age by reflecting on one's roots. He goes on to explain individual pieces: “Your Winter Days” is based on a folk song from Oban, “Hand Is Pale With Holy Kisses” on a poem by Marina Tsvetaeva, “You've Lost That Loving Feeling” is a dark, paranoid, underrated song; plus short poems from the Spanish. He relates that an American friend told him during his Berlin period that for the British it is never about travelling, but about homesickness and return. David Thomas (Pere Ubu), whom he got to know through “Mirror Man”, Maurer calls a kindred spirit; “Morbid Sky” from the project is on the album. “Paris Blues” goes back to a scene in a Paris café with Thomas (self-report). Tone: benevolent, slightly ironic towards Leven's philosophy.