Beth Jeans Houghton

On 1st January 2012, Beth Jeans Houghton set herself on fire. “You know when you’re drinking from the bathroom tap and you tip your head to one side?” she says. “I did that, but I didn’t notice the candle next to the sink. Next thing, my fur hat was on fire.” In a great bit of sensible thinking for a walking flambé, Houghton first unlocked the door, then put the flames out. “The thing I’m bothered about is I’m very superstitious, and they say the way you spend New Year’s Day is the way you’ll spend the year. It was the worst New Year’s Day I’ve ever had. Ever!”

Houghton has little reason to worry. Her debut album, ‘Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose’ (named for a friend who put a sweet wrapper on her nose, in case you were wondering) is due for a February release and is pulling in glowing reviews for its lush ribbons of sound and towering psychedelia. Houghton is not yet buying into the hype. “I’m not even going to believe it’s really coming out until I’ve seen it in the shops,” she says.

Here’s why Houghton is worried: the singer songwriter first did the rounds of press, promotion and record company schmoozing four years ago, when her debut EP presented her as the most leftfield member of the nu-folk boom. Following umpteen false starts and four sacked managers (“People think I’m difficult to work with…”), she returns having chiselled out an album at a snail’s pace with Blur producer Ben Hillier, though she insists she’s a prolific writer with material prepared for the next one too. Far from her acoustic origins, the debut LP bears the full-bodied brunt of backing band The Hooves Of Destiny, comprising three chaps in their late 20s and early 30s from Houghton’s native Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

Though Houghton is at pains to point out that the album is a group effort, this furiously creative individual informs its every fibre, from the lionheaded naked torsos on the cover to the freaky lyrics within. Houghton’s tumblr is a Rosetta Stone for her myriad obsessions, featuring pages of flamingos, Frank Zappa pictures and vintage Los Angeles glamour. We find Houghton in LA today, on the phone from upmarket Malibu, here she spent her recent birthday (“22 – old age!”) and plans to relocate permanently in 2012.

“I feel like I was born in the wrong place,” she says. “And the wrong year.” Before then, there’s lots of UK touring to be done. Gig-goers should come prepared for lots of audience participation: previous shows have seen Houghton leading the crowd in burping competitions. “I like people to be quiet when I’m playing, but it makes me feel weird if they don’t talk to me in between songs,” she says. Better take heed. After all, she is known for being a bit of a hot head…

‘Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose’ is out now on Mute.

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Author: Dan Stubbs
Source: The Fly
Date: February 9th, 2012
Original article: HERE