The Maple Trail is the solo project of Sydney singer-songwriter Aidan Roberts, a blues-folk musician who’s just released his third album Cable Mountain Warning. I caught up with Aidan to talk about the record, his upcoming Australian tour, and performing under a stage name.
The Maple Trail is your solo project. Why perform under that name rather than your own?
I used to perform under my own name, but in 2001 I put a band together to launch a self-released CD and I billed it as “Aidan Roberts and the Maple Trail”. The name kind of stuck, although perhaps at some point I’ll do an Aidan Roberts album.
Where did the name The Maple Trail come from?
I think I wanted to convey something about wandering, and the autumnal leaves that gather here in the Blue Mountains each April, so I thought “The Maple Trail” sounded like a cool wandering band.
Your new album Cable Mountain Warning is your third, so I suppose you’re an old hand at this. How have things changed since you first stepped inside a studio?
I do a lot more of my own recording, now that I have more things available to me at home, but I guess I am continually trying to hone in and crystallize what it is that represents my songs in the best way. I keep changing tack – from full-swinging country rock band to whispery quiet solo stuff, to trying to get lots of weird sounds in the songs to make them just that little bit more otherworldly or something. I think this album is the closest I’ve come to the music I’ve always wanted to make – there’s a long way to go yet. Maybe I’ll never get there, which is part of the drive.
You wrote this album over 18 months, which is a relatively long time. What do you think the luxury of time has brought to the recording?
I think usually records suffer a bit from too much time in the creation. I’ve always had this idea that records should happen quickly and honestly, and all great records just get knocked out. This time round I think I had to take those couple of years to rethink it all a few times, try songs several times in different capacities to try to find the truth of it all. I think it worked, at least I hope so.
After such a long gestation, how does it feel to have Cable Mountain Warning finally out in the public arena?
A curious combination of satisfaction and unrest; I think it’s a good record, and I am really glad to see some people are responding to it, it’s a beautiful thing to reach an audience and hold them. At the same time I want to be challenged to do more and more. I’ll get stuck right back into recording another one as soon as I can, and make sure it doesn’t take three years this time.
And the album almost exclusively features acoustic instruments. Why did you make that stylistic decision?
It was really a matter of circumstance. There were some songs I really wanted to do with the full band, but as time went on the record sort of closed in on itself and I was recording alone a lot of the time. Sometimes I would record really late at night in my room in the city, and had to be very very quiet – and that really informed the sound of the songs, and which instruments I had lying around at the time. I thought it was an interesting thing to try to get an energy in there that I’d usually use electrics for, to try playing and recording acoustic instruments in different ways. I’d actually like to make a really stark, completely acoustic album at some point. The songs would be all there is, no clutter.
The album saw you working again with your long-time collaborator Liam Judson. What is it about Liam and what he brings to your music that keeps you coming back for more?
Liam is one of my oldest friends, and we do a lot of work together and share a musical history – so we really can read one another’s musical thoughts. He was the ideal man to mix this, my most personal of albums. And he did a wonderful job of pulling the whole mess together.
You’re about to take Cable Mount Warning on the road. Are you looking forward to performing these songs live?
Absolutely. We had a taste of touring with the Broken Stone Records Roadshow, with a full beautiful band. I’d like to do more of that, so if these launch shows go well there will be many more.
One of the album’s songs, “Highwire,” gained some attention in the United States. Are you building on that and pursuing anything overseas?
I wasn’t aware of that! That’s great. I have some good friends in the States, and in good time I intend to spend some time there making music with new people and touring around.
Other than the album tour, do you have anything else in the pipeline?
We have a vinyl release of Cable Mount Warning on the horizon, so there will be some special shows to celebrate that – a few big ones, and some little intimate ones. Then, back to the tape machines.
See The Maple Trail on his Cable Mount Warning launch shows at the following venues:
24 April 2012 – The Gasometer, Melbourne
3 May 2012 – The Vanguard, Sydney
Image used with permission from Remote Control Records