natural born actor
January 10th, 2025 – The debut solo album “Andrew Robertson Is…“ by Natural Born Actor has the swagger, attitude and sense of adventure of some of the great albums from the 1970s. , “Like the Stones recording in a Chateau, it’s real people playing real instruments, but with some weird contemporary instruments like a push-pull” enthuses Robertson.
The first single from Robertson’s forthcoming album, ‘Steve Jobs Song’, is a surreal audio-biopic of the Apple founder. Robertson says, “Steve Jobs was a hippy capitalist, this guy partly created the modern world, it’s an American dream song.” Alex Ward, a saxophonist, who plays with the Thurston Moore band, performs a stunning ‘Baker Street’ style solo on the track, “He did two takes and I used the first. He plays what you imagine, but better and more beautiful.”
Recorded in both in London and Berlin, where Robertson divides his time, Natural Born Actor was recorded in small studio spaces between the two countries. “Heroes"' and U2’s “Achtung Baby” were recorded at Hansa Studios and both of those albums heavily influenced me when I was writing the record album. I did vocals in Berlin in a cave-like place with an amazing pre-amp from New Zealand, the Silver Sound.” As a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, Robertson has worked with Higamos Hogamos, Youth (Killing Joke), Zodiac Youth and the Slits’ Viv Albertine, among many others.
Sound engineering was handledis by Jimmy Robertson, who has worked on Mercury award winning albums for Depeche Mode, Arctic Monkeys, Florence and the Machine, the Klaxons, Plan B and more. “Jimmy has an Eventide H3000 so we processed things with this late 70’s style production.”
“The title Natural Born Actor is a slight joke and reflection on my on-pause career as an actor,” explains Robertson, who was the lead actor in the 1993 film The Cement Garden, which won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival, starring opposite Charlotte Gainsbourg. He also notably starred as Titus Groan in the BBC production of Gormenghast (2000) with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, John Sessions, Christopher Lee and Stephen Fry. “The guy in the song is saying ‘You don’t want me, I’m a faker, I’m not real, I’m removed from the real thing’.”
Natural Born Actor he may be, but Robertson’s debut offering is as original and authentic as any music the 21st century has to offer.
Steve Jobs Song
Fearless
Run Forever
Natural Born Actor
Perfect Guy
Vermillion
Black Dragon
Wings
Decadent Heart
Black Water
Several guests feature on the record. Steve Webster from Higamos Hogamos has helped with the production vibe and added tambourine, filtering and effects. The songs ‘Vermillion’ and ‘Decadent Heart’ feature Icelandic virtuoso Daníel Böðvarsson on electric guitar and Amelie Hinrichsen on her self-designed PushPull instrument. Multi-instrumentalist Alex Ward (Dead Days Beyond Help) digs deep for some rock n’ roll saxophone on ‘Steve Jobs Song’ and title track ‘Natural Born Actor’. Bah Kane Seck from Senegal, conga player with Baaba Maal and owner of Jeri Jeri studios, plays congas on ‘Fearless’ and ‘Perfect Guy’. Jazz trumpeter Ben Harrison takes a bow on ‘Black Water‘. Mizo Gamal from Egyptian jazz band El Dor El Awal plays congas on ‘Wings’, which features Sean Phillips (Private Agenda) on backing vocals and Whetham Allpress (Higamos Hogamos) on hi-hat.
Steve Jobs Song: Saxophone - Alex Ward, Drums - Matt Ingram, Vocals, Guitars, Moog synthesizer - Andrew Robertson
Natural Born Actor: Saxophone - Alex Ward, Drums - Matt Ingram, Vocals, Guitars, Moog synthesizer - Andrew Robertson
ABOUT
Andrew Robertson is a music producer, software engineer and film actor. He has fronted several bands in London, with David Nock (Erland and The Carnival). He has also played in Higamos Hogamos, ZodiacYouth (with producer Youth and singer Zodiac Mindwarp), Youth’s solo band, and on bass synthesizer with solo artist Viv Albertine.
In film, he is known for acting in The Cement Garden with Charlotte Gainsbourg, and in Gormenghast Ep.IV with Jonny Rhys-Meyers, John Sessions and Neve McIntosh.
Software includes the features Capture and Tempo Following in Ableton Live and prototyping the Seaboard for Roli.