Nell Bryden

New York's Nell Bryden has spent too much time in the UK; she is fed up with the rain and gloom that has descended on London and much of the UK for the last few weeks. But she is not too Anglicised that the weather is her first port of topic when she meets people: "I'm not that bad", she says chuckling.

That infectious laugh is an adhering trait and resurfaces several times as we chat about her new album Shake The Tree. We are speaking on the phone while she stays in London, days before the summer eventually arrives and a week before she takes part in a concert in Hyde Park, as part of BT’s Olympics’ shows.

Bryden's latest album is a significant departure from her debut, moving from a country twang to a much more mainstream sound. But not in a bad way. The tracks have a widescreen feel and are very visual:

“I wanted a departure from that quirky Americana (sound). I am still roots based, but I wanted something more cinematic, something more produced, like T Bone Burnett. Widescreen is a great way to put it, because I wanted it to feel like it had this tremendous space. All the tracks were recorded with the band live, but all the over-dubs involved giving each track some space and echo. A lot of that came from the baritone guitar which they used on the Robert Plant record. A lot of people will think that I went commercial to please people, but I actually think I went that way because I stopped trying to please everybody.”

There is certainly no reason for Bryden to feel defensive about the record being more commercial, as the album works impressively well. Her vocal is in fine form and there is a feeling she is very comfortable with the material. One track stands out for its emotive force. Sirens is based on her experience of 9-11, which she witnessed from her apartment near Greenwich Village.

"I sat down with my co-writer and we were just having a discussion about the tenth anniversary that was coming up. TV stations were playing some of the images of that day and it forced me to re-live what was a hugely emotional and tragic day. I was telling him what it was like to be in my apartment with a direct view of everything. It is probably like one of those days like when Kennedy got shot and people can tell you where they were and what they were doing down to the finest detail. I did not think I could put what I felt into words, but by the end of the day we had this song.”

Bryden talks affectionately about her hometown New York and that song’s emotions underline what the city means to her. And indeed her love of the Big Apple is evident in several tracks. Downtown Lullaby's references to “the lady of the bay” show it is a ballad to her home. It was written after being away from the city on tour. Some of the track was recorded in her apartment, in a fashion not to annoy in her neighbours. But the producer liked that hushed style so much, they used it.

"New York has the opposite effect on me than most people. Maybe because I don’t visit the same tourists locations. A lot of people go there and feel totally overwhelmed and over energized and stimulated. For me I go back and feel very relaxed and very comforted and basically calm down a bit.”

Given that Bryden was set to sing opera when she was younger it is perhaps no surprise that she likes to experiment.

"I am sure you can bet on the fact this is not the sound I will stick with. Totally out of leftfield I have always wanted to do a jazz album. I know that might be career suicide and I have been told by my team that this is definitely not the time to do it. I have been accused and also praised that I never stick with one sound, which I suppose is a downfall in some ways, but I just love singing anything that is fun to sing. I have always had difficulty categorizing myself”.

In recent years Bryden has been labeled as the forces sweetheart for her work with the military, visiting Iraq and Afghanistan. And she has noticed a change in reaction to the military in the UK.

"I felt like I had to preface everything I had to say about the troops (in the UK) that I didn’t have to in the States, by saying I didn’t support the Iraq war and I certainly didn’t support the Bush administration. I was purely going over there to support people who were working hard doing a very difficult job. They have no say in it; they have to do the job no matter what. I am sure that had I discussed politics with some of them (the troops) we would have disagreed. There was one Marine, who had about a 7 inch circumference neck; he was a big guy from Florida. He was into tail-gate parties and drinking beer. He mentioned Sarah Palin would make a great President. I was like, whoah, don't go there. But just a few moments before that he was showing me pictures of his 2 year old son on his computer. He said he had seen him walk for the first time on Skype, and how his marriage was falling apart because he kept being deployed. There is such a human element to the troops over there, which you can forget because they become political pawns.”

Bryden talks passionately about her trips to the frontline, and her enthusiasm for the subject is similar to the energy she has when talking about her music. After her Olympic show Bryden is set to return to her beloved New York and some “piece and quiet”. When she returns it'll be interesting to hear what music she has turned to. But not jazz, if her label and colleagues has anything to do with it!