Who's Afraid of Patrick Wolfe?

Patrick Wolf is not cool. He doesn’t like The Libertines, questions the validity of the so-called ‘nu rave’ movement and enjoys folk music, Girls Aloud and the idea of a life without electricity. Okay, so his hair’s dyed a head-turning shade of fire engine red, and yeah, he does ruffle and tug and it an awful lot when lost in thought. And yes, his impossibly long legs are wrapped in skintight denim. But Patrick is no trend-chasing indie boy. Gangly legs curled carefully under his form, he flips through a copy of Hello! Magazine abandoned on the table of his tour bus and snorts at a picture of Pete Doherty. “Look, Pat- this is what you have to be like, if you want to be rock ‘n roll,” tour manager Zippy calls sardonically. “Oh yeah- very rock ‘n roll,” comes the sarcastic, softly-spoken reply.

A child prodigy born to an artist mother and a jazz musician father, Patrick plays more than eight instruments (including the violin, harpsichord and dulcimer) and was first offered a record deal at the tender age of 14. Rigid violin lessons and stints in church choirs first revealed his hunger for making music: “It was just the first thing I can remember wanting to do, since the beginning of my life really- I was always bunking off [school] so I could go and write my songs.” And thank God he did- at 23, Patrick has just released his third album, and is tearing down the boundaries dictating what is fashionable, prizing open the eyes of otherwise musically superficial indie kids and still managing to make the pages of both fashion bibles and esteemed music biz mags alike. Not that he cares, of course: “Interviews, advertising, chart position[s]- it’s not something I’m that interested in. My responsibility is to make music and to make sure that all the artwork, videos and everything are relevant to that.”

Having developed his sound -an impossible selection of influences, ranging from folk and classical, through to electronica and glam pop- secretly in his bedroom from the age of 10, his latest offering, The Magic Position, sees a departure from the morose electro-folk of his previous two albums, instead turning his hand to colourful glam pop, all the while employing a litany of instruments that would put most of his peers to shame. Unlike Wind in the Wires, Patrick’s sophomore album, which was penned in the solitary confinement of an electricity-less hut on the Cornish coast, The Magic Position was written on tour in Europe. A rich, feel-good record, it blends a carnival of colours and influences, much like Patrick’s own appearance: curled up on the turquoise leather interior of his tour bus, he fiddles idly with strands of mustard-bronze hair, a blue sequinned headband tied around his head in the fashion of a Japanese pilot-come-flapper girl. Staring absently out of the window, he sips at a bottle of Smirnoff Ice and recalls his mindset at the time of the album’s writing. “I was [in a far] smaller bus than this [referring to the steel lorry he now tours in], just stuck between all these cases. All I had was a window, so I’d stare out the window for 6 months and you’d be in Spain one hour, Italy the next, crossing borders all the time. There were just so many visual influences and so many temperatures; so many different musical genres you’d enter into in different parts of the world. I guess it really expanded my horizons, helped me to develop musically. I was promoting an album that was actually quite sad and morose but during the day I was having an amazing time.”

Unlike its constrained, concept album-esq predecessor, The Magic Position displays a healthy selection of Patrick’s influences and sees him grow into himself as an experienced recording artist. “I’ve reached a point where I’m getting quite broad criticism- I don’t care whether it’s positive or negative and it’s wonderful because it doesn’t influence my everyday creative pattern at all. I’ve noticed a lot of musicians who, on their first album, are extremely sensitive to any kind of criticism, and I definitely had that insecurity with [Lycanthropy] because you’re sharing something so private.”

Rather like a jigsaw, Patrick’s true personality is composed of a plethora of characters and ideas. On stage, he performs tirelessly like a mime on speed, every song revealing a new persona in an infinite parade of colours and characteristics. “I am the tragedy/I am the heroine/I am the lost/and the rescuing” he growls during a performance of Tristan, stalking about the stage with the unwavering confidence of a table dancer. Then, as the final chords echo around the room, he tucks a violin firmly below his chin for the smooth strings of Overture and transforms once more: ducking his head for the opening bars, he smiles serenely and draws his bow across the strings, his silhouette like that of a child at a recital.

A self-confessed perfectionist, Patrick manages a meticulous attention to detail, even on stage. Watching him plough through his set is like watching a true genius at work, as he pushes himself to his limits, fumbling for perfection. There isn’t a note that misses his attention and this feverish attention to detail expresses just how much of his life is poured into this, every movement he makes in tuned to the music. “Once a record is finished I cannot let go of the record in terms. I care a lot, even down to the font of the advertising. Maybe it’s because my mum’s an artist- I see how she even makes the canvases herself, mixes the paints herself, hangs it in the gallery herself. If you care about the thing you’ve made, you’ll be a good parent to it and make sure that you follow through in terms of how it’s presented to the world.”

This extent of passion is simply breathtaking, and you can only marvel at what actually goes on inside a mind such as this. In one of the most superficial, manufactured industries in the world, Patrick is one of the most organic artists alive today; rearranging, experimenting and tweaking with heartbreaking modesty. This is his calling, and you’d have to be both deaf and blind to miss it: “My main focus in life will always be to make and give music. I [don’t really] get inspired to achieve a certain level of success anymore. I’d just like to keep on making albums I’m proud of at a very high standard.”