Nice Music For Nice People - by David Farinella

David Scott is in the midst of the hubbub. The Scottish-based artist is in Hamburg, Germany, talking to American journalists about Across The Milky Way, the Pearlfishers' latest offering. Based on his résumé -- producer, radio, television talk show host, and the main Pearlfishers brain -- he seems to thrive in this environment.

To be sure, Scott has been surrounded by music for a long time now. "Yeah, too long," he admits, laughing. "It's time to retire. I've been in and out of bands since the mid-'80s. I've made a lot of records and produced a lot of records for other people, too. I suppose I'm one of these people that have managed to fulfill a lot of my dreams in terms of working in a lot of different areas. I tend to sort of work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but it's worth it."

If Across The Milky Way is any indication, no truer words have been spoken. Chock-full of sensually sweet pop melodies with intensely intimate lyrics, Scott says this album is the closest realization of his musical dream. "I think you say that with every new album, you know," he allows. "But I think it's kind of true this time. The last two records I thought were very strong pop records, but this time, I wanted to reach a little bit more of the quirkiness that is a part of my music." "I know that somewhere, somebody is going to say that Across The Milky Way is their favorite record. That is a pretty good feeling."

This time around he reverted to the way he used to write songs: sit down, push record, and go. "I almost forced myself to improvise a song, and then later on I would try to fix it up a little bit," he explains. "I think as you get older and better at what you do, in some ways there's a danger that you can become too sophisticated. So, when you sit down to write a song, you say, 'I'm going to write a song now and I'm going to use all my power and I'm going to use all my experience in this song.' I think it's nice to have craft, but sometimes it can be a chain around your ankle."

While a couple of the Pearlfishers albums (there are five now) have found their way across the pond via import collectors, Scott is looking forward to this being his first American release. "Look, I've bottom-dropped in Scotland, right? Almost all of my big heroes are American. I really love the idea that the record is going to be in America," he says. After all, the key is to reach people with music. "It's OK to be insular and say, 'OK, I'm going to write some songs and hopefully some people will buy them.' But, you've got to try and reach out."

In that, Scott says, is the reward. "Brian Wilson said recently -- and I'm not comparing myself with Brian Wilson -- that the thanks is in the doing. That's the reward: actually making something," he says. "I know that somewhere, somebody is going to say that Across The Milky Way is their favorite record. That is a pretty good feeling. The other thing is that it's fun. I'm not sleeping in the streets. I'm not working at a bank. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I'm actually in a studio making nice things for nice people."