Tony Cummings quizzed the critically acclaimed singer/songwriter JO MANGO about her music & faith

Our dressing room was the "Maestro Suite". I felt so blessed to stand in it and think of all the exceptionally talented people who had stood there before their show - Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Mahler, Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles even. . . I thought my head might explode! What an incredible blessing of an experience.

Tony: How did you and your brother come to start Lo-Five Records?

Jo: Back in 2003 after a string of disasters and lucky escapes from major record label clutches, we had learnt enough about the music industry that we knew if we wanted to get something done with our music and retain control over our own musical integrity and the rights to the songs, then pretty much the only option was to release the music ourselves and then either license it to a label or get a distribution deal. Record labels are businesses and as such they have to run according to the music market. This means that buying power and marketing often come first and artists end up sacrificing musical and/or other integrity in order to make back money they owe to companies for recording time, etc. Sadly this seems to be true across the board - Christian and non-Christian labels alike. Because Jim (my brother), Robin (my manager) and I (Jo Mango) - the partners in the record company - all work other jobs and do other things to make money we can run our label in a way that tries as much as possible to keep the music-making separate from the pressure of money-making, ie, we make good music and we think it will sell because it's good, we don't make music specifically to sell. In the end we got an EP and an album recorded, manufactured, advertised and distributed all under our own steam using the name Lo-Five records. We applied to a number of different places for funding - including the Scottish Arts Council who were very generous and helpful - pulled in a lot of favours and did an awful lot of hard work to make it all happen.

The main annoyance about releasing a record yourself is living beside piles of boxes of CDs! I trip over one at least once a day. We're now in the process of trying to do the same for four other Glasgow-based acts who we think are amazing and deserve to be heard.

Tony: In a review of your concert at last year's Edinburgh Festival the Cross Rhythms reviewer wrote, "A subtle yet noticeable degree of Christian spirituality crops up in her thoroughly original music." Is that something you intentionally strive to do?

Jo: I have always thought the distinction between "Christian music" and "secular music" made by Christians to be an entirely artificial one. When I sit down to write a song I don't think, "I'm going to write a Christian song this time," or, "This next one will be non-Christian." I just write a song using whatever ideas or materials I think are going to make a good song or a beautiful thing, trusting that because it is me who is writing it, because I write through my eyes, some degree of my belief and spirituality will be present in it. And that is enough for me. I think feeling the need to force or indeed repress overt references to spirituality is something that will ultimately hinder the artistry of a song and therefore make it less glorifying to God. My aim is to be the best servant I can in my life and make the best art I possibly can for him. In the same way, I try not to partition other areas of my life into "spiritual" and "non-spiritual". I think faith cuts through the heart of everything - including the seemingly boring and mundane. So a song about anything can be worthwhile. It can be a song about a flower or about an argument or an umbrella or a boy and still be just as important as a song about the sermon on the mount.

Having said all that about not making distinctions, I think sometimes the purpose of a song is important. And there is definitely an important distinction to be made between songs that are created and intended specifically for the purpose of being used for congregational worship and songs that are created to be listened to. That's not to say that one is spiritual and the other isn't or that one can't be used for the other sometimes. But generally I think worship songs aren't the best to be appreciated by a listener because they are specifically fashioned to have as wide an appeal as possible, to be singable for the average person, to be understandable and "generalisable" to anyone's situation and to be exactly theologically correct in the ideas they explore. Whereas "art songs" or songs to listen to for entertainment, benefit more from being different, from perhaps being a bit unusual melodically, perhaps hard to sing, including very specific ideas or images or metaphors and they are often quite challenging, questioning or shocking. And that is the reason why my songs may seem more subtly spiritual than your average worship song: the audience and the intended use is different. (It's also perhaps one of the reasons why congregational worship songs aren't ever really going to please the NME!)

Tony: What is your favourite song on 'Paperclips Et Sand' and why?

Jo: After long hard reflection, it would have to be "Harlow 1959". "My Lung" comes a close second purely because the kalimba is such a beautiful instrument. But yes, I think "Harlow 1959" is perhaps the song with the most layers of meaning of all the songs on that album. Working really hard at listening to a song and thinking about lyrics in order to uncover hidden meanings is one of my favourite passtimes. I remember being so excited and pleased whilst writing it when I realised that all the numerous images that comprise the song all wound together so well into a unified (but slightly complicated) whole. I like the thought that someone somewhere might have Googled the phrase "Harlow 1959" and begun to try and discover where the song is coming from. The same goes for "Gomer". But at the same time I hope it's just nice to listen to on a lighter level.

Tony: You've just released "My Lung" from 'Paperclips Et Sand' as a single. Tell me about that song.

Jo: My sister got married a couple of years ago. It was a really joyous and strange occasion with an Indian theme! But it was almost marred by the fact that she had asked me to write a song to play at the wedding (no pressure then!!!) and one was not forthcoming. I was very stressed out and red-faced the night before I travelled down to London for the ceremony, when I got out my kalimba (an African instrument, sometimes called a thumb piano) and out popped "My Lung" (not literally of course). It was based on the idea that after years of partnership a husband or wife becomes a bit like part of your body - and that a wedding could be a bit like a heart and lung transplant in a way. It's also pretty worshipful I suppose because like most love songs, it can equally be aimed at God. I like the idea of promises setting you free rather than holding you down - "Today our promises will make us free" - and I tried to make an air of excitement and freedom apparent in the song too. And my sister was so pleased when her wedding song was voted single of the week on BBC Radio 2 last month! So was I really...

Tony: Does your studying at the university cut back on the amount of gigging you can do?

Jo: Fortunately it hasn't meant much cutting back in the gigging. My tutors and supervisors are extremely understanding and - rightly in a way - say that they can't really advise me to stop being a musician in order to study music. Performing and living and breathing music helps you to study it better, the same way studying it helps you perform it better. I don't have any classes this year, just research so my schedule is pretty flexible and I've taught myself how to read in the van without getting sick so I can work on the road. Well. . . I can try anyway! That doesn't mean that there are any less than a dozen all-nighters in any given year getting papers ready to hand in. But, well, as "My Lung" showed, I seem to work well under pressure.

Tony: What's your latest recording project?