Author: electricityclub (Page 32 of 419)

“I don’t like country & western, I don’t like rock music… I don’t like rockabilly! I don’t like much really do I? But what I do like, I love passionately!!”: CHRIS LOWE

“Good taste is exclusive”: NICK RHODES

Lost Albums: CICERO Future Boy

18 September 2023 /

A fan of synthpop and dance music, David Cicero began writing songs and making music in his bedroom, aided by advancements in technology such as affordable samplers and sequencing software. His set-up eventually included a Korg T3, an Akai sequencer, an Akai sampler and a Roland rack mount synth.

Following a PET SHOP BOYS concert in 1989, the lad from Livingston in West Lothian managed to get a demo tape to the duo and before two could be divided by zero, Cicero was offered a record deal with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe’s new record label Spaghetti Records imprint which was being set up in conjunction with Polydor Records.

Although the excellent debut single for both Cicero and Spaghetti Records ‘Heaven Must Have Sent You Back To Me’ failed to chart, it brought the young photogenic Scot to the attention of radio programmers and press. So when his PET SHOP BOYS produced second single ‘Love Is Everywhere’ was released in late 1991, traditionally a good time to break new acts due to the traditional New Year lull in the music business, it eventually reached No19 in the UK charts. The parent album ‘Future Boy’ was eventually released in Summer 1992.

In celebration of its 30th Anniversary, Cherry Red will be reissuing ‘Future Boy’ as a fully remastered 45-track 3CD deluxe expanded edition with an illustrated 24-page booklet featuring an introduction and track-by-track comments by David Cicero himself. As well as all the Cicero tracks released during his Spaghetti period, there are also ‘Ciceroddities!’ in previously unreleased songs such as ‘Pretend’ and live tracks from a one-off concert at London Heaven opening for PET SHOP BOYS at an after party for the premiere of the 1991 Derek Jarman film ‘Edward II’.

The limited edition white vinyl LP edition of ‘Future Boy’ comes with a bonus DVD ‘Cicerovision!’ and includes all the official promotional videos, his 1992 Electronic Press Kit with contributions from Neil Tennant and live footage of the 1991 Heaven gig.

The melancholic but hopeful pop sound captured on ‘Future Boy’ was a reaction to Scottish radio which had local bands RUNRIG, HIPSWAY, DEACON BLUE and TEXAS on constant rotation. With the international success of PET SHOP BOYS, Cicero had seen an opening for electronic music influenced by acid house and techno but in a more mainstream way.

The London recording sessions were happy ones with Chris Lowe playing the joker while Neil Tennant would hold court, offering his critique on successful artists who he believed were not deserving. “I was loving every moment of it and thought it was amazing” Cicero told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in 2019, “looking back now it all seems like a dream.”

With his Italian name and the song’s Italian dance flavour, ‘Heaven Must Have Sent You Back To Me’ ticked all of PET SHOP BOYS boxes as they prepared their first release on Spaghetti, but they opted to produce the second single ‘Love Is Everywhere’. Combining THE PROCLAIMERS with PET SHOP BOYS and OMD while throwing in bagpipes and The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo for good measure, it was a bizarre but glorious sound that emerged from the radio just as 1992 began. A Scottish anthem that just worked, Cicero became a pop pin-up with a ‘Smash Hits’ front cover and numerous TV appearances including ‘Top Of The Pops’.

With “Cicero In Da House”, the excellent ‘That Loving Feeling’ also produced by PET SHOP BOYS was the third single prior to launching ‘Future Boy’ but stocking issues at parent label Polydor stalled momentum despite the video being shown pre-release on ITV’s ‘The Chart Show’; Cicero just missed the Top 40 at No46.

Aside from the three singles, ‘Future Boy’ included a number of equally worthy tracks. Cicero’s own personal favourite ‘Then’ was slated to be the fourth single but was shelved in favour of a PET SHOP BOYS remix of ‘Heaven Must Have Sent You Back To Me’. Meanwhile mixed by Tennant and Lowe with Pete Schwier, ‘My Middle Class Life’ was a stark observation on the abuse of class hierachy that had an air of VISAGE in the chorus.

Both recalling NEW ORDER, ‘Sonic Malfunction’ and ‘Cloud 9’ were two catchy instrumentals that revealed Cicero’s affinity with club culture, but with the collapse of The Iron Curtain, he offered something much darker in ‘The Butcher Of Bucharest’ about the Romanian Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.

At the time a standalone single taken from the PET SHOP BOYS directed soundtrack to the movie ‘The Crying Game’ released in Autumn 1992 but very much a postscript to the ‘Future Boy’ story, ‘Live For Today’ displayed a more orchestrated feel with a superb gospel-tinged vocal from Sylvia Mason-James. Providing a “what if?” scenario as to a possible second album direction, Cicero however dropped out of the pop music industry for personal reasons. Although he would continue to release singles and record instrumental albums under the name THE EVENT, a second Cicero album ‘Today’ would not finally appear until 2021… but that’s another story.

‘Future Boy’ was a promising debut long player and contained a number of outstanding tracks which were enhanced by the involvement of PET SHOP BOYS during their imperial phase. But while that promise was not ultimately fulfilled back then, that Cicero is still making great pop music such as the poignant ‘Hold On To The Memories’ in 2022 shows that the talent really was there and never left him.

For the 30th Anniversary edition of ‘Future Boy’, a previously unreleased song intended for the album ‘Pretend’ has been included into the main tracklisting. There is also an early version of ‘Wish’, a song which he later re-recorded and subsequently appeared on ‘Today’. Among the bonus material, Cicero revisits ‘Love Is Everywhere’ for 2023 while there are also newly commissioned remixes of the track by the likes of SOFTWAVE and SHELTER.

Reflecting on criticism that said ‘Future Boy’ was just another PET SHOP BOYS side-project, David Cicero surmised: “I was their prodigy, they found me and I found them, it’s all about fate. I may have made it without the lads, but having them help me and to be part of it was something I would never change”.

‘Future Boy’ 30th Anniversary Edition with ‘Ciceroddities!’ is released as a 3CD deluxe set via Cherry Red Records on 29 September 2023, pre-order via https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/cicero-future-boy-3cd-expanded-edition/

The white vinyl LP features a bonus DVD insert ‘Cicerovision!’ and can be pre-ordered at https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/cicero-future-boy-limited-edition-white-vinyl-lp-with-exclusive-dvd-insert-cicerovision/

https://www.davecicero.com/

https://www.facebook.com/cicero222/

https://twitter.com/Dave_Cicero

https://www.instagram.com/davecicero_official/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Eric Watson
18 September 2023

NATION OF LANGUAGE Strange Disciple

12 September 2023 /

Steadily taking their notion of anguish to larger and larger audiences, the upward trajectory of Brooklyn based NATION OF LANGUAGE has been astounding in less than two years.

On the back of their second LP ‘A Way Forward’, they went from London’s modest Lafayette to the XOYO while in support their new album ‘Strange Disciple’, they will rise up to Heaven. It was in Spring 2020 that NATION OF LANGUAGE’s debut album ‘Introduction, Presence’ arrived in a Covid stricken world. But despite that and the anxiety captured within the music influenced to varying degrees, sometimes blatantly, by German kosmiche and British post-punk synth such as OMD’s ‘Electricity’ and NEW ORDER’s ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, there were feelings of hope and honesty that rang home to those listening.

By the time of the second NATION OF LANGUAGE long player came along in Autumn 2021, songs with infectious synth hooks like the lead single ‘This Fractured Mind’ became instantly relatable as people re-emerged post-pandemic. Meanwhile, NATION OF LANGUAGE had developed into a compelling live act, Ian Devaney the anxious energetic front man with his wife Aidan Noell playing the sexy synth minx while their then- bassist Michael Sui-Poi played solidly as if he was in an alternative rock band at another gig.

Since then, Alex MacKay has taken over four string duties and continuing the momentum for this third record, Nick Millhiser of the acclaimed duo HOLY GHOST! and live band member of LCD SOUNDSYSTEM has been brought in as producer to steer the recording process into as many analogue techniques as possible.

Themed around “toxic infatuation”, the new album has been fittingly titled ‘Strange Disciple’ to explore the dark side of love and romance. Taking a sedate start despite the KRAFTWERK ‘Autobahn’ influence, Devaney reminds himself he’s in love and ‘Weak In Your Light’. But then it’s back to business with a more sophisticated sequencer sound than before on ‘Sole Obsession’, a song about “an overzealous devotee” augmented by live melodic bass, sparkling synths and electronic percussion in that chugging NEW ORDER fashion.

Over a subtle machine beat, ‘Surely I Can’t Wait’ captures a bewilderment over paradoxically sparkling keyboard patterns and synth sweeps that could be “just another love song” but Devaney seeks help to “show me I can live for another”. ‘Swimming In The Shallow Sea’ enters shoegaze territory as the most guitar-oriented track on the album although bursts of detuned synths make their presence felt.

With a lead synth line that recalls ULTRAVOX’s ‘Slow Motion’, ‘Too Much, Enough’ is hook laden with many layers while its hypnotic drum machine backbone is a delight. ‘Spare Me The Decision’ is rousing new wave pop, accessible yet eerie with howling sirens, a great bubbling synth solo and white noise percussion while ‘Sightseer’ takes a breather into the realm of THE CURE with a “come on kill me please” highlighting the despair and resignation.

‘Stumbling Still’ enters JOY DIVISION territory and ‘Isolation’ in particular in its crashing rhythmic construction but the process is given that characteristic NATION OF LANGUAGE spin. But starting simplistically and with restraint, ‘A New Goodbye’ then snaps into something much blippier and funkier in its final third and even throws in falsetto refrains to add a new dimension.

Photo by Dominik Friess

On the home stretch, ‘I Will Never Learn’ sums up life’s trials and tribulations in a wonderful example of why NATION OF LANGUAGE appeal so much in their glorious mix of synths, live bass, sequencers and electronic percussion while a girly falsetto howl is a haunting but beautiful touch.

For those who enjoyed ‘Introduction, Presence’ and ‘A Way Forward’, ‘Strange Disciple’ is more of the same if delivered at a less frantic, more thoughtful pace. This is a record that capitalises on past achievements, both of their own an others, with equal doses of heartbreak and hope. Those who are seeking a band who can be seen as spiritual successors to the much missed MIRRORS need look no further.

‘Strange Disciple’ is released on 15 September 2023 by PIAS in black or clear vinyl LP, CD + digital formats

NATION OF LANGUAGE UK 2022 tour includes:

London Heaven (27 September), Brighton Concorde 2 (28 September), Bristol Marble Factory (29 September), Nottingham Rescue Rooms (30 September), Manchester New Century Hall (4 October), Leeds University Stylus (5 October), Sheffield Foundry (6 October), Newcastle Boiler Shop (7 October),

https://www.nationoflanguage.com/

https://www.facebook.com/nationoflanguage

https://twitter.com/notionofanguish

https://www.instagram.com/nationoflanguage/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
12 September 2023

PAGE Interview

8 September 2023 /

Photo by Simon Helm

Since their first single ‘Dansande Man’ in 1983, Sweden’s PAGE have stuck rigidly to their “Keyboardbaserad Retroromantisk Popmusik” manifesto, never feeling the need to use live drums or a brass section.

Ironically, Eddie Bengtsson traded in his drum kit for two synthesizers to form PAGE with Marina Schiptjenko. Inspired by TUBEWAY ARMY, ULTRAVOX and SILICON TEENS, the duo have nurtured their own brand of poptronica. When PAGE went on hiatus in 2000, Bengtsson continued with his solo project SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN while Schiptjenko found mainstream European success as a member of BWO.

But the special chemistry that was within PAGE could not be resisted so in 2010, Bengtsson and Schiptjenko reunited to release a new album appropriately titled ‘Nu’. New is the theme of the new PAGE album ‘En Ny Våg’ which translated into English means “A New Wave”. As on the previous albums ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’ and ‘Fakta För Alla’, ‘En Ny Våg’ uses Gary Numan as a catalyst and even brings Chris Payne and RRussell Bell from his imperial live band of 1979-1981 on board to aid the Numanisation process.

Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the continuing PAGE story and the making of ‘En Ny Våg’.

Photo by Jonas Karlsson

What keeps the PAGE partnership going strong?

Eddie: I think that it is because we live so far from each other. We don’t get tired of each other. Also, we have so many other things that we have done and do in our lives. Finally, we are still very good friends and like very much what we are doing and how our music sounds.

Marina: I also would like to add: our history. We kind of grew up together and were both huge fans of the same kind of music. We have so many memories tied to that defining time in our lives.

The concept to “Numanise” PAGE in 2017 began on a few tracks from ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’, how do you think the adventure has gone since then?

Eddie: When I write the songs, I don’t go in with the mission to copy either early Numan or ULTRAVOX (“NumanVox”). It’s more that those artists work like a catalyst to get me in the mood. Of course, I love the sound of those old songs, and I try to emulate it and let it go through a “PAGE-filter”. If someone tells me, “That sounds a bit like early Numan” or ULTRAVOX, I give them a high-five – because that means that they have understood what I’m trying to do.

Photo by Simon Helm

Have you grasped the world of social media and streaming?

Eddie: No, not yet, I suppose.

Marina: It’s boring to do, but I very much like the possibility to share (and to see!) old PAGE live stuff. I have a lousy memory, so it’s so much fun to see old concerts online.

It’s been a while since the most recent PAGE album ‘Fakta För Alla’ in 2019, but there have been two EPs ‘Under Mitt Skinn’ and ‘Aska’. What was the reason for going down this route first?

Eddie: Both of those EPs started as singles. I didn’t have the inspiration for a full album, but I could manage an EP. When those two EPs were done, we just thought, “Let’s put them together and make an album for those who want that”.

Did you impose any rules or restrictions on ‘En Ny Våg’ such as the synths, sounds and software used?

Eddie: I have had the same rules and restrictions for years and years. Once, I was a collector of synths. In other words, I bought lots of synthesizers just to own them; not really to use them. I have always had this idea, this mantra: “You only need ONE synth – force it to sound the way you want it to sound”. So I realised that I didn’t need that load of synths and sold them off. I sold my vintage stuff and bought ONE fat synth instead. I went for a Moog.

To tell you the truth, I don’t only own ONE Moog, I have a couple. Mostly because they look so nice. The last four albums are 80% Moog Voyager XL only. My Moog Little Phatty, I use as a mother keyboard. The Moog Minitaur is for all basses – the same sound on every song. And, finally, the Moog Sub Phatty is only for live. So, yeah, I want to work with restrictions and rules. Force the synth!

Are you still partying like it is 1980 – has any recent pop music been inspiring?

Eddie: I’m not very much for partying – never was. I keep my sources of inspirations very limited. It’s like 3-4 artists, all from the same era of early New Wave / Post Punk electronica. I have come to the conclusion that it was the time when the sounds were perfect. Earlier, I did look into to other styles, new and old; but, looking back, I think that made my own songs be influenced by too many things, and the red thread got kinda lost. So, I like the way I do work now. I have a road to walk down, and it’s very straight, and I love the walk.

Photo by Simon Helm

On the ‘En Ny Våg’ opening title song, you invited Chris Payne from the first Gary Numan live band to perform on it, how was the experience?

Eddie: THAT was a really huge thing for me. To have both Chris Payne and RRussell Bell from the Numan band and DRAMATIS playing on the new PAGE album was fantastic. They are such amazingly talented musicians. Chris plays the violin on the song and his parts really lift the song, I think so, at least. We had contact, and I instructed him to play the parts that I wanted. Then I told him that he could have a free hand to add whatever he could come up with. The part in the middle, where his viola leads, is goose-bumps beautiful.

RRussell Bell also contributes to the album, what did he add?

Eddie: RRussell plays the guitar on ‘Frusen’ (‘Frozen’). He added great atmosphere to the piece. It was so cool to have RRussell, as well as Chris, because he is such an important part of Numan and DRAMATIS story.

At the end of the album, there is an atmospheric track called ‘Korridoren’ that would make OMD proud, how did that develop?

Eddie: That was a quickie. Actually, I wrote it when the album was done and ready to be pressed. There was this day when I had just bought a new microphone, and I wanted to test it. I connected it and tried it out. The sound of that mic was unbelievable, compared to the mics I have been using before. So, I sang a line that sounded good – very close and kind of intimate – and then I put the instruments on that. It took me an hour or so. The result was a very cool song. I like it. Maybe OMD can make a cover of it? 😉

Photo by Jonas Karlsson

One of the highlights is ‘Det Här Är Mitt Sätt’ with its catchy riffs and soloing, what was the idea behind this?

Eddie: The idea was to use that synth sound that leads the song. I did this sound, and it was very much the sound as heard on ‘Fade To Grey’. So, I guess my goal was to make something that would sound a bit like ‘Fade To Grey’; I failed with that, but it became something else. I suppose it sounds very much like classic PAGE.

On ‘Genomskinlig’, you get to do the Billy Currie synth hero thing again, but have you considered getting the Korg ARP Odyssey reissue or does what you have already do the job as you require?

Eddie: No I haven’t. I have no need for it, because I force my synth (the Moog Voyager XL) to sound like a Billy Currie Odyssey solo. The result isn’t perfect but almost – and definitely good enough for me.

What are your favourite songs on the album?

Eddie: My favourite songs are ’En Ny Våg’ (‘A New Wave’), ‘För Du Är Rädd Nu’ (‘Because You’re Scared Now’) and ‘Stop-Vänta-Nu’ (‘Stop-Wait-Now’). All of them are very good songs that I’m very proud of. I totally love everything about those songs: the way they are built, the sounds, the arrangements, the melodies, the beat, the harmonies, the vocals, and the words. They really represent what I’m trying to do.

Marina: ‘En Ny Våg’ and “För Du Är Rädd Nu”, those are two magical PAGE songs.

Photo by Simon Helm

This present phase of PAGE started in 2010, it is more enjoyable than back in the day?

Eddie: Maybe. I haven’t thought about that. I guess it’s more mellow these days. It feels nicer now, when I really, really love the sound. PAGE has always been special, in the sense that there was never anyone that sounded like us. And that is still a fact.

Marina: I am so happy and grateful that Eddie doesn’t force me to play too many live gigs *laughs*

PAGE, in the early days, was a lot about live performance. I truly enjoyed it back then, but now it’s more pressure.

What is next for PAGE?

Eddie: Now we have to kind of sit back and see how the audience will receive the album. I hope they like it as much as we do. When it comes to playing live, we haven’t decided yet if we are going to perform the album or not. If the right opportunity arises, then we might. But it would have to be something that means something special. When it comes to composing, I’m at the moment taking a rest. Maybe, someday, I will start all over again with filling myself with inspiration and ideas.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to PAGE

‘En Ny Våg’ is released on 29 September 2023 by Energy Rekords as a CD and vinyl LP, pre-order from https://hotstuff.se/page/x-7640

https://www.facebook.com/PageElektroniskPop

https://www.instagram.com/page_svensk_pop/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Fte7PuO7hpVbBFrX075fC

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai with thanks to Simon Helm
8 September 2023

JAAKKO EINO KALEVI Interview

5 September 2023 /

Photo by Frank Holbein

Finnish psych-pop voyager Jaakko Eino Kalevi has been on a creative roll and will release his brand new double opus ‘Chaos Magic’ this Autumn. It is the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Dissolution’ mini-album.

Inspired by his new home of Athens and the Greek word “kháos”, meaning “an abyss or void that was created when Earth and Heaven were separated”, Jaakko Eino Kalevi sought to find beauty in the chaotic nature of the everyday.

Written and recorded primarily in Greece but also in Germany, Estonia and Switzerland, ‘Chaos Magic’ is an eclectic collection of music covering sunny art pop, synthy new wave, cosmic jazz, electronic disco, space rock and darker baroque song experiments. Guests include Jimi Tenor, John Moods, Alma Jodorowsky, ‘Dissolution’ collaborator Yu-Ching Huang and on the album’s first single ‘I Forget’, Sigurlaug Gísladóttir aka Mr Silla.

Jaakko Eino Kalevi chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about this wondrous garden of earthly delights that shaped the sound of ‘Chaos Magic’.

It’s been 4 years since the ‘Dissoluton’ mini-album and 5 years since the last album proper ‘Out Of Touch’, how did you decide to make ‘Chaos Magic’ a double opus?

I was not planning to make a double album but somehow that is what it grew up to be. I was just working on my song ideas and in the end didn´t want to drop anything out. I tried but it didn´t make sense to me.

How has living in Athens inspired you, it’s obviously quite different from Finland?

It is very different that is true. It´s much more lively place than Finland and people spend more time hanging outdoors which is nice. I used to live in Berlin after Finland and one thing I like in Athens is having a better routine of working with music, compared to Berlin. One reason for that is our studio that I share with a few friends.

‘Drifting Away’ does as the title suggests, it’s suitably sunny and breezy, is this the Greek environment helping?

Hehe, yes definitely! There is so much sea it´s amazing! Although I don´t know anyone with a boat, yet. When I was working on the lyrics of that song, I had many different versions of it and I think my experiences by the Greek seaside pushed me into using the ‘Drifting Away’ version.

‘Dino’s Deo’ appears to recall the Belgian electronic trio TELEX, were they an inspiration for you at all?

Interesting comparison. I love TELEX, but I was not connecting them to this song. At least not consciously.

What is ‘Hell & Heaven’ for you?

This song was made together with Elliot and Virgile from the band FAUX REAL. It was musically so dramatic so I had to go biblical in the lyrics. I got this idea on the island of Hydra in a pretty heavenly situation, but sometimes even to the most heavenly places you bring your own hell and vice versa. Life is full of Hell and Heaven, and everything in between.

Photo by Frank Holbein

‘Night Walk’ has haunting synthetic overtones, how did that song come together?

It´s based on one old jam and I wanted to make a new version of it. I spent quite a lot of time tweaking the synth sounds on this album. In the demo version of this song, I used a plugin synth bass sound that was kind of perfect, but I wanted to replace it with a hardware sound which was not easy at all. Finally I got it done by layering bass sounds on top of each other. I think hardware often sounds better and it’s inspiring to touch the machines. The song is about some relationship moods from the past and of course the synth bass.

French actress and singer Alma Jodorowsky who starred in the electronic music film ‘Le Choc Du Futur’ adds some exquisite vocals on several tracks… what did you think of the film and how did she come to be involved in recording with you?

Oh I haven´t see that movie unfortunately! Have to correct the situation immediately! Last summer Alma was in Athens for a movie premiere (might actually have been ’Le Choc Du Futur’) and my friend was hosting her. They came to a bar where I was DJing and we met and hung out. I was working on the album at that time and needed some female vocals to it. She was up for it and ended up doing much more for the songs that I had in mind.

‘Palace In My Head’ is quite different with darker claustrophobic overtones offset by a polar opposite chorus, was this a lockdown song?

Yeah, the chorus is pretty different from the rest of the song. The bassline is pretty evil and then it always brightens up for the chorus. I would say there are two characters in the song having sort of a conversation and the chorus is the reply for the verses. This song was written before lockdown, at least the music part.

‘I Forget’ touches all the spectrums in its delivery, but what did you forget? 😉

Well this song has inspiration from one trip when we were playing a show in a festival in the coast of Egypt. After the show I fell asleep in a beach chair and when I woke up, I could not remember where I was and why. Also I had a dream of some other place so it confused me even more. I called my sister and I was on the map again. I had this kind of experience as a kid in some sleepovers as well. It´s strange…

‘The Chamber Of Love’ appears to have a passing resemblance to ‘Everything She Wants’ by WHAM! Was this conscious or coincidence?

I wrote the song before I ever heard ‘Everything She Wants’ but the arrangement was different. I love ‘Everything She Wants’ so I arranged this song sounding more like that. It is more electronic now and yes with a big inspiration from WHAM!

You worked with Jimi Tenor on this album, do you see him very much as a kindred spirit musically?

Yes definitely. When I started to do my music, he was a big influence for me. He is a great musician and I very much look up to him. It’s been great to have a chance to work with him.

Photo by Isotta Giulia Acquati

‘L’Horizon’ explores a full electronic funk workout, how did that come together?

I thought the song was already finished but then when I listened it more, it seemed to lack something. So I came up with the funky slap bass riff which is pretty prominent in the song now. I also added the white noise phaser hi-hat to make it more upbeat and now it’s perfect! There is always something on the horizon.

The Far Eastern favoured ‘Galactic Romance’ is an intriguing and hypnotic piece of music which you don’t sing on, how was this constructed?

I had the song pretty much ready with the melody and all, but I felt like my voice was not fitting to it. So I asked my friend Yu-Ching to sing on it. The song has a pretty spacey atmosphere so Taiwanese Mandarin suits to that purpose perfectly. The song is a romantic space song.

Do you have any favourite production tools?

Yes many. A new thing for this album is this one tube preamp that is inspired by the Abbey Road Console from the 60s. I recorded almost everything through it. Also synth-wise, I like to use Korg PolySix and Korg 700s. Especially the 700s has a very special aggressively juicy sound.

You close the album with a 13 minute epic ‘Let’s See How Things Go’, what seeded such a long musical excursion?

That was a collaboration with another Finnish legend, Vilunki 3000. The song was originally even longer but I edited it a little shorter. I like epic last song endings and this is one of those. The length is needed to create the right suspension.

ITALOCONNECTION recently covered your 2010 song ‘Flexible Heart’ on their album ‘Nordisko’, what did you think of what they did?

I felt like it was about time! It is such a perfect song to be Italonized so I think that justice was served.

You released your first album ‘Dragon Quest’ in 2007, how do you see the artist from back then compared to where you are now?

Kind of different but pretty much the same. Of course a lot of time has passed and I have explored music and life to another level, but I feel I still have pretty much the same approach to making music. Actually we are planning to reissue ‘Dragon Quest’ in the near future.

What are your hopes and fears for this record? How do you hope it will be received?

Of course I hope people will find it and enjoy it. It is a very diverse album but still I think there is a golden thread to be found. It is my strongest album so far in my opinion and I hope the audience will agree.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Jaakko Eino Kalevi

Additional thanks to Stasi Roe at Domino Recording Co

‘Chaos Magic’ is released by Weird World / Domino Recording Co on 17 November 2023 as a CD, double LP + download, pre-order from https://www.dominomusic.com/

https://www.jaakkoeinokalevi.com/

https://www.facebook.com/JaakkoEinoKalevi

https://twitter.com/JaakkoEino

https://www.instagram.com/jaakkoeinokalevi/

https://www.instagram.com/jaakkoeinokalevi/

https://jaakkoeinokalevi.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/20o7mwLphfnviZKGPw1gi3

https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/jaakko-eino-kalevi/361706924

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
8 September 2023

GEMMA CULLINGFORD & LUKE WRIGHT Interview

31 August 2023 /

Gemma Cullingford is the acclaimed musician, songwriter and producer with two solo albums ‘Let Me Speak’ and ‘Tongue Tied’ to her name. Luke Wright is the dynamic performance poet with a stark but witty take on 21st century British life. Together they have a “fear of missing out”.

‘FOMO’ is the 4 track extended play release by Gemma Cullingford and Luke Wright. The pair have known each other for around 20 years within the Suffolk arts scene with Luke’s then poetry collective AISLE 16 often compering for bands which Gemma was part of, the 2021 lockdown sparked an idea for an electro-poetic collaboration.

With shades of renowned punk-poet John Cooper Clarke and East Midlands duo SLEAFORD MODS, ‘FOMO’ is an enjoyable but abrasive dance friendly commentary that covers toxic masculinity, dance aversion, inner demons and the fashion for self-improvement.

ELECTRICITTYCLUB.CO.UK spoked to Gemma Cullingford and Luke Wright about their fear of missing out and much more.

How did you come together to do some electronic disco poetry?

Gemma: Luke and I have known each other since the early 00s when Luke’s poetry collective AISLE 16 who were based in Norwich used to compere shows at Norwich Arts Centre and I was often one of the bands in those shows back then. I had dabbled with a similar concept in the mid-00s with another of AISLE 16 – our mutual friend Yanny Mac – when I first purchased an eMac (remember those?!) and started teaching myself Garage Band. We formed a kinda fake band called DED DOG briefly and wrote a few tunes where I’d cut up Yanny’s poems and put them to a backing track. I’d always fancied trying that again.

Fast forward to 2021 when my first solo single came out and Luke took a shine to my instrumental tune ‘104’. He dropped me a line to say how much he liked it and I asked him if he fancied trying a collaboration with his poems over my music. He was game and a week later we had these 4 songs! We’ve only just got round to releasing them though as we’ve both been super busy with our own projects (Luke is still mega busy and successful!)

Luke: I really wanted to collaborate with Gemma but I was too nervous to ask, so it was very nice that she did. I remember walking along the coast with ‘104’ on repeat just improvising lyrics over the top, it was such fun in that was a very bleak period.

Had John Cooper Clarke’s albums with Martin Hannett like ‘Disguise In Love’, ‘Zip Style Method’ and ‘Snap, Crackle & Bop’ been an influence?

Gemma: I’d never actually heard them, so no!

Luke: I’ve been JCC’s regular tour support for about 12 years, and been gigging with him regularly for years before that. He was a huge influence on me when I was starting out, but less so for the albums, more as a live poet. I do know those albums, and I love tracks like ‘Valley of the Long Lost Women’ but on the whole, I prefer the poems without that music.

Was featuring both your voices a conscious move in the concept of this EP?

Gemma: As always with me there are no conscious moves or concepts, it’s just what feels right. I like the contrast in our voices and I think they balance each other out a bit. The track ‘FOMO’ was a song I’d had sitting around for a good few years which only had part vocals. When Luke put his poem to it, it fitted magically!

Luke: The other tracks were made from scratch and come together quite organically. ‘Therapist’ was a poem Gemma cut up and put over music. ‘Ballroom’ was a track I wrote lyrics to. ‘Beast’ was a track I cut up and made into a more traditional pop song shape then wrote lyrics to. But ‘FOMO’ was a little different in is much as Gemma had done all her bits and was already quite attached to the song as it was and sent it to me with the caveat not to be offended if she didn’t use anything I added to it! In the end, I used a poem that already existed called ‘William Hague in a Baseball Cap’, about male insecurity in a time of female empowerment. By far the most lyrics of any of the songs and it just sort of worked.

Where has the world’s “fear of missing out” come from? Why does it appear to be a bigger issue now than it was before and has social media amplified it?

Luke: I used to get FOMO really badly and then I got married and had kids and missed out on absolutely everything, the point where it was pointless to care about it. But then I got divorced and entered into a long distance relationship. My girlfriend was often going out with her mates while I was stuck at home with the kids hundreds of miles away, which left me feeling like a teenager. Only I was a lot fatter.

Countering that “fear of missing out” is ‘Ballroom’ which recalls Gary Clail, is this a fight for the right NOT to party? It’s a fascinating paradox…

Gemma: I love Luke’s lyrics to this as an introvert! I often feel awkward on stage and I don’t move around much so I could totally get behind these lyrics. I do love a dance after a good few drinks though, but I mean a REAL good few! Plus I love writing danceable music yet I don’t like clubbing or raves etc. I’m full of contradictions, me!

Luke: I’m really glad you like this one, Gemma, because I was a bit meh about it. I was writing a poem for the Kennedy Foundation For Human Rights. There were 30 poets, each writing about a different article of the UN Convention For Human Rights. Mine was article 20: “Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.” I had a metaphor in my poem about a dance floor that didn’t really fit, so I developed it here. This is about social media to an extent, about trying to remain above the fray, not to get involved in group think. And it’s about dancing!

The ‘FOMO’ tracks and its lines about being “pale male and stale and not all men” and “I am the sh*t Morrissey says in interviews” are all part of a starker observation about toxic masculinity?

Luke: I wrote this in 2018 when there was a lot of discussion around toxic masculinity in the wake of #MeToo. As a left-wing liberal person, the media I consume, and the people I follow, are very progressive, so my online life seemed to a succession of posts saying “UGH MEN!” This piece isn’t complaining about that, I think most of this discourse was sorely needed. It’s just feeling it a bit and also trying to be funny about it as well. Sending up the woundedness, lampooning myself.

Are things improving since #MeToo or is the continued adulation of high profile misogynists like Andrew Tate and Donald Trump proof that there is a long way to go?

Gemma: Women being heard and taken more seriously and the general awareness of misogyny are improving perhaps, but unfortunately I don’t think it’ll stop certain types of folk from needing to feel powerful and belittling (and worse) women in order to do so. Through talking about it and forming social movements, it equips women with knowledge and awareness. I’m only just waking up to certain things. I’m realising that behaviour – both from and aimed at all genders and walks of life – can be oppressive and it’s things that I might have just accepted as being normal before, but actually it’s not right at all. It’s all so very subtle and how we’ve all been conditioned in society. This country is a lot better than some but as a world, I think we’ve all a looooong way to go.

Luke: I’m not surprised that figures like Andrew Tate have come to prominence. It’s a backlash against stuff like #MeToo. But those of us on the side of progress just need to keep pushing back. I am the father of teenage sons who are appalled by Andrew Tate, so it’s not a lost cause. It’s about education and bringing people with you. I can understand the howls of anger from women about male behaviour but if you want to take a new generation of boys and men with you, the discussion needs to feel inclusive so figures like Andrew Tate can’t get a look in.

‘You Are Making Progress With Your Therapist’ is a typical Gemma backing track, but how much of the monologue was already part of something already written, how did things develop to completion?

Gemma: ‘Therapist’ was the first track that came out of this collaboration and I wrote the music the very night that we decided to collaborate. Luke recorded and sent over the poem and I popped it over the top of the music and repeated the line to make a kinda chorus out of it. At the exact same time, I sent Luke an instrumental track and he wrote a poem to go over it, which ended up as ‘Ballroom’. So both tunes happened pretty simultaneously and very quickly. Which then spurred us to create two more…

Luke: It was poem I’d just finished. It worked being split in two. It’s my favourite of our tracks.

There’s some great Moroder-esque programming and keys work on the backing track of ‘The Beast’ which really adds to the narrative tension but who is that beast that is angrily being referred to?

Gemma: Thanks! That was another song I’d had kicking about for a couple of years which needed vocals. I sent that to Luke and he chopped it up a bit and put a snarly John Lydon-meets-Shaun Ryder-esque vocal to it.

Luke: F*ck knows that this is about. I used all the lines I liked best in my notebook. But… it is kind of about an old rockstar shuffling around the town years after fame and riches have passed him by. I do actually know someone like this. “The Beast” is rock n roll, I think.

What is next for you, would you like to do more collaborations?

Gemma: I’m taking a bit of a break from performing to recharge my batteries. Performing, promoting and touring really takes it out of me and I’m a bit of a home bird, I get overwhelmed quite easily. So I’m gonna take a break from performing and writing until the urge to do more comes – which I’m sure it will! In the meantime at the moment I’m enjoying my DJ venture with my partner – we play vinyl only singles and I get immense enjoyment from playing other people’s songs that I love and that have shaped me and my musical tastes!

I do have a Christmas song to come out but I’ll not be performing it live anywhere. However, knowing me, I could be eating my words in a few weeks – but right now, this is my current plan. I would totally be up for more collaborations with Luke in future but he’s an extremely busy guy. Make sure to check out his shows. Seriously good stuff!!

Luke: I think we should do another song! Saying I’m busy makes it sound like I’m working on a series of glamorous projects, in reality I’m just driving from town to town playing small theatres. I’m a long distance driver who does a bit of poetry on the side.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Gemma Cullingford and Luke Wright

‘FOMO’ is released by Elmo Recordings via https://gemmacullingford.bandcamp.com/album/fomo

The ‘FOMO’ EP Launch takes place at Karma Café in Norwich on Friday 1st September 2023

To celebrate the release of ‘FOMO’, Gemma Cullingford and Luke Wright have teamed up with brewery Iron Pier and artist Duncan Grant to create a limited edition tropical hazy pale ale, available online direct from https://ironpier.beer/collections/cans/products/fomo-5-3-440ml-can

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
1 September 2023

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