A film by The Kitsunés, ‘The Fox’s Wedding’ is both inspired by the East Asian folklore and legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s short film of the same title.
From ‘Arcana’, the acclaimed second album of Warrior Goth by New York born CZARINA, the immaculate visual presentation is directed by her and her husband DeadlyKawaii who together are The Kitsunés. It sees East embrace West with a nod to deep roots and lineage, following three mischievous children entering a magical forest filled with fantastical creatures and stumbling upon a magical wedding procession that they secretly follow.
As has been central to all previous CZARINA videos, care and attention has been applied to location and props. Filmed in the Spanish region of Galicia, there are hand painted masks with both Asian and Galician floral motifs as well as a traditional Galician Sporran.
CZARINA chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the making of ‘The Fox’s Wedding’ and her future plans…
Out of the remaining tracks on the ‘Arcana’ album, what made you feel ‘The Fox’s Wedding’ deserved a video treatment?
I wrote ‘The Fox’s Wedding’ as the wedding march song for my and DeadlyKawaii’s wedding. We got married on Winter Solstice 5 years ago, but we had a low key ceremony and celebrations in New York at the time as our families were sprawled across 3 different continents. We are still hopeful to have a grand ceremony here in Galicia with our families together where we can actually utilise the song. But for now, we figured to work on a video that can visually elaborate on the magic that inspired the song, as well as a Winter Solstice offering to close Arcana before I move on to the next record.
Who is “The Fox”?
Both bride and groom in the video, along with the entire entourage. We just went with the singular “Fox” following the traditional title for the Asian folklore – in this case, the Japanese version, “Kitsune No Yomeiri.”
It’s interesting how foxes are vilified by the English Aristocracy and other Western cultures but Ancient Chinese traditions admired them?
The tale of the Fox Spirit – called kitsune in Japan, kumiho in Korea, and huli jing or Nine Tails in China and other parts of Asia – is a massive part of the diasporic traditional folklore of Asia. Magical creatures, shapeshifters and demi-gods seen as both benevolent and malevolent in their role in maintaining cosmic balance as karmic deliverers, fox spirits are said to have brought downfall to certain dynastic empires. But the legend of ‘The Fox’s Wedding’ is one that has been quite popular and has received numerous beautiful depictions throughout Asian history to today. We wanted to capture a lot of the details of the legend in the video – from the sunshine rain to the kitsunebi ghost lights that appear in the forest and of course, the mischievous trickery and final reveal at the very end of the video.
Were the lit paper lanterns and boats inspired by the imagery of Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival?
Yes, we wanted to bring some of the most beautiful Asian traditions into the ambience, especially the dance of lights and the lantern boats from Chinese Mid-Autumn festival and DuanWu. The video is a unique amalgam of Asian traditions mixed with Galician to reflect both my and DeadlyKawaii’s diverse lineage and backgrounds. We wanted to weave that beautiful visual tapestry that bridges the East with the West. I always felt like it’s our personal duty with this project to symbolically communicate this bridge in both art and music, and this video gave the platform to showcase this.
The designs on the entourage’s fox masks were inspired by Sargadelos – which is the iconic Galician porcelain and ceramic wares found all over the region. The entourage also wore blue robes as that is the official colour of Galicia. Whereas the bride and groom have a mix of traditional Asian ceremonial attire with Galician motifs and accessories like the Galician Sporran, with their fox masks symbolising nature and the cosmos.
The faerie creatures that appear were also a mix – from kodamas or “tree spirits” found in Japanese folklore, also called nuno in Filipino, to the horned forest guardians found in Gaelic and Druid legends.
How was it directing the child stars in the story?
It was so much fun working with the kids! I felt we got very lucky because they were so perfect and such natural talents. The two boys, Tico and Torgas, are the fraternal twins of our associate producer, and the girl Charlotte is their friend from school whom they eagerly suggested we cast. So they already have that natural bond with each other and were funny and goofy, yet curious at the same time. We usually film our own videos, but this time we enlisted the help of Galician cinematographer, Raul Lorenzo, who worked with us in directing the kids for the shots. All their shots were so precious and hilarious, so it was quite hard to choose what would go in the final edit. They did a beautiful and tremendous job ushering the audience into the magic and throughout.
You played for the first time in Germany at Dark Dance Treffen recently, how was it and are you doing more?
Performing at Dark Dance Treffen so far is one of my greatest highlights. I really had a great time at the festival and getting to know the German dark music and alternative scene. The scene was quite next-level and I was truly in awe by how cool and awesome they are. And yes, I would love to do a tour in Germany soon and do more fests. The next dark fest I’ll be performing at is at the iconic Castle Party in Poland in July 2024.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to CZARINA
Loula Yorke is the Oram Award winning live modular synthesist whose excellent new album ‘Volta’ is released at the start of 2024.
Prior to releasing her 2022 full length debut ‘Florescence’, the Suffolk-based composer was a member of underground dance duo TR-33N with her partner Dave Stitch, self-releasing an album ‘Tigerforce 10’ and experimenting with the sounds of footwork and jungle.
While her initial solo works had more of an experimental DIY punk aesthetic, ‘Volta’ is more about weaving more subtle patterns into sound on a modular synth and has been described by Loula Yorke herself as “luminous”. Acting as a trailer to the album, ‘It’s been decided that if you lay down no-one will die’ is a bittersweet meditation on overwhelm: the difficulty in trying to make space while everything still rushes in. The only way to end the cycle is to surrender.
After returning from performing in Northern Ireland for the Northern Lights Project, Loula Yorke took some time out to answer some questions put to her by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about her creative ethos and the making of her new album ‘Volta’.
It is well known that some involved in electronic music develop an equipment collection fetish, so how do you balance things and focus on the task in hand which is using these synths and modules to create and make music while being excited about new developments?
I have a serious aversion to consumer culture and shopping in general. I’ve no interest in buying or collecting synths. I don’t consciously keep up with what’s being released. Apart from anything else I can’t afford it! Instead I agonise over every purchase for months, and only press the button when I genuinely feel it’s going to progress things significantly. I’m quite good at selling modules I don’t use rather than feeling I have to hold onto them for an imagined future where they might come in handy.
What is your set-up at present and what does it help you do?
At the moment I have two Arturia Rackbrute 84hp 6U cases set up side-by-side. One is for synths – oscillators, filters, modulation sources, envelope generators, VCAs and a stereo delay. My main sound is a Verbos Harmonic Oscillator, which took me 4 years to get hold of. I bought it secondhand. The other case is for sequencing, creating rhythms, drums, textures, processing and mixing.
My main sequencer is an Erica Synths Black Sequencer, again a purchase I probably took a year to make. I also have a side project OULAN with a vocalist, Una Lee, and for that I use a single case with a mixture of modules focused on envelope following and vocal processing, with the Verbos providing a drone.
Do vintage synthesizers interest you?
Yes and no. I’m not into the ‘collector’ angle but I do appreciate the unique sonic peculiarities and eccentricities of vintage synths. How temperamental, how changeable they are, their warmth. My partner Dave Stitch has a Yamaha CS-60 in his studio as well as a TR-808 and some other classic synths. I particularly like the CS-60 actually – the range of sounds it can create is out of this world! My track ‘YES’ that came out on Accidental Records was made with layers of CS-60. I actually played a couple of gigs with it but it’s very delicate, heavy, and quite scary to take out so that adventure didn’t last long.
What did you think of the ‘Sisters With Transistors’ film which celebrated the little known female electronic music pioneers? Did that provide any inspiration or reassurance?
I really enjoyed it! I had the privilege of being on a panel with the Director Lisa Rovner as part of the promotion around the UK release back in 2020. The film is still being shown and having loads of impact as it reaches new people – for example, I’m playing in Leeds next year at an event where it’s being shown. It pairs really well with the documentary on Beverly-Glenn Copeland also. Just these fascinating glimpses into the history of the form. It’s great to see so many different approaches and manifestations of how electronics are used by composers who you can relate to a bit more readily.
Your previous album ‘Florescence’ appeared to be more random and rhythmic in its content than ‘Volta’ which has more structure?
I’d say they’re both rhythmic, but ‘Volta’ is born out of composed sequences, whereas ‘Florescence’ came more from experiments with patching and routing coupled with melodic content that relied on improvised pseudo-random quantised pitches.
What were the rules you set for ‘Volta’?
The idea was to create a series of monophonic sequences that would gradually reveal themselves over time, ie not all the notes would sound at first, rather they would build up to create a full piece over the course of each track. I wanted to use delay and picking different steps out with different voices to give the implication of multiple parts and voices, sometimes implying a bassline or a chord progression that isn’t actually there in a sense.
While on the creative roll, did you need to break any of your rules for the benefit of the outcome?
Yes! I ended up recording a couple where there was more than one sequence playing at once, and I discovered that that’s OK too. I had been worried that by having notes playing under other notes it would end up sounding too obvious, like a “song”, but it turned out fine.
You’ve described ‘Volta’ as “luminous”, does synaesthesia enter into any of your compositional approaches?
Interesting! So I’m not consciously evoking synaesthesia, but I did want this album to emanate or transmit a feeling of light – something shining, illuminating, uplifting, as well as the more spatial geometric forms that I imagine the sequences to weave.
‘The grounds are changing as they promise to do’ is inspired by nature, how important is being in a rural location for your creativity? Could you do what you do while living in a city?
The countryside is not an idyll. There is barely anything left of what we might think of natural landscape or wildlife habitat where I live in East Anglia, outside of a few dedicated conservation areas. What we have is a desert of arable monoculture farmland interspersed with roads with a few besieged hedges along their peripheries. I am very lucky to live on a protected piece of common land which is left for wildflowers and ‘taken for hay’ in late June. However, it has two busy roads intersecting right in its middle – the noise from which immediately pulls you out of any pastoral fantasy. The ‘natural’ inspiration behind that track is evoking that moist, fertile feeling of autumn leaves underfoot – something you’d be able to experience more readily walking in a wooded park in a town or city than standing in a freshly ploughed 8-acre field.
Which are your own favourite pieces on ‘Volta’?
One of my favourites is the closing track ‘Falling Apart Together’ because of the savage amounts of glide applied to a veeeeeery slow-moving sequence played right up against another sequence that is musically totally disconnected from the first. Yet your mind creates a connection. Your mind and ear working together makes it happen.
What are your hopes and fears for the future of music creation and consumption as an independent artist, especially with streaming, social media, business changes in platforms like Bandcamp and the development of AI?
Oh gosh, an answer to this question could be like 20 whole articles! All I will say is we need artist-first solutions that are not reliant on the goodwill of a single centralised platform.
Finally, who do you hope ‘Volta’ will appeal to and where would you like to take your music next?
I think ‘Volta’ will appeal to people who are intrigued by the sounds of “Laurie Speigel meets AUTECHRE”. Also listeners to Suzanne Ciani, Lisa Bella Donna, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Caterina Barbieri, lovers of ambient techno or anthemic dance music. As for “where next”, there will be more music, there will be more live shows, I just want to keep making and sharing what I make with kind and gentle ears. I’ve just started a free email newsletter called ‘Yorke Talk’ that I would encourage anyone reading this to sign up to https://eepurl.com/igs-cP
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Loula Yorke
Loula Yorke 2024 live dates include Ipswich The Smokehouse (12 January), Norwich Arts Centre (27 January)*, London Cafe Oto (30 January)**, Leeds Howard Assembly Room (23 February)***
*opening for Mary Ocher **opening for Vito Ricci + Lise Vachon ***‘Sister With Transistors’ screening plus live sets including NikNak + Gracie T
“Do your thing, don’t be afraid”, that is the message from the intimate independently made documentary by Radio Plato about DLINA VOLNY, the enigmatic trio from Belarus.
Masha Zinevich (vocals), Vad Mikutski (bass) and Ales Shishlobegan (synths) began making music together as DLINA VOLNY in 2016, issuing their debut EP ’Neizmerima’ not long after. While their first album ‘Mechty’ emerged in 2018, a wider international breakthrough came in 2021 with the impressive second long player ‘Dazed’ released by Italians Do It Better, the label best known for GLASS CANDY, CHROMATICS and DESIRE.
Describing themselves as ’brut-pop’ thanks to their post-punk meets synth-noir aesthetics, the doomy spectre of The Cold War looms in their sound. Strong songs such as ‘Do It’, ‘I’m Not Allowed’, Tomorrow’ and ‘Redrum’ are complimented by an artful visual presence. With the dark disco of ‘Bipolar’ asking “what is it like being on the border?”, the ongoing conflicts in their part of the world and their public stand with Ukraine led to uncertainty and DLINA VOLNY relocating to Lithuania.
On behalf of DLINA VOLNY, front woman Masha Zinevich kindly answered a range of questions put to them by ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about their musical universe and upcoming UK + European live shows.
How did you feel as a band that the time was right to take part in a documentary because some might view this as a conceit when you have released only two albums?
When Radio Plato pitched us the idea for this documentary, we felt like it was a great way for us to communicate our thoughts and feelings with our audience. We do that through our music but in a different way. So it was nice to discuss, elaborate on and appreciate what we’ve been doing amongst the three of us and share it with the world.
Were you concerned that a documentary might negate the cool mystique that has arisen about DLINA VOLNY which has been part of the band’s appeal?
No concerns at all. We like to talk to our listeners on social media and get to know each other. We’ve made quite a few mates all over the world this way, which is incredible. This film is one of those instruments for our people to understand us a bit better and see what our day-to-day looks like.
I do hope our mystique is still appealing and is still there haha
DLINA VOLNY could be considered unusual as a modern band in that you appear to spend a lot of time together, both creatively and socially whereas others engage remotely?
I’ve always thought that bandmates are supposed to be close. It always seemed to me that my favourite bands are best mates apart from just being a collective of musicians making music and touring together. And we work best when we’re in the same room and we take advantage of this opportunity. Working remotely would work too but there would be a different feel to it.
What concerns social life, we spend so much time together sharing our feelings with each other, pouring our hearts out that it’s only natural to me that one would want to chill with friends, go to shows etc, after all that hard work as a collective too.
How has the move to Lithuania worked for you?
It’s been working really well. We have a studio (in a prison), which is a first for us and we couldn’t be happier about that. We’ve also made quite a few mates from the Lithuanian arts scene, who are wonderful and incredibly talented people, who are loved and appreciated by Lithuanian people very much. There is a sense of community and belonging, which gives one endless opportunities to make music, shoot videos, collaborate and bring one’s ideas to life.
One of the biggest revelations in the documentary is that ‘Redrum’ was heavily influenced by THE DOORS… once you know that, it’s really obvious, what is the story?
We all love THE DOORS. Whenever there’s a jukebox in a bar, we always play THE DOORS and sing very loudly while showing off our most emotional moves. For some reason, I’ve always thought that everybody does the same, but at a bar in Mexico, when we were celebrating the end of our tour with LEBANON HANOVER, I realised that this was only our group’s sacred ritual. I found it even more special after this realisation.
We are all about emotion and feeling and each member of this legendary band brings so much of it to their music. We adore it, and ‘The End’ is so cathartic, so when ‘Redrum’ was being born, we felt this energy coming through and thought we should keep going in this direction.
Your debut album ‘Mechty’ from 2018 was bilingual, but how did the decision to record an album entirely in English with ‘Dazed’ come about?
It has always been more natural for me to write in English, since I would always listen to foreign music and spend a lot of time in London from a very young age. Writing in Russian was a challenge that we came up with when we started the band, just like the whole concept of DLINA VOLNY at the beginning – low vocals, synths, bass.
On ‘Dazed’ we wanted to just let go and write what and how we felt like. So writing stories in English was just that – a natural urge.
While your songs deal with the fragile reality of life which is enhanced by the contralto vocal delivery and dark atmospheres, there is usually a melodic sparkle coming from the synths like on the ‘Dazed’ title song, ‘Bipolar’ and ‘I’m Not Allowed’, was this template influenced by anything or any other bands in particular?
Not sure if it was influenced by any band in particular but the idea was to create dark surroundings and contrast them with a ray of hope in the form of those melodic sparkles. We do like to conceal dark meanings in more upbeat sounds, if they may be called that. We feel that it adds to the melancholy.
Since ‘Dazed’ was released in Autumn 2021, tensions have risen further in your part of the world. How has that affected you as artists and activists?
Well, we live in constant worry. The fact that there’s absolutely nothing we can do is super depressing. We can only find escape and release in playing shows and recording new music. Being on tours is healing and absolutely priceless so we are incredibly grateful that we can do that.
The glorious ‘Whatever Happens Next’ made some important statements?
It sure did. This song puts what we feel in simple words and powerful sounds. Unfortunately, it remains relevant, but now pertains to more than one dictator.
DLINA VOLNY and Italians Do It Better are an ideal fit, with your love of ‘Twin Peaks’ and the colour red, how did the connection come about?
We’ve always been big fans of IDIB so when ‘Dazed’ was coming together, we thought it was time for us to get in touch with them and see if we could work together. They loved the demos and offered us a deal an hour after we sent out that email. Pure luck.
Releasing ‘Dazed’ on Italians Do It Better was a step in boosting DLINA VOLNY’s profile internationally but have you experienced any cultural boycotts or travel restrictions as a result of the world situation?
Thankfully, it only happened once. We got cancelled by a promoter in Europe right after the war in Ukraine started.
As a sign of the wider international recognition of DLINA VOLNY, you collaborated with VANDAL MOON on the song ‘Easy To Dream’, how was the experience to work outside of your norm?
It was very interesting and pleasant. Blake Voss of VANDAL MOON is a wonderful human being, with whom we met when I tagged him in a Tik-Tok to ‘Hurt’, which I made with my dog Cherry. Blake offered to collaborate and we agreed straight away. ‘Easy to Dream’ is such a great song! When we received the first mix, it helped me let go and cry for the first time since the war started. It was such a powerful and liberating moment. We’re still in very good contact and are hoping to meet offline sometime soon.
DLINA VOLNY covered Madonna’s ‘Hollywood’ and interpreted it as a much harsher warning to those seeking fame and stardom. With this in mind, what are your hopes and fears for the future?
We hope to continue making music and touring, reach new audiences and immerse more and more people into this safe, ethereal and infinitely versatile space that we like to create.
How do you feel you have changed as a trio since you released the ‘Neizmerima’ EP in 2016?
We have definitely all grown as musicians and as people. We understand how things work and what we want to achieve a little better now, which, I hope, helps us reach new heights with the new album.
What is next for DLINA VOLNY? You are touring Europe in 2024?
Yes! We are touring Europe and the UK in January and February 2024. We are super excited since it’s going to be our first ever show in most of the cities we’re playing. And also it’s gonna be our first time touring the UK. Since we’re from Belarus, we need UK visas so it makes it a little more difficult to come to the UK. But we are very happy that we’re finally doing it!
We’re also looking forward to sharing new music with the world.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to DLINA VOLNY
DLINA VOLNY 2024 UK + European live dates include:
Groningen ESNS Festival (19 January), Brussels Cafe Central (20 January), London The Black Heart (21 January)*, Newcastle The Lubber Fiend (22 January)*, Manchester YES Basement (23 January)*, Liverpool Kazimierz Stockroom (24 January)*, Paris Super Sonic (26 January)*, Bordeaux Iboat (27 January)*, Laval La Fosse (28 January)*, Toulouse Le Ravelin (29 January)*, Lyon Sonic (30 January)*, Dudingen Bad Bonn (31 January)*, Mannheim Juz Mannheim (1 February)*, Bochum Die Trompete (2 February)*, Copenhagen Råhuset (4 February)*, Oslo Dunk (5 February)*, Gothenburg Hängmattan (6 February)*, Stockholm Kollektivet Livet Bar & Scen (7 February)*, Malmö Plan B (8 February), Amsterdam Cinetol (10 February), The Hague Grauzone Festival (11 February)
FERAL FIVE released their debut album ‘Truth Is The New Gold’ at the start of 2023 and ahead of the game, the duo employed various AI-enhancements on a number of tracks with technology created by the German based company Birds on Mars.
Described by its members Kat and Drew Five as “A 360 degree music and art album project”,FERAL FIVE utilised electronic components with traditional guitars and live percussive elements to create their own “Feraltropolis” for a long playing commentary on AI, social media and today’s strangely dystopian post-truth world.
As the year concludes, the ‘Truth Is The New Gold’ titles song has been given a funky new remix by Martyn Ware; FERAL FIVE had performed at his ‘Picasso Portraits’ night in 2016 hosted by the National Portrait Gallery.
FERAL FIVE chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about how ‘Truth Is The New Gold’, the title song’s Martyn Ware remix, the various AI developments which have been in the news recently and much more…
This first full length album ‘Truth Is The New Gold’ has been a long time coming as FERAL FIVE first released music in 2013? Why has it taken this amount of time?
We love making music and exploring ideas. Every track is a statement, and every statement we made we opted to push out as a single fairly quickly. We believe in all killer no filler, so it took us a while to stand still for long enough to craft an album that thematically and sonically we were proud of.
Also we’re producers as well as writers and musicians, so arranging, mixing and production is an in-house job where we put our own musicianship under the microscope. The pandemic meant we weren’t in the same room for some considerable time, so while we file swapped, that definitely slowed things down a bit too. Later when we finally got to be in the same room, we decided to shelve a number of songs originally slated for the album in favour of some new ideas and these really helped to crystallize the theme of the album. So the short answer is ‘Truth Is The New Gold’ didn’t have an overly long gestation, we were just a singles band before that we guess.
With your down-to-earth approach to electronically-assisted pop, do you feel any kinship with acts such as DUBSTAR or INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS OF POP?
Yes, we love what they do and feel a real kinship. We saw an amazing INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS OF POP set supporting Róisín Murphy, but we haven’t actually met in person. Maybe we should see your description as a genre that deserves its own festival! Although, we have to say that while electronics are pretty fundamental to our sound, anything that makes a positive contribution to our sonic palette is used. So on the new album, as well as electronic and beats, we use a range of live percussion, including some very delicate crystals. We’re also both very crafty guitarists and love the raw energy that brings. I guess you could say that we are looking for the human trait in everything we do even where we use electronics and other components, we are looking to bring out an organic feel that you can still groove to.
So what makes up the “Feraltropolis”?
It’s in two places really. It’s our own personal lives that we live outside of FERAL FIVE, our hopes, fears and beliefs, which for us as a team has a lot of conjunction on the Venn diagram, as you might say. Our data sets and values are the same. Then this becomes manifest and “real” within the landscape of FERAL FIVE’s art. If you wanted us to describe it, we’d say it’s a city in the not too distant future and the surrounding landscape. This was also the location for our album journey, exploring truth and trust. It can be bleak, it can be exciting, there’s always a lot going on. There’s always hope amid the dystopia.
Before all the recent debates, FERAL FIVE utilised AI on the album, how did the idea come about?
FERAL FIVE has always been at the bleeding edge of tech, unafraid to experiment and open to new ideas, and our first vinyl release was an EP with 3D printed art that we printed ourselves. On a later track, we worked with sonified algorithms, and visual ones for the video, courtesy of new materials designer Francis Bitonti.
We’d been thinking about AI for some time and wrote a song a while back about where it was heading – ‘Pet Show’ – about AI robo-companions, set in a bar with freaky creatures that can fulfill your wildest dreams.
With our album exploring truth and trust, AI was a natural part of exploring new realities, and using the technology in the form of an AI Kat Five opened up new sonic and thematic possibilities. We hear this voice – a character – uplifting us right from the beginning of the album, despite the dark undertones, reminding us “it’s not the end”.
The AI is not composing for us, that is very much us humans, but it’s playing a role, as a kind of narrator on the journey. It reminded us of first-person narrations you get in film-noir detective movies.
Tell us about the AI created by Birds on Mars?
Birds on Mars are based in Berlin and are doing great work in AI so it was amazing to collaborate with them. They wanted to train their AI on Kat’s spoken voice, so she decided to read some of the album lyrics out. They sounded SO different when they weren’t being sung, it was a very disconcerting experience making that recording. BOM then gave us a selection of AI models and an interface, and then we had AI Kat Five to play with to sing, speak or make non-human sounds. We could make her say things we never said which was mind-blowing.
‘Golden Rule’ was described by yourselves as an ”AI-enhanced shimmering anthem of renewal and people coming together”, please discuss?
Our album explores darkness but is ultimately about light and hope. This final track was our overarching statement, that we must work together to build change. Though not forgetting that important statements are allowed to have a groove, so this track does have a strong dance vibe. Here we used the AI Kat, particularly in the opening and the end, as both an oracle, prescient of the dangers and wonders ahead, and also as a speaker of truth.
AI can help realise an imagined world or provide speedier assistance such as isolating John Lennon’s vocal for THE BEATLES ‘Now & Then’, how do you see its useful applications in music?
It can be a great creative tool, and we love the work of pioneering artists Holly Herndon, and Portrait XO. There are AIs to get your lyrical process going – not that we ever need that kind of help, and even AI mastering, though we’ve a favourite human in the form of our go-to sonic partner Katie Tavini for that.
The use to which Peter Jackson put AI in ‘Now & Then’ was a very interesting example of using AI not in a generative compositional sense, but to clean up the audio in ways that prior to that would, as you indicated, have taken way longer, and may not have had such amazing results. In the end it’s all about the choices, as McCartney once said: “the love you take is equal to the love you make”. Some artists may use AI to speed up the process in some technical areas, but when you use generative tools that go beyond their original parameters, the question of ownership and authenticity become important. There is an interesting point along that line where someone will ask, where is the artist? Who plucked the string? Did the string pluck itself? Or do we now owe all our royalties to an app developer?
But as the ‘Joan Is Awful’ episode of ‘Black Mirror’ showed, there are potentially more sinister implications with AI… your thoughts please?
For sure. AI serfdom, stripping musicians of their value, are all possibilities and more besides. It’s why we need ethical tech, and collaborative AI. Even tech giants are calling for regulation. The thing is, any tool, no matter how sharp or blunt, can be used for good or ill. There are endless positive ways it is being and will be used to solve some of humanity’s pressing issues. One of the key considerations is who makes the decisions about the use and deployment of AI. We risk talking about AI like it’s one thing. It’s a concept and whilst it has huge medical applications for good, it definitely has its darker side, from human profiling to smart weapons. To quote POP WILL EAT ITSELF, there are at least “16 different flavours of hell”.
Social media was the theme on the songs ‘Roll It With Me’ and ‘Camouflage’, are “doom scrolling” and attention seeking taking their toll?
We love a good doomscroll at times, but there’s so much digital anxiety around caused by the incessant demands of social media, and the increasingly tense and vicious behaviour online. People have to sell themselves and their lives to please algorithms, and you often see artists announcing they have to take a break.
‘Roll It With Me’ was heavily influenced by the pandemic and having to connect with people at a distance, often on screen. It’s about valuing the human everyday moments even if they’re fleeting and bittersweet.
‘Camouflage’ is about the tension between being on display everywhere, whether by choice, or on CCTV or other public cameras, and being anonymous. It’s a longing for a simple on off switch to camouflage yourself when you’re feeling overexposed, watched, socially anxious or simply shy. It could also be a spy thriller theme though.
How has it been having to use such social media platforms to get FERAL FIVE noticed in what has become a saturated music marketplace?
In person connections are always the best! We like to see social media as an extension of our art, whether that’s asking people to share their truths with us to be part of our new live audiovisual show, or exploring visual effects. So our work there is genuine and not a deliberate attempt to go viral. We guess that makes us hardcore.
It’s getting much harder to reach people though as tech giants squeeze creators, and change their functionality all the time, so it’s good to have our own website too. Maybe we should post more photos of us with our cats!
‘Silver Sky’ has a real good ol’ groove, how was it inspired musically and lyrically?
It was inspired by the changing night sky and some confused London birds. We wanted to explore light pollution in a city that never gets dark, and think about future mitigations people might use. It was also partly inspired by having our songs played to the trees at ‘The Dark Outside’ events in Galloway Forest dark sky park, and the need for protected areas.
We set out to conjure up a sparkling groove with bubbling synths, and also played long quartz crystals as an instrument (you can see them in the video). We had many conversations when we were producing it, about how to make things sound more silver.
‘The ‘Truth Is The New Gold’ title track acted as the trailer for the album at the start of the year and has now been remixed by Martyn Ware, how was the connection made and why was that particular one chosen?
We are so excited by his brilliant uptown remix, what a groove!
Martyn Ware is an all-time inspiration, and it was great to connect with him at Music Tech Fest a few years back, and get to share creative ideas. Kat has done some visuals for him including for his mighty Power Project exhibition launch. He also invited us to perform at his ‘Picasso Portraits’ night at the National Portrait Gallery along with legends like RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP, WHITE NOISE and SCANNER.
We were thrilled when he offered to remix a song for us, and he asked to hear the whole album ahead of release so he could decide on which track. We were curious to see what he’d pick, and were stoked that it was Truth Is The New Gold which is the statement song, and he brought in Charles Stooke as well. We’ve a glittering video for the remix on its way.
Which have been your favourite tracks on this album?
It’s hard to choose. The driving force conceptually and musically and our absolute favourite is ‘Truth Is The New Gold’.
‘Gravity’ is another favourite, the newest song we wrote. It’s about space and desire, and we love playing it live.
‘Golden Rule’ is also up there. Why, because love is that golden rule and this is an album of dystopian themes but it’s also a love letter to humanity: don’t give up. It’s a sentiment.
Photo by Keira Anee Photography
How do you intend to release music in the future, are disparate tracks released ad hoc to streaming services really the way to go or can the long playing format survive?
Both. Long formats give you more of a chance to express your vision and create exciting merch, performances, and collaborations. We worked with design legend Malcolm Garrett on the album, and it’s been amazing. He’s created the artwork, T-shirts, and a collaboration with jewellery designers Tatty Devine. Copies of everything are going into his collection at the Special Collections Museum at Manchester Metropolitan University.
What is next for FERAL FIVE?
We’re very much focusing on live and our interactive audiovisual shows, as we want to share the album in this multi-sensory way.
We’ve been working with artist / technologist Jonathan Hogg who has created algorithmic visuals that he plays live, and the first performance we did with him was incredible. Each show is unique, with the audience able to contribute to what’s on screen, and Kat singing their thoughts, as well as the album songs. Truth IS The New Gold.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to FERAL FIVE
Berenice Scott is the musician and singer-songwriter who has played live with the likes of HEAVEN 17, BEF, JOHNNY HATES JAZZ, HOLY HOLY, P!NK and SIMPLE MINDS.
In her latest role as keyboardist for SIMPLE MINDS, she was part of the band which performed their classic 1982 album ‘New Gold Dream’ for a new concert recording ‘Live At Paisley Abbey’. In a connection with HEAVEN 17, the original album was produced and engineered by Peter Walsh who also worked on ‘Penthouse & Pavement’.
Together with HEAVEN 17’s Glenn Gregory, Berenice Scott is also an acclaimed composer for TV and film while also fronting their more pop-oriented duo AFTERHERE whose first album ‘Addict’ was released in 2018.
Berenice Scott independently released her debut solo album ‘Ten Takes’ in 2007 and followed it up with the excellent ‘Polarity’ in 2014. Now in ‘A Joni Kind Of Mood’, as the title suggests, her new album features intimate personal arrangements of Joni Mitchell songs plus her own compositions that encapsulate the spirit of the influential Canadian artist. She chatted about this musical journey to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK and much more…
People are likely to be familiar with you playing live with HEAVEN 17 but may not be aware you have been performing with SIMPLE MINDS for the past few years, how has that been?
Yeah, that’s been great, it was a good long process leading up to it, learning all the material and about their back catalogue which was the first thing I did when I got the call to meet Charlie Burchill and Jim Kerr. I put a playlist together of their immense catalogue and went through it like that. It’s been very informative, challenging and rewarding all at the same time.
As you did you HEAVEN 17, you have performed a classic album with SIMPLE MINDS, in this case ‘New Gold Dream’, have you had analysed musically why that record has meant so much to people for so long?
I think that’s a really good question because I definitely saw that correlation between that album in particular and that period of music which HEAVEN 17 were a part of. I heard a lot of stories from Glenn about how they would all bump into each other at The Townhouse, so there was a lot of history there that I wasn’t aware of at all because it was a little bit before my time.
I can hear it in the sounds and the synths… but SIMPLE MINDS moved away from that into more stadium rock. I think it’s all to do with the analogue synths and the way that they approached using them. I know Charlie is a massive fan of synths and does a lot of that himself. And it’s the same with HEAVEN 17, the both of them have that love affair with synths, the organic nature of those early instruments. You couldn’t always recreate those sounds that you discovered, you put it down on tape and then because you couldn’t always programme that into a memory like with the early Moogs, that’s just it there, printed, like a painting…
Did you have any particular tracks from ‘New Gold Dream’ that you particularly enjoyed playing in your keyboardist role?
I love playing them all for different reasons but ‘Hunter & The Hunted’, when I first heard that to learn the solo, I was like “ooooh”! I didn’t know about the history of it at first but then Charlie told me it was Herbie Hancock! Fantastic! It was an interesting solo to learn, I wanted to recreate it as close as possible. Roland helped me recreate the sound for that.
What have been the differences for you between performing with HEAVEN 17 and SIMPLE MINDS?
There’s a different vibe, how they are on stage is very different. It’s not so much that one is serious and one isn’t, but I’ve never really analysed that. But there’s a definite different feel on stage. The SIMPLE MINDS band is quite big and it’s more contained with HEAVEN 17 so the proximity is closer to Martyn and Glenn. It can be quite vast with SIMPLE MINDS with the arena venues and festival shows.
After doing the soundtrack to TV drama ‘Liar’ with Glenn, the commissions have been coming in with ‘Vigil’, ‘Vanity Fair’ and ‘The Suspect’ being recent examples, how have your approaches grown and changed as you’ve progressed?
It changes due to the subject and what the directors and production companies want, so you are accommodating and adapting to that. I wouldn’t say I was necessarily getting better but the workflow can become a bit more streamlined. I think the approach for me has always been the same since the beginning. But you are really just trying to fit the bill, that’s the most important thing and do that as efficiently and as good as possible.
I hadn’t realised you did the music for a 2017 off-Broadway production of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ which is obviously interesting because of the HEAVEN 17 connection?
That was great, obviously that is a favourite film of Glenn and Martyn so that was one side of it. I love Stanley Kubrick so it was strange and wonderful. When we went over for the opening night, it was a real New York affair.
Will there be any more song oriented work with Glenn as AFTERHERE following 2018’s ‘Addict’?
Definitely, it’s just finding the time to do it, obviously the past 4 years, it’s been pretty much impossible with touring and the pandemic. But yes, there will be another AFTERHERE album.
It’s been 9 years since ‘Polarity’, how do you look back on that record?
NO! It’s not been 9 years! It’s a different kind of world now, everything has been altered and is just different, so maybe there’s a feeling of that being longer because it was almost a different epoch! I’m still the same, I still do music for the same reasons but I’ve lived more of course…
I’d argue that you appear more confident now…
Oh really, that’s good, OK! We haven’t seen each other for years? *laughs*
It’s been a while, it was 2018 for the AFTERHERE album launch, the girl then compared with the girl who I met at the HEAVEN 17 aftershow party in 2012 who was actually quite shy… *laughs*
YEAH! I can see that, I definitely think dealing with a lot of work situations and being on the road, it’s not that it hardens you up but you do approach each day as “I’ve got to just get this done”. But at the same time, you’re right, I think it’s important to remember that soft side because you don’t want that hardening up, otherwise I’ll lose connection with creativity, it’s something that has happened to me too. Which is why there’s a neat segue into the ‘A Joni Kind Of Mood’ album, I spent time doing that because I felt I was losing that soft creativity core.
So what got you into ‘A Joni Kind Of Mood’?
I was going through periods of feeling pretty lost for various reasons and Joni Mitchell’s music saved me in a way. I found the way life changes on a personal level and also musically… just life, the same reasons that she wrote those songs, for herself.
The beauty of her music is that you relate it to yourself, you’re not necessarily thinking about the artist, you’re thinking about the art which is incredible… I wanted to sing them.
You make a good point about the importance of the art, because I think today with the music industry in this social media world with TikTok and this Instagram reel nonsense, it seems to be now about how much flesh you show or how loud you can shout, have you any thoughts about that?
Hmmm! There’s always been that quick sell nature and there will always be that with humanity, in every industry, there’s a quick sell. I do worry that people are not spending their formative years well, when you should be locking yourself away to get to grips with your art, because it’s not easy to do it, to express yourself. I think a lot of time is spent on the outside with social media… I mean, it’s good to use it to promote yourself but there’s pros and cons; I do think an element of “practice” time is needed, do you know what I mean?
Are all the songs on ‘A Joni Kind Of Mood’ covers?
There’s a couple which are original which weren’t necessarily based on Joni, but fitted the mood of how I feel when I am listening to Joni… I thought why not?
How did you choose the songs because ‘Both Sides Now’ and ‘A Case Of You’ are quite well known ones to take on which is quite brave?
There’s definitely a fear factor but you know what, you only live once don’t you… I think my favourite Joni Mitchell album at the moment (because I’m sure it will change, and it will change) is ‘Hejira’ the album. So I started with a couple of those, I think ‘Little Green’ is such a beautiful sentiment, the more I started listening to the lyrics, the more it resonated so that’s why I chose that one. Then I was thinking more, not necessarily her more mainstream ones, but they are just lovely tunes and I just wanted to try them.
Why did you choose the ‘Hejira’ title song as the first single as it’s not an obvious choice because it’s really long?
Yes, it’s a bit long and impossible to get radio play but that’s fine! *laughs*
This is very much a personal project but there are Joni fans out there and I hope it resonates with them; ‘Hejira’ is just an amazing piece of poetry music and you don’t hear many 9 minutes tracks! But it’s just poetry and poems are long and that’s that.
What about the other songs of your own that fitted in with the vibe of this record rather than say the next AFTERHERE record?
I think as I was working through them, and how that was panning out, I don’t really know, it all just fell into place really.
You’re a Roland Ambassador, is there anything new in tech and gear that has excited you?
I’ve just got my hands recently on the GAIA 2… oh my goodness, it’s absolutely incredible! Normally it takes a while to get to know keyboards but I just plugged and played the other day, I was there for 2 hours with my headphones! Absolutely amazing! From an instant play, it sounds incredible and everything is accessible, it’s got some amazing features on the interface, it’s everything in one. I’m kinda blown away by it at the moment and I can’t wait to have some more time with it. Roland have asked me to do a little video for it so that will be my first port of call. I’m excited about that!
I really enjoy working with them, they’re such a great company and have been so supportive over the years. I can’t really tell you how amazing to work closely with them. It’s been one of my favourite things about my music career so far.
How are you releasing ‘A Joni Kind Of Mood’?
I think potentially there may be some physical but at the moment it’s just digital because obviously that’s easy, it’s across all platforms and so accessible. If there’s a demand for some vinyl, I guess we’ll put that together, we’ll see how it goes really.
What is next for you?
I’ve got a gig on 12 January 2024 at PizzaExpressLive in Holborn, that’s the next big step which I’m really excited about.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Berenice Scott
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