Refusenik duo POLYCHROME release their first new music since performing at Glastonbury’s Green Futures Field in Summer 2022.
The insistent new single is called ‘Signs’, a tale about being unable to make a decision while stuck between parallel universes. Using side-chained synths, sombre brass punches and glitchy vocal samples over a sharp rhythmic backbone, the duo of Victoria Harrison and Oliver Price provide a dystopian vibe to their Sega-Tronic Dreamwave sound.
Fittingly, the music of POLYCHROME has appeared on the soundtracks of shows such as ‘Unorthodox’, ‘All The Boys I Loved Before’ and ‘Red Oaks’. “Our chance or our design, still we wait for a sign” sings Victoria Harrison; she chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about seeing those ‘Signs’, the accompanying music video directed by Sammy Patterson and a little bit more…
POLYCHROME have been a bit quiet of late?
Tell us about it.
Small children get in the way – what can I say! I am now running a full time vocal coaching business and Olly is busy writing music for film and pop. So our own passions are whenever we can get a London studio date booked together.
But you did play the Green Futures Field at Glastonbury last Summer, how was that?
That was amazing! And at one point I just shouted down the mic – “helllllo Glastonbury” as a rush of adrenaline came over me! I did spend the first half of the festival inviting the most extravagantly dressed people to our set – turns out that doesn’t work – so I don’t recommend it. Green Futures’ staff were amazing, so thanks to them.
So what are the ‘Signs’ you are looking for?
It’s about being paralysed by a decision you have to make, and getting stuck between the parallel universes that split off from that decision. You just want a sign from the gods telling you what to do, and for atheists like us they don’t seem to provide that service…
You adopt several looks in the video, what does each one represent?
That’s a question. We decided with the director of the video that how the emotions of the character developed should also be portrayed in each look. Four characters all together representing – calm, hope, separation and comfort
What’s next for POLYCHROME?
We would love to spend some time aiming our single at music supervisors as this is how we make any income to continue our project. We recently got Final Kiss in the new Ginny and Georgia series so I’m going to hit them up first. Then we aim to release at least one more single in 2023! And play Glastonbury again if they’ll have us!
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to POLYCHROME
‘Lust’ is the title of upcoming collaborative EP by KID MOXIE & NINA released by Italians Do It Better.
KID MOXIE is the musical vehicle of Athens-born LA-based musician and composer Elena Charbila whose most recent solo album ‘Better Than Electric’ was released in 2022. Meanwhile, Berliner Nina Boldt is best known by her mononym NINA as the “Queen of Synthwave” with two acclaimed albums ‘Sleepwalking’ and ‘Synthian’ to her name.
The union began from Charbila’s desire to cover ‘Waiting For Tonight’, the 1999 hit by Jennifer Lopez, in a downtempo retrowave style. Meetings took place in Berlin, Athens and Los Angeles to produce five tracks and three videos together.
The end result came to the attention of Italian Do It Better, best known as the home of CHROMATICS and DESIRE who appeared on the soundtrack to the 2011 movie ‘Drive’. After issuing ‘Waiting For Tonight’ on the ‘After Dark 4’ compilation alongside other acts on the roster such as JOON, MOTHERMARY, DOUBLE MIXTE, CAUSEWAY, DLINA VOLNY, LOVE OBJECT and GLÜME, the prestigious label signed the pair to release the ‘Lust’ EP.
From opposite sides of the Atlantic, Elena Charbila and Nina Boldt got together on Zoom with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to chat about their fruitful partnership, the making of the ‘Lust’ EP’ and becoming part of the Italians Do It Better family.
So who approached who?
Nina: Our manager Michael Pagnotta, who we’d both known for a long time individually, brought us together, he thought our voices would match really well together. He was right and it’s such a cool collaboration. I found our voices to be very complimentary.
Elena: Michael worked with ERASURE and that’s our mutual connection because Nina played some shows with them in the US… I was asked to do them too so we would have met then but I ended up doing a remix of ‘Sacred’ from their album ‘The Violet Flame’. Michael told me I had a doppelgänger in Germany and made the suggestion to do something.
At the time, I was obsessed with the idea of doing a J-Lo cover so when we started talking, it became apparent that this would be awesome to do as a duet and how sexy it would be to put a new twist on such a dance track, slow down the beats and make it sinister like Miami Nights 1984 or something. That’s how it started…
Photo by Paige Von Bank
Your version of ‘Waiting For Tonight’ has this sensual anticipation of consummation… *laughs*
Elena: I feel the way it was, it was very clubby and commercial… we’re both obsessed with stuff like ‘Drive’, ‘Blade Runner’ and all those things, and they have this driving bass sound which is sort of like a trademark for both of us at this point. I felt we should bring it to that song. It has such a beautiful melody but I think the whole beat situation and Latin vibes don’t let that shine. I feel like in our cover and I’m very proud of it, I think we really accentuated the melody.
Did you know the Jennifer Lopez version of ‘Waiting For Tonight’ is a cover, the original was by 3RD PARTY?
Elena: I found out along the way! *laughs*
Nina: Chi, you’re doing your homework really well… even knowing that, I have a special fondness for J.Lo’s version as it was kind of a new millennium dance theme.
In terms of getting to know each other musically, was there a particular song by the other which convinced you “I want to work with this girl!”?
Nina: That’s a very good question!
Elena: When Michael mentioned Nina again to me, I started listening to her stuff and I became obsessed, like I know ALL the lyrics!
Nina: You were AMAZING! You were singing ‘Synthian’ really loud and knew all the lyrics while we were driving in LA! I was impressed!
Elena: I was obsessed! These songs are magical, they’re beautiful. There were certain songs like ‘Synthian’ for example that I found so ballsy, it could have been an 80s anthem, there was no holding back. I loved the idea of that, it was very courageous in a way and it was owned itself. That particular track for me, I was like “let’s f**king do it!”
What was it about Elena that convinced you to work with her?
Nina: I fell in love with her vocals, I love how sensual and smooth they are. One of my favourite tracks is ‘Big In Japan’ by ALPHAVILLE so when she covered that, I thought it was awesome because covers are difficult things to do and not everyone gets it or you don’t feel connected to it because you are so used to the original… but this cover, she made it her own just like she did with ‘Creep’. So before I met Elena in person, ‘Big In Japan’ was the standout for me, just because it’s one of my favourite songs…
Elena: It’s such a good German choice 😉
Photo by Paige Von Bank
So how did the Italians Do It Better connection develop?
Elena: Well Nina knew Megan Louise who is DESIRE and President of the label…
Nina: A while back, Megan featured my cover of Blondie’s ‘Heart Of Glass’ in one of her mixtapes. Being a huge fan of DESIRE, this was a great honour for me, so I reached out and we started talking. She was so supportive of my first independent release ‘Carnival Night’ when it came out, which I really appreciated. I got to know her a bit better and after meeting Elena, we both realised that we felt the same way about Italians Do It Better, so it was an obvious choice for us to go with them.
Elena: We really wanted to be adopted…
Nina: We were both free and it was like “Take us, we love you!” *laughs*
Let’s talk about the title song of the EP. I thought it was interesting that there is the obvious English meaning which is more erotic but ‘Lust’ is the German word for “Pleasure” in a more innocent manner… was there any deliberate choice of that word?
Nina: That’s interesting, I never actually thought of it like that! I had this lyric “lust is a crime” and I just wanted something about open love and excess which we both felt the same way about. We originally thought about calling it ‘You & I’ or even ‘You & The Night’ early on, but I think it was Johnny Jewel who suggested ‘Lust’.
How did the title track develop musically?
Elena: It was the second or third track musically that came together, ‘Waiting For Tonight’ was first and sprung the whole idea of the EP, then ‘Devotion’ and ‘Electric Kiss’ were respectively the darkness and the light. ‘Electric Kiss’ was the carefree ride and ‘Devotion’ more the sinister ride *laughs*
‘Lust’ actually came last as a compliment to everything that was going on sonically, like a bridge… it was like we needed something soft yet deep because ‘Electric Kiss’ carries the emotion of sweet connection but there’s no actual love or devotion.
For the most part, the music was made in Athens with Hristos Lainas aka Franklin producing the project. I was writing it and sending it to Nina and she would give feedback, we would bounce back our vocal ideas about it and it went from that.
Then there’s the video for ‘Lust’…
Elena: The video is pretty sensual and erotica, now that I think about it, there’s different kinds of love in every song… in Greek, there’s different words for each kind of love, it’s not just “love”, there’s “eros” which is the erotic love and there’s the devoted deep love… ‘Waiting For Tonight’ is maybe our anticipation for new love in my head.
Nina: ‘Lust’ for me is like a deep connection, that excess and passion…
Elena: It’s that going back one more time, something that’s unfinished, it has that cyclical feel to it musically and lyrically that it keeps going back. For me, it was like my personal favourite, I immediately had such a ❤️ connection to that particular track. Which one is yours Nina?
Nina: They all have something special but if I have to pick one, it’s ‘Devotion’ because I really love that spoken word mixing with the sensual vocals and it’s a bit more playful and there’s anticipation there. I think it’s interesting also that Hristos did that bendy synth sound…
Photo by George Tripodakis
Yes, I really like that bendy synth sound on ‘Devotion’, it’s as though it’s illustrating the risk of driving into a forbidden relationship?
Nina: There’s a lot of that, but with ‘Electric Kiss’, it’s more sweet and innocent, that’s more a “drive into the sunset” kind of song, I feel that contrast. It feels a lot more 80s in a way, Synthwave fans will hopefully enjoy that track as well. RADIO WOLF does that dreamy guitar sound which I’m a big fan of.
The EP’s palette is quite varied, you have pacy songs, slow retrowave, covers and ‘Crime’ has this “saxiness”…
Elena: It was supposed to be called ‘Sax Is A Crime’ but you know, people just said “use one word, ‘Crime’”!
Nina: The sax for ‘Crime’ was a bit of a surprise when I heard it in LA and that prompted some sexy spoken words. Our approach was ‘Blade Runner: The Erotic Cut’! Haha! For the EP as a whole, since we wanted to express ourselves in new ways, we incorporated unexpected musical ideas. That’s why the mix of lush guitars, warped bass notes, and cut up vocal FX are built in. They aroused our creativity..
Elena: We’re both obsessed with ‘Blade Runner’ so when I recorded it here in LA, I had this view of the skyline and I had one of my best friends Skylar play that particular sax line. I didn’t know if we were going to put vocals on it or have it as an outro to the EP to add to the cinematic element of the other tracks. When Nina and I heard it together, Johnny Jewel felt it needed to be like ‘Blade Runner’, sultry like ‘Tears In The Rain’ but as it’s androids, its devoid of sexuality, whereas ours, it’s very human and very inviting, it’s inviting “one night with you”, we’ll make your dreams come true.
We’re creating a fantasy world cinematically, sexually speaking. People can think whatever they want about ‘this’. Are we singing this to each other? Are we singing it to your man, my woman? It’s up for your interpretation; we’re not going to feed it to you. It’s just going to be a warm dish, you can eat it however you want.
Photo by George Tripodakis
Are there any more videos planned?
Elena: There’s one for ‘Crime’, it’s definitely in line with the song, it’s hot and very inviting, and it’s very red and black! *laughs*
Nina: There’s sexy silhouettes…
Elena: And there’s one for ‘Devotion’…
Nina: Yes, it’s a bit more of a driving song so we have a car in there. It was filmed in Los Angeles and it’s got lots of neon lights, very sexy and colourful, I don’t want to give away too much… it’s quite different from ‘Lust’ which is nice…
Elena: …it’s probably the most ‘Blade Runner’ influenced because of the location amongst the tall buildings. There’s a chase and as our most dangerous sounding song, it has some Theremin in there as well. There’s a universe where ‘Devotion’ is the track of being chased, but whoever is chasing us doesn’t want to do anything bad to us. *laughs*
Now although you are on different continents, you have met up a few times in Berlin, Athens and LA… which meet-up was the most fun?
Nina: It’s hard to choose. So many great memories but meeting in Berlin was exciting because it was our first encounter. We just gelled together so well. I’m so proud that we managed to write five songs in only two days, that was incredible. Also to me personally, after COVID and all that, things had been difficult so it was a real escape just being in the studio making music.
Elena: I feel like Berlin was basically finishing the EP, putting down all the vocals and writing the lyrics, I’d never co-written lyrics before… co-writing can be such a “back-and-forth” thing and can take f**king ages, but this was, and I kept joking about it, like German efficiency… cos Chi, you know, Greeks, when you leave them loose on their own, they ain’t efficient! *laughs*
So Berlin was like hankering down to finish the EP but then LA was about putting the visuals to the music with a video directed by Joe Rubenstein for ‘Devotion’. It was like fleshing out the universe of ‘Lust’ as it does have themes of old Hollywood with images of palm trees, glamour and driving luxurious cars at night… it has a mystique.
Then in Athens, we shot two videos with director Paige Von Bank, it was so crazy because we did them both in a day. They were filmed by George Geranios of FOTONOVELA who you know and Sophie Sarigiannidou from MARSHEAUX did our make-up, it was all such a family affair… and then we feasted at George’s family tavern after the shoot
That does explain the creative tension in this collaboration which does have this urgent feel about it, there’s no “mañana” about it …
Elena: yes, for me, it was the first time we crammed so much in a “pop” or song-based project of mine. With the soundtrack stuff, I am more used to the pressure of “deliver this now” which feels very stressful always, but for this, it felt like the good kind of stress that you are going to be so productive and you have this challenge. I feel like we made it every single time with Nina. Usually, it’s just “I’m just writing a song, it could take however long” but this time it really worked for me.
Photo by George Tripodakis
So what is the future of your creative relationship? Are you going to do a second EP?
Elena: I would love to do more stuff and I’m sure we will, but we are working on our own individual projects at the same time so it’s an open door.
Nina: That would be great! I think collaborating is a wonderful way to learn new things and push the envelope. I’m always open to it.
Are live shows a possibility or is that really not practical or cost-effective?
Elena: I mean, it’s not easy but we both want it and hopefully we will make it happen.
Nina: It would definitely be an adventure that everyone would enjoy, so I hope we can make it happen. Where there’s will there’s a way!
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to KID MOXIE & NINA
Stefan Netschio, Stefan Tillmann and Michael B Wagner released ‘Tybalt’, their first album proper as BEBORN BETON back in 1993.
The trio became a cult success on the alternative electronic circuit with a US tour opening for APOPTYGMA BERZERK in 2002 among their career highlights. But the sojourn across the Atlantic took its toll and BEBORN BETON went on an extended hiatus.
Returning in 2015, the comeback album ‘A Worthy Compensation’ saw the band refreshed and present possibly their best collection of work to date.
Now 7 years on, a brand new long player ‘Darkness Falls Again’ is due in the Spring. Its first single ‘Dancer In The Dark’ makes an important statement on behalf of its parent album. With greedy capitalists and war mongering zealots hell bent on destroying the planet in order to satisfy their own fragile egos, the message to remain positive in the face of adversity. Without this hope, there is no will to resist and make the world better for all. The worse thing to do is to say nothing…
With a hypnotic second single ‘I Watch My Life On TV’ now public, BEBORN BETON front man Stefan Netschio chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the making of ‘Darkness Falls Again’, when to sing in German, how to choose a Johnny Cash cover and borrowing from DURAN DURAN…
‘Darkness Falls Again’ follows 7 years since your last album ‘A Worthy Compensation’, but it is nowhere near as long as the 13 year gap which preceded that. Is it healthier to have larger spaces between records? Can bands release “too much” music?
I have often found that with a high frequency of releases from the artists I follow, there comes a lower level of depth in the music. We in BEBORN BETON do not live off our music, we have the luxury to take as much time as we need to work on our songs and album and artwork concepts, to reflect on the things we need to say in our lyrics, the emotions we want to stir with the compositions.
And finally take as much time as we want to finalise our albums with our producer of choice. If we feel, after countless revisions, we are still deeply moved by the work we have created, then we are definitely onto something profound and lasting. There is probably some narcissism to it but there are times when I listen to our songs, especially from ‘A Worthy Compensation’ and ‘Darkness Falls Again’ and I start wondering “This is really us? How did we manage to create such beauty?”
‘A Worthy Compensation’ was your welcome return, how do you look back on its making?
We started working on the songs for ‘A Worthy Compensation’ about 20 years ago. I had quit my job and left my hometown to relocate to the city of Hamburg. We had just been touring the United States with our friends from APOPTYGMA BERZERK, so that was an exciting period in our lives with lots of things happening, meeting and working with interesting people. Being on the road for more than 2 weeks confined to a van and motel rooms, playing shows almost every night in mostly sold-out venues, touring the US brought us even closer together as a band and as friends.
And when we returned to Germany, even though we were living in different cities, hundreds of kilometres apart, we always found ways and time to make music together. So, every other weekend I went to visit Till and Michael to work on new material. After finishing some songs, we eventually met Olaf Wollschläger in 2005. We instantly clicked and so whenever we wrote something new, we went into the studio and did some production work. 10 years later we had put an album together that contained the essence of our lives of that past decade. Highs and lows, ups and downs; it is indeed a very emotional and personal album. So, we were relieved that it was so well received. It put us back on the map.
Was ‘A Worthy Compensation’ like getting back on a bicycle or horse? Are there any favourite tracks from it?
For us, it actually felt like we never really dismounted the horse in the first place. We always made music of some sorts. We had been in the studio many times and learned a lot about mixing and production.
We played festival shows in Germany and Europe every now and then, we did remixes for other artists and also collaborated with other bands. A lot of this probably went unnoticed by the public because we just hadn’t released a new album. Favourite tracks… well, when you are working on an album this long, it is like raising children and you become emotionally attached to each and every one of them. Especially when the stories are personal and heartfelt; ‘Last Day On Earth’ and ‘I Believe’ are definitely highlights, but for me personally the title track ‘A Worthy Compensation’ is a song that weighed heavy on my heart. It was cathartic. It was the last song that we finished with Olaf in the studio. And when we did, when the vocals were recorded, the moment when it all came together and took form, I knew that we had created something special. The story bears so much pain that it became a tearjerker for many years and years to come.
When first you started releasing music, did you ever feel an affinity with the other German bands like ALPHAVILLE, CAMOUFLAGE, WOLFSHEIM and DE/VISION?
When I grew up, ALPHAVILLE was a band to look up to. The first album was just “Wow”! I think every synthpop fan loved ALPHAVILLE one way or the other. And Marian Gold is a super nice guy and an exceptional performer. He has such a unique voice.
So has Peter Heppner; WOLFSHEIM had some killer songs and their success was more than well deserved. But affinity would be too strong a word. It was respect. CAMOUFLAGE had some major hits in the beginning and they released a couple of fairly successful albums, most of which escaped my radar. I was interested in different bands.
DE/VISION and BEBORN BETON did start about the same time and early on we did some touring together. At some point, their career took a different turn and they kept releasing album after album. Every now and then our paths cross when we are booked for the same festival. Fun times we had.
How does the creative dynamic within BEBORN BETON work with regards writing and instrumentation?
Usually it begins with a lyrical idea or with some chord progressions that are conceived on the piano. So we get together and we infect each other with more ideas to take the initial demo further. Sometimes we get quickly to a stage where the essence of the track is already laid out and ready for production. Sometimes it takes us several sessions over a period of weeks to get there. But there is nothing like these magical moments when we create some truly emotional pieces together. When the excitement kicks in while you’re writing, your judgement might be clouded, so we take breaks to give it a rest and let it sink in, then revisit songs to see if the initial spark is still there. Since we have no reason to rush, we give it all the time that it needs. It’s our QA.
You have worked with producer Olaf Wollschläger again on this album, what special qualities does he bring to your music?
Olaf Wollschläger knows where we are coming from musically. He breathes the exact musical air that we do. When we introduce him to a song, there is hardly ever much explaining to do. He is able to see the essence of our songs and enhance them. When you are working together for such a long time, you develop a friendship.
We’ve known him more than 15 years now. Some marriages don’t last that long. And we can still laugh about the same jokes and are fascinated by the same music. And when we meet with him to produce our songs together, we are fairly certain that the end result is not far from perfect.
So what is ‘My Monstrosity’? How does this track shape the tone of ‘Darkness Falls Again’?
We chose ‘My Monstrosity’ as the opening track because it kind of sets the mood for the whole album. This detuned piano sound right at the beginning of the song is derived from an actual piano that stood outside a garden centre, battered by wind and rain. And it is meant to tell you “You are about to hear things that are not going to be easy to digest”. It is a rather uncommon song for BEBORN BETON and that’s the beauty of it. Starting off with something people would not expect from us. I find it musically intense and pretty dark lyrically. I hope people will love it as much as we do.
The album title is mentioned in the first single ‘Dancer In The Dark’; with all the tensions in the world coming from the East and being Germans, has there been a feeling of “Déjà vu” at all?
No, not really. It was a different time back then. Or I was just too young to see the whole picture. Surely there had been Middle-East crises, but none of the countries had the resources to be much of a global threat.
And as far as I’m concerned, The Cold War was just two superpowers not getting along and bluffing each other. They all had these nuclear weapons, but the players themselves didn’t play out the supervillain act. There was no imminent danger. Except for one NATO manoeuvre simulating a nuclear strike that almost set the wheels in motion, a regrettable mistake that changed the course of history for the better. The leaders seemed to have that last bit of sense to not push the button because they were all too afraid they would get wiped from the face of earth.
For a reason, the last few years there have been fights on multiple fronts. There was that idiot that destabilised the US. Then there is the other one that has gone completely nuts, void of reason destabilising the world economy, and in-between all of Europe trying to de-escalate the situation, still they can’t just look away and leave the oppressed to themselves. And the even bigger crisis in the long run being the race against climate change.
We actually finished the songs, the album concept and title before there was a war in Europe, so we initially planned on painting a picture of a dystopian future. We did not expect reality to catch up this quickly.
‘Last Chance’ is interesting in that there are sections that are almost goth-metal?
I can see what you are getting at. When we are working on a song with Olaf, there are no boundaries and given the fact that our musical tastes are very diverse, anything can happen. Goth-metal is a strong categorization for a synthpop song and for people that have not heard it yet, it may be misleading.
The song incorporates some vocal parts that are treated with a vocoder and different levels of distortion and in conjunction with that bass synth line it has its Marilyn Manson-esque moments, but these moments are brief. I feel it is an embodiment of the protagonist’s anger and looking at the whole picture it is just an enrichment of the song’s sonic palette, so when the chorus kicks in, the subtle metal connotations are gone. Then again, I gotta hand it to you, the song has a bit of a rock attitude.
‘Burning Gasoline’ points to your environmental concerns?
I guess the title and the lyrics indicate as much… environmental concerns, mildly put. The exploitation of Earth’s natural resources and their processing, plus the use of fossil energy sources is destroying our planet, rendering it uninhabitable for generations to come. If we do not change our course of action our children and grandchildren will pay the price. The idiocracy regarding climate change and its origin is unspeakable and it gets my blood pressure through the roof.
‘I Watch My Life On TV’ features some wonderful synth soloing, what was that inspired by and what sort of VST or hardware have you used on this album to achieve the sound you desired?
These kinds of melodies are burned into the BEBORN BETON DNA. They are part of what we are. We have always been fond of those uplifting sequences that are reminiscent of 70s and 80s mystery and science fiction TV series and movies. Sound and instrument-wise, there are hardly any tools that are not at our disposal. It’s always a mix of vintage and modern hardware and software instruments.
So we have a couple of hardware synths in our arsenal. Our beloved Moogs, an ARP, some Korgs, a couple of Waldorfs, an Oberheim and a bunch of Roland synthesisers, plus a ton of boutique effect pedals and we also used Olaf’s Prophet and his tasteful collection of Eurorack modules. A friend of ours owns a small museum of vintage analogue synths and of course we paid him a visit to record some tracks with his old Jupiter 4, Jupiter 8, Roland System 100 and GRP A4. The GRP A4 is a rare and insanely beautiful sounding analogue boutique synth from Italy.
All these synthesisers have their distinct sound and above anything, we love the hands-on approach with these machines. When it comes to VSTs… you name it: Arturia, Native Instruments, UVI, u-he, Xfer, GeForce. Pretty much everything. When you put your mind to it you can get every imaginable sound and all these happy little accidents. Olaf and we are pretty much up-to-date on what’s happening in the music technology business.
‘Electricity’ rhythmically swings with a live drum feel and even throws in some timpani. Where do you stand on bands using live acoustic drums in a concert context when the original recording has more and sometimes exclusively programmed electronic percussion? 😉
As an artist you should be allowed to evolve and try out whatever tickles your fancy. When you are an aspiring single artist, most of the time you don’t have a drum kit or a drummer at your disposal, so you start programming beats. At a later stage in your career, your taste in music evolves and your status allows you to hire a drummer and you take a song to another level. Whether or not this results in an improvement is subjective. Sometimes it works, adds drive and energy to the track, sometimes it just kills the vibe that was the essence of the song to begin with. So, I am not totally against it, but I can understand that fans lose interest in a band that started as a purely electronic act and then turns into a rock band. Well, grow a pair. The number of new artists to explore is endless.
You primarily sing in English but like with ‘Was Immer’ on ‘A Worthy Compensation’, ‘Trockenfallen Lassen’ on this album is in Deutsch, so how do you decide what song is delivered in your own language, what factors do you take into account?
We chose English as our first artistic language because it is international and has a wider reach. It’s also fun to write in English because the language has so many options for wordplay and ambiguity and its melody is so great to sing. German lyrics are way harder to conceive, in my opinion. It can be very beautiful and whenever we find a song that presents itself as an opportunity for a German lyric we are happy to take it. When we perform in front of a German audience, as we usually do, singing in German hardly leaves anything to the imagination. To be authentic, you have to tell the truth and hit a nerve.
With ‘Trockenfallen Lassen’, we managed to write a strong lyric that leaves room for interpretation and we weaved it into an ambient soundscape with melancholic chord sequences and it became a beautiful gem. If you ask me, it is one of the strongest songs on the album. These are magical moments that just happen. You cannot plan for this.
The 2016 ‘She Cried’ single featured a cover of THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s ‘The Black Hit Of Space’ while the deluxe edition of ‘A Worthy Compensation’ included a Johnny Cash song ‘Folsom Prison Blues’; are there any cover versions planned as future bonuses? Some DURAN DURAN maybe? 😉
The list is very long. Our musical taste is so diverse and we have heard so much great music in our lifetime.
And doing a cover is always fun. For example, on our second album we did a cover of ‘Being Boiled’ that we also performed on stage. ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ also has a story to it. Initially the idea sparked when in 2000 we toured Germany with our friends from ICON OF COIL. They told us that Stephan Groth had the idea of putting a compilation together with Johnny Cash cover versions and they told us which song they had chosen to do. Time passed, nothing happened. Then in 2002, we toured the US with APOPTYGMA BERZERK and the topic came up again. We browsed the works of Johnny Cash and finally decided which song it was going to be. Time passed, nothing happened.
So when we put together the bonus material for ‘A Worthy Compensation’, we remembered there was still that cover version to be made. And since that compilation didn’t happen, we recorded it exclusively for the Complete Edition of the album. Surely I can see us working on some DURAN DURAN in the future, but at the moment we are focusing on our own material. By the way there is that song on our last album that kind of pays homage to early DURAN DURAN. Not many people have noticed, but some have.
Oh yes! ‘24/7 Mystery’ has a ‘Girls On Film’ vibe… so ‘I Hope You’re Not Easily Scared’ closes what could be considered BEBORN BETON’s protest album, how do you hope ‘Darkness Falls Again’ will be received?
Every artist hopes that his new output will be received well, we are no different. We are aware that the political content of the album may throw off people, but that’s ok. There are plenty of other bands to explore.
Our albums have never been a quick fix. There is always a lot to discover, so many layers of sound to dive into. So much that you cannot grasp it with just a few listens. Our albums have always been growers. But if you give them time they will stay with you for life. Throughout our history, there have always been songs that had some bitter and melancholic references wrapped in a sweet melodic shell. These are the matters we like to address. The new album has an overall darker touch than for example ‘A Worthy Compensation’. We were and are still living in a time of a multi-level crisis. So the darker tone just came naturally. Still, we hope that people will feel the strong uplifting energy of the songs that is meant to drag peoples’ minds out of this misery and give them hope that things can change for the better.
What are your next plans as BEBORN BETON?
We have just lifted a second single off the album and there will be a third one that will be accompanied by a video before the album sees the light of day. I don’t want to go too much into detail, but we plan another release for later this year with one or two surprises.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to BEBORN BETON
Special thanks to Volker Maass at Operating//Generating
‘I Watch My Life On TV’ is available now without a countdown plonked into a countdown via the usual online platforms
‘Darkness Falls Again’ is released on 17th March 2023 by Dependent Records as a 48-page artbook with bonus CD, digisleeve CD, black vinyl LP and limited edition white vinyl LP as well as on the usual digital platforms, pre-order via http://lnk.spkr.media/beborn-beton-darkness
Belgian synth trio TELEX are to release a new box set of their studio albums on Mute this Spring.
Their 1979 debut album ‘Looking For Saint-Tropez’ featured three unusual and striking electronic reinterpretations of rock ‘n’ roll through the ages including ‘Rock Around The Clock’, ‘Twist À St. Tropez’ and ‘Ça Plane Pour Moi’. Pre-dating SILICON TEENS, the fictional teen synth band devised by Daniel Miller, the new partnership with Mute is highly fitting with the one-time apprentice providing a new home for the sorcerer.
As well as ‘Looking For Saint-Tropez’, the ‘TELEX’ box set will also contain ‘Neurovision’ (1980), ‘Sex’ (1981), ‘Wonderful World’ (1984), ‘Looney Tunes’ (1988) and ‘How Do You Dance?’ (2006); all the albums have been remastered and newly mixed from the original tapes by band members Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers.
The Brussels-based threesome of Michel Moers, Dan Lacksman and Marc Moulin were already experienced hands when they formed TELEX in 1978. But they trailblazed and subverted during their imperial phase, crossing paths with SPARKS and YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA along the way. Representing Belgium at the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, their bouncy song ‘Eurovision’ with its deliberately banal lyrics sending up the whole charade featured a Situationist performance that puzzled most watching on TV but delighted many others.
Recognised as techno, house and synthpop pioneers thanks to seminal tracks such as ‘Moscow Diskow’ and ‘Haven’t We Met Somewhere Before?’, TELEX were to later remix DEPECHE MODE and PET SHOP BOYS. But after Marc Moulin sadly passed away in 2008, TELEX were formally retired.
Blessed with another opportunity to present their impressive legacy to a new generation and established music fans who may have missed them first time round, Michel Moers and Dan Lacksman spent a joyful hour chatting to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about their time as TELEX…
TELEX joining the Mute family is quite appropriate isn’t it, like it was meant to be?
Michel: It should have been earlier… *laughs*
We had a very long contract so when we could get out of it, the first thought was “Mute is the best”; so we tried and it was the right move, we didn’t ask anybody else. The next day, we received an email from Daniel Miller saying “yes OK, let’s talk”.
Dan: We couldn’t believe it because it was our dream. “What would be the best company to reissue the albums?” and of course it was Mute. It’s great.
Michel: We loved ‘Warm Leatherette’, it was like a punch! Then SILICON TEENS came after TELEX, but at the time I wasn’t aware it. KRAFTWERK were a big influence but as “The Belgian KRAFTWERK” (*laughs*) with Belgian humour and cartoons, it was more related to our environment and personalities. English humour is better known around the world.
Dan: Belgian humour quite is surreal, similar to Monty Python which was very popular here because it was completely absurd. Also there are two cultures in Belgium, the French one and the Dutch one. It’s a mixture of both. I am French speaking but my grandfather was Flemish so I can feel both sides in me and a lot of Belgian people, especially in Brussels, they are a mixture of cultures.
Michel: In Belgium, we are much closer to English humour than French humour.
There are new mixes of the albums but what do you mean by that, as that might ring alarm bells for some, like dance remixes etc? *laughs*
Dan: It’s not every title, it’s about 60%… when we first started to remaster, some of the mixes we were listening to and thinking “it’s a pity, there is too much reverb” or whatever. But then the idea came to try a new mix but sounding similar to the original. So we decided to try one and if we don’t like it, we don’t do it! But it worked very well, so well that finally we listened to every album and we decided which titles we thought were ok for mastering and which ones we should attempt a new mix. And so that’s what we did.
Michel: So it’s new mixes, NOT “remixes”, that is more related to dance… the main thing we did was to take tracks away…
Dan: …to simplify…
Michel: The first album was our main reference and we probably didn’t succeed after because there were so many new machines to try… so with these new mixes and less tracks, the six albums are more a whole, you can really feel more of a thread….
Dan: All the songs are original, we didn’t replace anything, the vocals are all the original ones and no cheating, well…
Michel: …sometimes calibrating my timing or my pitch! *laughs*
Dan: The bass was played manually in those days, no sequencer which is why it was grooving, Marc had an incredible groove but sometimes, there were parts we replaced but very few really…
How did ‘Moscow Diskow’ come together, the idea of going to a club behind The Iron Curtain?
Michel: The original idea was to make lyrics, French words that English or American people were using, like “fantastique”. It was putting all these words together, some more personal ones like my girlfriend was called a “French Garçon” and things like that. It came together with the idea of a train…
Dan: So I thought, what about the hi-hat, it would be the train, a steam train which would be a completely surrealistic concept. So I started from there and added a kick drum and claps, there is no snare and I did the “woo-woo” sound with two oscillators and an envelope controlling the pitch. It was done very fast. We didn’t specify a 130 tempo, it was just a knob, like “what about this?”. We had to first record the drums on three tracks before we could do the keyboards as always, it was very spontaneous. It came like this, et viola!
Michel: At the time, the Moscow graphics were very well used, we liked to play with clichés… if we were writing the song now, we would choose another town…
‘Rock Around The Clock’ is TELEX’s only UK hit and the ‘Top Of The Pops’ performance is still great performance art… but it crossed over, even my mother liked it!
Michel: We also did a cover of ‘La Bamba’ and it is also slower than the original like ‘Rock Around The Clock’ so that old people can even dance to it *laughs*
The idea was to show who TELEX were, as people would know the original and hear the difference. It was an easier way to show who we are and that the audience may like an original song of ours. TELEX were like making a “History of Music”, so ‘Rock Around The Clock’ is rock, ‘La Bamba’ is South America, ‘Dance To The Music was black music…
Were you surprised to get the call to be on ‘Top Of The Pops’?
Michel: No, because maybe the reason we were asked was because they had a new Quantel machine to make new kinds of images and special effects. We were probably the only band around at that time with electronics where they could make these images that had not been made before. So it was more for them to play with their machine *laughs*
Dan: The rule on ‘Top Of The Pops’ at that time for international artists was that everything had to be live, but they wanted to experiment with this machine. So the day before, we went to the BBC and they filmed us to prepare some effects that they would insert the next day when we were performing, they were running the effects in sync and then they would put the live image and some effects, so when we did the “da-da-da” and the picture swirling, it was great, it true that it fits with the music.
Was it your idea to read the newspaper or the ‘Top Of The Pops’ director? *laughs*
Michel: It wasn’t the director, his reaction was “Are they bored? They don’t want to be there” *laughs*
No, we liked sometimes to use the anti-cliché of pop music you know… in pop music, everybody is smiling and moving, so the idea was to do the contrary. One of the main comedy characters we liked was Buster Keaton…
Dan: …he never smiled!
Michel: So we thought, “what would he do?”… you didn’t dance, just *does swaying arm movement*
Dan: NO! *laughs*
PET SHOP BOYS did the newspaper thing in 2009, I don’t know if they got the idea from you?
Michel: They also don’t dance… at the end of ‘Eurovision’, I take a picture of the audience but now, everybody has an iPhone and is taking the picture so it’s funny. The idea was reversing the process.
So ‘Rock Around The Clock’ saw you covering an old song, you also covered an quite new song at the time ‘Ça Plane Pour Moi’ and Dan, you have a connection because you did the synths for Plastic Bertrand on ‘Tout Petit La Planète’? Was this cover deliberate because of your connections?
Michel: Well, it was to please our producer as it was the same record company *laughs*
Dan: But we thought it would be funny to do as it was a very fast track, to make it slower and add vocoder…
Michel: It was part of that “History of Music” idea, add some punk plus it was the only way you could make people understand the words! *laughs*
As the box set shows, TELEX became notable for their cover versions, which were your favourites and which songs do you wish you had recorded?
Michel: There are two that have not been released sung by me but they are probably not TELEX enough… my idea would be to keep the backing and have someone who sings well! *laughs*
With people who sing well, what they sing is usually boring to me. Maybe it’s not the same in England but over here, it’s for radio but the singers sound like…
Dan: …that’s maybe because of the voice program that is everywhere and it’s just physical performance, it’s not singing anymore… like why? Maybe people are just accustomed to it, even if it is out of tune, it doesn’t matter but when you stick Autotune on, you have no more feeling.
When you did ‘On The Road Again’ in 2006, had you been aware of ROCKETS’ version which similarly used vocoder?
Dan: I was not aware…
Michel: I was aware after… the idea of ‘On The Road Again’ was simply because we were making a new record after so many years of silence. Now I know the ROCKETS version but it was a few weeks after our version came out, Italian TELEX fans were sending me pictures of these guys full of blue. Often the same things can be produced all around the world without realising, like the invention of the telephone, we didn’t know.
So ‘Eurovision’, did the song come first or was it TELEX entering Eurovision that inspired it?
Michel: The song was written for Eurovision, but the idea was to make a photo of what it is, people being well-dressed and at that time there were borders… well, there are borders now! *laughs*
But the idea was all these borders were open for one night and after that, they would close and anyway, the image would go through armoured cables so it was like war. At that time, Peter Gabriel had written about something similar on ‘Games Without Frontiers’ and also Robin Scott as M with ‘Pop Musik’; in fact, we met him at Cannes before the contest and asked him whether he would be interested in making lyrics for us, but he said “I’ve done that already with ‘Pop Musik’”, so I finally did it myself.
Was there a selection competition back home?
Michel: Yes, we had one, there were 10 contestants and we won the competition… but when we were asked by the record company, we thought they were crazy, it was not what we really wanted to do, it was not our music. We thought about it for 2 weeks and said “let’s go for it” as it would be like the epitome of pop music.
So the country was behind you?
Michel: Maybe not the country, but the people at radio and TV on the jury liked it. But all the other competitors were very normal… *laughs*
Dan: Boring, nothing special… we were completely different…
So they were more like The Singing Nun, Dana or Nicole type of entry?
Dan: EXACTLY!
Michel: But The Singing Nun would have had a chance! *laughs*
I am already imagining in my head the idea of TELEX covering The Singing Nun song ‘Dominique’! *laughs*
Michel: In fact, Dan and Marc did it!!
Dan: We did an electronic version with Soeur Sourire, it was a complete flop! *laughs*
So back to Eurovision, how were you choreographing your performance and moves?
Michel: The moves began before because there were normally three rehearsals and we couldn’t achieve one. There was a rule that everything you hear had to be seen, so all the instruments. So if you hear a drum, there should be a drummer. But everything we had was in three Moog modules so there was nothing to see, that was the first argument in the first rehearsal. Then the other argument was about electricity!
Dan: Yes, they didn’t like us because everything was supposed to be live which was not correct, because they said we could come with a backing tape, but everything on tape must be on stage! Simple! So like with ABBA, it was a backing tape, they didn’t play for real but the voices were real. So for us, it was the same thing, we sent a tape but the “drums” I made with the Modular Moog, so you don’t see a drum, you just hear “drums”.
When we were starting rehearsals, the director says “STOP! I hear a drum, where is the drum?” So I had to explain the drum sound was made with this instrument. “OK, we don’t see anything” he said, but I asked if they gave us some electricity, we could push a button and see the sequencer going on… “OH NO! NOT POSSIBLE!” but the director asked if the singer could push a button and fake it. So Michel just pushed a button, nothing happens on the Moog, no wire, nothing so it was completely… and then the song went on and Michel couldn’t hear himself…
Michel: The real time, I couldn’t hear myself, I don’t know if they did it on purpose but I couldn’t hear the three backing singers so my voice is a bit stressed, that’s it! *laughs*
And then?
Michel: Just before our turn on stage, we met Johnny Logan…
Dan: He won by the way…
Michel: I said “I’m sure you are going to win” and he replied “If I win, it’s good for me but if you win, it will be good for music”, that was so nice.
So you wanted to win, or come last but how did you actually feel when Portugal gave you those points? *laughs*
Michel: It was very mixed in our mind… we were chosen to go and then our British and American record companies thought we would win! It was the 25th Anniversary of Eurovision and we heard they would like to change the rules… so they changed the rules to a public vote, so this was very difficult for us! At the same time, we could feel we couldn’t win and it took some years to recover some balance! *roars of laughter*
Dan: We didn’t take it especially seriously, but we were surprised that everybody else was so serious, it was almost a pity to see the two young girls Sophie & Magaly from Luxembourg completely destroyed and crying when they didn’t get points. We were sitting, we had nothing and understood “OK”, so we hoped we were last. And then suddenly Portugal gave us 10 points! WHY? And then Royaume-Uni give us one point (this is why the first box set is called ‘Belgium… One Point’) and Greece three points! We were not last and it was a poor group from Finland… everyone was very serious and we were a bit apart.
Michel: All the organisation was very strict, it was like being in an airport which I understand… we didn’t win but in the long run, people remember us and every year, we have 30 seconds of fame…
Dan: …because of the strange stuff that happened on Eurovision…
Yeah, I’m one of the guilty ones who keeps posting up the ‘Eurovision’ clip… *laughs*
Dan: You’re not the only one!
I don’t know if you are aware when ABBA won in 1974, the UK gave them nil point!
Michel: There’s a lot of politics now…
Dan: It’s more difficult than ever, you have the two semi-finals and then you have the final, it’s getting very completely crazy.
‘The Man With The Answer’ from ‘Sex’ seems to show an affinity with YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA featuring the late Yukihiro Takahashi, did you feel a connection with any of the other electronic music acts?
Michel: At that time, no, we didn’t listen much to each other… it’s really funny but maybe we were a bit shy but we were on the same stage in Paris with YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA on TV and we didn’t speak to each other which was stupid… but finally Harumi Hosono came to the studio to make a cover of our song ‘L’Amour Toujours’ with a Japanese singer Miharu Koshi.
Dan: Just an anecdote with Harumi Hosono, it was incredible because he could speak only Japanese, no English, no French; there was a French guy living in Tokyo to translate but he didn’t need him because for the work, we understood each other perfectly because it was the same equipment, the same way, it was fantastic, he would programme the sequencer and find the sounds, we were very close technically, those three days were really incredible.
Michel: It could be astonishing that we don’t really relate to your question because Belgium is so small and we were all working apart, we had other jobs, it’s not like having a success all around the world, we couldn’t live on just music. So we were not really part of an electronic scene like London where we would have to go out every night or even in Belgium because even if we were invited somewhere, we wouldn’t go. Also, we were a bit older than most people because we had done things before musically, so we didn’t have the same needs or same way to live. But Belgium is, well, was an island… *laughs*
But one act that you did connect up with was SPARKS. Was bringing them in to collaborate on lyrics on the ‘Sex’ album part of a conscious effort on TELEX’s part to be more international and accessible like on ‘Haven’t We Met Somewhere Before?’ and ‘Long Holiday’?
Dan: It was a coincidence because I was working with a Belgian singer called Lio with Marc Moulin at the same time as TELEX, she was an incredible big success and she was doing TV everywhere in the world. Once in Paris, she was on the same programme as SPARKS. Then Russell Mael proposed that she make her next album in English and offered to write the lyrics. So they arranged to work at my studio in Brussels but Lio never came! We were recording the ‘Sex’ album at the same time so we met, they listened to the album and proposed some English lyrics…
Michel: I had made some French lyrics that I couldn’t make work in English so it was ok.
Dan: So Russell and Ron stayed in Brussels, coached Michel with the singing and they liked the city and came back to make their own albums. They would take the tram to the studio and people would recognise them, so they would sign autographs and it was great, they really liked it *laughs*
Michel: The SPARKS tram! *laughs*
I always thought ‘Haven’t We Met Somewhere Before?’ should have been a hit single in the UK…
Michel: We didn’t write songs to be hits, it’s nice when it comes but we did things we wanted to hear.
In the UK, there was this strange thing of the ‘Sex’ album being released as ‘Birds & Bees’ with different tracks including a new single ‘L’ Amour Toujours’; you did two versions of ‘L’ Amour Toujours’ and I preferred the earlier one on ‘Birds & Bees’ over the reworked ‘Wonderful World’ version…
Michel: I think there are even more versions… *laughs*
At that time, we felt that song could be a hit and maybe we were searching for a way to make it more clear and that’s why there are different versions, maybe we didn’t make the right one. That’s the song Harumi Hosono made with Miharu Koshi. There are maybe 5 or 6 versions on the tapes… sometimes we lost our way because there were so many new machines… that was his fault! *laughs*
Dan: We experimented a lot…
Michel: So compared to KRAFTWERK, we didn’t make as many new songs and they made remixes… they also had a strong image, we didn’t really care about showing ourselves… someone once asked us after the 2006 album ‘How Do You Dance?’, “why do you make music like DAFT PUNK?”…
By ‘Wonderful World’, the digital technology had taken hold, how did you find working with it? ‘Raised By Snakes’ is good but it could be any variety of acts at the time?
Dan: It’s funny you mention ‘Raised By Snakes’ because it’s a pre-sampler track. I didn’t have the Fairlight yet there is this chord; I remember that we had the idea to put on this chord all the time so I put it manually into the multi-track. We put the chord on a quarter inch tape and I had a zero lock and a return button, so to record it, I played the multi-track, then I sent the chord “ding” and then I returned to zero ready for the next time. So it would have been more easier with a sampler but it was just before, it’s funny. Of course, the result is the same.
With the Fairlight from 1983 plus the Synclavier, these were the first digital synthesizers and it was impossible not to have one… on top of TELEX, I had my studio SYNSOUND and people came to me to put electronic sounds on their records so I had to have the whole palette. That’s why I kept buying these novelties at the desespoir of my wife *laughs*
Which were your favourite synths?
Dan: Well, I would say it’s the Oberheim OB6, it’s quite new but it’s the one I use the most because every time, the sound is so inspiring, it’s completely analogue and so it’s great. It’s polyphonic also so you can do almost anything. But of course if you want a real good bass, there is nothing like the Minimoog and if you want some more sophisticated analogue sounds, there is nothing like the Moog Modular, they are all complementary.
Michel: Don’t ask me! *laughs*
I made demos but I don’t go into the final thing, I must confess, I just use Logic now… I’m more interested in composing, but of course it is important to use the right sound.
Dan: I use plug-ins too.
And what was the synth or piece of equipment that was most disappointing, the one didn’t meet expectations?
Dan: It’s easy, the Simmons drums because I could do better sounds with the Moog Modular. It’s not good enough, you only had one envelope and with this envelope, you can control the pitch and the length of the sound. But you would need two envelopes to make it good, one for the pitch and the other for the filter for example which you can even do on a Minimoog! I bought a module and five pads because it was quite popular at the time. The pads are in the attic, they are beautiful by the way, but I almost never used it.
What are your own TELEX career highlights?
Michel: To me, it’s really the first album ‘Looking For Saint Tropez’ because we made music that was really fitting with what was on the market, the idea was so simple, not many things were polyphonic. So for me it was the best period, discovering things and after, it was trying to find the same enthusiasm with new things. But our first album and single ‘Twist A Saint Tropez’…
Dan: … it was very spontaneous… Marc asked me one day “what about making an electronic group together?” and it was great idea. And then we needed a singer, and Marc reminded me of this singer Michel Moers who we worked together with. So we had a rendez-vous in my studio to try something, what can we do? And then Marc and Michel said “Maybe let’s take a French song and make it completely electronic? Oh what about ‘Twist A Saint Tropez’ by LES CHATS SAUVAGES?”; so we switched on everything and then in one day, we finished the track. I did a quick rough mix and put it on a cassette because Marc was seeing a friend who was working for RKM Records. It was played to the boss Roland Kluger and the next day we had a contract! It was so quick!
Michel: The nice thing about all this is that although we made a cover, we prevented ourselves from listening to the original, it was a cover made from our memory. That’s why it’s so different. This is why it’s important for me, it was an exciting period.
What are the highlights of your career Dan?
Dan: What career? *laughs*
It was always great to work… in the beginning, we were discovering, then we were experimenting so some days were a bit, I would say, disappointing but the next, we would listen back and think “that’s great” because sometimes you would be thinking too much or whatever. Before TELEX, I did some records on my own but I never liked it frankly, I am not extrovert so I prefer to be in the studio. TELEX was perfect as it was something we did together, but it was something made in the studio so that we don’t have to make concerts. Later, I had a lot of work with other artists at my studio, synthesizers were really popular so I was working every day.
Dedicated to the memory of Marc Moulin 1942-2008
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Michel Moers and Dan Lacksman
The ‘TELEX’ box set is released by Mute as a 6 piece set in coloured vinyl LP and CD variants on 14th April 2023, pre-order from https://mute.ffm.to/telex_boxset
A musician, singer, songwriter, graphic artist, photographer, filmmaker and tattooist, Shannon Hemmett has many creative talents.
The Canadian is best known internationally as the keyboardist and backing vocalist of Vancouver post-post-punk band ACTORS whose most recent album ‘Acts of Worship’ was their best body of work to date and saw Hemmett taking on a more prominent role.
Running in parallel is LEATHERS, an electronic pop project fronted by Hemmett which also sees ACTORS leader Jason Corbett act as collaborator and producer. Although primarily synth-led and more immediate melodically, LEATHERS is pop music with darker sensibilities seeded by her love of the imperial phase DEPECHE MODE long players ‘Black Celebration’, ‘Music for the Masses’ and ‘Violator’.
The debut LEATHERS EP ‘Reckless’ was recorded over several years and finally released in 2021; the title song was an infectious slice of melancholic synthpop with an alluring vocal despite the heartbreak express by our heroine while exuding a darker spectres, ‘Day For Night’ allied itself to the moody atmospheres of CHROMATICS and ‘Missing Scene’ rocked with a cavernous gothique.
While some songs on the ‘Reckless’ EP like ‘Phantom Heart’ were maybe not that far removed from ACTORS, the following year saw the release of LEATHERS’ brightest single yet in ‘Runaway’, a glorious escapist pop tune that was one of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2022.
A more Motorik but ethereal number ‘Ultraviolet’ followed-up ‘Runaway’ last Autumn to coincide with confirmation of plans for a full-length LEATHERS album. To tie in with the recent release of a new single in the detached dark disco of ‘Highrise’, Shannon Hemmett kindly took time out and chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the ethos and background of LEATHERS.
How did the idea for a more synth-based music vehicle come about?
It was a natural progression, exploring the sounds and aesthetics that were inspiring to us. We weren’t thinking too hard about where we would end up genre-wise.
LEATHERS is electronic pop rather than EBM or dance, had any particular artists been inspirational in the concept?
Melodies are important to Jason and I as songwriters, so I imagine some of that comes from our love of 80s era songwriting where strong melody is a key ingredient. I tend to listen to music outside of the genre we’re creating within. Right now I’m enjoying a lot of dark techno and the 90s revival that’s going on lately with shoegaze and grunge.
Closer scrutiny reveals LEATHERS to have begun with the release of ‘Missing Scene’ in 2016, why did you choose that track to launch with?
When LEATHERS was in its infancy, ‘Missing Scene’ was the first track we wrote and recorded. So it wasn’t so much a choice, but the only song completed at the time!
The release of ‘Missing Scene’ was before the first ACTORS album ‘It Will Come To You’ in 2018, so did the international success of the band put a hold on LEATHERS?
The idea was to develop LEATHERS in the background while ACTORS toured and continued to release its own material as well. With this more gradual timeline, I was able to develop my songwriting, and my confidence as a performer in real world situations with ACTORS.
The ‘Reckless’ EP was the first body of work as LEATHERS and the title track has this dreamy melodic quality, were the lyrics autobiographical?
I think all music has some kind of connection to our personal experiences, sometimes it’s clear to the writer, and other times it’s more veiled and under the surface.
‘Day For Night’ has a beautiful OMD meets Twin Peaks vibe about it, how did that come together?
We wanted to write a ballad as a counter to the wall of guitar in ‘Missing Scene’, so that was our starting point. I also wanted to direct the ‘Day For Night’ video myself, so I filmed it on my iPhone and edited it in iMovie. It was a super lo-fi video, but I like how it turned out. I spent a lot of time on the lighting and the colour palette so it would have a Lynchian feel.
In a similar situation with Helen Marnie of LADYTRON’s first solo album ‘Crystal World’ which was produced and co-written by band mate Daniel Hunt, the ‘Reckless’ EP saw you working with a bandmate Jason Corbett, did you feel that it was better to keep things in-house? How would you compare your creative dynamic with LEATHERS to ACTORS?
Jason is just my preferred writing partner, together we have a broad set of skills in music and the visual arts that compliment one another. For LEATHERS, the writing process starts with me recording demos on my own, and then I bring them to the studio, where Jason gets involved as producer. ACTORS is Jason’s project, so he is lead songwriter, and then when it comes time, he’ll bring us into the studio to add our parts as needed.
Keeping it in the family, when LEATHERS goes out live, Kendall Wooding and Adam Fink are backing you?
Yes. Kendall is multi-talented with various instruments (guitar, bass, keys, voice etc) and I wanted live drums, so having Adam with us as well was a no-brainer. We debuted the live line-up at the US dates this past fall.
Instrumentally, what synths are you favouring?
We use a lot of the Sequential synths, especially the Prophet-6 and the OB-6 on the recordings. The Roland Juno-6 and 106 are favourites of ours too.
LEATHERS has a less ambiguous image than what has been presented on the artworks of ACTORS while it has allowed you to explore making your own videos, how important is visual aspect to your music?
I have a visual arts background in photography and graphic design, so I produce my own photos, videos, and album art. For me, the visual presentation is a crucial part of the project. All my favourite bands have a strong relationship between their music and their visuals. It’s inspiring and creatively satisfying when the music and the visuals work together to create a defined aesthetic.
With the forthcoming LEATHERS album, are any of the ‘Reckless’ songs being carried over or have you started with a clean sheet?
The song ‘Reckless’ will carry over to the new record because it was the first LEATHERS single release with Artoffact Records, but everything else will be brand new material.
Is there anything you can say about the new album, like its title, any particular favourite tracks to look out for or your own personal satisfaction in its realisation?
We’re almost done recording and mixing the new songs, and the pre-order for the album will start in April. We’ll be releasing a new single called ‘Fascination’ with the pre-order, along with a new video directed by Wayne Moreheart.
How do you think the LEATHERS album will be received, do you hope ACTORS fans will crossover to it or do you think it will have a different audience?
We can’t wait to have a full album of material out for our fans. A lot of ACTORS fans already cross over, but we’re seeing some growth into a different, more pop oriented fan base which is super cool too.
What is next for you, with both LEATHERS and ACTORS?
Both ACTORS and LEATHERS will be playing the Dark Force Festival in New Jersey on April 1st. LEATHERS will also be playing the Verboden Festival in Vancouver on May 13th.
Do you have any unfulfilled ambition, either creatively or personally?
Releasing the full length record will be a major milestone for us. And if I’m allowed to dream a little, I’d love to see LEATHERS as a musical guest on ‘Saturday Night Live’ one day. Let them know!
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Shannon Hemmett
The singles ‘Highrise’, ‘Ultraviolet’ and ‘Runaway’ plus the ‘Reckless’ EP are released by Artoffact Records and available from https://leathers.bandcamp.com/
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