Category: Interviews (Page 18 of 112)

Vintage Synth Trumps with SIN COS TAN

23 November 2022 /

A contender for one of the best albums of 2022, ‘Living In Fear’ is SIN COS TAN’s most accessible and immediate body of work since their 2012 eponymous debut.

A prolific period between 2012 to 2015 saw the Finnish duo of Juho Paalosmaa and Jori Hulkkonen release three albums ‘Sin Cos Tan’, ‘Afterlife’ and ‘Blown Away’ in quick succession. But the creative intensity over took its toll and while the pair continued to work together on other projects, SIN COS TAN went into hiatus.

Paalosmaa returned to his other band VILLA NAH for 2016’s ‘Ultima’ album which Hulkkonen co-produced. Meanwhile Hulkkonen continued his solo career, releasing a number of solo albums, EPs and singles to continue a tradition in music making which had begun in 1995 and even hit the mainstream when as Zyntherius, he scored a 2002 Top30 UK hit with a cover of ‘Sunglasses At Night’ in collaboration with Tiga.

Inspired by the experiences of separation during the pandemic, a toe dipping exercise between Paalosmaa and Hulkkonen led to the ‘Drifted’ EP, the first SIN COS TAN material in six years. However with current world events and the bear next door looming like The Cold War had never ended, SIN COS TAN became creatively re-energised and presented their fourth album, the aptly titled ‘Living In Fear’.

Jori Hulkkonen took up ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s invitation to chat over a game of Vintage Synth Trumps about the making of ‘Living In Fear’ and the workings of SIN COS TAN…

So the first card is a Multimoog…

The thing about Moog synthesizers is I’ve always been a bit scared of them… I never felt like I was a keyboard player and I’m still the same. My approach to making music has always been programming and sequencing stuff in the studio, I always felt Moogs were more like a keyboards player’s synth, a more traditional instrument- like a violin. With the panel layouts, you could play it with one hand while controlling it with the other… it was made for live performance but I can appreciate that.

Also back in the 80s when I started out, you needed CV/gate to control the stuff and there were a few different systems. I preferred the systems that Roland were using… Moog was different from that so having the CV/gate stuff didn’t really support it. The Moog was also more expensive than Japanese equipment, they were always out of my reach. The Japanese stuff I had was very small and tight so not so great for the live environment but that wasn’t my thing anyway, especially back in the day.

I had this strange fear of anything Moog and they sound amazing and beautiful, I’ve heard them in other people’s studios and I’ve worked with Moog stuff, but I’ve never actually owned anything by Moog.

When the first self-titled SIN COS TAN album came out, social media photos had it placed in front of a Minimoog, who did that belong to?

That’s Tom Riski’s, the boss of our label Solina; he used to be in some bands in the 90s and he was a keyboard player and collector. He sold pretty much all of his stuff when he gave up being an active musician, but he still had that when the album came out. I did buy something from him *laughs*

You’ve mentioned fear, and this new SIN COS TAN album is called ‘Living In Fear’, how did you and Juho come up with the title?

This album came together rather quickly, the first session was in January this year and finished by the start of May as that was the deadline for mastering. There were some ideas and songs but at the time of recording, the Russia / Ukraine conflict started and obviously in Finland, that was a big thing. So we suddenly realised we could make that a motif for the album. It was Juho’s idea to call it ‘Living In Fear’ and that felt like it defined a lot of the songs we had there. The album even ends with a song called ‘War Time’.

There’s also a lot of commentary with the fears and pressure people have in this day and age from social media. Artists, what we are supposed to do these days is be like Instagram stars and promote our music online. But people like Juho and me aren’t into that, so it kind of scares us in a way. So that’s one level, another is the change in the world right now environmentally but another is the dawning of AI; Artificial Intelligence scares a lot of people, is it going to take away our jobs? It’s going to change a lot of things and funnily enough, we did an music video for ‘Endless’ which was AI based… a year ago, a video like that would have cost a million dollars and now AI is doing it for a few pennies.

Then of course, there are personal fears you might have and there are some quite personal songs on the album from Juho and me. Fear is a really strong motivation in people’s lives and we realise that was something that the album could reflect. It’s not a theme album as such, not like ‘Blown Away’ was. But it’s an album that does have a theme and something we wanted to focus on because it was there.

I can imagine in Finland, you have that 1200+ km land border with the Bear Next Door and on your website bio, it mentions how growing up, music was your escape from The Cold War, Chernobyl and imminent nuclear destruction… so in your head with everything going on, has it been like “NOT AGAIN!!”?

Definitely, but at the same time, it’s weird and probably not very healthy either, it feels kind of comfortable to be back in that same state of mind that you grew up in!! It’s like you grew up in not a nice place, but you get 20-30 years out of it and then you get drawn back into The Cold War state of mind. It’s where I come from and there’s nothing good about it, but somehow feels very familiar so you can handle it in a different way, compared to others. Our generation grew up with it and it’s interesting how the 90s generation grew up very optimistic and open, while the Millennials were free to travel all over Europe and suddenly it’s a big change.

I totally get where you are coming from, because where I live, it was the centre for UK missiles so was a nuclear target. As an ULTRAVOX fan, you will know ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’, ‘All Stood Still’ and ‘All Fall Down’ were songs about Armageddon while there were other similarly themed songs such as ‘Enola Gay’, ‘Fireside Favourite’, ‘I Melt With You’…

Yes, for us, it been like “well, it’s back to the norm”, it’s something we became accustomed to growing up in the 70s and 80s, it’s like the baseline…

Do you anticipate if this tension goes on any longer, it will affect the artistic expression? Do you see art as channelling that angst again?

I think I’ve been channelling that through the years anyway! *laughs*

But overall, this decade has been a real downer with the pandemic and now the war, so if we are trying to look for silver linings here, I think it will be interesting for the creative community to get something out of it, the frustration, the fears and all that. For sure, it’s going to do something for music, for the arts, for anything creative. It remains to be seen, it’s not going to happen overnight.

Like now at the end of 2022, people are starting to release all the music they did during the pandemic and the lockdowns, so now we are getting the pandemic music. Yes, some people released stuff during the pandemic but now we can play gigs and people can travel, so the records are coming out.

Something we discussed during the making of the album is, has the pandemic affected how we listen to music? Suddenly you’re stuck for 2 years at home, so do you listen to a different kind of music? Is it stuff to calm you down because you’re not in the mood for party music because there’s nowhere to go as the planet was closed! So did it change how people react to music, what kind of music they want to listen to? Did they dig up some old records for comfort? That remains to be seen, I hope there’s some real studies out of all this.

The return of The Cold War is going to be a big thing for a lot of Europeans. Obviously in Finland, we follow a lot of this but even though NATO is more or less involved in the conflict at some level, in America or Asia or Africa, this is like this local thing that’s happening in Europe. Let’s hope it says that way, we don’t want World War 3! I think the effect will also be local and probably affect the Scandinavian music and arts. There will be a big impact.

Despite the surroundings it was created in, ‘Living In Fear’ has turned out to be your most accessible album and possibly your poppiest as a form of escape? Any thoughts on that?

When we realised a lot the songs deal with pretty heavy issues as the lyrics were quite dark, we wanted to juxtapose that with some light production and make it chirpy even. I guess on our level, it’s light if you don’t look deep into it. I think it was the contrast of the lyrics and the easier approach of keeping the darkness inside, so it looks shiny and nice outside. But once you open the door, you realise it’s doom and gloom, it’s in there but not in your face. Only on a couple of songs ‘Not in the Business of Forgiving’ and ‘Killing Dreams’ did we let them drown on their way as they needed to sound heavy. But otherwise on the other tracks, we tried to keep it escapist, like that escapism of the 80s, the plastic innocence to hide the doom and gloom.

I’d like to highlight ‘More Than I Can Love’ which drops in ‘What Is Love’ and ‘Enjoy The Silence’, there is this Eurodance with melancholy thing about it?

Juho had this demo and it was leaning towards early 90s, my guide if there was a song that had the right balance of uptempo dance beat and melancholy was ‘Disappointed’ by ELECTRONIC. I was aiming that kind of driving Eurodance but with this classic UK synth indie pop melancholy, that was the lead idea. We wanted to avoid sounding too much like 90s Eurodance but also we didn’t want to do the ‘Enjoy The Silence’ thing. It was like a balancing act, you don’t want to sound like you are just ripping someone off or doing an 80s rehash. You try to sound modern while staying true to the essence.

With the music we do and the influences we have, there are no secrets, people know… if you listen to our records, whether it’s SIN COS TAN, VILLA NAH or my solo stuff, it’s easy to figure out where we come from musically *laughs*

It’s really interesting that the technology at the time back in the day was moving so fast… compare the records people were making in 1980 and then 1990, how they sound and how they were made, it’s one of the biggest shifts we ever had in music in terms of production. I always felt like there wasn’t enough time for this sound to be explored enough because people were already moving onto the next thing.

Famously John Foxx said samplers ruined music and in a way I kind of agree, although I also disagree as I think samplers are great. But at the same time, the period of late 70s synthpop like the early stuff of THE HUMAN LEAGUE, it would have been interesting if that level of technology had been around for 10 years. People would have had more time to really dive into that sound and the different possibilities it offered… but it was all going so quickly and suddenly it was digital and samplers, going to the next thing.

So records started to sound dated within a year or two which was crazy. Pop music today, I think in the last 20 years, there hasn’t really been a sound in the sense of “a sound that you haven’t heard”. Modern music doesn’t date as quickly as it did in the 80s, but I still feel there are so many things that you can go into a rabbit hole of listening to with the 80s, stuff that could have been explored more.

One cool thing nowadays is something like Spotify and YouTube because you can find ALL the records that you never knew but existed but I don’t have enough time. There is so much more stuff I hear from the 80s that I would have loved to have heard back in the day. I keep finding “new” old records almost weekly that came out sometime in the 80s that I like. That’s the thing, things moved so quickly and people moved onto the next thing, so those records never really had a chance.

When it comes to what kind of sound you are looking for in a song, I think there is an endless bowl. SIN COS TAN has been put into this category of “80s synthpop” and all that, but “80s synthpop” is so much bigger than a lot of people realise and there is so much to explore. There’s so many things that could have become the next big thing but they didn’t because of trends, technology or whatever reason, the pace was just so quick.

Talking of technology, time for another card and it’s a Yamaha CS60…

I had the CS60 and the CS80 which was the big brother, it was one of the biggest and most expensive synths that you can still find, if you can find one. The CS80, in the late 90s, my friend and I were still living up north and found one in really bad condition. The guy who sold it to us said according to the serial number, it once belonged to Stevie Wonder; I don’t know if it was true… but then he didn’t charge extra and we got it super cheap. Me and my friend were both just doing dancefloor stuff and the CS80 was more of a keyboard player’s synth, even more than a Moog.

We had it for a while and realised because of its size and its weight that we couldn’t go back and forth to our studios with it. So it was stuck in one place and not used that much. Later on when I had my peak crazy synth collection period in 2006-2007 and had a really big studio, I had a CS60 there and that I did use quite a bit. I was more comfortable with my keyboard playing by then. I used it on a lot of records from that period, we used it on the first SIN COS TAN album, solo stuff and productions for Tiga. It’s another keyboard player’s synth and one time, I had Jimi Tenor come to my studio as he was doing a gig in Turku. So he was playing it and I realised it really is not about the equipment, it’s about the idea and your ability to play an instrument, those are the ingredients.

The magic that Jimi was able to get out of the CS60, it was mind-blowing but also depressing in a good way because you see people who are super-talented at an instrument… I’ve always been more of a programmer and classic producer type where I’m not great at anything, but can handle a lot of things to put it all together and make little tweaks.

When you work with people like Jimi who are super-amazing at playing or with Juho and his voice, you are happy that you know them and get to work with them. So there are keyboard players that can make those machines come alive. When choosing a synth, you have to think “what can I get out of this machine or is it wasted on me?”

I remember there was this classic ‘Top Of The Pops’ where John Foxx did ‘Underpass’ and the band had like three CS80s on stage which was crazy…

So how important then was “synth image” to you as a fan getting into this type of music, where your favourite artist uses a particular piece of equipment?

That was everything! That was kind of the whole thing, when setting up my first studio, it was like living this childhood dream being surrounded by synths. So yes, for sure, growing up in the 80s and seeing these pictures, watching the videos and reading magazines and all that, it seemed so futuristic and out of this world, especially all the drum machines and synths.

In Finland, most of the music you heard and saw was uninteresting rock and heavy metal so you would be lucky if there was a keyboard or even a piano player in a band. So this futuristic world with keyboards, flashing lights, LEDs, computers and all that, for me that was Science-Fiction. It was a really big part of the appeal that got me interested in electronic music. I did like electronic music even before I realised what it was, so it all ended up enhancing all those ideas.

Another card and it’s a Korg Poly 6…

I never had one but I’ve had a lot of Korgs; the thing with Korgs is a lot of my friends had the MS10 or MS20 but I never liked the sound. There was something about that sound that I never really took to, I appreciate it as a synth and I like that it is semi-modular.

But it’s also on a different scale than the Rolands with all the CV stuff so it didn’t work that well with them, so that was one reason. I think it was also something about the filters that I never really loved. I used a Yamaha CS15 for that sort of stuff, it was similar but duophonic and it also has audio-ins so you could use the filter and the filter was smoother than the Korg MS stuff.

Of the Korg polyphonic stuff, I hit the jackpot 20 years ago at an amazing synth store in Stockholm called Jam, the guy running it Johan was amazing and we became really good friends. I used to go there quite a bit. They are still going strong, I love them.

In Finland, we never had really good synth stores for vintage stuff. Although we are neighbours and Finland is bilingual with Swedish being our second language, the culture is so different when it comes to pop music. I was fortunate living in the north of Finland, I was close to the Swedish border so grew up with Swedish radio and TV.

In Sweden, they have an amazing scene with synthpop and electronic music, even from the 70s and 80s. There was so much stuff and variety and that’s how I discovered a lot of music. In the Swedish language, there is even a word “Syntare” for a person who listens to synth music and Italo disco. So I’ve always had really close relations to Sweden and because they had such a big culture in electronic music, there was more equipment going around. When I went there for the first time, it was like “WOW!”.

What did you buy at Jam?

I got this Korg PS3100 which is like a blown-up MS20; it had a patch bay and was semi-modular but a 48 note polyphonic analogue synth! It was again made for keyboard players but because of the semi-modularity, you could control the gates and outboard gear. So that became the staple of my sound for 15 years; I used it on so many records for the polysynth pads.

The Korg Poly 6 was one of the last of the analogue polyphonics of the 80s, I’ve had a lot of the drum machines and I had the Mono/Poly so I’ve had a lot of Korg stuff. Again, the Japanese stuff was cheaper to buy than Moog or Oberheim…

It’s interesting what you say about not getting on with the MS10 as Juho has one and used it in VILLA NAH who you co-produced…

VILLA NAH love the MS10 and they used it on the ‘Origin’ album, it was one of the key synths for their lead sounds and solos. It was fine by me; they get exactly the sound they want and it fits with their music. Me personally, it was never the kind of synth I wanted to have.

I take it that Juho might be less of a tech-head than you are, so within the dynamic of SIN COS TAN, does he stop you from going too far with that and gets you back on track with the song?

It’s a totally different hat that I’m wearing when I’m a producer for an artist. But when I’m working in SIN COS TAN with Juho, then it’s a band so it’s my project as much as it is Juho’s. However, when it comes to working for others, you forget about your mixed feelings about the MS10 and you embrace what they can do with that *laughs*

I really like the idea of having these different roles when it comes to making music, it really is a big part of the fun with a project. Even when I make stuff with Juho as SIN COS TAN, there really is this moment where I decide I’m not going to be the guy who writes music with Juho, I will be the producer and mixer and now take a different approach. I change the perspective that I have on those songs and it’s something that I learned when people have approached me to work with them. Remixing and producing other people are totally different animals but there is something similar. I like the idea where people reveal their music’s secrets to you in the studio, whether it’s a remix or a production to make it work on the dancefloor or whatever.

That’s always been super-fascinating and again, we get into the cool things and the modern age where things on like Spotify, you can listen to classic records that are re-released as boxed sets where they have demos and works-in-progress. The idea of these different stages of a journey that a song takes, that really intrigues me infinitely as a musician, producer and fan. I don’t want to necessarily buy all these records and in some cases, there is stuff that I don’t even like, but I like to be able to hear how the demo became the song.

It’s nice that people are putting all this stuff out, like a cassette demo of the just-written song, then the band comes in and there’s a version with a producer that didn’t work out, and the remixed version that works, that is so fascinating.

You’ve always struck me as being a music fan first and professional producer or musician second…

For me, being a music fan is the No1 priority, that is what I am foremost… everything else is a category under that. Being a music fan is where it all comes from and that’s still how it is.

‘Own The Night’ from the album is very film noir and for Halloween, you synchronised it to the 1922 version of ‘Nosferatu’… did you already have images in your head while making the song?

That was another demo that Juho had, but it was clear from the first draft that I had this idea of how it needed sound. If there is a song on the album that sticks out as not being within the ‘Living In Fear’ theme in the more serious sense, then it’s ‘Own The Night’. It’s slightly tongue-in-cheek especially with the video and vampire, it’s was some very subtle comic relief. We were trying to strike a balance, like in the intro where Juho is doing the deep “hmmm-hmmm-hmmmmm” voice, there’s 16 tracks of him doing this gothic choir thing and then there’s the build up with the harpsicord, it sounded super funny. But at the same time, we didn’t want to push it too much so that it didn’t sound too comedic. We didn’t want it to come across as cheeky or too light-hearted.

‘Own The Night’ reminded me of Ennio Morricone, I don’t know if that is a suitable reference?

Yes, it is overtly dramatic like a lot of the Morricone stuff with all these changes before the big chorus. It does have that classic Morricone feel to it, it was one of the toughest songs on the album to get right. From the original demo, we knew it had a lot of potential. At the same time, the execution needed to be punchy enough for the dancefloor but to keep that ethereal spooky atmospheric thing that controls the vibe, it was all about the balance.

This has made me think of PET SHOP BOYS ‘It Could Happen Here’ which used a section of that Morricone track ‘Forecast’ that had that almost comedic Bowie-esque vocal by BLIZZARD…

Well for me, I am obsessed with both PET SHOP BOYS and Ennio Morricone, so they are always in the back of my head whenever I make music, especially when I do stuff with Juho where we go for this extra flair or drama, these things do come out….

‘You Again’ is a good example…

Yes, that was like HI-NRG mixed with this Morricone-ish riff, it was upper dramatic with the verses and then there were his upbeat, uplifting chorus and dark lyrics for this contrast before the ending focussing on the violin riff building up. It’s a mixture of PET SHOP BOYS and Morricone, but one particular song that also came to my mind when making it was ‘Sounds Like A Melody’ by ALPHAVILLE which also has this outburst of energy in the outro as well.

Was ‘Tightroped’ influenced by DAFT PUNK or is that just in my head?

It’s in your head… but then again, DAFT PUNK is in our heads as well so… *laughs*

‘Tightroped’ was based on a track we started 5 years ago… although we had this break where we didn’t release anything, we had some studio sessions every now and then. But things never really clicked to make us go “WOW”, there were some good bits but it never crossed that threshold to make it continue and work towards an EP or album.

Then when we started this album, there was stuff we had never used and ‘Tightroped’ had this synth riff that I couldn’t even recall when we first did it! We didn’t remember it, it was like “Is that us? Yes, it’s us!”. The track was this downtempo John Carpenter thing, so I decided to disco it up which is something I always do when we go to a dead end with a song, like I did with ‘Trust’ which was originally downtempo. So it was time to put on a four-to-the-floor kick and not exactly do an Italo disco, but more late 70s Patrick Cowley track with live sounding drums. That opened up a lot of doors for it and then I came up with the chord change for the middle part and there was a new lyric, it kind of clicked. So it’s like retro disco that was fun to put out there.

I’ve always liked the way how you’ve never been afraid of disco, either saying it or doing it…

I do a lot of dance and club music, if you do like dance and club music, you have to love disco and even though I started my career in house and techno, you have to acknowledge there is the legacy of disco. There’s so much stuff in house music that sounds fresh and futuristic, especially when it comes to crossing into more electronic stuff like Patrick Cowley or Gino Soccio… even today, their records sound ahead of the time.

I was never a big fan of the orchestral disco, it was always the more minimal stuff where it is all about the groove and basslines with minimal changes and gradual growth as well as the more electronic end of it. Yeah, those records defined my taste in music.

Another card and it’s the Korg 800DV, otherwise known as the MaxiKorg, Dave Ball from SOFT CELL had one of these…

This would have been designed to sit on top of your organ where you would do chords on that and this would be the lead synth to do these melodies. Synths from this period, they were more aimed at this market so were slightly cheaper. That meant these types of synths were on a lot of interesting records that came out in the late 70s and early 80s. It was like a synth to add one layer or one riff or whatever.

What I love about this era was that each band had a particular sound because they could only afford one or two synths but they were explored more…

Yes, this is something I don’t think has been looked into in the documentaries… this will not sound very nice but there is too much credit being given to the people making the music, because a lot of the music was being made by equipment around at the time. The fact that people had their hands on 2 or 3 synths and they were at the mercy of these synths (not the other way round) and the records couldn’t sound like anything else than what the technology allowed at the time. So it was really about the imagination of the artists to abuse them and get the most out of them… it really was within the constraints of what the technology was at the time.

So I think the technology was what defined that music as much as the people who were making the music and it was true during that period, as it was later when techno came around. The records that people made were amazing but at the same time, if you get those certain pieces of equipment and you understand a thing or two about music and you know how things work, it’s very easy to get that sound, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get that great record. But the sound came from the equipment…

So are we talking Korg M1 piano here? *laughs*

No, we are talking about more about drum machines like the 808 or 909, the TB303 in acid house… things are defined by certain pieces of equipment. Like you couldn’t make a proper techno record if you didn’t have an 808 or 909. You really were kind of forced to have them or a sampler that could emulate a lot of that. If you had money, you could get the right equipment but that doesn’t mean you are going to make a great records because you still need to have some great ideas. But you could make these types of records without the equipment, you need the right drum machine to get the right dynamic in a club, you just can’t unless you have a million dollar studio with an engineer to make your record.

What I’m saying is the advent of the 808 or 909 enabled people to make a record in their bedroom that sounded good in a club, that for me was the big difference. It enabled dance music to become more direct for the people that were going to clubs, then going home and doing a record in their bedroom that sounded good in a club.

Obviously today, you can do anything with a computer so that has changed. But there was a brief period of time where you really did need to have certain pieces of equipment in order to make a dance record, regardless of how talented you were or what ideas you had or how great the songs were that you wrote. You couldn’t make a good dance record without a good drum machine. We sometimes forget the engineers who put all this stuff together … there was this documentary ‘808’ for example where even I was being interviewed, people are realising how hand-in-hand the technology and the changes in pop music just went super-fast in the 80s *laughs*

The final card is the EDP Wasp…

I never had one and I know there is a new version by Behringer… what makes the Wasp sound so interesting is the filter, so it’s on my modular system. I have an emulation of the Wasp filter, and I love the sound of it. But I think this was a really interesting time in the late 70s when these small UK and European companies doing these more limited weirder synths like the Wasp with its touch sensitive keyboard and Italian companies like Crumar that sounded different. There was this weird niche where people would be wanting something but couldn’t afford the American or Japanese stuff and would go for the weirder local products which adds something. I know in Finland, people had a lot of Russian stuff…

Oh, like the Polivoks? Did you have one?

Yes, I had one and I had a Faemi which was also Russian… so having stuff that’s not in the usual synth canon was great. There was a UK company that would sell synths as DIY kits and I got this CLEF B-30, a crazy, unpredictable little synth…

The kit company I remember in the UK was Powertran who made the Transcendent 2000, Bernard Sumner, Thomas Dolby and Ian Craig Marsh all had one…

There were a few different ones along with PAiA and I had a few of those, constructed by different people and put in different boxes, all sounding totally different and unreliable… you wouldn’t have wanted to go on stage with one! But in the studio, they were amazing and would provide those happy accidents. It was great that you didn’t know quite what was going to happen… the Wasp falls in some level into that category, with these giant companies doing their thing while these small companies doing their weird synths that are more punk in a way.

What’s your favourite synth that we haven’t mentioned yet?

I don’t know if it’s true, but I have a Roland Jupiter 4 which apparently used to belong to Simon Le Bon! The guy who sold it to me didn’t ask for anything extra but he said he bought it from him. I might as well continue my blissful life thinking that it is and for that reason, it is my favourite synth, if only because I get to share this story *laughs*

Otherwise, I don’t have any favourite synths, I had so much stuff over the years, I’ve come to appreciate them all, every synth I have ever owned or still own, had a purpose. They all do their own thing and they all inspire in a different way.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Jori Hulkkonen

‘Living In Fear’ is released by Solina Records as a limited edition vinyl LP and download

http://solinarecords.com/sincostan/

https://www.facebook.com/homeofsincostan

https://www.instagram.com/sincostan_official/

http://www.jorihulkkonen.com

https://www.facebook.com/JoriHulkkonen/

https://twitter.com/jorihulkkonen

https://www.instagram.com/jorihulkkonen/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3maaZRO6VRwTf6oUik93ZJ

Vintage Synth Trumps is a card game by GForce packed with facts and statistics that features 52 classic synthesizers, available from
https://www.juno.co.uk/products/gforce-software-vintage-synth-trumps-2-playing/637937-01/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Rainer Geselle
23rd November 2022

STRIKE EAGLE Interview

21 November 2022 /

STRIKE EAGLE is the retrowave project of Graham “G-Man” Waller, a producer from Gillingham in Kent whose influences range from synth and funk to progressive rock and heavy metal.

Having released two EPs and a number of collaborative singles with the likes of LAST ACTION HERO, SPECTRAL KNIGHT, ARCTIC MEGA DEFENDER and CZARINA since 2020, STRIKE EAGLE launches ‘Operation Mjölnir’, an imaginary jet fighter movie soundtrack comprising of filmic soundscapes, electro R ‘n’ B and synth assisted FM rock.

Inspired by ‘Top Gun’, ‘Iron Eagle’ and ‘Behind Enemy Lines’ with the spectre of cinema stalwarts Giorgio Moroder, Harald Faltermeyer, John Carpenter, Brad Fiedel, Ennio Morricone and Hans Zimmer all looming, the premise of ‘Operation Mjölnir’ is that a detachment of McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles are caught behind enemy lines and shot down. Their crews are captured and the story follows their subsequent escape back to friendly forces.

Graham “G-Man” Waller donned his aviators for a chat about his first album as STRIKE EAGLE, films, planes and digital synthesizers…

The first jet fighter movie I remember seeing as a kid was ‘The Bridges At Toko-Ri’ starring William Holden. There was also a French children’s TV series shown on BBC1 called ‘The Aeronauts’ which had pilots flying Mirages but the first ‘modern’ era film was ‘Firefox’ starring Clint Eastwood, so how did this fascination begin for you?

The fascination for aviation in general came from building Airfix kits with my dad. I also remember my grandad yelling “ACHTUNG SPITFIRE” at anything in the sky with a propeller as he was a funny guy like that, but I had a fascination with aircraft from those moments. Later it was watching ‘The Battle of Britain’, ‘Mosquito Squadron’ and ‘The Dambusters’ with my dad at Christmas time when those films always seemed to be on.

My first jet fighter movie was around age 10 or 11 and watching ‘Top Gun’ for the first time after catching a few moments of it on TV and wanting to rent it. After getting a bit of a talk about the sex scene, I was allowed to watch it and well, that was it. Granted that movie is a glorified recruitment advert for the US Navy, it struck a chord with me and I wanted to join the RAF and be a fighter pilot after seeing that movie.

Did you visit air shows as a youngster? What impression did they have on you?

Sure. I remember my first big airshow was at RAF Mildenhall when they used to run those. It was likely the early 90s and what an awakening that was. Getting to see just what those air frames can do is magnificent. Truly awesome. So it only solidified my love for aviation.

Jet fighter iconography is not unusual in pop music, SUEDE had discarded a English Electric Lightning on the cover of ‘Sci-Fi Lullabies’ while OMD actually called an album ‘English Electric’… the Lightning is a beautiful plane but what is your favourite jet fighter of all time and why?

Agreed the Lightning is a fantastic air frame and beautiful to boot, except the F6 variant when they gave it a beer belly ventral fuel tank and above the wing external tanks due to the landing gear taking up so much room! Eww!

My favourite jet fighter of all time is the Panavia Tornado. Something about that swept wing, mud moving, accurate ordinance delivering machine is sexy to me. What a noise! I got to start an F3 variant of the Tornado during my time in the Air Training Corps for work experience as ground crew and it was a highlight of my life so far.

What about the worst jet fighter of all time? I nominate the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter which had a such a high accident rate, it was known in Germany as Fliegender Sarg (“Flying Coffin”) or Witwenmacher (“Widowmaker”) due to 116 Luftwaffe pilots being killed in under 30 years, and this is during peacetime! Incidentally, Terri Nunn of BERLIN is standing on one in the video for ‘Take My Breath Away’ when she’s all windswept in the middle of the Mojave Desert!

Wow, we really are getting nerdy now! OK worst jet fighter for me has to be the Vought F7U Cutlass or “Gutless Cutlass” as it was known to the US Navy. The thing was fraught with problems and like the Starfighter caused a high number of accidents and fatalities. Plus it looks like a child designed it!

You actually covered ‘Mighty Wings’ from ‘Top Gun’ but that didn’t make the album?

I wanted this album to stand on its own as a soundtrack to the movie in my head, so a cover didn’t make sense to put on there. However, the ‘Covering Fire’ EP is a homage to some of my favourite songs of the 80s including ‘Mighty Wings’, ‘Burning in the Third Degree’ (from ‘The Terminator’) and ‘Halo’ by DEPECHE MODE. I feel that work stands on its own and deserved its own EP.

How did the idea for ‘Operation Mjölnir’ come about?

The concept came from a need to write to something. I love telling a story and creating a love letter to the fighter pilot movie soundtrack has always been on my to do list. Obviously I love the 80s and so to that end, it had to be 80s rock in nature and smothered with synths. I had an idea in my head of the plot I wanted to write to and each track grew from the plot points of that idea.

The aesthetic of ‘Top Gun’ makes its presence felt, did you have to clear that ringing Harold Faltermeyer sound that recurs through the album?

Given the “Top Gun Bell” sound is actually the ‘Tubular Bells’ preset on the Yamaha DX7, the sound is free to use as you see fit. Faltermeyer used 16 layers of the sound with different tunings to get that iconic noise. I used 4 for the songs on the album that feature the DX7 patch. So, if you have access to one or software that does the same, hit some low notes, pop on some aviators and feel freaking awesome for a few moments. I know I did!

‘Cold Start’ sets the scene, what images did you have in your mind?

It’s the break of dawn, mist hugs the asphalt of the taxi way in front of the armoured hanger as the crew of the Radical One approach their F-15E Strike Eagle to begin their training for the day. The fuel is being pumped, the crew and ground crew are doing their final checks and climb into the cockpit to don their gear and strap in. The engines begin to spool and final checks are made and they begin to taxi to their take-off runway to start their day. That’s what I had in mind.

Other soundtracks appear to have had an impact, was Billy Idol’s theme song to ‘Speed’ one?

Wow, I’ve not thought about that movie in years! Granted having re-listened to that song since you have made that comparison, I see why you would say that. I believe you are referring to the track ‘Hard Target’. That song was written with the idea of “What would Billy Idol and MOTLEY CRÜE’s baby sound like?” and inadvertently Billy already answered that question with that track! So, yes Billy was an inspiration on the record but that track in particular wasn’t.

One unexpected inspiration seems to be Ennio Morricone and ‘The Ecstasy Of Gold’ from ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ which appears to linger in ‘Muninn Flight’?

‘Muninn Flight’ was written as a reprise of the opening track ‘Cold Start’ to bring the idea of that song back for the final scene but with a full song structure and arrangement. Granted, I can see why a few opening notes of each phrase would make you think that it was inspired by ‘The Ecstasy Of Gold’ and while I love Maestro Morricone’s work, he wasn’t an inspiration while I was writing the song. I was channelling and paying tribute to the composers Harold Faltermeyer, Hans Zimmer, Vangelis and Brad Fiedel into the main theme for this album as their work is powerful, synth based and part of many of my favourite movies.

How did you get ‘The Lost Boys’ sax man Tim Cappello on board for the more electro R ’n’ B derived vibes of ‘Music Come Alive’ which has Mandi Harkett on vocals?

I have enjoyed Tim’s work for ages and especially his work with Tina Turner. I knew he would be incredible for this song. So I used my classified sources to get in touch and send him the demo. He said yes and I’m over the moon with the results.

What was the inspiration behind ‘Extraction’ which has much more of a tense gothic presence than the other tracks?

‘Extraction’ is the chase scene in the movie following an escape from a prison. I am a huge fan of dark synth and especially the work of the French composers in the genre, BLOODPANIC being one of my favourites. So I reached out and he said yes. The inspiration comes from riding a motorbike at breakneck speed through the streets of an unknown town while being chased down by your captors. The pace and mood of the track is a reflection of that and I think we captured it.

The album closes with ‘Wings Of Your Heart’, an electro rock collaboration with SYST3M GLITCH…

SYST3M GLITCH is great to work with. I was inspired to do a movie soundtrack album after hearing his Sci-Fi based ‘Beyond Stars’ record in 2021 and after making connections with him in a professional capacity earlier this year (we are both professional audio engineers and producers), I reached out to see if he would be interested in working with me on a song. It was a great working atmosphere to deliver the “riding into the sunset with your love interest” kind of vibe we were going for with it. Full of great ideas and creativity.

Do you have any particular favourite moments on Operation Mjölnir‘?

The songs changed so much during their creation and I let them become what they wanted to be rather than forcing an idea that wasn’t working. I wouldn’t say I have a favourite moment as such. With the concept of the record as it is, I’m very proud of the work as a whole and it would mean the world to me if it resonates with other people too.

The album is very eclectic and reflects your tastes, but who do you think this album might appeal to?

Good question. I hope it appeals to 80s rock, metal and synth heads alike as well as fighter aircraft nerds like myself. It would be amazing to me if they can vibe with it while playing flight sims or watching an airshow or driving down a beach road with the top down signing at the top of their lungs.

What is next for you, either as STRIKE EAGLE or in another guise?

I have a bunch of collaborations in the works but again those are classified for now. But if you follow me on my social feels, I’m sure the details will be revealed in good time.

ELECTRICITY CLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Graham “G-Man” Waller

‘Operation Mjölnir’ is available in limited edition clear blue vinyl LP, cassette and digital formats from https://strikeeaglesynth.com/

https://www.facebook.com/strikeeagleband

https://twitter.com/strikeeagleband

https://www.instagram.com/strikeeagleband/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2wKAMNs3GBaOT4TlIYegCq

https://linktr.ee/strikeeagleband

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
21st November 2022

RODNEY CROMWELL The Winter Palace

18 November 2022 /

Intended as a soundtrack to a post-truth world, Rodney Cromwell presented his second album ‘Memory Box’ in Spring this year.

While themed around selective memories, its closing track ‘The Winter Palace’ is about wanting to forget a lost love. Utilising motorik mechanisation as its backbone, there are shades of OMD and NEW ORDER within the glacial electronic soundscape while a glorious synth solo thrown in for good measure. Behind Rodney Cromwell is indie veteran Adam Cresswell, once of SALOON and ARTHUR & MARTHA, he tells his former beau: “I dream of you regardless, whether I am asleep or awake”.

Fresh off a number of prestigious live dates opening for BLANCMANGE, Adam Cresswell gave an explanation of ‘The Winter Palace’.

‘The Winter Palace’ is the track that many have singled out from ‘Memory Box’, what do you think is the key to its appeal?

I’ve no idea. It was only after people started telling me that it was “a beautiful song” that I realised it was any good. I’m never the best judge. But I am very glad people like it because I spent ages on it; I re-wrote the melody and lyrics three times, then I re-pitched the whole thing into a different key so I could sing it better and because I use knackered old synths, it meant I had to re-record almost everything from scratch.

As to why people like it, well, I guess we live in complicated times, perhaps its appeal is in its simplicity. I think we all want to escape out of the super complexity of our digitally driven lives sometimes. The song is essentially five chords – all vintage synths, no programming beyond the drum machine – so it might be new to 2022, but it’s a simple construction with a familiar sound. The synths may feel icy, but it’s actually a super-warm production that you can immerse yourself in, like a cosy blanket. And the lyrics are pretty universal too; it’s about obsessing over someone despite not really liking them. Most of us can relate to that.

Yes, can relate to that… so what is ‘The Winter Palace’?

Whatever you want it to be. I got the name from Lucy Worsley history show about the Russian tsars. It just sounded cool so I thought “I’ll have that”. It suited this song because I see the narrator as someone out in the cold with the object of his affection – or contempt – distant and unobtainable. It was originally called ‘Seemingly Infinite Sadness’ but that was a bit pretentious even for me.

How did the video concept come together?

Martin J Langthorne who plays synth in my live band and who was behind the whole ‘Memory Box’ design aesthetic directed it. I just asked Martin if he could put together something that looked like the record sleeve coming-alive. It’s a juxtaposition of concrete brutalism and the natural world; light and dark tones with explosions of colour. The concept was I suppose, to do something incredibly conceptual, while trying to pretend it’s simple and incredibly down to earth. Which is a nice summary of the whole Rodney Cromwell project.

You’ve been opening on selected dates for BLANCMANGE, how have you found the experience?

They’ve been brilliant; it was lovely playing to a really appreciative audience that really got what we do. And also playing in venues that can do justice to our lo-fi – but epic – sound was a breath of fresh-air.

I thought we were a pretty good fit with BLANCMANGE too because, obviously while they are super-professional and serious about giving a real great performance, there is often a wicked irreverence to what they do; one minute they’ll be playing an poignant synth ballad and the next Neil Arthur is making you laugh-out-loud singing about a lettuce. Our own irreverence though often falls into farce. On our first night I managed to lose my tour pass, and my hotel key and very almost the trousers I was wearing, so God knows what they thought of us.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Adam Cresswell

‘The Winter Palace’ B/W ‘Rod, Jane & Freddy’ with remixes by Gemma Cullingford and INFRA VIOLET is released by Happy Robots Records and can be heard on the usual online platforms

‘Memory Box’ is available as a yellow vinyl LP, download available from https://rodneycromwell.bandcamp.com/album/memory-box-2

https://www.happyrobots.co.uk/rodney-cromwell

https://www.facebook.com/rodneycromwellartist/

https://twitter.com/robot_rocker

https://www.instagram.com/robot_rocker/

https://open.spotify.com/album/5undXq2henqQw2lBmqcEM8

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by Alison Ahern
18th November 2022

UNIFY SEPARATE Interview

8 November 2022 /

The Scottish Swedish pairing of Andrew Montgomery and Leo Josefsson released their debut album ‘First Contact’ in 2019 under the two letter moniker of US.

Extending their name to UNIFY SEPARATE, their excellent second album ‘Music Since Tomorrow’ looks at the future in an uncertain world, shaped by Montgomery’s own relationship breakdown and the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

A record of conflicting emotions, other topics include environmental issues, social media and the disconnects of life. Augmented by more guitars than heard on ‘First Contact’, a denser sound is presented on ‘Music Since Tomorrow’ to document a period of personal struggle that many can relate to. Josefsson’s machines battle with six string contributions from Christian Persson and SUEDE’s Richard Oakes while Montgomery tests his vocal range with lots of emotive falsetto.

A darker, more indie sounding album than their US debut, despite the midlife sorrows, UNIFY SEPARATE have provided a collection of glorious pandemic pop to savour. Andrew Montgomery and Leo Josefsson chatted with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK and reflected about their ‘Music Since Tomorrow’…

‘Music Since Tomorrow’ documents a period of personal and existential upheaval, this can’t have been an easy album to make?

Andrew: It really wasn’t! Like everyone in the world, we struggled with the strangeness and sadness of the pandemic, even though Sweden didn’t go into actual lockdown and we were both lucky not to lose anyone due to it. But there were also personal things in the background which cast a bit of shadow over the album process. It’s fair to say that coming to the studio to work with Leo was personally a bit of a refuge for me at a time when I was wee bit lost, and to know that we were creating something special was a bit of a light in the darkness.

To also see just how much artistry Leo put into the production and song composition inspired me to give my utmost and rise to the standards he was setting. But ultimately, like so many other artists, there’s also the situation of being a band that needs to do other jobs to get by – that’s not always easy either, as many musicians know. We made it to the finishing line, though, and we’re lucky that we are both blessed with good health and good people around us.

Did the creative dynamic between the two of you become affected as a result?

Andrew: Sometimes it got a little tense, but Leo, in common with most Swedes I know, seems to have a very long fuse! I’m much more inclined to get het up over things. He is better at just getting on with it, I think. But we’re still friends. Right, Leo? … Leo????

Leo: Andrew has days where I simply just have to drink even more coffee and everything will be ok.

Have you managed to get your ‘Closure’? Where did the trancier influences on that track come from?

Leo: 🙂 We see what you did there! Actually it’s a result of Andrew introducing me to loads of current electronic music such as MODERAT and FLOATING POINTS, as well as Kelly Lee Owens, Nicolas Jaar and Jon Hopkins. It also re-awakened my previous fascination for EBM and darker-tinged club music such as NITZER EBB, UNDERWORLD and FRONT 242. There was also some inspiration from the ’28 Days Later’ theme in there.

‘Solitude & I’ can be appreciated on a number of relatable levels…

Leo: We hope so! That’s a song about staying the course despite everything that’s being thrown at you. It works as a personal anthem and a collective one, especially in this day and age…

‘Embrace The Fear’ can be considered a product of lockdown but nearly a year and a half on from its single release, it still stands up and is a cornerstone of the album…

Andrew: That’s great to hear, thanks. We’re really proud of that one and it was indeed an important step forward in the way that we were expanding our soundworld. It builds on some of our shared musical foundations and influences, such as NEW ORDER, DEPECHE MODE and indie-dance music from the late 80s / early 90s, but it also has its own particular flavour that belongs to us. It’s a strong message allied to a strong and memorable tune. And who hasn’t wondered about embracing the fear in the last few years, if only just to get through the bloody madness we are being faced with on a daily basis…

Andrew: Yeah, okay, the Swedish guy was right. Again… 🙂

The vocals on ‘Way To Love’ capture an emotive weariness, what had been your mindset at the time of recording?

Andrew: Oh, you know, relationships… 🙂 Like, why the f*ck do I get myself into these situations when I know it’ll end in tears?!

There are more prominent guitars than on ‘First Contact’ with ‘The Void’ and ‘Waiting Game’ featuring the talents of Richard Oakes Of SUEDE, how did his involvement come about?

Andrew: Richard is an old friend of mine from the days when the band I was in, GENEVA, was on the same record label as SUEDE. We reconnected about a decade ago when I was working on my solo album with Sean McGhee, who is in the band ARTMAGIC along with Richard. Richard is in Sweden quite often and it was a natural step to invite him to Leo’s studio to play him some tunes and drink a few beers. He was really happy to play on a couple of tracks, and so I guess that confirmed the guitar direction, though we’d already been going there because both Leo and I wanted to broaden the reach of the record and our sound.

As a song, ‘The Void’ really hits a nerve… what was its genesis?

Leo: It began as a sort of soul-inspired track that Andrew was convinced was a winner from the off, whereas I felt it needed more work (I’m usually right 😉 ). I had a vision for it based on Giorgio Moroder-meets-Morricone, with a bit of Phil Spector Wall of Sound too. I had this flash of inspiration and decided to record the voice of one of my daughters, and it led me to produce the track in the way you hear it now.

It’s a sort of angsty, new wave track that was just begging for guitar. Luckily enough Richard loved it and was happy to contribute. He elevated it onto a different plane and it was a brilliant experience watching him play along to it.

Technologically, how has your sound developed since ‘First Contact’? Have there been any new toys brought in?

Leo: During the pandemic I went a bit mad and became obsessed with technical perfection in the studio, and upgraded both my equipment and recording, mixing and mastering skills. I learned a lot, but it was an extremely intense experience (and expensive too!). But I had to go through that process to capture the sorts of sounds I was hearing in my head – more instrumentation, bigger production, a more in-your-face approach that left nothing out. I invested in the Dangerous Music ecosystem (that was a hallelujah! moment) and high-end equipment from Wes Audio and Tegeler Audio. It was crazy, but it was worth it! I’m happy now 🙂

Andrew: I don’t think Leo’s bank manager is very happy, though…

What is ‘Dying On The Vine’ referring to?

Andrew: It’s about social media addiction and people who solely derive their worth from likes and comments online. There’s a bit of a play on words because Vine was that short-lived video promo tool that got swallowed up Twitter and (essentially) spat out again, a bit like people who play the social media game. It’s a mixture of anger and pity and ends up trying to be compassionate for the SoMe obsessive, who’s really the victim at the end of it all. And let’s face it, we’ve all been there…

If you don’t mind me saying, ‘Radio Waves’ has echoes of GENEVA with its chopping strings… coincidental?

Leo: We don’t mind you saying that at all! No, we just wanted to go for a big arena sound that suited the epic nature of the song’s subject matter. And who doesn’t love a good string section?

‘In Over My Head’ eerily has elements of Philip Glass and Jean-Michel Jarre?

Andrew: Thanks. Both of those guys are musical touchstones for us so we’re delighted that you think so! And yes, it’s a bit of an eerie subject matter, I guess, so hopefully it all fits together.

‘Music Since Tomorrow’ works very well as an album experience but do you have any particular favourite tracks for any particular reasons?

Andrew: Thank you! My favourite is ‘In Over My Head’ as it was fun to create, despite the dark subject matter. And I really, really love Leo’s production on it.

Leo: Hey! Now you’re asking me to choose my favourite child and in Sweden that is illegal!! But, if I may divide it into songwriting and production, I am very proud of my production on ‘In Over My Head’ and that I dared to stay with my original idea for the arrangement. ’Closure’, ‘Embrace The Fear’, ‘Visitors’ and ‘Dying On The Vine’ are other personal favourites.

What’s next for UNIFY SEPARATE, will you take this record onto the live stage? Did opening for SUEDE fire you up to do more gigs?

Andrew: Supporting SUEDE was an honour for us, and we have had some interesting enquiries since then. We love playing live and what the SUEDE gig confirmed for us is that we and our music belong on big stages in front of big audiences. We are absolutely ready for taking this album out on the road and we’re always happy to hear from promoters wherever in the world they are.

ELECTRICITY CLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to UNIFY SEPARATE

‘Music Since Tomorrow’ is available direct from https://unifyseparate.bandcamp.com/

http://www.unifyseparate.com

https://www.facebook.com/usmusicspace

http://www.instagram.com/unify_separate

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0h9f9Dz3aVBP41aEF3GDON

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Mehdi Bagherzadeh
8th November 2022

A Short Conversation with MECHA MAIKO

24 October 2022 /

For her third album as MECHA MAIKO, Toronto-based Hayley Stewart has a impassioned message that things are ‘NOT OK’.

Triggered by the various social-political flashpoints that emerged during the worldwide pandemic, a lyrical maturity has emerged compared with the charming naivety of her debut MECHA MAIKO long player ‘Mad But Soft’. But while there is now more serious intent, the sense of fun in the instrumentation continues to ensure that the message can get through and be appreciated on a number of levels. Displaying the care-free sonic idealism that was showcased on the interim ‘Okiya’ EP and her second album ‘Let’s!’, MECHA MAIKO continues her fascination with Far East while adding techno rhythms into the mix.

Hayley Stewart spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the making of her latest MECHA MAIKO opus and why it’s still NOT OK…

Looking back now on your first two albums ‘Mad But Soft’ and ‘Let’s!’, there was a major leap in your approach to your music from the more dreamier sound of your debut to the musical Bento box of your second, how do you see your own creative transition to where you are now?

A handful of the songs from ‘NOT OK’ were started while I was attending ORO listening parties, where a group of local artists got together and shared their demos and recently completed tracks. BULKHEAD had brought me into the fold and had shared a lot of their musical influences with me – for example, turning me onto LIES records – which ended up being a huge well of inspiration. I also found inspiration by the unflinching, gritty sonics in tracks from the likes of Nailbiter, Josh Tan, and so many others.

This chapter really opened the door for me to fall in love with techno again, this time in a darker shade compared to the poppy, uplifting dance numbers I had grown up with in the late 90s. MSTRKRFT had shared a recording of one of their improvised hardware sets from years ago and I felt, hell yeah, why not play around a little more instead of focusing on a smooth and perfect performance? I would go home and make pop music still, of course, but I felt compelled to leave harsh edges around everything I did. There’s a certain empowering feeling when you let things hit a little harder; as well as when you have the space to leave some imperfections and improvisations – things that feel human.

‘Apathy’ from ‘Let’s!’ was an example of Bento box thinking, with swing, techno and traditional music from South East Asia thrown into the mix, what was going through your mind when you were piecing it together.

I still had a couple vintage recordings that I wanted to rework into new tracks from when I was working on ‘Okiya’ that didn’t fit the bill. To be frank, I just threw all expectations out the window to see what naturally occurred. ’Apathy’ was basically just a creative challenge to see how I could create a dance track using some of my favourite 80s / 90s sounds using a 1947 recording as its basis (here’s the track for anyone curious). It’s also probably the most fun I’ve had with writing and performing vocals since I hadn’t attempted anything jazzy before.

‘NOT OK’ has an important message, was there any particular moment in what was going on in the world that it went from just a mighty song to an idea for an album concept?

I have always tried to incorporate subversive, relatable messages in my music but this time, I felt like I had to be more explicit since I was just so, so angry. The concept for the album was more of a product of living through multiple crises over the last near-decade and there being an utter failure by our institutions to act accordingly, let alone acknowledge wrongdoing. I’m not a cynical person, so living can be hard when you know that things should and can change for the better. Honestly, the most grounding thing to happen in the last little while has been watching Trump actually be prosecuted for some of his absurd (and this is too light a word) bullsh*t. It makes me feel less doomed.

Is this why ‘Just Some Guy’ ended up as a bonus track as it didn’t sit with the theme of ‘NOT OK’?

Precisely – it came into being at the very end of the album-making stage. It was a simple reminder to not get my head stuck up my own ass. As tech companies have taught us to measure success by using metrics of popularity and so-called ‘engagement’, we often think that having a platform and a base of supporters somehow means we’re infallible. I’m not the most popular artist out there, to be sure, but I’ve watched others develop a bit of a complex because they’ve experienced success. Thankfully, I’ve also met amazing people who have held onto their humility throughout their careers, which to me, is truly aspirational.

With the serious message of the ‘NOT OK’ album, how did you come to the idea that dance rhythms would be the best accompaniment, had the ‘Let’s!’ track ‘Phones’ been a seed to all that?

Dance rhythms are so much fun to make, so it felt natural! A good beat connects with some part of the lizard brain within us; on a subconscious, ancient level. A good dance track is one that you feel with your whole body, and I think that physical connection is important to feel when we’re talking about shaking off feelings of impotent rage and building a better world instead. Lyrics often feel like an afterthought in so much pop / dance music, and I didn’t want to throw away the opportunity to say something that I felt needed saying.

Even if some people listen to the album for the musical content alone, I’m happy – I just needed to get a lot of these thoughts off my chest, and hopefully normalize having more outspoken, left-leaning, heartfelt, lyrics.

It’s interesting how MECHA MAIKO has been considered part of the synthwave movement and ‘Innocent’ from the new album has hints of that, however ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK sees you as having more in common with European avant pop traditions, do you have any thoughts?

Well, I consider the affiliation with Avant Pop a major compliment – don’t mind if I agree! It makes sense considering my restlessness when it comes to sticking to a strict “sound”. I think my connection to the synthwave scene is a product of my first real break when I was with DEAD ASTRONAUTS. But even as I broke off and explored new sounds, a great deal of people were willing to join me for the ride, which I’m really grateful for. NewRetroWave has grown a lot as a label and I respect them immensely for supporting me through all my metamorphoses, even though there are definitely still some listeners who get disappointed when something “isn’t 80s enough…” – the 80s had a lot of notable artists who produced amazing experimental pop, so maybe the connection I have with 80s revival music has moved more towards a spiritual level than an aesthetic one.

How do you look back on appearing in ‘The Rise Of the Synths’ and how the final documentary came out?

I was still really naïve when this was shot, having only played a couple shows at the time. Being asked to appear in the doc was a lot of things – simultaneously an honour and a mystery as to why I was included and yet others weren’t… but the list of artists who do and do not appear is a can of worms and not my call to make.

Anyways, I feel like there were definitely better moments from the hours of filming that were more worthy of inclusion (probably like many others). To be frank, I’m a little underwhelmed that my appearance in the film seemed to focus only on my responses to questions about what it’s like to be a female producer. I’m still grateful for the experience, but respectfully, I think there were lost opportunities to really engage with the artists rather than having them simply muse upon the concept of synthwave.

‘Sunny, Softly (I Feel Love)’ appears to have been influenced by New York electro, had there been any particular records that shaped that and how did the idea of dropping Donna Summer in come about?

The lyrics “I feel love” felt so simple and perfect to summarize all the warm and beautiful moments I was writing about, which made me think more of a proper nod to the Donna Summer track was in order. There’s a weightlessness to her song that I wanted to have play through the listener’s mind at the same time that they were listening to mine.

‘The Kids’ heads more towards ‘Detroit’ and has political sentiments, what do you say to those who may consider that politics and music should not mix?

I’d say they should look deeper into music history.

‘400 Humans’ is almost electro body music and it’s quite clever how it threatens to morph into various famous tracks but doesn’t actually do so, like a tease; I can hear ‘Are Friends Electric?’ at the start and ‘Running Up That Hill’ in the middle…

It’s so interesting how you hear those tracks in there! On second listen I can hear the similarities. My musical diet definitely rubs off on what I create, so it’s neat to hear what people pick up on that I might not have noticed or referenced intentionally.

Had you focused on using any particular equipment or software in the production of this album?

The only real thing of note I played around with in the demo stages of the album was a ToneBoosters Trash plugin so I could get used to making things that felt really crunchy and distorted. In the final mixing / mastering stages I took this away and Jack Marko and I worked on getting some of those similar vibes from hardware compressors in the studio, and the result is a little warmer and less jarring than what I had originally worked with. To be honest the album would be a little unlistenable for some folks if I had kept it, ha ha.

In terms of voice effects, how do you keep the balance between natural and processed vibrato? What are your thoughts on how it perhaps has been overused into pop music?

With this album I decided not to do any vocal tuning and not to smooth out the vocals all to hell, haha. Vulnerability was an important element in the album so I wanted to keep things a little raw so that the emotions I felt while singing could translate better.

‘Webs’ uses metallic textures and sounds that echo pioneering UK acts such as HEAVEN 17 and DEPECHE MODE, does the early era of electronic music hold any interest for you either historically or as inspiration?

Oh, absolutely! HEAVEN 17 is actually one of the acts that introduced me to electronic music, up there with NEW ORDER. I was really taken with sounds that didn’t seem like they could really be created with acoustic instruments, partially because of their mechanical quality, or the strange spaces created by artificial reverb. My friend Sferro pointed out that the percussion in ‘Webs’ reminds him of songs created by David Wise, who was a composer for a lot of the soundtracks of SNES games I grew up playing. It blew my mind once he pointed this out since I realized I loved so much of his work – ‘Fear Factory’ from Donkey Kong Country was one of my favourites. Again, often I just feel like a sponge wringing out my influences whether I know it or not.

Do you have any particular personal favourite tracks on the album?

If I had to pick a favourite, it would probably be ‘Shut It Down’. I got to dig into production that reminded me a lot of what I listened to as a kid, but had stopped openly enjoying since almost none of my friends growing up were interested in the same sort of music. It felt good to be able to tap into those once-guilty pleasures and unabashedly write in some trance synths and relish the dance vibes, coolness be damned.

What is next for you?

Over the last year or so I’ve been working with some extremely talented producers on a project that I’m very excited about. I haven’t done any long-term collaboration like this in years, probably not since the days of DEAD ASTRONAUTS. I’m so fortunate that this group and I sync so well and I can’t wait to reveal the music we’ve been making.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Hayley Stewart

Special thanks to Michael Oakley

‘Not OK’ is released by New Retro Wave, available as a white / black coloured vinyl, CD, cassette and download from https://newretrowave.bandcamp.com/album/not-ok

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Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Zackery Hobler
24th October 2022

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