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Introspective
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by JACK OATMON Comprised of schoolyard pals and university chums, the U.K.’s Hot Chip have an uncanny ability to juxtapose the candidly earnest with the outrageously absurd, calm reassurance with headbanging brouhaha. This may be the mark of their long-term association, leading their songs and performance to display the kind of unabashed uncouthness that only old friends share. In eight years, they’ve churned out three contagious, critically adored albums, over a dozen EPs and singles and a monstrous pile of remixes for everyone from Queens of the Stone Age to Amy Winehouse. Their latest album, Made in the Dark, alternates erratically between their signature keys-and-chorus synth balladry, anthem-rocking riffs, thundering club beats and toe-tapping pop. The randomness of it all may seem disjointed, but the band’s greatest strength is perhaps their ability to hold it all together and consistently create their own unmistakable mood of curiosity, lighthearted jeering and the exploration of both sound and soul. Frequent visitors to Montreal, the past three years have seen them go from performing at Lambi to la Sala Rossa all the way up to Metropolis, but their ability to drive a room full of people nuts has not changed one bit. The Mirror spoke to drummer Owen Clarke about the band’s creative process, their sense of humour and the challenges of being innovative in a time of artistic proliferation. Mirror: To what extent are all the band members involved in the songwriting? Owen Clarke: A lot of it’s Joe [Goddard] and Alexis [Taylor]. But on the last record, Made in the Dark, we got a bit more involved, doing studio recordings. The next album will be more collaborative. M: You guys are a very different band live than on the records. How much impact does the show have on the recorded material? OC: The live show had a bit of a bearing on the last album. We were doing a bit of DJing as well and so we sort of learned more about song structures and things. And there are also a lot of quiet songs, so the last album was a bit more of a polarized take on our music. I think the next one will be more of a synergy of those things. The Warning [2006] was a synergy of introspection, and dance music and pop music. M: Why do you think it ended up so polarized, as you say? OC: It was recorded over a long time. We don’t go into the studio and do an album in two weeks like some bands do, or just jam and then go in and record it. We make music as we go and then make a collection at the end. That’s how we’ve been doing it so far. But I think we’ll try to do an album all in one go. I think it will be a challenge for us to do things in a bit more of a conventional way. Matter of laughs and deathM: There’s a lot of silliness there in that polarity and, like you said, introspection. How seriously do you take the content of your albums? OC: We’re not super earnest or super frivolous, we’re just humans and I think that we try not to impose a genre or a mood on the whole album. If you want to make an album of guitar-and-drums punk, you can do that, but there’s a whole world of instruments and a whole world of moods and emotions. Humour’s a part of life, and food and sex and death are all parts of life. There’s room for introspection or exhibitionism. M: Given that broad approach and the wide range of styles you guys touch on, people often see you as an innovative group. But do you feel like right now is an innovative time for music? OC: I think now is a very challenging time for music. There are more photographers and artists and graphic designers and musicians than ever before. The tools have been made more readily available. I think it’s quite interesting that a wide spread of music is being made. People can find out about new sounds and new ideas very quickly, so I don’t know whether big innovation is happening. Maybe there are just many innovations happening. And they’re all influencing themselves. But it’s quite hard to spring something on people nowadays. WITH GROWING AT METROPOLIS ON |
