It's been six years since Fridge's last album, Happiness. What brought you back together to make a new record?
We'd never really been apart. I think we started to consider how to make a new record around 2 years after Happiness was done. I don't think the length of time between records was on purpose, more just a result of Adem starting his own thing and Kieran's success as Four Tet. It had always been the plan after Happiness to each go our own way a bit and try other stuff out. Fridge then became important in a different way - as that thing which set us out in the first place, let us think collectively rather than singly about music etc. So it had this forward and backward property - as a memory, but also a gentle, extremely informal way of putting ourselves back together.
The thing that let us get the record finished finally was really an alignment of moons (I mean timetables), whereby, just before I moved to the states for school, we found a few weeks where we could hit the studio and fill in the gaps in the record (and by gaps, I mean lots of songs).
What were the influences, if any, for making The Sun?
In the end, I think this record came out pretty influence-less. However, we're pretty voracious consumers of music and there are plent of points on the record that say "I like this beat" or "the way the bassline moves on this record is great" and we work almost straight from there. In sum though, even if these influences form the bedrock of the track, our recording process tends to take us away in a direction that's more our own, whereby we improvise heavily, multitrack a lot of melodic and percussive elements. Given that, I'd like to thing that, like Happiness and most of Eph, "The Sun" represents our own sound - loose, playful, fairly thick in places.
What instruments, traditional or non-traditional, did you use in recording The Sun? How do you think that's reflected in the record?
We have, over time, collected a fairly large number of rather strange instruments. Adem really likes to pick these up when he sees them. He's probably at home playing the mini steel pan right now, shuffling to an imagined soca beat. However, with this record, at least writing for it in advance of the recording sessions, we tried to stick to the traditional drums, bass, guitar. Despite this, one song did end up being composed of 808, piano, double bass and chinese guitar. Henceforth, this will be known as "the classic quartet".
Do you think the individual projects (Four Tet, Adem) are monopolizing Fridge's time these days?
Well, they are, but that's not to the detriment of Fridge. I just think it serves a different purpose to the others. Plus, for the first time, we don't all live in the same country (I'm in Boston for the next year or so at grad school), so it's mostly impractical for us to get together. This summer, where we'll play a few shows, and maybe the fall too, will be the first time we've been all together in nearly a year. Given all this, and what we want to acheive with our lives, it's only fair that Fridge is less of a focus.
How do you guys begin the process of making a post-rock, or post-electronic record? (It seems as though you can slap "post-" onto any preexisting genre and it still makes sense). Specifically, is there a process or do you go with the improvisation route?
For this record, we wrote about half the songs in advance, rehearsed them, put what we have to tape and then work on them once they're recorded. Let's call it semi-improvisation.
Is there a fear of being pigeonholed as a "post-" band, or any genre,for that matter?
Being a post-band is better than being a pre-band. There's usually too much pre-music going on.
I'm struck by the darker songs of The Sun, as compared to to the shimmery songs of Happiness. Was this a deliberate gesture, or am I just imagining things?
I'm not sure we had darkness in mind at the outset, but certainly I'd say track 1 ("The Sun") is clearly in a darker mood and maybe that sets an emotional pitch for tracks to come. However, I'd say that "Clocks" is one of the more upbeat songs we've written, with a pretty optimistic key change in the middle. I'd like to think there is light and shade on the record, both optimism and pessimism.
On Happiness, you focused on the sounds of traditional instruments, almost constructing a particular theme for the record. What is your theme, if any, this time around?
With Happiness, we spent a lot of time really trying to work on the cogence of making a record. Of building tracks to hit specific spots in the record and so on. In this case, we had that still - and due to everyone's experience of making albums being that bit greater, it came easier, but I think The Sun is more focused on sound and sonics. We spent a lot of time trying to make it sound right, on performing the songs as we wanted them, on making sure they were sequenced properly. We were really hoping to find a level of intensity and have the sound guide people through.
Fridge's music is delightfully instrumental. Would you guys ever consider adding the vocal element?
We've always known that Adem sings beautifully. It turns out he writes great lyrics too. However, I have to admit (and I think he'd be with me on this too), that they weren't so hot when we were 18/19 and, as such, the decision (although there never really was a 'decision' as such) to be an instrumental band at that time was a no-brainer. We're not going to change, simply because we think it'd constrain our options and thinking about music. To accommodate vocals, we'd have to change too much and we'd no longer be ourselves. And, you know, as they say in all the self-help books, that's something you need to remain faithful to.
Any closing comments, recipes, or other information you might want to share with Kevchino readers?
I love to cook. Much better than music, politics, programming, whatever. The best recipes are ridiculously simple. Pasta with tomato sauce - slice 2 cloves of garlic thinly, fry in quite a lot of olive oil until just turning and then add a large can of really good chopped tomatoes. reduce. add a touch of vinegar and sugar, salt and pepper. Stir into good pasta with parsely and parmesan. also, try marinading a leg of lamb in harissa (the moroccan chili paste). Open it up down the bone and barbecue on a medium heat until the meat is nicely pink. Slice up, season heavily and serve in pita bread with lemon, yoghurt and cucumber. Anyone wanna come over for dinner? |