Hi - for those who'd like to know a bit more about what they might be getting, before buying the "Songs for the Uninvited" CD - here's what was said when Rami Dahud from CDReviews.com asked about it...
Dear Alistar,
This is Rami Dahud from CDReviews.com. I am writing to you tonight, first, in order to express my appreciation for your having sent me your copy of "Songs For the Uninvited", presumably for the purposes of reviewing your material. I received the album this afternoon, and have already given it more or less an entire run through, and will do so again soon. I don't think weird is a sufficient adjective to capture the abstractness of your work!
Anyway, this leads me to my second reason for this e-mail- if I am to review your album, I certainly want to do justice to the material, and if there is anything you feel I should know in advance about the album- a fundamental guideline, or a concept you have attempted to convey, please let me know. Although most listeners won't have the privilege of having your own words supplement their understanding of the material, perhaps cluing me into it would help in ensuring future listeners understand your album the way it was intended to be understood...unless that ambiguity is part of its purpose. ;)
Okay, that about does it. Once again, thanks for your consideration, and also, if there is anyone else you know who would like their material reviewed, feel free to refer them to me- can always use new underground electronic music.
Sincerely,
Rami Dahud
P.S. I understand if you don't necessarily want to dish out your secrets, but tell me- what's the backstory behind the "lyrics" to electro? :)
ANSWER:
Hi there Rami - thanks for getting back to me.
As David Lynch would say in reference to his films - it can be a mistake to over-analyse - sometimes the weird stuff's in there just to make it feel interesting....
What we're dealing with here is trying to use the combinations of music & obscure found clips of spoken vocals to create interesting textures & atmospheres. As you very perceptively surmised, it deliberately creates a mood of ambiguity/ obscurity & a certain amount of abstraction simply for the sake of enhancing the weird atmosphere - rather than to create any particular meaning.
We create the music first. We collect obscure sound-clips all the time & try them out against the piece of music, until it sounds "right" & creates an interesting atmosphere. Often then, the title of the track is based on something from the vocal-clip.
All my favourite music, films, paintings tend to adhere to this model of a certain amount of traditional structure, combined with abstraction, to create unique atmospheres & textures. It was hearing the Australian band Severed Heads in the eighties, that led me to this love of weird electronic music with obscure spoken vocal clips. Also, quite often, the clips can be amusing in a dark kind of way - so there is humour involved as well.
In the case of Electro - it is a kind of sister-track to Etero. The filename of the clip used in Etero is called Etero - so we simply used the same title. It's a clip of women giving out punishment to men (as you may have guessed!). It wasn't our intention for Electro to be about the same thing, but it just so happened that when we tried this other women-punishing-men-type-clip, it fitted absolutely brilliantly with the music we'd done. The title was simply chosen because it was similar to Etero, thus helping to identify the songs as a kind of pair.
I think basically, that listeners shouldn't try too hard to understand, but rather they should surrender their senses to the atmosphere, textures & feelings created...they should consume it as they would food, enjoying the textures & flavours & the way they interact on the way!
Ok Rami, I hope this helps - once again thank you very much for taking an interest...
Many thanks,
Alister