Everything But The Girl Still Going Techno On New Album
Ben Watt磤racey Thorn duo came to
electronic music late, but upcoming LP,
Temperamental, gets into dance-club
sound.
Contributing Editor Dakota Smith reports:
Although Everything but the Girl only recently
began to flirt with electronic music 霠coming to the
genre later than such trip-hop pioneers as fellow
Brits Portishead and Massive Attack 霠their ninth
studio album, Temperamental, finds the duo firmly
entrenched in the dance-club sound.
On Temperamental, released Tuesday, singer
Tracey Thorn and keyboardist/guitarist Ben Watt
combine deep drum & bass with heavy house
beats and jazzy, synthetic sounds.
The aptly named Watt said in an e-mail interview it
was the experience of working with techno-wise
artists Howie B and Spring Heel Jack on EBTG's
previous album, Walking Wounded (1996), that led
to the band's current style. The sound also was
influenced by the three years Watt has just spent
as a DJ, spinning house and drum & bass at
London's Bar Rumba and at the Notting Hill Arts
Club.
"DJ techniques offer fresh ideas to any producer
sand keyboard playing provide a musical bed
for Thorn's vocals. "Cross-fades, backspins,
filtering, motor stops, suspension of mood
all these fed into Temperamental."
For instance, deep house beats drive the album's
Watt-composed opener, "Five Fathoms." But over
the rhythms, Thorn adds the human touch,
recounting the nocturnal life of a London club-goer
in an airy voice: "I walk the city late at night/ Does
everyone here do the same?/ I want to be the
things I see."
On the energetic title track, the line "I don't want
you to love me," sung by Thorn, was sampled to
echo and loop over and over.
Watt, who DJ'd rough versions of some songs from
Temperamental while they were still in production,
wrote that he came up with the idea of sampling
Thorn's lyrics while DJing. Thorn, who is also 37,
just happened to hear it from the dance floor and
was enthusiastic. "She loved it. It was all part of an
ongoing process to change the way people heard
her," wrote Watt.
The duo first recorded the drum & bass track
"Blame" (RealAudio excerpt) with Massive
Attack for the 1997 film "Sarajevo." That version
was scrapped, but it was resurrected for
Temperamental, with frenetic beats and bass
provided by J Majik of Metalheadz.
Other guests on the album include the
Washington, D.C., house-music duo Deep Dish,
who remixed the EBTG hit "Wrong" in 1997, and
produced a new version of the 1997 Watt-and-Thorn
instrumental "The Future of the Future." Of working
with Deep Dish, Watt wrote, "They are deep, fat
and dark 霠in a totally accessible way."
Slower songs, such as the bluesy, jazzy "Low Tide
of the Night," and "No Difference," with its soft
horns, are more reminiscent of the sedate pop that
had characterized EBTG, who are best known for
their 1996 pop smash "Missing" (RealAudio
excerpt).
According to Watt, the band's arrangement and
production of its music may have shifted into the
electronic realm over the years, but its core sound
has remained the same. "People say that, in spite
of new dance grooves, we still sound the same,"
Watt wrote. "I always respected Miles Davis for his
ability to move through styles and bands and
grooves and yet always sound like himself."
The band will be headlining shows in Europe in the
fall and heading to North America for a tour early
next year.
[ Fri., October 1, 1999 3:04 AM EDT ]
--
gender is just an excuse, relationship shouldn't just be an excuse,
love is often an excuse, although sometimes these excuses are all
we have to hold onto,
death is the reason and living is the celebration
- Beth Orton
--
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