Emerging Fervour

After the first time I listened to Silent Devices and their EP “Two Decades“, I was left with two questions. Why haven’t I heard of this band until now? And why are they apparently unsigned?

The most beautiful thing about their music is the way they avoid this miserable apocalyptic atmosphere that often comes along with post rock. Josh, Scott, Alex and Charlie make something you could call “lyric post rock”. Layers of sounds and vocals intertwine and become some sort of a magic carpet. Make yourself comfortable and fly away!

“Two Decades” stands out, because it’s genuine. Silent Devices have a keen sense for their own musical strengths and I guess that’s why they’re not afraid to set priorities. I’m pretty sure we’re going to hear a lot more from the Leicester based band soon. Until then you should check out the interview with Silent Devices’ drummer Alex:

School Of Seven Bells recently released their new single “Heart Is Strange” taken from their second album “Disconnect From Desire”. Benjamin Curtis and twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza met in 2004 while touring. They decided to end their commitments to their old bands and eventually became School Of Seven Bells by the end of 2006. Considering their history as individual artists, their formation as School Of Seven Bells and their music, it seemed obvious to ask a few questions about relationships.

What do your families think of your music? Do they like it?

Benjamin: Absolutely. I think both of our families are really proud of what we’ve accomplished so far.

I guess Ben Eshmade and his Arctic Circle gave me some of the best musical experiences in my life. Whether the Daylight concerts at the Union Chapel in Islington, the Bubbly Blue and Green Festival at Kings Place or the Explorer’s Club compilation, it has always been and will always be something unique and absolutely brilliant. So when I had the chance to join one of his weekly radio shows at Resonance FM in London with Arch Garrison as a show guest, not even the TFL could have held me off getting there.

Not a promoter, not a record label, not a radio station…what exactly is the Arctic Circle and who is/are the face(s) behind?

Arctic Circle seems to be an ever-evolving entity that has taken the best parts of being a promoter, label and radio station. It’s a community of like-minded musicians and music lovers who I try and bring together to create new and wonderful projects. I suppose it is easiest to think of me (as in a play) as the director of Arctic Circle with an alternating cast of supporting musicians and friends.

What would you say is THE one exceptional thing about Arctic Circle?

I would say our penguin identity. Being a fan of animation and in particular Studio Ghibli films such as Spirited Away to have something that so identifiable as the Arctic Circle penguin is really important. This was designed originally by Miho Ashima of Pika Pika. It is also great to see how this has developed over time. Damian O’Harais taking the artwork to a whole new ‘3D’ level this year. He’s even building Tate Britain out of paper at the moment.

Tell us a bit about the beginnings of Arctic Circle. Was there something like an initial spark? Where did the idea come from?

Well that’s a long story. The idea evolved out of my experiences of producing a radio show called the Chiller Cabinet on Classic FM and from having a strong desire to see the artists I was playing perform live. I also suppose I was trying at this stage in my life to find a niche, something I could pour my heart and soul into.

Arctic Circle recently celebrated its fourth birthday. It all started in 2006 with a debut event at the Hayward Gallery. I reckon a lot of things have changed since then. So where did you start and where are you now?

Alongside the initial Hayward Gallery show, we were running monthly nights at the Notting Hill Arts Club even at this stage. The NHAC is where we learnt all the hard lessons on how to attract an audience, how much we could pay an artist (without going bankrupt) and how sweets can make people happy!

What is Arctic Circle’s musical vision?

To put together once in a lifetime concerts and promote music which helps to inspire and to make people dream of wonderful things.

Would you say there is something that unifies all of your artists in a musical sense?

A sense of fun or a huge amount of musical talent.

In December 2007 the first compilation named “That Fuzzy Feeling” in collaboration with Loaf Recordings was released. Would you say this was bound to happen?

I suppose most people have the secret desire to release a record and I am not any different. It meant that the Arctic Circle could say  – we are very serious about what we’re doing. And it also meant that we could shout ‘THIS IS AMAZING MUSIC’ and you should listen to it.

Your latest coup is the “Explorer’s Club”, also a collaboration with Loaf Recordings. With a subscription you get the Explorer’s Club Survival Bag with a cotton tote bag, calendar, poster and some other bits and bobs plus a monthly e-mail with songs and a digital booklet. I think it’s a brilliant and forward-looking idea.

Do you think it’s necessary to think of alternative ways and special offers to make people spending money on music?

The Explorer’s Club is a project that I’ve been working on with Loaf records for a few years. We both liked the idea of doing something that was a bit different to the usual way records are released. It is our spin on an idea that has been done before with 7inch records. It’s a great way of bringing some of the great artists we have worked with from around the world. Above all it’s about the music, we just try and make the delivery as fun and exciting as possible.

And the Arctic Circle Radio. Tell us a bit about it!

If you’re a regular guest on this blog you might have noticed that I’m a huge Miserable Rich fan… to be honest: I’m addicted to their music. 12 Ways To Count still is one of my favorite records and when they released Of Flight And Fury a few months ago, I wasn’t able to listen to anything else for several weeks. If a song likeOliver, The Mouth Of The Wolf or Somerhill doesn’t knock you off your feet, I’d presume something is seriously wrong with you. No offence, just my personal opinion. And you may think something was seriously wrong with me when I had the chance to do an interview and decided not to ask a single question. But frontman and songwriter James de Malplaquet actually exceeded my expectations. I didn’t expect anything less.

“I felt Brighton was a perfect ending to a really interesting career.” Harold Budd

Ah, this must be from 2005, when the Buddster played his last concert before retiring at Brighton’s Dome. It’s always been a nice link that a man described as the Godfather of Ambient music has a surname synonymous with fine marijuana – of which there is plenty in our little seaside town. This quote makes me think he must have had a nice, er, trip to Brighton.

In November 2008 Travis Tucker and Jeff Linka started to write songs in their hometown Richmond, Virginia. Shortly after Andrew Saunders, David Graham and Paul Howard joined the band and they became The Animal Beat. The band will release their first EP “Ambient Jungle Noise” in August and told me about whistling techniques, pepperoni stalagmites and of course a lot about their music.

The Animal Beat originally started as a duo with Travis and Jeff. How come you decided to enlarge your little “zoo”?

Travis: While Jeff and I were working on the first batch of songs in “the cave”, we started to feel like each song could be so much more than two acoustic guitars would allow them to be. We wanted to open the songs up a little bit and really see where they could go. Plus practice time was getting a little lonely with just the two of us.

Jeff: Finding other band members really was the goal all along. We were just lucky that everyone got together so quickly.

Trev Gibb is somehow a fascinating kind of musician. His songs are rather melancholic, but filled with warmth. His lyrics are brooding, but seemingly without effort. His EP Summer Tears will be released on the 19th July and you should see for yourself how it works out. I will say this much: it does quite well.

While I was listening to your music some rather personal questions crossed my mind. But first things first: Who is Trev Gibb? Would you like to introduce yourself?

Well, I’m a singer-songwriter from Newcastle. Most of my songs have the same sort of introspective melancholic thing going on and for some reason almost all of them seem to be love songs of a sort or observational. I’m currently in the process of setting up a band and we should be on our way by August.

Your EP “Summer Tears” will be released in July, with the stunning single “Tyrants and Slaves” on it. The prevailing atmosphere of your sound and lyrics is melancholic, so the question arises: how do you usually come up with ideas for your songs?

Well it’s all random. Most of the time I come up with guitar pieces and just record every idea I have. I have no filter! I end up with loads of them floating around my PC, some stick and some don’t and others I might come back to much later. My lyrics are written individually from all of that. I have a few notepads filled with random lines or observations so sometimes I use them to thread things together, some lyrics end up in the drafts folder on my phone, sometimes I have whole lyrics written out that become one song, and sometimes, rarely I might be able to sit down and the lyrics and music just happen at once. Those are the best because they feel effortless, because there’s a unity of feeling to them and normally they’re the least complex and most simple songs.

Have you heard ‘Effortlessly’ by Field Music? If not, that song makes me think of that. The song is like an elastic band, it expands and contracts rhythmically and the lyrics just flow over it, the song feels like what it is called. I love it. That’s the type of song I’d like to be able to write. Although it may not have been effortless to write, it has that feeling.

I came across Tanya Traboulsi when interviewing musician, Zeid Hamdan (check out the interview here). An amazing photographer, Tanya captures the atmosphere of all her subjects and I just couldn’t resist asking her some big questions…

Tanya, we saw your work when we interviewed Zeid Hamdan and fell in love with it, please tell us a little about you?

I grew up in Beirut and at some point moved to Austria, then came back to Lebanon. Photography was always part of my life, even as a child. I didn’t study it though, I studied fashion design and then later on started working in photography.

Your images really capture atmosphere’s and emotions, what’s your secret?

I think that the most important thing in life is to have a passion for something. Anything you do that you truly love, will succeed. And this passion and love will show in your work, whatever work it is. Also, I think that it’s really important to know (or at least try to know) what you want in / from life, and more importantly what you don’t want. Once you have figured that out, things become much easier.

What was your favourite shoot?

I can’t really think of only one favourite shoot… When I shoot concerts and musicians, I feel really inspired and at ease, because I love and have always loved music, and the musicians that I photograph are wonderful artists that truly inspire me.

Carte Blanche to The Ex ∨

Haussmann Tree ∨

Ben Frost ∨

A-Trio ∨

Charbel Haber | Tony Elieh | Tarek Atoui ∨

All my series are quite personal and have a special meaning to me, like for example my latest series that I shot in Beirut, called “Collection 1983″.

∧ “Collection 1983 was shot in an abandoned wood factory during the Lebanese civil war that was later occupied by militias. The raw concrete walls became a canvas for their hopes and dreams as fighting raged around. Locked away and neglected, these palimpsest images offer a snapshot into the minds of forgotten soldiers” ∨

If you could have chosen to photograph any event of the past 100 years, what event would that be?