Eluvium Interview

Eluvium interview (Originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)

ATP Interview Series

How does your live set differ to how you compose a piece for a record?

Well, somewhat dramatically I guess, depending on the album. The most obvious difference for me is when I do all my recording at home, I have all the time in the world to build up miniature pieces that end up just being a single melody line with tons and tons of layers, whereas in the live setting, you don’t really have all that time to do so, but I still do like to give the understanding of that in the live setting. So people can see how things start and how they grow into miniature pieces, but unfortunately, while just being one person has many advantages, that’s one of the disadvantages - when I’m on stage I have to do as many things as possible and as quickly as possible in order to get a proper sound. So it limits my ability to play through my entire catalogue, it narrows it down to a few bits and pieces from each album, but I think in the end that it works out okay.


I was going to ask you how you choose what to play, as in your set last night there were bits of Accidental Memory there wasn’t there, as well as others?

Yeah, basically anything from Accidental Memory I don’t have any problem with at all, obviously, but then I’d say the first album I could do most of. Probably the hardest would be talk amongst the trees - just the first song on that album alone would probably take like five of me doing as much as possible at once just to get the opening line going. So yeah, I’m sure there are cheaper ways of doing it, but I just don’t really feel comfortable with that I guess. It really just comes down to trying to find the most representational track from each album and whether or not I can play it!

Would you ever be tempted to pre-record most of the sounds needed onto your laptop though and play those live?

Well, there is a bit of sampling on the laptop as well, and I don’t have a problem doing that as long as I feel I can bring something else to it, that creates something special for the live performance. But at the same time I wouldn’t like to have just an entire laptop set, so I try to integrate as much as I can. Also, I tend to have a fondness for broken, disregarded instruments and things like that, their lifespan doesn’t make it past the creation of the album. I’m sure you know one could go on ebay or craigslist or something like that and find a replacement for it, but I’d just be throwing away lots of money trying to buy a silly little Yamaha keyboard over and over again.

We spoke to The Field about laptops versus instruments, and he’s now got a band with him.

Yeah, I’ve heard this.

Because he doesn’t want people to watch a show that centres on a laptop, have you ever found that using your laptop too much in a set causes people to lose interest?

Sure, even now having the thing onstage at all is disconcerting for me, but that being said, I’m still going to put as much into the performance as I possibly can. I want to be taken to the same place as people in the audience taken to. Every once in a while you hear a comment like “oh he must be up there checking his e-mails or something”, strangely enough the aeroplane port card takes so much energy that I have to turn it off, so that’s not an option! The laptop can bring - aside from even sampling and things like that - so many effects and things like that, it is a really nice interface to work with, but I guess I’m still an old-fashioned, foot-pedal kind of guy. My friends in Portland are always trying to show me all this new software I could integrate into my set, it’s like “oh, I’d just rather buy the more expensive foot pedal”, just because it feels more hands-on.

So what software do you use for your shows?

I use Ableton live, and I have a Boss loop station, a reverb pedal...I used to have an Akai Headrush, but I’ve taken that out recently, just basically because I can’t fit it in all my luggage. So, there’s a lot of looping and effects, then I run it into the computer then back out into the pedals again, and then shoot it out into the crowd.

Has any of your software gone wrong before, like has your laptop crashed?

Luckily I haven’t run into that problem with this project, there’s another thing that I’ve been working on with a friend in Portland called Concert Silence - that involves a lot of wires and cables, and two, possibly sometimes three laptops. We decided to use all freeware for that project, so that’s definitely an issue. In fact, the record that we released for free, right in the middle of it, my laptop crashes, there’s this horns section that comes in and then it just drops out and then I just have to tell Charles “get in the kitchen”, so he just takes what’s running through the system and messes with it as fast as possible.

Well, I’ve heard that and didn’t notice it!

What’s wonderful about that as well is that somehow it still all works and it just brings something new to the music, it’s another surprise element that gives it something wonderful I guess, to us at least.

So is free-ware now the new lo-fi method of making music?

Maybe! That’s interesting about The Field though, because I saw him in Portland at Holocene and he just had a laptop and a mixing board and I thought it was fantastic. I mean, I wasn’t in there dancing or anything, I just sat back, but I thought he did a great job...but I am really excited to see him with a band.

Yes, he seemed worried about how American audiences perceive performances centred around laptops, whereas he could get away with it in Europe...

I’m sure he has reason to worry but you know, that’s a strange thing, like the audience versus the musician issue. We’re obviously not trying to cheapen the experience, there’s a reason why we play music in the first place, but I’ve heard some strange stories, I won’t mention names but there are certain artists that just walk up, hit spacebar and start rolling cigarettes. I think Axel’s probably right, that it is harder to pull off in the United States, it’s hard to have enough experience to say, but it certainly seems like there’s a harder patience in the U.S.A. It seems like people come to shows in the U.K and you want to actually watch the music, in the States, well, it’s unfair to say that through and through but it certainly seems as though, from my experience, that that’s not always the case.

Your set at Reds last night was packed and amongst quite a bit of talking there was, at one point, interpretive dance - did you spot that?

No, I genuinely don’t look up, it’s too daunting.

But what would be the best response you could get from a listener? Interpretive dance?

That’s pretty good! I don’t know, I think interpretive dance and someone just being silent, anything that anyone wants to do. I think just the best response is for the listener take it in the manner in which they want to, that probably the most important thing about that music is to let it be whatever it can be, for whoever wants it basically. Some clapping at the end is good too.

Do you find that certain places cultivate a quieter listener and so on?

I think that goes back to the States and Europe. Japan was by far the quietest shows I had ever seen; you could hear a pin drop. I noticed a lot of the time as well, there would be no applause until the end of a concert, like at a symphony or something like that. The wordless music shows in the U.S, they've been really quiet. I think it can really depend on the venue as well. In sit down theatres or something like that, you only have two people that can talk, so by default it’s going to be a little less noisy. But if people want to talk then that’s fine, I don’t think I can let it (bother me) - I have to admit I’m not quite sure what they’re doing in the room, but I’m up on stage and they’re out there and everyone gets to do what they want to do.

Including interpretive dance! It was quite amusing though, one woman started it, then a man who was quite clearly trying his luck started interpretive dancing towards her…

I can’t remember who, but somebody told me they saw like a little one-act play going on or something like that - perhaps that was the same thing. I wish I could have caught a little bit of it!

I take it you’re touring at the moment then?

I am, supporting Explosions all around Europe. We’re about two weeks or so in and we have another couple of weeks to go.

You mentioned earlier that you’re heading back out in Autumn though?

Yeah, I’ll be home for the summer and I’m still not really sure what’s planned, but I think some time in the fall, maybe in the winter depending on what happens, I’ll probably do some one-offs in the U.S and go back out and do the same thing in Europe again, just go a week or two around. Then there’s also a festival in August that I’m playing, it’s probably going to be the most wonderful thing I ever get to experience. It’s a festival celebrating water and sustainable living, it’s basically a expo for world leaders and scientists to come together and discuss these things, they build this sort of land of tomorrow somewhere, there’s theatre and music and all these things going on; I suppose to entertain the patrons. From what I understand it runs for three months, I believe it’s going on right now and I’ve seen a few Leaf artists that are on there as well, but I’ll be playing one night there, so that should be something else.

Does that mean you’re the music of tomorrow then?

Well, Colleen’s on there as well, and she certainly seems to play the music of a long time ago, so I don’t know. They must be doing everything, spanning through the ages.

Is there anyone you’ll be checking out at ATP?

Stars of the Lid I wanted to see, I just saw them in Portland but I loved it so much I wanted to see them again, so I was glad to catch as much as I could of that. The Field I really want to see, and Four Tet - it was good to see Kieran playing again. I’ve actually just been trying to catch up on some sleep as well, because being on the bus all the time it’s nice to be somewhere stationary, although the bus is like being in a little coffin…There’s something kind of comfortable about it.

Finally, have you got any celebrity neighbours near your chalet?

I’ve got Dinosaur Jr. a couple of doors down, that’s pretty stellar, and then just my friends all along here, that’s all that I’ve noticed, I keep my head down a lot I guess. I think D.C Berman (Silver Jews) is the one that’s keeping me star-struck, I shyly touched his shoulder and gave him a wave last night and that’s it.

What’s interesting about this festival is that there really is no backstage area, it is all mixed in.

Yeah, I think it’s nice, yesterday I kept on running into Mark from Explosions over and over again, and today it seems to be Chris, just when I left you guys I ran into him twice just going one way and back again.