Esben & the Witch Interview "It Comes Down To Conviction."

Having recently reviewed their outstanding album, I was particularly excited to interview fellow Brightonians Esben And The Witch. I met band members Rachel Davies, Daniel Copeman and Thomas Fisher over a glass of wine to find out a bit more about them.


Tegan MB: I've been aware of you guys for just over a year now. Is it fair to say you're a new band? There was a lot of press last year but how long have you actually been around for?
Rachel: We've been together for about two and a half years, three years now.
Daniel: Rachel's been saying two and a half years for about half a year now.


Tegan MB: Has the band always had the same line-up?
Thomas: I met Daniel about three years ago when we first started out; we just spent afternoons writing songs, working on drum loops with a drum machine and then Rachel joined us about two months after that. We always knew we wanted to add a vocal element to what we were doing and we went from there really. Daniel organised a gig for us fairly soon after that at the Freebutt.


Tegan MB: How do you feel about the Freebutt closing down?
Rachel: We're really sad about it; it gave a lot of people a really good opportunity, especially for bands like us.
Thomas: We played a lot of support shows there while figuring out what songs were good, what ideas were good, and how we wanted to go forward. We couldn't have done that without the support of a venue like that. It's a real shame.
Daniel: It's sad that for bands like us, just starting up, there won't be that kind of support.


Tegan MB: Even though the atmosphere of your music is quite otherworldly in many ways, do you think that there's anything about Brighton that's influenced or rooted your aesthetic?
Thomas: Geographically maybe, especially at this time of year: the sea, the cliffs, the downs. It's quite a spectacular place at times. All of us enjoy experiencing that, so I think that kind of infuses with the music.
Rachel: We all met in Brighton. It's quite a creative place and I think inevitably it's going to affect things.
Daniel: I think it's more about the people you meet in Brighton, the pace of life and to actually live in it, more than the town itself. I mean, it's impossible not to be aware of your surroundings, and it'd be foolish to claim that it had no bearing on the music.


Tegan MB: I've never actually seen you guys live and, obviously your music is quite theatrical, so I was wondering if that was matched by your live performances? Also, if it is, do you ever worry that people might think you're taking yourself a bit too seriously? Is it, maybe, a bit tongue-in-cheek?
Daniel: Yeah, it is quite theatrical-
Thomas: It's not tongue-in-cheek though... (laughs)
Daniel: No, it's not. We do wonder whether people think we're taking ourselves too seriously.
We're not going to do it any other way. You can't hide because someone, somewhere, doesn't like what you're doing. I think it comes down to conviction. It's the same with anything; if you genuinely believe in what you're doing, and if you personally think that it's good and it's appropriate, then you don't really have to justify what you're doing to anyone else. The only time you have to justify what you're doing is when you don't believe in it, that's when you start to question it, I guess. We try to put on a show.
Rachael: We try to make it a bit more personal. The live shows we appreciate are the ones that are a bit more all-enveloping, you know, with the lighting, and with the whole atmosphere.


Tegan MB: Have there been any changes to the way you do things since you signed with Matador?
Rachel: Nothing drastic, more of a gradual progression really.
Thomas: We've gradually become better musicians, hopefully (laughs).
Daniel: We've been really lucky in that, even though we've been signed to a label like Matador, we're still able to continue with what we've always done. With every other release, we recorded the album at home. It gives us the opportunity to go to the studio to record the vocals; whereas we always recorded the vocals in my bathroom, which is not ideal. If you're trying to push an album across continents, you should probably have the vocals recorded somewhere other than a bathroom.


Tegan MB: I think part of the reason why you guys deserve the attention you've been getting is because you've been loyal to this original aesthetic. So I guess there's not much chance of you guys taking a massive new direction?
Rachel: I wouldn't rule out doing something that was a little more left-field. But I think if we did, it wouldn't be a conscious, “Right, let's change things suddenly”. I mean, if it happens, it happens.
Thomas: It will happen naturally because the moment you go about planning in advance, it becomes a really horrible, unnatural process. There's obviously a bit of short-term planning that goes into how we want things, but we don't want to think too far into the future.
Rachel: It's a much more organic process.
Daniel: Invariably with anyone, in any situation, you'll have a lot of ideas; it's usually the ones that are timed right that end up coming to fruition, rather than when you hold on to an idea for a long time hoping you'll eventually get a chance to do it.


Tegan MB: I think, in a way, your album seems quite controlled...
Daniel: I suppose they're different things, though. You control your output, always. You don't just want to let everything go; it's much better to have the quantity lower and the quality higher. I think the difference is thinking about what you're going to do and thinking about how you're going to present it; knowing which bits you think work best.
Thomas: They're two different things. The aesthetic's one thing, whereas the composition of the album is something totally different. And that is something we spend a lot of time over, because we know we want the album to work; we want the artwork to fit with the songs; we want everything to follow properly. But the aesthetic is something we don't pay much attention to. There was no great plan with that – it's just left to surround the album.


Tegan MB: I wanted to ask you about being short listed for the BBC Sound of 2011 poll. How helpful do you think those kinds of things are for a band, and also, as a kind of taste-maker for the public?
Rachel: Well, it's incredibly flattering to be on the list. We were totally surprised by that, we really, genuinely weren't expecting it. I think they're helpful for bringing attention to artists that might not necessarily get as much otherwise.
Daniel: It's been very useful for us in that an absolute shed-load of people who had no idea who we were until that happened-
Rachel: (Laughs) -who were probably thinking, “Why the hell were they on that list?”
Daniel: I worry that, in our situation anyway-
Rachel: It creates an expectation.
Daniel: It kind of makes people think, because of the company that we're in, that we're gonna be more... straight up. It feels odd sitting alongside Jessie J. That's not to say those people aren't great; it's just that I'm not sure it's a sphere that we ever thought we'd be in.
Thomas: It's better that people judge us for the records and the songs we've released, rather than just solely for our inclusion on that list.
Daniel: It's in human nature, basically, to want to make a list for everything. We like to itemise things and that's not going to stop, regardless of your views on it. I've picked up a lot of great stuff from end-of-year lists though; some of them are good (laughs).


Tegan MB: So what's next this year then?
Rachel: Well, the album comes out on the 31st of Jan, so we're going to be touring for that
Daniel: We're going to see how far afield we can play. We've got a gig coming up in Brighton too. We haven't played in Brighton for over a year, so it's going to be scary. It's different when you're playing in front of people who have no idea who you are. You can be a bit more confrontational, and really put everything into it. But it's different when there's a suspicion that you might be playing to a bunch of people you know.


Tegan MB: Do your families ever come to your gigs?
Rachel: They've been to a couple of shows in the past; not in Brighton, but they've been to a few.
Daniel: My father came to one and got very drunk off our rider, and was being very vocal during our set. But in a lovely way!

Words: Tegan Rogers

Middle Boop Top Tips For 2011

Last year was the first time Middle Boop had ever run a 'Top Tips' article and I'm pretty happy to say we must be doing something right as the choices we made mostly went on to have a very successful year. For instance, First Aid Kit went from playing tiny pubs to melting the hearts of a large amount of people in pretty sizeable venues, Pantha Du Prince played pretty much every credible festival going and his debut album ended up on many end of year lists and Esben And The Witch signed to Matador, supported everyone from Foals to The XX and have just released one of the most hotly anticipated débuts this year.

So what does 2011 hold in store in the realm of alternative music? Well judging from our humble list below I hope you'll agree that the following list of bands are about to start causing a stir in certain scenes and even though none of these bands will exactly be tipped to play Wembley in the next year or so, they will be emphasizing just how amazing the alternative music scene is at the moment....Pray silence please for Middle Boop's 2011 Top Tips!

Anna Calvi

We get more musicality coming into the album with the track “Desire”. Furthermore, Calvi really opens up her voice and displays the vocal power and range that she possesses that fully justifies her nomination for the BBC’s ‘Sound of 2011’ poll. It also enthrals me further that Anna is a home-grown British talent. She sounds like what we have been crying out for; a female vocalist that has that ‘edge’ about her. This is something that I don’t think we have seen since the days of Blondie or Suzi Quatro. – Barclay Quarton


Braids

Signed to influential Canadian indie label Flemish Eye, which has produced the likes of Women and Chad Van Gaalen over the last few years, Braids music is soaked in echoey beeps and glitches. With strange time signatures and heartwarming vocals, hopefully we’ll see Braids playing this side of the pond sometime this year as they will go down so well over here at the moment.
Braids

Chad Valley

Being the charmingly astute music lovers that you are, you may have already heard of Hugo Manuel, the man behind Chad Valley singing in his other band Jonquil who have started to gain a great little following. If you have, good for you, chances are you'll enjoy Chad Valley, if not...Well, chances are you're going to enjoy it regardless as this sickeningly catchy retro synth driven pop is just what you need to get over the dark nights and freezing weather. – Gordon Reid


Grouplove

Big anthemic choruses, instantly lovable vocals and feelgood songs galore. Grouplove already sound like they’ve mastered the art of writing a decent pop tune. Their single colours is out now and chances are you will have heard it and loved it. – Gordon Reid



Iceage
The music sits somewhere between DC hardcore and British punk but filtered via weirdness. The songs are all velocity but skewed and prone to shoot off at unexpected angles. – Al English

Iceage - New Brigade from iceage on Vimeo.

Idiot Glee

James Friley, AKA Idiot Glee creates beautifully multi layered vocal harmonies using seemingly minimalistic instrumentation to create their haunting 50’s influenced pop. Début single ‘All Packed Up’ will have fans of Grizzly Bear going nuts and B-Side ‘Don’t Drink the Water’ just resonates greatness. I really hope we hear a lot more. – Gordon Reid

Idiot Glee

James Blake

In case you’ve been living in some form of cave / rock dwelling / panic room and haven’t heard the recent hype around James Blake, allow me to fill you in. He attended the prestigious Latymer School in London whilst recording compositions in his bedroom. After a successful launch of debut 12” ‘Air And Lack Thereof’, along with a cover of Leslie Feist’s ‘Limit To Your Love’, national radio coverage and a whole lot of blogging ensured that this was the beginning of a blossoming career for the young musician.

The music itself is a combination of minimalist, down tempo, electronic compositions fused with Blake’s delicate and often soulful voice. Frequent use of an auto tuner on Blake’s voice may cause a divided opinion amongst listeners but with a feature on just about every ones to watch list this year, we found it hard to resist putting him in ours as well. – Neil Phillips



MNDR

We could sense that a buzz was building around this New York City electro synth-pop duo from witnessing Amanda Warner undergo an eccentric and spell bounding performance at London’s Lexington last August. Having already toured and collaborated with Mark Ronson on his latest album we’re expecting MNDR to send waves crashing further, on a worldwide scale. – Freddy Rothman

Ringo Deathstarr

Any band with a name like Ringo Deathstarr is always going to grab my attention, and with music that sounds like My Bloody Valentine if Kevin Shields actually had a sense of humour, this Austin trio have certainly whet my appetite with their fuzzed up, noisy pop.

Their début album 'Colour Trip' will be out in February. We can't wait. - Adam Parker

Seams

Bedroom producer James Welch aka Seams has been recording countless EP’s, singles and remixes over the past year or so. His most recent available offering, ‘The Tourist EP’ shows you why we’ve not just got another Four Tet or Gold Panda on their hands. As much as we love those guys too, Seams will draw on atmospheric post-electronica that will just whisk you away to another world. A debut LP is expected before the end of the year. – Freddy Rothman


Trophy Wife

Oxford three piece, Trophy Wife. Both singles Microlite and The Quiet Earth show the signs of a band with true potential. The songs are softly built up around dancey drum beats and crisp delayed, jangly guitar lines with delicate vocals sounding very much like they’ve taken influence from their Oxford counterparts Foals, who they toured with last year.Trophy Wife are writing an EP due early next year so hopefully they will take this time to build upon the sound they are already creating and evolve it further. – Freddy Rothman

Veronica Falls

The London based 2 boy-2 girl quartet make blissful, pounding Dream-Pop music and have had tongues wagging all across the capital. Although they have been touring extensively since 2009 and have released 2 of the best singles of 2010 in ‘Beachy Head’ and ‘Found Love in a Graveyard’, we can expect more shows and hopefully their debut album in 2011 which we simply cannot wait for. - Freddy Rothman


Yuck

Less “Yuck!” and more like “Fuck!”. A solid debut from a young band with a lot of potential and a great future ahead of them. 2011 will be a good year for Yuck. – Neil Phillips

Esben And The Witch - Violet Cries (Matador)

There certainly is a great deal of pressure weighing on the six shoulders of Esben And The Witch. Having emerged from relative obscurity at the turn of the year, the Brightonian three-piece find themselves, on the eve of 2011, ranked among Matador Records' prestigious roll-call, with only their upcoming release to silence the sceptics. Of course, those who have been following the band's heady ascent will know that such a challenge lies in capable hands – due in no small part to the band's strict and self-assured allegiance to a unique aesthetic. Violet Cries realises all the startling ambition of the band's preliminary releases, combining their by-now-signature predilections for moody, gothic ambience, psychedelia and melancholia in a truly accomplished creation.

Every track on Violet Cries is exquisitely constructed, carefully crafted to create at times a sense of unnerving agitation, at others mournful poignancy – but always building on the overwhelming, almost ineffable atmosphere of the album: a kind of somnambulistic malevolence. Attempts have been made to liken Esben And The Witch to other acts like Bat For Lashes or Portishead, but while – granted – vocalist Rachael Davies does sing a little bit like Florence Welch in a K-hole, and the beginning of the song Marine Fields Glow does evoke that other female-fronted three-piece from a town beginning with B, Violet Cries proves, to me at least, that its creators really are a peerless act. That aforementioned track, for example, uses those Beth Gibbons-esque vocals to original effect, adding reverb to merge it with the tidal rise and fall of the musical accompaniment, creating a song that is much more subtle, gradual and elemental than a Portishead track.

Album highlights like the captivating Light Streams prove that Esben And The Witch can be more experimental when they want to, however. Starting out quite conventionally, the track goes on to incorporate a hypnotic prog interlude and a chorus of chants and wails complete with kitschy Ghostbusters-style warped scary voices. Not many bands could pull of a refrain like “We will cut the sun from its moorings!” without sounding like they're taking themselves far too seriously, but in the surreal, slightly foggy parallel universe of Violet Cries, it works, and even unsettles. Elsewhere, on tracks like Chorea, which contains quite an up-beat riff, and Eumenides, which plays out to a trance beat, the band pass that all important test, proving that while they're not one-trick-ponies, they're also adept at putting their own original spin on whatever style they turn their hand to.

Violet Cries really is an exceptional album: measured, mesmerizing, and (when you can hear the lyrics behind the reverb) profound. I know it's only January, but I'm certain we've found one of the stand-out albums of 2011.

Words : Tegan Rogers

Esben And The Witch - The Marching Song EP (Matador)

If you haven't heard Esben And The Witch yet, this EP showcases faithfully and succinctly their talent for creating atmospheric, menacing and refreshingly unusual musical compositions. The title track, with the swelling then subsiding roar of feedback, its intermittent and fittingly hypnotic drum beat and its baleful vocal - along with an absolutely charming promo video in which the band don grisly costume make-up – demonstrate from the off that Esben And The Witch are a band who aren't afraid to ham it up in their mission to inject a bit of much-needed theatricality into the upcoming UK music scene.

The band were once described as nightmare pop, and it's a tag-line that I imagine will continue to dog their press for the rest of their career. It's misleading, though, as this EP proves. While the 'nightmare' part conjures (for me, at least) expectations of discordant, fists-on-piano noises and screaming, and the completely contradictory 'pop' part suggests catchy hooks and commercial viability, Marching Band defies all these connotations. The hazy synth sounds, echo-y vocals and restrained melody of 'Done Because We Are Too Menny' is a perfect example of how theirs is a sound that would be better described as 'dreamlike'. The EP is sombre, and at times the keyboards and effects on Souvenirs evoke kitschy horror movie soundtracks, but never is the sound macabre or disturbing enough to warrant the word 'nightmarish'. Meanwhile, the arrangement of each track, not least with nine minute long Souvenirs, is a master class in the power of delayed gratification, with every dramatic crescendo rendered all the more exquisite by the subtlety of the build-up. The songs aren't instantly memorable, but the effect they have on you will stay with you for a long time. Surely this is the antithesis of a typical pop song?

Semantics aside, Marching Song is an EP that more than justifies the buzz that has been gathering around this Brighton band over the past year. Mesmerising and complex; if this EP is anything to go by, their upcoming first full length release with Matador will surely provide hours of enchantment.

Words : Tegan Rogers

Field Day, Victoria Park, London 31st July 2010

Okay, so I’ll be the first to admit that, along with a sizeable proportion of previous attendees, my expectations were less than sky high for the fourth edition of Field Day. The first year was something of an organisational fiasco, with dodgy sound and overcrowding further dogged by a laughably small number of both toilets and bar staff – surely two of the most essential commodities for a baking hot day festival. That the problems of the last two years have been largely due to circumstances beyond the organisers’ control – namely the sky’s unfortunate tendency to open without warning just as things are getting interesting – perhaps justifies the ‘act of God’ as a form of heavenly revenge for such a poor start. Still, the fact that every year I find myself walking through terrifyingly heavy security at the entrance to Victoria Park must be evidence of something; either I’m just a sucker for punishment, or my faith in their consistently impressive bookings was duty bound to pay off eventually.

Thankfully for all concerned, this year’s event proves to fit largely into the latter category – the first Field Day that actually lives up to the expectations drummed up by its pretty interesting roster. Admittedly, signs aren’t initially promising. As our train pulls into Hackney Wick station, its arrival is met by a thick front of ominous cloud and what feels distinctly like the humid calm before an almighty thunderstorm; the patter of light drizzle as we wander through the site’s entrance hardly does much to quell concerns. Initial worries aside, the promised explosion fails to materialise, instead disintegrating to leave a sunblushed early afternoon crowd for Flower-Corsano Duo. Live, Chris Corsano’s drumming is a thing of unabashed wonder; as much as anything else it’s difficult to understand quite how he manages to wring such a vibrant array of timbres from what is ostensibly a fairly simple kit. The key lies in his versatility – one moment he’s teasing out a diffuse spray of metallic clicks and lulling cymbal wash, the next he’s slipped seamlessly into a stumbling funk beat, all jazzy fills and muted snare stutter. Tangled up with Mike Flower’s rich drones, the effect is energising despite the heat, and half an hour swiftly vanishes.

From one duo to another: Mount Kimbie have become something of a buzz-band over the last few months, off the back of an escalating wave of media love for the dreamy moodiness of their early EPs. Slightly strange, perhaps, given that the Maybes EP was released at the start of 2009, but a deserved side effect of the growing love for all things Hotflush [Scuba, Joy Orbison, et cetera]. There has been a tendency – largely because of their label and closest contemporaries – to lump them in alongside the dubstep masses, but if the cool, windswept landscapes of Crooks & Lovers weren’t enough to convince people otherwise, today’s show certainly is. Set in packed Bloggers’ Delight tent, Kai Campos and Dom Maker wring out a wholly immersive half-hour of aquatic loops and quietly rumbling ambience that recalls the hypnagogic drones of James Ferraro as much as it does, say, Scuba. Both are clearly still finding their feet in the live arena, and the whole affair has an endearingly shambolic feel, but any technical blips are easily outshone by inventive reworkings of their sketchy recorded output. ‘Carbonated’ and ‘Field’ are particularly lovely, and a dewy version of ‘Maybes’ downplays the original’s overt sentiments for something a little more opaque. And judging by general reactions, it won’t be long before the duo are hitting far larger stages than this.

The heat hits the crowd as we leave Bloggers’ Delight, and its midday shimmer is too much to take, so the goth-tinted spaces of Esben & The Witch provide welcome respite. They’ve really developed as a live band in the last year, and closer ‘Eumenides’ is formidable, torn in two by a breakdown that sees all three members gather round a floor drum. Later on in the evening, Moderat’s slightly stadium-ish take on techno proves an impressive spectacle but curiously unengaging, as though the transition to a tent the sheer size of Bugged Out has sapped them of the sweaty energy Modeselektor usually bring to their sets.

Which leaves the day to be thoroughly stolen by a pair of heartstopping mid-afternoon performances from occasional collaborators DaM-FunK and Hudson Mohawke. Resplendent with keytar and red-rimmed sunglasses, DaM-Funk is a consummate showman, strutting like a peacock across the stage while the musicians behind him churn out swirling layers of deeply psychedelic electro-funk. Despite the almost unbearable crush of bodies simultaneously attempting to force themselves into the Bloggers’ Delight stage (again, a larger tent would be a blessing next year), it’s both mentally and physically compelling, and his set feels almost painfully short. The same is true of Glasgow’s prodigious son HudMo – even down to the surges of people shifting back and forth in front of him. His debut album Butter was very the definition of a grower, and it appears his fanbase has increased at the same rate: the scattergun funk of ‘Zooo0000ooM’ sends shockwaves through the tent, and the closing salvo of ‘FUSE’ and his anthemic remix of Tweet’s ‘Oops (Oh My)’ is easily the peak of a festival surprisingly short on dull moments. A triumph then, finally.

Words : Rory Gibb