Interview: Silicone Soul

L’un des duos les plus élégants du label Soma nous ouvre les portes de son quatrième album éponyme…

TheClubbing (Tweek) : Except ‘soul’, is there another word to define your music, especially on your last album?
Silicone Soul : Emotive perhaps?

TheClubbing : You celebrate your 10th anniversary between your first and last album. With hindsight, how do you see the evolution of your sound?
Silicone Soul : When we made our first album A Soul Thing, we set out our own blueprint in a way for how we wanted a house album to sound and we have just tried to expand on that idea since. I suppose this album is a continuation from the previous three. We also feel an album should work in that ´classic´ way, that it make sense from start to finish, not just a selection of random tracks. Well I think in many ways we tried to be more direct with this new album in terms of its purpose and overall mood. Perhaps in the past we have tried to include too many of our musical influences in the one album. It’s definitely deeper and quite cerebral at times but we have taken a big inspiration from the dancefloor and the music we love to play as Dj.

TheClubbing : We still can hear the spirit of your beginnings. Globally speaking, do you think we are attending at a come back of ‘real’ house music?
Silicone Soul : Definitely and it’s great news! There is a pleasing cyclic nature to electronic music and there’s definitely a return to its original spirit and underground ethos, as you say ’real’ house music. There’s a whole host of great new labels that have emerged like Diynamic, Area Remote & Time Has Changed/Time Is Now and the great British labels like Soma & 2020 Vision are pushing the scene forward in the right direction and keeping electronic music exciting and addictive.

TheClubbing : Why didn’t you give a title to this album?
Silicone Soul : We didn’t think it need one… It’s just us, our sound, our vibe… I suppose in a way we wanted just to let the music do the talking.

TheClubbing : David Vincent’s Blues is the alien of the disc! Is there a story behind this track?
Silicone Soul : An alien indeed. We always have a track or two on our albums that are a bit different from the rest. We are massive fans of The Invaders with is a cult, black and white sci-fi series from the 60’s (definitely one for the You Tube!) and David Vincent is the lead character. You can hear his story on the spoken sample in the middle and the title is inspired by this.

TheClubbing : Is there a country where you like playing more than another? Why?
Silicone Soul : No we love playing everywhere, and anywhere people enjoy our music, however we play a lot in Eastern Europe and seem to have a lot of support though Facebook and MySpace from there.

TheClubbing : Stupid question but I want to know… Why do you call Silicone Soul?
Silicone Soul : Obviously we’ve been asked this many, many times. I wish we had an exciting answer like “It’s the synthesis of machine and organic music but the truth is my old flat mate thought of it… We wanted to call ourselves ‘The Casino Boogie Allstars’ after ‘The Rolling Stones’ song.

TheClubbing : I read that you recorded your albums not only in Glasgow but also in the south of France. Where was it? In which way is this place a source of inspiration for composing?
Silicone Soul : I live in a tiny village about 15km from Carcassonne in the Cabardes region and musically and personally it’s great to have a change of scene and a fresh outlook.
The last track on the album is dedicated to it; we even did field recordings of the hunting dogs howling at night and the church bells.
The fact that we both have separate studios has really helped and invigorated the creative process. It means when you meet up for a studio session you already have the main elements there and the other can offer a fresh slant or take the track in a new direction that maybe would not have occurred to you, so when we visit each other there is a fresh vibe and impetuous. In the past it was easy for both of you just to sit there nodding to the same kick drum for hours. So now there is more of a dynamic in the studio and that adds to the fun and enjoyment.
It’s a very peaceful and chilled place and it definitely had inspired a good feeling between Graeme and I in the studio (and it’s not just the wine;))

TheClubbing : Could you tell us more about your label Darkroom Dubs? Artists? Special concept?
Silicone Soul : The idea behind the label is just to release the music we love and play as Dj’s – as long as it’s electronic we’re quite open-minded to the style of music. We have really been giving the label special attention lately in both promotion and A&R and it’s been a great year musically, some of the highlights for me include the Sei A, Gary Beck & Liapin releases.
At the moment we’re starting on the new label compilation Darkroom Dubs Vol. II Mixed by Silicone Soul which will be out in March 2010 and will feature exclusive, unreleased and favourite tracks from the label. With tracks and remixes from international artists including Extrawelt, Timid Boy, Klartraum, Jet Project, Martinez, Jairo Catelo, Feygin, Boris Werner, Prompt, Masomenos, Sei A and Gary Beck, and from us of course! So you get the general idea… We run the label ourselves so its very hands on and rewarding.