Tell us about the book, How To Dress Well, which gave you your name…
[Laughs] It was a really trashy book from the 1980s: lots of girls that looked mad Designing Women and lots of American Psycho/Miami Vice bros. It was a totally thoughtless decision, to call my music How to Dress Well, but no one gets to choose their own name – part of being a person means having a name thrown on you.”
What about the videos you’ve made with Jamie Harley?
“He emailed me and expressed his love for me and sent me the video for ‘Decisions’. Immediately, I flipped and we began communicating, sharing ideas, etc. We speak all the time – every time I do a show, we rework the videos. We really feel like we’re working towards something very special, something we want to do in galleries.”
“It’s through the synth that I found my voice, that I found myself as a post-pop artist.”
How did you hook up with Tri Angle and come to reissue Love Remains through them?
“Robin from Tri Angle emailed me before almost any blog or anybody else. He was one of the very first people to praise my songs – it was a total honour because I love 20JFG. I don’t think Tri Angle even had a record out yet and he was saying: you’re making post-pop, you’re going to have success at this, your music is heartbreaking. I didn’t know how to respond. We just started talking and had so much in common and such a good vibe. So much respect and love. I wanted to release Love Remains with him from day one, so it’s a dream come true to have Tri Angle dropping the record in Europe, Asia, and worldwide.”
Are there any significant differences between the Lefse and Tri Angle editions?
“For the Tri Angle, there’s a limited edition, 400 run of the record with gold debossed font and white vinyl! These are dispersed all over, so they could be anywhere. After that, it’s back to black debossed, but still with white vinyl, which is dope. There’s a secret track on Love Remains, did you know that?!”
You would think there would be some precedent for combining R&B-style harmonics and vocalisation with extreme use of reverb and doomier atmospherics…but we’re not aware of any. Are you?
“I don’t know…precedents…I mean, there are special moments on Medulla, but nothing like How To Dress Well…For me, one really special moment was when I recorded ‘Ready for the World’. I was listening to it and all I could think was: this song is soooooooo dope! [laughs]. I was really proud. I mean, as far as precedents: I do feel like pop music is really entering a new phase right now. The power of the union is just this: the openness of pop as a musical form with a set of tropes can be combined with serious, tragic, hard, complex affects (and the complex noises typically attendant on these affects). This expansion of pop, this concentration of affect is, I think, really special.”
We know you like your black metal a lot… who are your pet bands?
“I’m into a lot of it – I’m really into the darkness, the ambience, the brutality. I’m like a Krallice, Locrian Ulver dude more than a Darkthrone dude, but I love that shit too. Peracletus is becoming one of my fave records of 2010…”
“This expansion of pop, this concentration of affect is, I think, really special.”
How did you feel about Lil B rhyming over ‘Ready For The World’?
“It was completely out of the blue. I am super hyped on his song, it’s so sick. I think it’s one of his best, which is an amazing honour. he’s a great man, an inspiring-ass creature. Family.”
You once said: ‘Are we a sample-based group?” I don’t really think so. I think that doesn’t quite get it, you know?’. Could you talk a little bit about your use of samples?
“I don’t use a lot of samples. I just approach songwriting by creating musical ambiences – whether through piano or synth or loops – which make me feel comfortable letting melodies and affects come out of my spirit through my voice. There’s lot’s of different ways to do that.
“I’m actually working on some instrumentals right now, but even when I write those, I start with my voice and let myself sing it out. Like, when I sing ‘Ready For The World’ live, I feel like I’m in a really warm bath or something – that musical ambience, that sample, those drums – make me feel at home and free to express myself.”
“A voice is very strange, you know – it’s like this alien, super-bodily thing.”
Have you always been comfortable with your own voice? A lot of the vocal takes on Love Remains sound incredibly vulnerable…
“I still feel like I’m learning to be with my voice. Singing live I’m learning how to sing even more. I’m really excited to sing my next record! A voice is very strange, you know – it’s like this alien, super-bodily thing. To manipulate it spiritually in song is an incredibly exciting, terrifying, fragile practice.”
Trilby Foxx
How To Dress Well blog
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