| Au Revoir Simone have lent their vocals to a couple of CMU's favourite tracks of the last couple of years, namely Shinichi Osawa's cover of 'Star Guitar' and 'Paris' by Friendly Fires. But now they're focussed on their own music again and return on 1 Jun with their third album, 'Still Night, Still Light', via Moshi Moshi, the first single from which, 'Shadows', was released last month. Featuring the dreamy vocal-led, synth-fuelled indie pop that has brought them a cult following since their formation in 2003, this new album looks set to bring them to a wider audience. We caught up with two thirds of the trio, Heather D'Angelo and Erika Forster.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
Heather: I joined an after-work keyboard club that turned into this band.
Erika: I have always been playing music for fun. I grew up with a lot of instruments around the house and music, musicians, etc. But I decided to go to art school and it wasn't til I moved to NYC at 22 that my friend invited me to play keyboard and sing in his indie rock band. Then we started Au Revoir Simone a year later.
Q2 What inspired your latest single?
Heather: It was a process that went something like this: A troubling conversation, a long night alone with my Rhodes, and a few weeks of exploration, editing, and fine-tuning with Annie and Erika.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Heather: Pretty much the same process I described above, but you can replace "troubling conversation" with "emotional experience", and "Rhodes" with "Wurlitzer" or "Casio", and "Annie and Erika" with any combination of our names, but the rest is the same.
Erika: Yes, we basically collect seeds of ideas wherever we may find them and then spend hours in our rehearsal space working through them until we feel "finished", only to then start recording and realise there are still so many decisions to be made.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Heather: I'm a like a sponge; I'm influenced by everything. I probably should live somewhere a little less stimulating than New York because if you're sensitive to the world like I am, being bombarded with stimulation can turn you into a somewhat neurotic person.
Erika: I am influenced by female vocalists who sing in their 'natural' voice. I like 60's harmonies and experimenting with layered vocals a la Donovan... My favourite lyricists are Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake and Townes Van Zandt. I'm influenced by visual artists and painters, dreamy landscapes, textile design... I love Liberty Of London patterns and old William Morris psych-botanicals.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Heather: Stop waiting for the guitar riff, it's not coming.
Erika: Close your eyes, breathe, relax (unless you're driving!)
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest single, and for the future?
Heather: I hope that people like it, and relate to it. I hope that we can keep doing what we're doing because we're having a pretty good time.
Erika: Agreed! I feel so lucky to have the time to focus and put all of my energy into this project. Songs are magical! And being in a band is really a learning experience. We have all grown so much as people being together and recording this last album we all really grew as musicians. We are trusting in ourselves more and I hope to get back to recording before too long to see where we can take the next phase...
published june 2009
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