Marconi Union interview: “There was a period where we considered whether we were done”
‘Weightless’ stars – and ambient heavyweights
Manchester-based pioneers of ambient and electronic music, Marconi Union are set to release their 12th studio album The Fear of Never Landing on June 6 via Just Music.
They’ve been teasing the LP with a series of shared tracks, with the second, ‘Silence Is Gliding’, dropping today, reportedly about “the idea of switching the engines off and freeing yourself from the noise of everyday life.”
Not that the whole affair was a walk in the park for Jamie Crossley and Duncan Meadows. The apir reportedly faced creative struggles, even questioning the band’s future at one thought, until an invite to perform a live soundtrack to the 1975 skateboarding film Downhill Motion at The Yard in Manchester jolted their creative synapses into action once again.
Best known for their 2011 track ‘Weightless’, which was scientifically proven to reduce anxiety and dubbed “the world’s most relaxing song”, racking up over 900 million streams subsequently, they’re also heading out on a considerable UK tour (full dates below) to celebrate the album’s release.
Plenty of excuses, in other words, to put a few questions to the duo… So that’s precisely what we did.
Hi and thanks for your time…. First of all, can you tell us where you are right now, and what kind of day you’re having… Been anywhere already or going anywhere interesting later?
DM I’m currently sat at a computer in my house. Nothing much going on really. The sun is out which is nice.
JC Currently at home enjoying the weather and hopefully going for a bike ride later today.
Your next studio album, The Fear of Never Landing, is your 12th.. How do you keep things fresh after all that time? What’s changed along the way and what’s changed?
DM We try not to repeat ourselves which can help keep things fresh. Not much has changed over the years. The main difference with this new album is that it was mostly made whilst we were in the same room. In the past we’ve tended to work separately and then brought it together in the studio. Working together is a much better way of doing things as for instance you can tell more quickly whether an idea is worth pursuing.
You’ve gone for “a 55-minute odyssey presented as one seamless piece divided into nine movements”. Why did you go for that form? And do you think some other artists underestimate the intelligence of their audiences while assessing what they can handle?
DM I can’t really say what other artists think about their audience. But not being in the pop world I think our audience generally expects that our music won’t necessarily be instant. We chose to keep the music on this album continuous as a way of trying to keep people immersed in it.
JC I know a lot of music these days is listened to by way of playlists etc but I think people who are familiar with our music know we work in the album format, I’d like to think that’s part of the appeal of what we do.
We hear that the two year process to finish it was quite complex and indeed almost saw you questioning whether you could carry on as a band? What caused that and how did you get around it? Performing a live soundtrack to the 1975 skateboarding film Downhill Motion had something to do with it, we gather…
DM There was a period where we considered whether we were done. We had a finished album at one point, but we weren’t happy with it. We spent a fair bit of time evaluating what we were doing and how to do it. One of the decisions we made after the Downhill Motion performance was to simplify the way we went about recording by keeping to specific equipment; one of the pitfalls of making electronic music can be wading through the endless amount of soft and hardware.
JC I think sometimes you can overthink and have too many discussions about what you’re doing or should be doing, when you put all that baggage to one side and just start doing what you naturally do instinct will always kick in.
How does your working process form and shape itself, in terms of you as personalities? Do you have specific roles and areas, either by design or naturally?
DM Jamie often refuses to let an idea die until he has tried dozens of variations and approaches. I would probably ditch things more quickly was it not for his perseverance. One of the things we’re not always good at is recognising when an idea is finished. We’ve released a series of studio sessions over the last six months which involved us going through lots of older material, some of which we’d discarded at the time for reasons which, with hindsight, seemed to make no sense. Sometimes though it’s just that a particular idea doesn’t suit the sound or general thrust of the rest of the tracks from a given period.
JC I wouldn’t say we have defined roles, Duncan is the more technical musician and I lean more towards the production side but there is no stepping on each other’s toes so to speak.
The first track to be shared is Eight Miles High Alone – is that a bit of a nod to The Byrds going on there?
DM Yes we’re aware of it, not that the music bears any relation at all.
JC I am actually a fan of the Byrds but like Duncan says musically there’s no connection, I think the “Alone” makes all the difference…and we never get to touch down with our track.
You’re Manchester-based – do you see yourself as part of the ongoing Manchester music scene or are you working in isolation from all that? There’s quite a different underground electronic scene there too, or so we’ve been told.
DM I feel very little connection to the Manchester scene. I couldn’t really tell you much about what is going on there. I know there’re a lot of people making electronic music but it would be difficult to keep up with it all.
JC We did in the very early days try to connect with the movers and shakers but for whatever reason we never seemed to manage to get the golden ticket to join the club. There was a time when I was aware of what was happening but that was years ago. I think we’ve always been isolated from it and we’ve always just done our own thing.
You were invited by Brian Eno to perform at Norway’s Punkt Festival – quite an honour… What was he like?
DM We only met him briefly and it was difficult to concentrate given the suit he was wearing.
JC I don’t remember the suit but I do remember him being a very busy guy during the festival with lots of people wanting his attention. It was an amazing weekend though and we met so many great people.
What’s next for you in the short/medium/long term? What are you hearing that’s inspiring you? Any more live or release action we should know about?
DM We’ve got some live dates coming up in June and December so we’re busy with getting that together, we’re playing two sets; the whole of the new album and tracks from the other albums, so there’s a lot for us to do. I recently had a good time listening to early Simple Minds. I enjoyed them on that documentary too.
JC Currently enjoying Nanocluster Volumes 1,2 and 3 and I’m looking forward to hearing the new releases from Mark Ernestus/Ndagga Rhythm Force and Litronix.
Pre-order your vinyl copy of The Fear of Never Landing by clicking here
LIVE DATES
08.06 – Centrala, Birmingham
12.06 – Bush Hall, London
14.06 – The Cube, Bristol
19.06 – Band On The Wall, Manchester
07.12 – The Common Room, Newcastle
05.12 – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh
06.12 – Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow