MORPHEUS MUSIC INTERVIEW - CARBON BASED LIFEFORMS

13.11.06
     

Q: With the new album on the horizon and some tantalising samples
available - what has changed for Carbon Based Lifeforms since Hydroponic
Garden?		  

We’ve learned a lot, production-wise, since hydroponic garden. We’ve released one album, two singles and a lot of remixes with our other band, Thermostatic. And it has certainly left it’s mark in the way we produced this album.

   Q :  How would you say that your sound has developed since the last
release?
  

A close friend of ours said that it sounds like CBL but more evolved. Which was a very nice compliment since that has sort of been our goal. Trying to update the sound of Hydroponic.
We’ve worked more with voices this time, both spoken word and singing. This album, we feel is more coherent and even than the last.
We’ve used both new and old techniques to get a fresh yet recognizeable sound.
     
             
Q : Have particular any new techniques or new bits of gear been put to use on this release?   Besides a Nord modular G2 engine and a Nordlead 2, we’ve used pretty much the same good old gear.   Q : Was there a unifying concept or vision behind World of Sleepers?   Our vision have changed back and forth during these three years and the final tracklist is not the same as it was a few months back. But some original thoughts are still there. As you will notice WOS is a continuation of Hydroponic Garden. As the name says, our garden has expanded to a world.
And we really tried to write all the tracks together because we believe that the true CBL spirit comes from us two together. Unfortunently some tracks were not picked to the final track list so we actually have one ”solo track” each.
             
Q : The teaser on your website is rather striking, how did this come about?   Obviously inspired by the ”Silent hill” series and a really cool photo technique we shot a series of photos for the album cover. At the same time we recorded with a video camera. The teaser evolved from that, as a test for upcoming videos.
Some fans really didn't like the intro and maybe not the actual teaser either.
But it makes sense to us and our music.		   Q : What part do you guys have in creating artwork for your music, both on the CD package and your website?   We design and develop our own site by ourselves. We hope to find time to do the upgrade to v2.0 real soon.
When it comes to artwork for the CD we were more involved this time. It’s been a joint effort between us and the Ultimae team.
             
 
      
Q :  What is it about Ultimae that makes it your first choice of label?  

No one else would have us hahahahaha :)
Seriously, we’ve said it before and we'll say it again. They are the best. Very relaxed but still extremely professional. They have a close relation to their artists.

   Q : Will you speak to us some more once we have the album in our hands?
If so - what do you think is one question that we really ought to ask you?
  

Sure! ”How the **** did you do that!” ;D
             

Part two of our interview comes after hearing the album.

Q :  So how do you do that? What is your method of music creation?

  

 

 

Usually we start out by playing around with a short groove or a texture.
This short bit may lay there for a while on our harddrives before we start extrapolating that track, adding bits and pieces. We usually work with several tracks at a time and we seldom make a track from start to finish at one session.

  

 

Q :  Who does what when it comes to making your music?

 

 

Daniel is usually the one doing the arranging and drum programming while Johannes does sound design and synth tweaking. When the track is taking form we usually take turns by the computer throwing ideas around.

 

        
Q :  World Of Sleepers has a tracklist that starts at 12 following on
from Hydroponic Garden - was the decision a conscious one to 'continue' the familiar sound?
 

Productionwise for us, World Of Sleepers was a continuation of Hydroponic Garden and it felt natural to continue the tracklist from where we left of.

   Q :  The title track has a slightly different quality to the rest of the
album - did you take a different approach to forming this beautiful piece? 		 

We started out by sampling some strings from a jazz track and ran it through a bunch of filters.
This gave us the basic harmony of the song. This differs from the way we usually do it, where we like to start from scratch. We think this is what gives it a slightly different feel.
             
Q :  If you did decide to alter your sound or perhaps to explore a specific aspect of your sonic 'world' - which directions interest you the most?  

We've been playing around with the idea of making a completely beatless album Focusing entirely on sound textures. Don't hold you breath though, we have some other projects to do first, and we're usually quite slow workers... :)

   Q :  Why the hidden section at the latter part of Betula Pendula? Is this a separate track - does it have a title of its own?  

The name of the track is Mechanism.
Vincent really wanted Mechanism as a ghost track and since we felt that the album was a bit more mysterious than hydroponic we thought it was a good idea...
         
Q :  How do you choose titles for your music?  

The working titles of our tracks are usually so silly that the Ultimae team begs us to rename them..
(If you meet a swede sometime ask him what "Groetring" means ;) When a track is finished we usually get a certain feel from the track and we try to find names to describe that feel.

   Q :  Why jellyfish?  

We had an idea for the sleeve design wich was a lot darker inspired by horror videogames and movies, we used some of the pictures in the album teaser. Vince felt that they were too gloomy and suggested the jellyfish theme which we liked a lot.
             
Q :  What would you say is the most gratifying piece of feedback you have
received so far regarding the new album? 		 

To get voted the best chillout album 2006 on Morpheus Music was really cool and all the fan mails we've recieved has been really amazing.
And also making the top 20 of iTunes Electronic albums sales chart was fun. For us being a small act in an obscure genre it felt wierd seeing our album among artists like Daft Punk, Moby and Air.

   Q :  With the new SYNC 24 album on the way what might we expect there?
How would you say the SYNC 24 sound differs from Carbon Based Lifeforms?		  

The name of the album is "Suspended Animation". Some descibe the music as colder than CBL.
As CBL's main focus is nature/technology sync24 is more space/technology and is more ambient than chillout.
             
 
             
 
Thanks to Daniel and Johannes for allowing us that interview.