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Artist Interviews
Q&A: Cranes
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 1 April 2010
Hailing from Portsmouth, Cranes were formed in the mid-80s by siblings Alison and Jim Shaw, and named after the innumerable mechanical cranes around the city’s docks. Their sound incorporates elements of gothic rock, dream pop and shoegaze, with their early work borrowing from the industrial deconstructive sound of bands such as Einsturzende Neubaten. With a general softening of their sound, the introduction of pop elements and a world tour with The Cure in 1992, the band’s popularity grew.
After the release of their album ‘Population 4’ they fell silent for a short period, re-emerging in 2001 with the release of ‘Future Songs’ and ‘Particles And Waves’ on their own label Dadaphonic. With Cranes set to play the Jazz Café on 7 Apr, we caught up with Alison to ask the Same Six.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
We were more interested in the process of recording rather than playing live in the early stages. We used to spend months in my dad’s garage with old tape machines and any instruments we could get our hands on. We had quite an experimental approach, we didn’t want to sound like anyone else.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
For the sleeve of the last album we used a picture of a dandelion pod taken at night, which looked like a weird planet floating in space. We were interested in how different shapes and patterns are repeated in the universe, fractals and things. The album has kind of an electronica feel and we wanted to blend that with acoustic instruments, like cello and acoustic guitars. Some of the songs are a bit folky and some are more spacey, with layers of sound.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
We always mess around at home for a few months, trying things out until we come across something that feels different. Jim is constantly recording, so we do quite a lot of editing. Sometimes I write songs with just an acoustic guitar and voice and then Jim adds other sounds to it later. Sometimes I listen to what he has done and see what comes into my head. The lyrics are often improvised.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
As a kid, I was influenced by people like Minnie Ripperton and Kate Bush… I used to love singing along to their songs! Jim likes old film soundtracks and music from the sixties and seventies. He’s got a lot of old vinyl stuff… I really like Four Tet and Sigur Rós and Portishead and Animal Collective. I like some folk music too, I really liked Cara Dillon’s last album.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
I think our three most recent albums, ‘Cranes’, ‘Particles And Waves’ and ‘Future Songs’ are representative. I would say try one of those, or come to a gig!
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
People sometimes say that our music is atmospheric and filmic, so we’d love to write a film score one day. Songs from our albums have quite often been used in films and on TV, and once we wrote the music for a short film that won some awards, but we’ve never written a full length score, so that’s kind of an ambition. We’re working on new songs at the moment and we’ll be playing at the Jazz Café in London on 7 Apr and at Whelans in Dublin on 17 Apr. We’re excited about the Jazz Café as it’s such a nice venue and Whelans will be our first trip to Ireland for years, so we’re really looking forward to the shows.
MORE>> www.myspace.com/cranes
