Artist Interviews

Q&A: Sian Alice Group

By | Published on Thursday 6 August 2009

Formed by Rupert Clervaux, Ben Crook and Sian Ahern in 2006, the Sian Alice Group released their debut album, ’59:59′ last year. Featuring contributions from members of The Jesus & Mary Chain, Spring Heel Jack and Gang Gang Dance, it received high praise from critics and earned the band support slots with the likes of A Place To Bury Strangers and Deerhunter. This month the band released the follow-up, ‘Troubled, Shaken, Etc’, which delves further into their eclectic, experimental and utterly beautiful sound. We spoke to Rupert and Ben to find out more.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
Rupert Clervaux: I started destroying my Ma’s kitchenware as early back as I can recall and since then the desire to make noise has never left me. Looking back, I think one of the most crucial inclinations I had at a young age was to explore the technical side of recording music. This has given me the opportunity to work with, and learn from, some excellent musicians. And self-sufficiency and true independence has become a defining feature of Sian Alice Group. Ben, Sian and I started working together almost by accident. Sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees – we’d all known each other for years before we started the band. I was getting tired of playing in bands that weren’t creatively exciting for me. Sian, at the time, was a very shy singer and was making music with Ben from the safety of their home. So the idea was that we would play music to have fun and explore without worrying about whether it was fashionable or fit within the confines of any genre label.

Ben Crook: We got together in 2006 with no designs or plans as such other than to record some ideas we individually had. Rupert and I had written and recorded before for a film soundtrack, and often talked about doing something again. I had met Sian a few years previously, and we’d started playing around at writing some ideas together. And Rupert had just come out of a band, and was looking to record some tracks with a female singer. So it just kind of happened. We went into the studio to record as many ideas as possible, with guidelines of things to avoid rather than definite goals and reference points. It started as a fun studio thing and has evolved since then.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Rupert: ‘Troubled, Shaken Etc’ is really a musical document of our thoughts, ideas and feelings during the time it was made. We always like to let whatever inspiration occurs do so naturally and honestly. That way the moods and themes of the music and the lyrics slowly bubble to the surface while the record is being made. We have the luxury of working in our own studio so we can record music any and all the time without deadlines. It stands to reason that if all the music and words come from the same people that they’ll at some point coagulate into something that works as a whole. We like to let it all come out without a pre-meditated ‘concept’ and then let the puzzle build itself.

Ben: I think it’s in the title, the artwork and the lyrics. Our records are like diaries; they are documents of the time between releases. They’re also like dreams; they might not necessarily make any sense to us at the time, but afterwards they start to reveal themselves, giving us answers and hopefully raising some questions too. 2008 was strange year for all of us; economically, socially, politically, environmentally. I think the wake-up bomb went off finally; 2008 for me was the fin de sciele the millennium wasn’t. Sian Alice Group spent a lot of that year staring out of windows; that gives you time to think. We personally felt a definite sense of displacement and of the transient, all of us being technically homeless at certain points of the year, plus the inevitable feelings of love, separation and loss. But it’s also about how the strength and love of others in terrible, ungodly times can inspire. It’s not all doom and gloom.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Rupert: We stay as open as we can in this regard. Each track makes it’s own rules. Some pour out very quickly and remain largely unchanged whilst others require lots of approaches from different angles. In these cases we’ll often end up effectively remixing completed tracks in order to get a fresh take on the parts and the instrumentation. In a way our process is more about a few things we avoid doing. Never record all the drums, then all the bass etc, never linger too long on something that’s not working, never say a song’s finished – it’s just ready for mastering!

Ben: We’re obsessed by sound and tone, and we like work fast and constantly. The writing and recording process is completely self-sufficient. Songs themselves come from many approaches, but to summarise, I’d say its an even mix of traditional songwriting, improvisation and remixing. We mix as we record and work on a bunch of tracks at the same time. Lyrics and vocals come towards the end. Although nothing is hard and fast!

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Rupert: This week’s heavily edited list: Jon Cale’s solo records, Rockwell Kent’s writings from Greenland, Henrik Håkansson’s artwork…

Ben: I think we take a little from everywhere. My general rule is 1% of everything is good. This time we were listening to a lot of John Cale, John Lennon, Exuma, a lot of Detroit techno, plus the usual broad spectrum of influences.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Rupert: I hope you like repetition!

Ben: Listen to the record in its entirety. Then listen to it again. We consider every second of what we do; there is something in there for you if you’re not frightened to look for it.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
Rupert: My ambition is simply to continue with the same momentum, always keep moving, always keep writing, never stop learning new things. We really like being on the move and we’ve been really lucky to tour with some great bands – A Place To Bury Strangers, Deerhunter, Vetiver to name a few – who are all good friends. We’re all relishing the prospect of the next spate of touring and tackling this new material live. I hope the new record can help us see and meet more of the world and put us in more musically challenging situations.

Ben: We want this record to be heard and we want to play as much as possible. Last year’s debut was a bit of an enigma. It was either warmly received or unheard of! Which is fine with us; we’d rather get to where we want to go on our own merits and by hard work. The benefit of being on a small true independent label is that you can remain truly focused; we’re not afraid of getting up and getting stuck in. We love what we do and we’re truly thankful to be doing it. This time around we have UK licensing and press so hopefully that will help get us in front of people. And really that’s all we want, to keep doing what we love.

MORE>> www.sianalicegroup.com



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