'It's not easy to figure things out when you’re a 14-year-old girl who wants to be in a band'
Enchanting Icelandic twins Pascal Pinon, whose sophomore album Twosomeness is released this week, take their name from that of an infamous early 20th century circus performer known as ‘the two-headed Mexican’ – Pasqual Pinon. We chatted to Jófrídur and Ásthildur about righteous parents, ‘teenager music’ and tea …
How did you find working with (Sigur Rós and Jónsi collaborator) Alex Somers on the new album?
It was really amazing! Alex brought out all the best in us, making us create and get ideas and inspirations that we didn’t know were possible. He also had lots and lots of tea and healthy food, keeping us well and happy.
How did the recording process differ from that of your eponymous 2010 debut? That record was famously made using only one microphone …
It was actually kind of similar, the most important things were: we were in a home (home studio, but home none the less), and we mostly used one microphone (though we did sometimes experiment with a really shitty mic through a nice amplifier).
But still, this time we had 20 something songs to choose from and we had no idea how they would end up sounding when we started working on them. We totally stripped them down, finding only the core of the song and then we figured out the sound and the instrumentation as we played it more and listened to it. On the other album we just recorded what we’d been playing live in the months before. After this recording session we had to completely re-think our live set … and Alex has lots more gear of course.
You’re both 18. This is perhaps your last album as ‘teens’. Is there a sense of moving into the adulthood on the next album and how do you think that’ll manifest musically?
I don’t know really. We’ll just have to see what happens. We have never intentionally set out to make some kind of ‘teenager music’. The fact that we are still in our teens is something people link to us afterwards – it’s true and inescapable – but it’s not something we’re too aware of. We just make music; we started young and we’ll grow. The music probably grows too.
Talk us through the songwriting process. One can’t help imagining some sort of twin telepathy at work.
I (Jófrídur) usually write the songs on my guitar at home, when no one can hear. Then I let Ásthildur listen and she is always very, very honest with me. I feel lucky having someone so unafraid of making me change what I do, it’s usually always for the best. We make arrangements together and work a lot on the vocals and sometimes we have cassette playback that we do together. The songwriting is the easiest part – with the exception of lyrics. I have a high standard for lyrics; they have to be true to me without revealing too much and being too specific. I want the listener to be able to relate and fill in the missing information with his or her own thoughts and feelings. They have to be poetic and I like it when they rhyme. Where it takes me 15 minutes to write a song, I can be weeks finishing and polishing the lyrics for that song.
Your sisters sometimes perform with you; your dad is your manager. How important is family to you and can either of you ever imagine writing and performing outside of that framework?
Our family is very tight, our parents take care of us in so many ways and sometimes they are very afraid of letting us go and watching us grow up. We have had a very protected childhood and some incredibly tense teen years, with lots of conflicts and arguments, but it’s good to know they will always have our backs, both now and when we are 40, 50, 60 or whatever. They really want us to be who we are and they want us to be happy, but they have a strong sense of justice and righteousness, which doesn’t always match our point of view – being a teenager and everything.
Our father has a lot of experience in the pop music world and he has taught us high standards when it comes to touring and playing shows. It would’ve taken us a lot longer to get to where we are – it’s not easy to figure these things out when you’re a 14 year old girl who just got the idea it would be cool to start a band.
Twosomeness is out now through Morr Music
15 Jan 2013
Snipe Likes: Hervé feat. Austra
Who’s to say whether we would have picked up on this stylish slow-burner had the word AUSTRA not popped up in our in-boxes in bold capitals – we are proverbial moths to the flame when it comes to Katie Stelmanis’ dramatic warble – but we’re glad we did. UK producer Hervé has taken a less direct approach on new album The Art of Disappearing; 2012’s Pick Me Up, Sort Me Out, Calm Me Down was something of an aggressive club slayer, but here Joshua Harvey seems to have picked up on the kind of post night-out vibes articulated with such herbal fervour by Massive Attack circa Blue Lines. It’s an enjoyable change of direction, however temporary.
The Art of Disappearing is out March 4 via Harvey’s own Cheap Thrills imprint. The LP also features the equally impressive Niki & The Dove.
11 Jan 2013
Honey by Torres
Neatly sidestepping the obvious here soccer fans, this track from Nashville’s Torres, aka 22-year-old Mackenzie Scott, has been working its way through the blogs like fellow Tennesseans Kings of Leon through a remote girl’s public school dorm. Justifiably so: It is, as one Youtube user emphatically states, ‘absolutely devastating’, a shining advert for the virtues of the me ‘n’ my guitar ethos; PJ Harvey at her bluesy rawest before she adopted the persona of a disgruntled May Queen – with added gospel introspection.
Torres’ self-titled, self-released debut is out January 22. Pre-order here.
07 Jan 2013
Pulp unveil James Murphy collaboration
The great thing about the relatively recent spate of Britpop reformations is the realisation that many of these bands remain potent live – Blur and Pulp I can attest to personally, Suede too by all accounts. The threat of ‘new material’ is, as always, greeted with a chorus of hoorays and groans in equal measure and what little has surfaced has been predictably lacklustre – Blur’s rather spiritless Fool’s Day for example.
Pulp – ever the clever clogs and unashamedly danceable at their core – may have pulled off a masterstroke however, with this cleverly nurtured collaboration with James Murphy. This re-working of an old demo is classic Pulp with a hint of Blondie-esque disco. All other bands with ‘unfinished business’ take note: if you can’t train your podgy middle-aged fingers to make a record as gob-smackingly fresh and excellent as this then you really shouldn’t bother. Really.
31 Dec 2012
Trust - Heaven
TRUST’s gloomy, techno-inflected debut came out in the US in late 2011, but a 2012 release on these shores has created a deserved spike in UK appreciation. They’re capitalising on it with a European tour this coming January, including a London stop on Jan 31st at Angel’s goth cave, Electrowerkz. In an album of gems it seems like any track could have life as a single, and the latest to get the treatment is “Heaven” – see the video above.
17 Dec 2012
Snipe Likes: Phosphorescent
Phosphorescent, aka Matthew Houck has finally returned to the studio following an exhaustive 18-month jaunt in support of his critically acclaimed 2010 LP, Here’s to Taking it Easy. The result is Muchaco, his seventh studio album, available March 18 though Dead Oceans.
Album taster Song for Zula, streaming above, is a defiant, country-tinged affair: all reverberating beats and lush, subtle orchestration – a perfect aperitif.
13 Dec 2012
Snipe Likes: Sugar C. by Misfit Mod
Sugar C is the debut single from London-based Kiwi Sarah Kelleher, aka Misfit Mod. It’s a stylish take on electro-blues – as deceptively sweet and intoxicating as a cheap navy rum, but with the elegant tonality and finish of a more refined spirit.
Available now as a limited edition 7” and a digital download via Stars & Letters; an album – Islands and Islands – has been pencilled in for a February 19 release.
12 Dec 2012
Tame Impala vs Memory Tapes
New Jersey-based Dayve Hawk aka dreamcore merchant Memory Tapes has dusted this Tame Impala track with his usual sleepy nighttime magic, this time including a mid-song firework display of skronky guitar and amusingly epic rave synths. Nice. Tame Impala’s much admired new album “Lonerism” is out now.
05 Dec 2012
Wild Nothing - Nocturne
Jack Tatum’s Wild Nothing have produced one of the albums of the year in “Nocturne”: a slick, dreamy US-indie-pop record that tops off catchy songs with a gorgeous, echoey sheen. Released on Bella Union in the UK, the album is out now. They play a one-off London show at The Lexington tonight – with much bigger dates on the horizon, it’s the last time they’ll play a mid-sized venue for the forseeable future, we imagine.
28 Nov 2012
Snipe Likes: On and On by The Sea and Cake
Following on from last week’s Fun Adults post, here’s a great little animated video from Chicago’s The Sea and Cake, directed by Naomi Nagata, beautifully simplistic in its appreciation of the humble straight line. On and On is the second single to be taken from the quartet’s recent Runner album, out now on Thrill Jockey.
27 Nov 2012
Snipe Highlights
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