In 2020 Hooverphonic trebuiau sa urce pe scena Eurovision cu piesa 'A Simple Glitch of the Heart', dar stim cu totii ce s-a intamplat. Mai mult 2020 trebuia sa aduca si un nou album insa nici acest lucru nu a mai fost posibil.
Anul acesta in schimb se pare ca pana la urma un nou material discografic va fi oferit fanilor. Acesta va fi lansat pe 7 Mai si se va intitula 'Hidden Stories'.
Alex Callier, bassistul si claparul formatiei a oferit un interviu pe care l-am primit si noi si pe care il puteti citi mai jos
Alex Callier: We basically started from scratch. You can't compare 'The Wrong Place' with 'Release Me'. 'The Wrong Place', the 2021 Rotterdam selection, didn't fit on the unreleased 2020 album. We've been able to recuperate a few songs, such as 'Belgium in the Rain' and 'Circus', but the lion's share is new. The vinyl version needs an eight weeks head start to be pressed on time, which means our master had to go out the door as soon as possible. We only had three months of production time, from the first Geike demos to the recording, mixing and final artwork approval. Quite the bold undertaking. Mixing took one month and a half, and there were a lot of arrangements. I just cannot let it go. I'm never fully content (laughs). A lot of songs from the sixties had guitars that were tuned by ear, accompanied by pianos that weren't perfectly tuned either. If everything sounds off, the results are an organic whole. You can't turn back the clock. The Beatles sounded wonderful because their microphones and preamplifiers were limited but excellent. You can feel the energy of The Smiths or The Cure in the eighties, their songs are still great, but the sound isn't. The mix has hardly any low end. I think the mixers used too much coke (laughs). The best sounding records precede the eighties. Julie London's 'About the Blues' is still gorgeous. Warm, deep, and inconceivable.
Would Hooverphonic ever consider recording an album using sixties tools and instruments?
Alex: No, I would never do that. We have arrived at a point in time where you can simulate everything digitally. The eighties were the first digital era, and everything sounded cold and sterile. The biggest challenge of the past thirty years has been to recreate the warmth, the grit and the dirt in the digital domain. Nowadays, it's possible to make your own digital studio in ways beyond what could be achieved in the past. I've mixed 'Hidden Stories' with Universal Audio's 'LUNA'-software. It was a revelation, an epiphany. At last, I felt like I was in an analogue studio once more. I had to fight the digital revolution, but now I'm convinced I have no more need for a sixties' studio.
Last year's unreleased record contained thirteen tracks, whereas 'Hidden Stories' has ten.
Alex: The average attention span is not what it used to be. It's all part of the skip culture. Ten strong songs does suffice. It's always a work in progress: a hunt for songs that connect and fit the bigger picture. I like to leave the public craving for more. In the erstwhile days of vinyl, forty minutes was a normal runtime. The Lemonheads' 'It's a Shame About Ray' is a brisk thirty minutes. Excellent stuff! Because of the streaming platforms and radio, song tent to become shorter and shorter. That's not a new thing, in the sixties it was just the same. Young bands like to crash the aural party and have it over with in two minutes.
Can 'Lift Me Up' be called a sequel to 'The Night Before', seeing as the phrase 'lift me off the floor' seems the logical follow-up to 'lying on the floor'?
Alex: No, 'Lift Me Up' is used metaphorically. “Make me a better person. If you do take it literally, then 'The Wrong Place' is a sequel to 'The Night Before'. Waking up, not knowing where you are, and not knowing what this dude is doing here. It's the hangover that's always chasing us. Quite ironic for a guy who hasn't been drinking these past five months. The intro sounds deliberately detuned. I love songs that aren't perfectly in tune. 'Lift Me Up' has been written at the end of a session. I had just spent two days perfecting a track with Nina Sampermans, and we had some inspiration left at four in the afternoon. One hour and a half later, we had written and recorded a song based on two downloaded samples. Some songs take two days, others just thirty minutes. But you need those two days to subsequently catch lightning in a bottle. It's all about the right energy.
“We all have our hidden stories. Either consciously or unconsciously. Even in a relationship, we never speak out every thought. 'You take some secrets to your grave', I truly believe that. Silly things that needn't be grand stories. There's no need to know everything, out of respect for your significant other. 'You don't have to lie and cheat all the time', mind you. The title track is inspired by 'The Mandela Effect', about history being rewritten by the general opinion. We can recall certain memories that seem to have never taken place. Everybody thought Mandela was dead, while he was incarcerated at Robben Island.
It's no coincidence that 'Full Moon Duel' sounds very Morricone-esque, just like 'Jackie Cane'.
Alex: That's my first-ever digital co-write. Luca Chiaravalli was in Gallarate, I was in Sint-Niklaas, we worked via Zoom and ProTools. It's a tribute to my two all-time heroes, Ennio Morrione and John Barry, who have now both passed away. It could have been a Eurovision Song Contest entry. The song would have made an impact, but it's too much “like it or hate it. 'The Wrong Place' is the best song for the contest: lyrically atypical, sonically very Hooverphonic. There's darkness and humour. Always off the beaten track, that's my problem.
Cu Hooverphonic ne vedem la Brasov si Bucuresti pe 7 respectiv 8 Octombrie.
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