‘My friends and me would just pick up some beers, sit on a bench then walk home down this pitch black path… ‘
Rhyming In Fives tends to be paradoxical: enigmatic, yet when new music manifests it’s so immediate, fully-formed and substantial that it seems to resonate for days. Nothing vague about it in the slightest.
So. RI5 have a new ep entitled Light Leaks out on Narratives Music: we busily set to work demystifying it all further.
Hey, Light Leaks is stunning! It’s a dream ep and easy to get so lost in. When did it start to take shape, to manifest as it were?
Hey! Thank you very much – I’m glad you enjoyed it. It’s a bit of a mixed one: some of the tracks are a fair bit older than others. ‘Glimmer’ for instance was one of the first tracks I made – ‘Light Leaks’ came after the first release.
The EP really started to take it’s form about 6/7 months ago, as newer material was finished the right combination of tracks that really worked well together fell into place. I wanted the EP to be something you can put on and listen to from start to finish. That’s a statement that gets thrown around frequently, but it’s something I’m always very conscious of.
What does the sensationally great ep title refer to?
I mess about with photography here and there and always use analog film, digital cameras are great quality etc etc but I never enjoyed it the same as using film… I guess it’s similar to the vinyl vs digital argument.
Anyway, a light leak is where light leaks into the camera and hits the film causing it to over expose, which in a lot of cases can totally ruin the picture – but it can also create a beautiful effect.
It’s one of those things that you don’t plan, don’t really have any control over – it happens and it either makes or breaks the photo. I’ve been lucky with it a few times and unlucky too – but that’s what I love about analogue film: what you see when you take the photo isn’t necessarily what you’ll get at the end.
Can you take us through ‘Mnemonic’ first off? If this was from a film then I would need no advert or trailer: the music would be enough.
Sure – it’s definitely the most energetic from the EP.
It started off with the arpeggiatedlead, I spent a while with a 16 bar loop just with a kick and snare, getting it to do what I wanted, tweaking note lengths to get the right rhythmic feel and so forth before the other elements were added.
After that it got to a ‘draft’ stage pretty quickly, but I put it to one side and started working on other material. That was probably around March time last year, but the track wasn’t fully finished until probably closer to October / November time – there were a few more elements added, some where removed over time and eventually got to what it is now.
I do that with a lot of my music, get them to a solid draft state then put them to one side, give my ears and head some space from them.
Can you take us through ‘Exposed’? I feel like I need to be in a big car dressed in fur coat zooming through St Moritz in winter 1975 to sign divorce papers when I hear this.
That’s quite a picture you’ve painted… I can see it!
It’s fantastic to get that kind of feedback though, what the listener sees when they are hearing it. It’s one of the ‘darkest’ bits I’ve made I guess. We have an old railway line where I grew up, with woodland and fields on either side that had been turned into a cycle path – the Worth Way: if you know, you know.
A lot of the times my friends and me would just pick up some beers, sit on a bench then walk home down this pitch black path. I think in a way that influenced this track; being in the dark, it all felt a bit unknown – you feel quite exposed.
I ran pretty much everything through the UAD Lexicon 224 with the reverb times cranked right up (especially on the kicks) it gave the track a really big, cinematic feel.
Do films drive you at all, as inspirations? Or is that fact that they are NOT a factor inspiring to you? ie your art is self reliant.
Music is of course very personal, I suppose my greatest drive and inspiration is life and whatever I happen to be experiencing – it’s me expression emotion.
But yes – films definitely do as well. I’ve always been fascinated by the use of music with any type of imagery, whether it be a film, still image, dance and so on.
In the writing process I’ll picture scenes from films and use them as a starting point to set the mood and, in many ways the way I approach a lot of my music is from a film score perspective rather than making tracks for dancing to.
What visual things inspire you?
I’m a big fan of Atelier Olschinsky, they do some incredible illustration work. I have a few of their prints and I can stare at them for days!
Views definitely inspire me – my commute means I see some really amazing ones, sprawling fields with London in the distance – especially in the evenings is pretty amazing.
I think abandoned buildings & spaces are inspiring; I recently saw a load of pictures of Russia’s cancelled space shuttle program. The facility has been abandoned for years: everything was dilapidated and rusting – that was pretty inspiring, this massive space just left to fall into disrepair.
Also the work of Simon Stålenhag – his art has definitely been inspiring.
He recently had a very successful kickstarter campaign to get two books printed. I’ve backed them both and can’t wait to get them, although it’s looking like it will be a long wait…
Who do you really like that plays synth? Who’s some archetypal heroes.
While they may not be strictly synth players, I’m a big fan of Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross’s work – they have scored a few films over the years that have really stood out like Social Network, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl – they have their style absolutely dialed and they really know how to set the mood and keep the viewer on edge.
Other musicians like Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream and the members’ solo work also, Global Communication, Boards of Canada… the list goes on!
What is another tune you would isolate and discuss? Maybe the stunning ‘Glimmer’?
Thank you, this was one I did quite early on after starting writing music as RIF. With some tracks I can recall writing them and what was going on at the time – but honestly with this one I can’t remember where it came from.
I know it happened quickly, one of those tracks that you start working on in the afternoon and all of a sudden it’s 2am and you’re exporting it, pretty much done. I really love creating ambient music; I find it a vastly different process when there aren’t / are minimal drums involved.
Who did the sleeve?
Paul Ross designed the sleeve; he’s done all of the Narratives art thus far.
Phil sent over a PDF full of ideas he’s come up with after listening to the EP. There were some really brilliant ideas – but this one stood out immediately, it’s beautiful!
Where do you record and is it a big space to record and play back the music?
I have a room where I do my final mixdowns before mastering, but when I’m creating music I’ve got a little area where I work from in my front room.
I moved recently and left some synths and some other hardware at my parents house – these days my set up is a Prophet 08 and a MacBook Pro. The Prophet I got at the start of the year so it doesn’t feature on the Light Leaks EP – but the next one will be very P08-heavy.
Listening back to the EP at the mastering studio was incredible, especially ‘Exposed’ – it felt like I was hearing the tracks for the first time!
Can we find you playing live? You should do Meltdown or something f*cking massive!
I’ve been thinking a live show on and off – it’s definitely something that will happen at some point. Currently I’m still mulling over the format of it and how it’s all going to be pieced together. It’s not something I want to rush but it will happen.
Any shouts and things to add?
Massive shouts to Phil & Will from Narratives who made this all possible.
Thanks to Beau, as always the masters sound great – he’s a lovely chap!
Thanks to everyone who has waited patiently for the EP, I know it’s taken a while. I hope you find it was worth the wait.