How did you come to music?
When I was at school, I started playing guitar. I was twelve or thirteen. The school was involved in forming bands and stuff, playing whatever we could, like Jimi Hendrix or Led Zeppelin songs. I did that for a while, got better and better, and eventually formed Fridge. I was about fifteen. And then, I met someone in a record shop in London, and I just got chatting to him. He said he was in this band called Emperor’s New Clothes, on Acid Jazz, and they were produced by Trevor Nelson at the time. The guy asked me if I could send him a tape, so I did and he gave it to Trevor. A Week later, Trevor phoned up saying he was setting up a label and that he’d like to put our records out. We went to meet him; he asked us what we needed. We said we needed some recording equipment, and a few days later, we had a multi track recorder delivered to our house, that we set up in the drummer’s bedroom and started recording. We did two albums and a whole bunch of singles.

The music you make with Fridge and with Four Tet is very different. What are you’re influences?
Around the time we formed the band, I was into the sort of Riot Grrrl or American lo-fi stuff. It gave me the confidence that everybody could form a band and put a record out. There was this band called Quick Space Supersport, and I was going to all their shows in London. There were doing these fifteen-twenty minutes-long tracks with no vocals. That was very inspiring and made us push forward ideas about what we were going to do. Also, at the same time, drum’n’bass was really kicking off. I was at a big comprehensive school in South London, with two thousand kids; you’d hear jungle everyday. We had a little café with a stereo, and we’d play hardcore all day, so I got pretty interested. And there was the music that I was hearing at parties, around me. So it was kind of bringing it all together, all those things. The Four Tet thing was when I got to university. We were only able to do the band during our holidays because I was at college. So I bought a computer with my student loan, and started to mess around with my own music. I was really into avant-guard jazz and free jazz, and I guess I was kind of pissed-off with the records that were coming out, saying that they were jazz influenced but were blend and woosey.

Dialogue, the first Four Tet album, had a lot more jazz influences than Pause. Is it because you’ve moved on?
Well, I’ve already explored that on the first album, and I never wanted to do the same thing. Every record I make is different. It doesn’t mean that I don’t like that music anymore, but it was like, what I am going to do next. I wanted to retain the same kind of atmosphere, but push forward some of the ideas. It was going to be a lot more adventurous with sound. At the time, I was listening to a lot of American R’n’B, garage and two-steps. Those are the sorts of sounds that influenced the new record. I was listening to stuff like that, and people are a lot more daring with the sort of sounds they are willing to incorporate, like harp or flute sounds or whatever, and put it as the lead instrument, in an unusual sort of context, and I really admire that. It gave me a kick in the ass in the way that I should be a lot more daring about the sort of sounds I use on this record. Whereas in the past it would be kind of bass, drums, maybe some guitars, keyboards, a saxophone or something, I’ve got this harp, three guitars, four drums, and I’m gonna add six harmonica solos. I wanted it to be a lot stranger on the arrangements.

Do you sill do everything with a computer as opposed to work in a big studio?
Yes. There’s nothing, no mixing desk, no effects. Only my computer and my hi-fi. That’s all I used on my album. I record stuff, or sample records, or television, or radio. I collect most sounds and then put them on the computer and start messing it all, manipulate them, mock around with them. There’s nothing on the record that is just straight play. Everything has been highly edited, constructed. I might sample a few notes and change them. For instance, there’s no bass on the record at all. Every single bass-type sound on the whole thing is actually other instruments in the track slowed down. On Untangle, besides the drums, every single sound is made out of this one harp sample. I got quite into taking one or two sounds, messing with them loads, trying to make all the sounds I need to make the whole track, with just one little second-long burst of music.

You’re mate with Dan “Manitoba” Snaith. How did you meet him?
We met at Big Chill festival a couple of years ago. We bump into each other and became friends. A couple of months later, he told me he’d started making music and sent me a CD. I thought it was very good, so I passed it onto the Leaf Label, told them they should put it out, so they did. And then he did his album. I’ve just emailed him the parts for him to do a remix of one of the tracks from Pause.

Your universe and his are quite similar. Would you ever consider working with him?
He’s all the way in Canada, and is pretty busy at the moment. We never really talked about it. We’ve got similar tastes, and we’ve became pretty good friends. I’ve been staying in Canada with him and he stayed with me here in London. Maybe, one day, if we’ve got time, we’ll do something together… I think he’s started to work on his next record, and I’m really busy at the moment, so… well, there’s this remix going on as well, so it’s kind of working together I suppose… We’re also doing a big gig together in London, on July 25. It’s kind of a double headline, Four Tet and Manitoba, in Brick Lane.

Is there anyone in particular you would like to work with?
There’s no obvious person on top of my head. Sometimes, I might be working on a track, and I’d love to work with a great pianist on it, or something like that, someone it’d be great to have around at that moment. There aren’t people that I sit there and sort of dream that one day, it’d be great to work with. There’s an enormous list of people you could say would be great to work with, like Busta Rhymes.

You’re music, either with Four Tet or with Fridge, is totally instrumental. Would you consider working with vocalists?
Yes, if the right person comes along, if I’d bump into someone and I felt it was going to be a real natural thing. I’d want them to be as influenced by my music as I’d be with their vocals. I’d never want to force vocals onto one of my tracks. I don’t want to be in that situation where someone says I should have some vocals on that and then give it to some singer who would try to construct a song that’s going to fit onto it. I’d rather work more closely with someone. It hasn’t happened yet because I haven’t tried to force the issue.

Pause is a lot more laidback than Dialogue was. Was it deliberate?
It was made in a calmer environment, all at home, usually late at night, just in my spare time. I’d be like, working a little bit on some tracks. They were done over quite a long period of time, like, six months. I’d never ever set a time to do it. I’d never say that I’d work on the record all week. I’d just get up in the morning, make a bit of breakfast maybe, work a little bit on a track while eating it, stop to watch a little bit of TV, and maybe work a little more on it. All of it was done in a very laidback environment. I didn’t allow myself to have any pressure at all. So I think that’s why it came out so mellow.

Pause has a very live feel to it too…
I suppose it’s me getting better as a producer. When I did the first record, I’d only just bought the computer, and I was learning how to do everything. With this one, I’ve mastered the technology a lot more, do my own thing…

How do the other guys from Fridge look at Four Tet?
They both seem to really like the stuff. Four Tet is a lot more hip-hop, and neither of them are into hip-hop. A lot of it is the things we don’t do with Fridge because the guys are not into it so much. Adam’s been writing some songs recently. I think he’s more into song based music really. And he’s also involved in theatre. Sam’s doing web page design. We all do all kind of things.

In an interview you’ve done a while ago, you seemed pretty hacked up against the music industry, making references to how releasing an album had to be carefully orchestrated, to ensure maximum exposure. Do you feel the same now?
It’s a pain, but you get used to it. You could rebel against it, but I want to make a living out of what I’m doing, so I kind of play the game. The album has come out at the same time as everybody else’s. People are working hard to put my records out, so I don’t want to jeopardise the whole thing by being fussy about it. All the big albums of the year will come out now.

You’ve also set up your own record label, Text Records, and you will be releasing the new Fridge album on it. Why didn’t you release Pause yourself?
I didn’t have a label up and running at the time. It’s only just getting into the motion now, and I needed to go with a more established label. I like to get myself spread out over a variety of different places. It’s an immense job putting a record out. Fridge is coming out on Text in the UK, but it’s coming out on Domino in the rest of Europe, and on a different label again in America. There’s loads of different labels involved.

You’re signed to Domino Records, which is a pretty eclectic label. What decided you to go with them?
They came and offered. Very early on, they said they wanted to release my album. I’ve been buying Domino records since I can remember. They have so many great artists. They’re not a big major label, but they’re not a small indie label either. They’ve got a proper distribution, a proper office, a big team of people working. And I really needed to get some exposure abroad. I’ve never really plugged any of my records outside of the UK before. I’ve started doing some international press now, so it’s making a world of a difference for me, reaching a much wider audience. The album is getting very good response in Europe, especially in Italy. It doesn’t get released in America until the autumn though.

You’ve produced a lot of remixes for people as diverse as Aphex Twin, the Cinematic Orchestra, or more recently, you’ve taken part in the Slag Boom Van Loon remix project. Is the way you work on a remix very different from the way you work on your own music?
It’s totally different because you’re given this really harsh constraint at the very beginning. You’re given a song, which is your starting point for your track. Instead of coming from you, it’s coming from somebody else. It’s much more an exercise in production. You’ve got to force somebody else’s work into your context, and then only can you get into working with it. I’ve got to find the right melody, vocals or whatever in the track that I want to preserve from the original, and try to get it to fit into my sound. For the Slag Boom Van Loon remix, Mike [Paradinas] sent me the original album, from which I chose a track that I wanted to do. All it really is is quite simple. Loads of keyboards. I heard it and was instantly gripped by certain sounds, and I just use those. They were very typical sounds that I might have used in one of my tracks. The original is very ambient. Practically everything, apart from the keyboards, is mine.

How do you keep up-to-date with what’s going on on the music scene?
I listen to hundreds and hundreds of records all the time. I spent all my time doing that. I can’t actually get through all the records I’ve got at the moment. In my room, there are records all over the floor that I’ve been sent over the last couple of weeks. Only this morning, I had about seven or eight singles and six CD albums that are coming out. Manish [Kieran’s on-line press officer] just gave me a whole pile, and I’ll probably be popping down to Rough Trade after this to buy some more. I’m buying records to DJ with, a whole wide mix. I only do it for fun really; I really enjoy playing records and watch everyone dance on them.

What’s next on you agenda?
I’m away virtually every weekend, playing at festivals in Europe at the moment. And then, the Fridge album in the autumn [24 September], and the Four Tet album in America as well. I’m pretty much booked until the end of the year. It’s been the busiest, maddest, year ever, because I’ve made all this music last year, and I’m trying to release it all this year.

For more information on Four Tet, visit the Domino Records web site.
Thank you to Kieran, Manish, and Laurence.

© themilkfactory.co.uk 2001