s Heston Blumenthal would probably tell be soft on another made it a really interesting mixture,” The pair’s first single ‘Music (In My Mind)’, in 2003, was
A
you, it’s the unusual combinations that he elaborates. certainly a little different, with a crawling bassline and
add the real flavour. Now DJmag can’t say disco flourishes that were almost perfect pop music, but
where Hans-Peter Lindstrøm stands on Although they bonded over a shared love of Motown, the with an unsettling and exiguous vocal from Christabelle
introducing snails to the menu at Little separate reasons both of them give for their infatuations she says was intended to “communicate in an almost
Chef, but the Norwegian producer certainly shares similar with old soul reveal a lot about their individual non-verbal way”.
beliefs when it comes to making music. personalities, with Christabelle enthusing about the Like all her lyrics, it was improvised almost entirely
“Music is all about contrasts for me,” he states. “If you “realness and emotions” in Motown, whilst Hans-Peter on-the-spot according to her mood at the time, a way of
just follow the rules it gets boring, so you need to twist it admires “the way they construct the songs”. On this working Hans-Peter says is vastly different to his normal
by having familiar elements and then something crazy evidence, it’s tempting to assume that he represents the studio practices, whether that’s producing his own
that disturbs them. That’s what makes it interesting — ‘structure’ and she the ‘chaos’ in their working instrumental projects like 2008’s solo album ‘Where You
having light and dark, wet and dry or quiet and loud.” relationship, an impression reinforced upon talking to Go, I Go Too’ or working with his other collaborator Prins
Or, as Christabelle Sandoo puts it, “structure and chaos”, the pair; with Lindstrøm providing calm and measured Thomas on their self-titled debut in 2005 or last year’s
the term the singer claims perfectly summarises ‘Real answers whilst Christabelle’s replies come in more follow-up ‘II’. His work on these two projects and others
Life Is No Cool’, the new album she and Lindstrøm have scattershot sentences punctuated with sudden laughter. are why ‘Real Life Is No Cool’ — out 18th January on
created together. Casting them in this light might be slightly too simplistic, Feedility/Smalltown Supersound — took so long to
however. complete.
It’s a pretty accurate description for this collection of “We’re definitely different but we also share a lot of
electro-pop and disco, as synthesized Moroder-esque things,” Christabelle says. “We both have a slightly For Hans-Peter, the biggest challenge was figuring out
basslines spiral into echoing whirlpools and choruses, whimsical and rebellious approach, so we’re probably how to incorporate vocals into his tracks, more
that could have come straight from an ’80s Madonna more alike than Hans-Peter would like to think.” accustomed as he is to creating sprawling instrumental
record, segue into tracks like ‘Never Say Much’, where the epics. Indeed, ‘Where You Go, I Go Too’ contained just
music spins backwards as if a teenager is searching for That shared attitude is both what first attracted them to three tunes, and the title track alone lasted nearly as
Satanic messages, and psychedelic guitars and dub collaborate, and what has been apparent in the music long as half of the ten tracks on ‘Real Life Is No Cool’
effects oscillate around the ears. And Christabelle’s voice they’ve produced together since. Before they met, combined.
is equally Protean, at times having the commanding tone Christabelle had been pursuing her own electronica “I wanted to make a condensed dance-pop album
of her heroine Grace Jones, whilst on closing track ‘High experiments at home but had also been singing for other because I was getting bored of all these epic
and Low’ she sounds almost as childlike as Kristin Hersh, producers who wanted her to front their polished pop instrumentals,” he reveals.
exactly the qualities that pricked up Hans-Peter’s ears music, which she says “didn’t allow me to push “‘Pop’, to me, is what you hear on the radio and then it’s
when he first heard Christabelle on demos played to him boundaries or express myself the way I wanted”. vocals that are most important. They’re the first thing
by her brother at his Oslo studio in 2001. “I thought that was really interesting,” Hans-Peter that you listen to and a lot of people find it difficult to
“I didn’t think her voice was extraordinarily powerful but explains. “Because here you had someone who probably relate to purely instrumental music. So I was looking
it sounded like no-one else, and the way she pronounced could have been a mainstream pop star yet wanted to do back at pop and disco from the ’70s and ’80s for
words and could half-sing and half-speak on one track or something different.” inspiration without trying to imitate them. But you end
With singer Christabelle on board, ‘Real Life Is No Cool’ is a collection of electro-pop
and disco, and marks a welcome return to form for Norwegian producer Linstrøm
STRUCTURE & CHAOS
Words: PAUL CLARKE Photos: Kim hiothoy
040
www.djmag.com
DJ481.lindstrom_feature.indd 40 2/12/09 16:28:04
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