from their eclectic musical backgrounds, the group’s collective sound takes on a more experimental sound that isn’t confined to the dancefloor. James elaborates by saying, “We like moody, song-structured music. It’s also a reflection of how we play. When we DJ we tend to be like that as well — we’re definitely not artists that make songy-type music and then rely on playing drummy tracks. We like playing weird shit, we like listening to weird shit, we like making weird shit and it seems to kind of work, and that extends to music we want to sign on the label.”
True to form, the MFR sound has morphed and transcended from its creation to the present day. Four years after the group released its first album, ‘We Come In Pieces’, MFR is back ready to present a new side of the robot on their second album ‘Atomic Age’. Jared attributes their new sound to working with James and having a clear vision for the album. “When ‘We Come In Pieces’ came out, it was just Voytek and I. Along the way Teej joined us so ‘Atomic Age’ is the first album that the three of us have worked on. Soon after we decided that we were going at this as three people, we actually wrote an album, but it ended up not feeling 100% right. Some of the tracks were great, and we signed some of those tracks to labels like Life and Death, Visionquest, and our own. As an album it just wasn’t the cohesive project that we envisioned, so we split it up on other labels. Then we started fresh again with a new vision and palette.”
The group’s new vision slowly but surely formed into the concept behind ‘Atomic Age’, a vocal heavy, synth-driven journey through space and tempo. Although the album title alludes to a motif of the post-industrial era, ‘Atomic Age’ has a very humanistic perspective on modern electronic music. In fact, James most frequently describes the creative process and end product as organic. “The new process ended up coming together so much more smoothly. We spent about a year, from start to finish, writing the album and it was just an amazing process. It came together really organically and is a much stronger album than had we just taken those other tracks and put them in an album context. There’s a fundamental vision behind the whole thing. It goes through a lot of different types of sounds. It’s super representative of MFR.” The end result is a 12-track journey through synth and space that utilizes a variety of instruments, moods, and tempos. Jared sums up their second album endeavor as their first real album. “We absolutely did not want to make a collection of tracks, which was kind of what the failed album was in our eyes. We wanted to write songs and for there to be a good balance of stuff that isn’t going to alienate people that know us for our more dancefloor stuff, but we also wanted to show a new side of the type of music we want to make
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and love. The album has a balance of more moody, downtempo, less playable stuff, but still shows the side that knows how to rock a dancefloor.” In terms of where their new album fits in the grand scheme of electronic music, James isn’t quite sure where to place it. “We want to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the scene we’re interested in and continue to share our vision of music and make our contribution to the electronic music scene that we’ve been involved in for almost 20 years,” he explains. “Where it fits? I don’t think it matters. It fits where people find it to fit. This album captures this moment in time for us.”
Regardless of whether the trio is working on their label or producing tracks, My Favorite Robot places musical integrity as their utmost concern, creating and releasing music that is more than just easily disposable fodder that is here one moment and gone the next. James appreciates good listeners by saying, “It’s nice to speak to people from around the world when we’re traveling and have people really understand what we’re trying to do and the effort that we’re putting into finding good music and sharing it. We are a label that is continuing to grow, but we are not in the mainstream. We certainly aren’t doing this because it’s going to buy us a Ferrari anytime soon, you know what I mean?! We have a lot of passion for what we do. With the level of support we are starting to get worldwide we can tell that people are sharing that vision.”
Though My Favorite Robot plan to expand the label as far as it will go to broaden their fan base, the group has their feet firmly planted on the ground. After explaining the group’s lofty aspirations, James half-jokingly remarks, “None of our aspirations are to become the next Avicii, you know! We’re all in this because we love music and we are going to continue to evolve.”
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