Track By Track: Standish/Carlyon

From a misheard rap to a Prince-y beat to a faux-Sakamoto chorus, CONRAD STANDISH meditates on making his debut duo album with former Devastations bandmate Tom Carlyon, complete with ultra-atmospheric descriptors.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

‘Critics Multiply’

Tarantula on the windowpane, champagne tossed against the windscreen. Physiotherapy convention in French countryside. An affair.

The original beat for this track referenced ‘All the Critics Love U in New York’ by Prince, and early lyrical sketches featured the line “She wants to multiply,” which was pilfered from ‘Some Like It Hot’ by The Power Station. Which neatly brings us to our title.

‘Nono/Yoyo’

Warren G uncomfortably stoned, leaning on a fire hydrant.

This track provided the impetus to start Standish/Carlyon. Was written very quickly with both of us in the same room, which is a rare way for us to work. Tom came and visited me in Bethnal Green, in London, whilst he was holidaying. We wrote this in a matter of an hour or so, and we went and recorded/mixed it properly a few days later above an antique shop in Kings Cross. Often you’ll read interviews with musicians saying things like “...and the song just appeared!...” This is one of those interviews (not an interview).

‘Feb Love’

B-U-M-P I-N T-O U. It’s alphabetic if you let it put a spell on U.

Really weird atmosphere on this. Took a really, really long time to get this one right. Great with good headphones on a very slow escalator. Features my beloved Jonnine [Standish, from HTRK] on vocals and nonchalance.

‘Gucci Mountain’

Ice on the coconuts. A narcoleptic private dick who never gets his man.

Tom emailed me the beat and chord progression one morning and I downloaded onto my phone as I was leaving the house to go to work. Listened to it walking up Regents Canal and by the time I arrived at work most of the lyrics and melodic ideas were in place. This hasn’t really changed that much from its demo form and Aaron Cupples [of Civil Civic] did a beautiful job on the mix, retaining both its iciness and its humidity.

‘Industrial Resort’

Heat-stroked and food-poisoned dub, and a twist in the river for Deleted Scenes.

‘New People’

We still hadn’t packed away the Roland Space Echo from ‘Industrial Resort’.

‘Moves, Moves’

Roy Lichtenstein snoops, creeps and stalks his way around front-gardens and chillout rooms all over Europe.

Old, old bass line dating back to the death throes of Devastations. This song is pretty maximal – there’s a lot of colour and bounce going on inside this one. Faux-Sakamoto chorus leading into faux-Timbaland outro.

‘Aqua Valerie’

A snorkelling accident ends up as catalyst for real and true love.

Title from this comes from a misheard rap in Kool G Rap & DJ Polo’s ‘Operation CB’ (Live and Let Die, 1992) and we made this track out of two completely different songs.

‘Subliminally’

Glass sliding doors, do-not-disturb signs, Egyptian night cream, bloodstains on the kimono.

I don’t want to play favourites, but...

‘2 5 1 1’

Lucky last and also the last thing we wrote for the album. Blanck Mass shows up with some Salvia halfway through this, sparks one up and sinks into the metaphorical couch.

+

‘Deleted Scenes’ is out now through Chapter. Read Anthony Carew’s review. Launching in Melbourne and Sydney; info below.

Sat, July 27 – Shebeen, Melbourne, VIC [w/Jonny Telafone, Bamboo Musik DJs + DJ People] [tickets]
Fri, Aug 9 – GoodGod Small Club, Sydney, NSW [w/with Four Door, Horse MacGyver + DJ Nigel Yang] [tickets]