from an interview with db Magazine
...Luka Bloom has constantly changed his persona and continues to do so on his new
album 'Tribe' - written in tandem with Dubliner, Simon O'Reilly - suggesting
something new musically whilst further investigating his well known political beliefs. With
its suggestion of both ambient and film music, the new album could perhaps be best
described as introspective and subliminal in feeling - an idea with which Bloom concurs
when chatting prior to his latest round of concerts from his home in Ireland.
"That is an interesting way to describe it," he suggests. "It's the kind of
record that I have wanted to make for years. I've always had a bit of a strange affection
for pretentious music and electronically driven tunes, soundtrack music and ambient
music. You know, certain kinds of work that I've always loved to listen to but
which I have always wondered whether I'd have an opportunity to make such
a record myself - one that dips into this area of music. You know, very removed
from the life of a singer-songwriter."
The collaboration with Simon O'Reilly, according to Bloom, "Came about due to my
hearing an instrumental album that he had created about 18 months ago and I just
loved it. I loved the textures of it. I loved the way he constructed the tracks on it.
So I thought that I really wanted to meet this guy; and I went and met him and we
really hit it off and decided to try to collaborate. We had one conversation about the
nature of the record we wanted to make and we never spoke about it again and we
never even once sat down in a room and played music together," Bloom admits.
From listening to 'Tribe' I suggest to Bloom that perhaps he and O'Reilly were trying to
create a whole musical landscape within each song. "Well," he laughingly
replies, "that's precisely where we wanted to go, actually. Simon is a visual kind of
musician and he writes a lot for film and so he was able to create these kinds of
landscapes for me to work with and that is what made it really exciting for me.
"So I would wait at home for the post to arrive with his music. He would send
me a CD with like ten or twelve tracks every month or two and I would work away for
weeks and weeks just trying to make sense of what I had been listening to - trying
to find my way in. I completely created all the melodic links."
In short, O'Reilly gave Bloom the mood, as it were..."Yes, it was the first time in
my life where I completely handed over the responsibility for the creation of music to
somebody else and there is a fair bit of trust involved in it but he's a great guy
and it was really nice working with him."
www.dbmagazine.com.au/408/iv-LukaBloom.shtml
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