Foto-© Joupin Ghamsari
Das heute erschienene dritte Album Out Of My Mind von King Charles kommt als Überraschung für Kenner der bisherigen Discographie des ehemaligen Indie-Folkers daher – denn der frenetische Folk des Debüts wird ebenso auf die Rückbank gestellt, wie die entspannte Eleganz des Nachfolgealbums Gamble for a Rose. Doch das hat seine Gründe, entstand es doch aus dem Wunsch heraus, “die Leute bei den Shows zum Tanzen zu bringen” und dies tut es, auf unerwartete Weise – in Form von 10 Neo-Soul-Entwürfen! Inhaltlich hingehen hat sich Charles den großen Vier gewidmet – den Kernthemen, die seit jeher die Popmusik dominieren: Liebe, Einsamkeit, Sex und Suizid. Es sind alles Themen, die in Beziehung zueinander gesetzt werden können. Wer hat nicht schon einmal die Achterbahnfahrt einer Beziehung, unerwiderte Liebe oder Lust, oder mit dunklen Gedanken oder Depressionen gekämpft? Passend dazu haben wir ihm vier Fragen zu seiner Entwicklung und seinem neuen Album gestellt!
– How was the production process of your new record going down, how and where did you write it?
The production for Out Of My Mind was a rolling process between London and Los Angeles. I spent time writing in London and recording on my own in my studio and with my band in Coldstores. When I was happy with the sound and where I could see the album landing I took what we had worked on to LA and to Mathew Wilder where we turned it into a record. I had worked with Mathew on my first album ‘LoveBlood’ and I knew he would be the ideal to help bring a new perspective to the album.
– The development from indie-folk to neo-soul is very interesting, how did this come?
I wanted to feel a different groove and rhythm in the sound that was to come out of me – I felt like I was in a strange place that I wanted to explore. All the emotions that became the songs felt more vivid and stark. I didn’t start with too much design on the sound but that came and moulded itself around the songs. Half way through the writing of the record I wanted to escape all of these feelings so I ran away to New York – it didn’t help so I came home with the energy to finish what I had started.
– Freak is our favorite track of the record. Can you tell us the story of the song?
I love playing this one, It comes from a lonely place but I feel there is such a release when I perform it. We all look for life in the people around us, to elevate ourselves and our experience of life. It’s a risk and you walk between true beauty and disaster. The story began in London in my windowless studio in the middle of a city winter and ended in New York waiting nervously for the spring. The track was reflective of my mood at the time, I was questioning everything, what does it mean to be alive? How you feel it in your skin and heart and how you examine it in your head. This song was one of the main reasons I went to NY and was part of what I was trying to escape from. I wanted to record a calypso album at Electric Lady Studios, when I arrived in Greenwich Village mid-February with barley a raincoat I got a shock. The 14st wind tunnels and snowstorms were new to me, my restlessness, the heightened and exposed instincts, the flowing identity of New Yorkers gave me every kind of new feeling. But this record had followed me and I knew I had to finish it or it would haunt me. I was back in London before the spring came and then headed to LA to finish the track with Mathew. I feel like all the feelings that went into this song have no power over me any more which is why it’s such a pleasure to perform. I’m glad this chapter of the songs journey is complete, it’s a relief and I’m proud of it.
– Finally, can you share some of your inspirations with us? Maybe some albums, that led you to the new sound?
I’m enjoying the raw and naked sounds of instruments at the moment, the woodyness of the cello, the skin of the drums, and the shape of synthesised notes. The place of recording gives such a unique tone to recordings and I think I’m getting more sensitive to that. My piano is in my kitchen and when I hear it recorded it just reminds me of chopping vegetables!
