OceanLab - Sirens Of The Sea

Zaku · #1 martes 10 junio de 2008, 16:14

10/06/08
OceanLab Exclusive Interview & Album Release Date

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We are pleased to announce that the OceanLab Album - 'Sirens of the Sea' will be released on the 21st of July 2008.

Ibiza - the birthplace of modern dance music. 20 years on and the island remains an important catalyst for today’s hottest dance talents. This year, OceanLab, the project featuring Above & Beyond and singer/songwriter Justine Suissa spent several weeks holed up in a villa there finishing their debut album, ‘Sirens Of The Sea’.

Steeped in Balearic brilliance, ‘Sirens Of The Sea’ is a mix of blissed out epics and dancefloor cuts. An album of depth, variety and serene beauty, showcasing a level of songwriting and production rarely witnessed within electronic music, and already drawing comparisons with bands such as Zero 7 and Everything But The Girl.

As OceanLab, Tony, Paavo and Jono’s work with Justine has led to a string of club anthems such as ‘Clear Blue Water’ (Top 50 UK Sales Chart), ‘Sky Falls Down’ and ‘Beautiful Together’, with each release adding to OceanLab's reputation as one of clubland's best loved vocal dance projects. They crossed into the mainstream consciousness when their 4th single, ‘Satellite’, was A-listed on Radio 1 and broke into the Top 20 of the UK sales chart, enjoying similar success globally.

The first single from the album will be "Miracle" featuring Above & Beyond Club Mix, Michael Cassette, Martin Roth and Fletch remixes out on 14th July

OceanLab Exclusive Interview:

The album was written in Ibiza – is this is particularly special place for you all? Why was the decision made to write it there?

Tony: By the end of last year we had about twenty songs that all sounded very different and we needed to start deciding what songs were going to be on the album and how they were going to sound. We wanted to get away from the phones and DJ routine and label worries, clear our heads and really knuckle down. I’ve been going to Ibiza every year for twelve years, so it was high on my list of favourite places to go, but Ibiza was a natural choice for everyone in the end – its convenient to get to and a really, idyllic beautiful island. We had an unforgettable three weeks there and really knocked the album into shape.

The sea and beaches seem to be a recurring theme for OceanLab, is there any particular reason for this?

Paavo: We’re all massive fans of places like Formentera that have beaches with clear blue water; hence the song title!

Justine: The success of our first single, ‘Clear Blue Water’, seemed, in a way, to define us. We were the band with the water themed name and the water themed single with the singer who had to writhe around in freezing fire hydrant water for the water themed video. I think that when we were writing the third single we might have been trying to keep the theme going, but with the album we just gave way to the song-writing and let the band name influence us when we felt like it. I think, as Tony and I are both scuba divers, we must have a natural obsession with the sea!

Where did the name OceanLab come from?

Justine: You’ll have to ask the boys that! That was definitely an ‘Above And Beyond’ decision. Although of course I gave the nod of approval.

Paavo: When writing 'Clear Blue Water' together we were talking about what we all love and it's sea and beaches. OceanLab sounded perfect for us, the rest is history as they say!

How did you meet Justine?

Tony: Justine was working in a really high-end bathroom shop opposite the Warner Brothers offices, and one day I went in to enquire after a lovely rug in the window. And there I spied this gorgeous girl behind the counter. I asked if I could get a discount on the rug if I took Justine to lunch and, amazingly, she said yes! And we became friends, although I never bought the rug – Justine bought it for Christmas for me a couple of years back. I had no idea she was a singer at the time, the Chicane thing came along after we’d been friends for a long time. But obviously I was keen to do some music with her once Above & Beyond started.

Jono: I met Justine through Tony. Tony knew of an “amazing singer”, and we wanted to start writing some songs together. We arranged to meet and have a try in the studio together and that was that!

Justine - as Tony, Paavo and Jono already work together, did you find it hard to get used to their production styles and writing methods?

Justine: When I first met Jono and Paavo they had really only just started working with Tony who was an old friend of mine. In the early days I was never around for production so it wasn’t an issue. For the album, however, we have all been working on it together and although styles differ somewhat from person to person we always manage to get our respective points across in the end! The writing aspect is always fun and rewarding no matter how many of us are involved at any one time.

What do you all do to unwind after a long session in the studio?

Tony: We had some lovely Spanish dinners in Ibiza town – I’d like to do more of that!

Justine: I drive home in silence.

Jono: If I need to unwind I go to the gym, meet with friends and finish with a sauna/steam room or jacuzzi. Sometimes the cycle home from the studio is also relaxing.

Paavo: Well, I used to pop out to the bar for a drink with friends, but these days I do some yoga and meditate: the ultimate way to chill in my opinion!

How do you find your song writing as a group has progressed since your first releases?

Tony: ‘Clear Blue Water’ was the only thing we’ve done that isn’t a full blown song, but we tried to get as much of a story in there as we could. Ever since then we’ve been trying really hard to write songs that will stick. OceanLab songs are used to teach European kids to speak English, you know! Satellite is in an English textbook for Spanish and Italian school kids so they can learn proper, like, English, like, you know what I mean?

Will you be doing any live performances or an OceanLab tour.

Jono: I'd definitely like to perform live as OceanLab. It would be particularly interesting to do some smaller more intimate performances, perhaps even acoustically.

The fans have been waiting for the arrival of the OceanLab album for a long time. With so much pressure from the fans, how hard did you find it compiling the final tracklist?

Tony: There were lots of issues to think about when picking the songs, but the pressure from the fans wasn’t really an issue. It was more to do with what voice we wanted the record to have.

Do you each have a favourite track from the album?

Paavo: I don't know about the others, mine would be the movie mix of ‘Breaking Ties’.

Justine: I don’t really have a favourite. I love ‘Ashes’ because it is such an unexpected song for the album and just materialized one afternoon during a song-writing session but I also love Breaking Ties. ‘Sirens’ does hold a special place in my heart though as it has taken five years to be released since it first came about. The first time I heard the demo backing track I fell in love with it and the song came from that initial feeling and a particular state of mind at the time.

Tony: ‘Breaking Ties’ and ‘On The Beach’.

Jono: I can't pick a favourite, but I think ‘Ashes’ has a very special atmosphere about it. I also think ‘If I Could Fly’ has some of the strongest and most touching verses Justine has ever written and I love her delicate vocal performance. It can sometimes feel that way for all of us!

Justine, your underwater photoshoot looks incredible, how hard did you find it posing for those pictures?

Justine: Mmmm, I found it as hard as I usually find it posing for pictures. I’d much rather be behind the camera than in front of it. Still, being made up by Phyllis Cohen, a world class make-up artist who has prettied up the likes of Diana Ross, Annie Lennox, Tina Turner, Sinead O’Connor, Chaka Khan… I could go on… was a real privilege. She was a lot of fun too which relaxed me.

With four strong creative minds contributing to the same tracks, did you have any disputes and if so how did you resolve them?

Paavo: We try and look at the fact that we all have different views as a benefit, and remembering that when we have a disagreement about where a track should go has really helped, but I don’t think we would’ve survived our writing trip to Ibiza without chocolate biscuits and cups of tea!

If you could have a guest musician, dead or alive, appearing on any of the album tracks who would it be and on which track?

Justine: I really had to think about this one because I love so many musicians. However, Imogen Heap is an unsung heroine of song -writing and she has a beautiful and addictive voice. I haven’t stopped playing her self-produced album ‘Speak For Yourself’ since I picked it up last year. I think ‘Secret’ would work well with both our voices.

Tony: My Dad. He wasn’t much of a piano player but it would be nice to see him again.

Jono: That’s a really tricky one for me to answer as I think OceanLab (or any band) is unique because of it’s current mix of people…. But I’d love to resurrect Miles Davis for a jam and to bring out some of Justine’s jazzier tones! I’d also love to see what Boom Jinx could bring to the table. He’s still alive thankfully!

Paavo: I would have loved to work on the strings for 'Miracle' with Jean Sibelius - that guy was a genius with chords!

If you were stranded at sea, what one item would you want with you?

Tony: The QE2.

Justine: A flare. Ever the practical girl.

Jono: The first thing that popped into my head was a flare! Man’s instinct to survive, I suppose?

Paavo: A compass (I love sailing!)

The OceanLab sound crosses genres and appeals to both a dance music audience and to a more laid back crowd. How did you find a balance between the chilled out vibe and the upbeat club sounds? Does one theme dominate on this album?

Paavo: We’ve been writing this album very much from each song’s point of view and tried to show each in the most powerful light possible. This lead to an album that’s got quite a lot of variety in styles, and the demo versions of the tracks have lived on our iphones for months in their different guises. It’s been really interesting to start to understand the collection of tracks that finally made it as an album, and it seems that on each listen I get something different out of the album. I’d say that if Tri-State was a ‘clubby’ album, ‘Sirens of the Sea’ is definitely a more chilled out. Tri-State ranked by many as a great cd to play at pre/after parties, whilst I’ve found listening to ‘Sirens of the Sea’ best the ‘day after’.

Jono: The album is not meant for club play, but we will certainly be remixing the tracks for club play. Great songs tend to come more naturally in a non-club music context, but that's not to say that they can't also manifest in dance music. I think the listener will have to conclude what the theme is. Justine is an incredibly good song-writer.