The Verve – Forth
The genesis of my collaboration with The Verve is signified by a casual meeting with Nick McCabe in February 2008 outside the Britannia Row Studios in South London. Little I knew at the time that this was going to be the beginning not only of a great musical adventure but also of a great friendship.
Nick was doing some rough mixes, I believe, for the Verve’s new album to be (title-less at the time and later called Forth as everyone obviously knows). I was there producing a band called Hana-b.
If I remember well the conversation started with me complaining about a guitar amp I just bought and ended up with him mentioning that he was looking for some cello player for a song they were working on (I See Houses).
I said that I didn’t play cello but with my Violectra I could do a cello and more if he wanted to. On March 5th, after a gig with Goldfrapp at the Union Chapel I went down to Richmond where they were recording.
There I met Tim Bran, Chris Potter and later Richard (Ashcroft) came down the studio as well.
As soon as we opened the first track, I realized something special was actually happening. To me it was just amazing, this was the band I’ve been waiting to meet all my life. It’s a little difficult to explain and I mean no disrespect to all the wonderful artists I’ve been working and I’m working with still, but there it was… clear as a glass of water!
It was a wonderful session, I was supposed to try out a couple of tunes and instead ended up knocking about six whole tracks until about 3.00am.
I will always remember that day, with Richard singing to me as I was playing on Sit And Wonder and by the end of it feeling dazed, as a result of a truly spiritual experience… oh well, whatever that means…
After a couple of months I completed what I started on that session in my own studio and the result was a contribution to six tracks: the already mentioned Sit And Wonder and I See Houses and also Love Is Noise, Rather Be, Judas and Valium Skies.
And of course I had the honor to join the band on stage during some of their summer festivals gigs, headlining Glastonbury, the V Festivals, the Summercase Festivals in Spain and some other tv and radio appearances in the UK.
Röyksopp – The Girl And The Robot (Suite For A Robotic Girl) re-interpretation
This was my very first attempt to do a ‘classical’ version of a pop song.
I always had this idea in my mind to do ‘something like that’, but never really took it seriously until I started talking about it with Svein and Tørbjorn, as we were working on a very early version of the song.
In this respect I’m grateful to the boys for giving me such an opportunity, unwillingly perhaps, but just the right kind of kick I needed at the time.
And of course I’m also chuffed by the way they featured this remake in their website.
Moby – Pale Horses re-interpretation
June 23 2009 saw the release of Pale Horses, second single from electronica artist Moby, from his ninth studio album, Wait for Me. The track features some beautiful vocals by Moby’s friend Amelia Zirin Brown.
This is my second attempt to do a ‘classical’ remix, after Suite For A Robotic Girl by Röyksopp.
This time I opted for a more chilled and reflective ambiance in contrast with the rhythmic one that I used previously with the boys.