359 RECENTLY ISSUED SERIAL MONKEY, THE FIRST SINGLE TO BE LIFTED FROM IRISH/FRENCH ELECTRO QUARTET MINERAL’S FORTHCOMING DEBUT ALBUM.

Founding member Craig Walker first rose to prominence in the early 1990s, as frontman of much-loved Dublin indie-rockers Power Of Dreams (watch out for our special feature on the band in the near future) before working as part of trip-hop collective Archive, who became “huge in France”.
Spending much of his time on mainland Europe, in 2012 Walker teamed up with Parisian musicians Thierry Fournié, Damien Li and S. Armelle to form Mineral – whose diverse influences are cited as including Talking Heads, Pixies, Syd Barrett, Kraftwerk, The Beach Boys, Gainsbourg and Béla Bartók. An intoxicating fusion of the widescreen electronica of Air and Metronomy to the classic pop sensibilities of The Smiths, and the dance rhythms of Grandmaster Flash to the noise of My Bloody Valentine and MGMT, takes reverent account of all the music the members of Mineral love. But, crucially, the quartet also adds an indefinable quality – a certain je ne sais quoi – and produces something unique…

Here, in a new interview with The Mouth Magazine, Walker discusses PLASTIC EKPHRASTIC (the forthcoming album, out 28th October) and reveals a little of Mineral’s creative process…

IN THE EARLY 2000s YOU WORKED AS PART OF ARCHIVE, A TRIP-HOP ACT THAT BECAME “HUGE IN FRANCE”… IS THAT HOW THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE FOUR MEMBERS OF MINERAL CAME ABOUT?
I’ve spent a lot of time in France over the past thirteen years – with Archive for a few years, and then continuing on from that to work with French labels and artists and composers, doing a variety of solo stuff, and some music for films. Up until recently I was signed to the same publisher in France as Thierry, who is my musical partner in Mineral. That’s how we met. He’s actually from Toulouse and we did some of the writing and recording for the album at his Grandfather’s house high up in the Pyrenees. Amongst those mountains is an incredibly inspiring place to work…

I’VE FOUND THE MUSIC SCENE IN FRANCE TO BE VERY DIFFERENT TO ANYWHERE ELSE I’VE EVER EXPERIENCED. MUCH  MORE CLUB ORIENTED OUT THERE…
It is, yeah. For sure. France has a very different music scene to anywhere else I know, too. I still don’t fully understand it – and I’m not sure you ever do if you’re not French… But the place has produced some incredible electronic music over the years. Intellectual electronic music is what they’re the masters at… That and Gainsbourg ..!

SERIAL MONKEY, THE FIRST SINGLE, HAS QUITE AN UNUSUAL SOUND… IT’S PROBABLY FAIR TO SAY AIR AND DAFT PUNK ARE REFERENCE POINTS FOR MINERAL – BUT THERE’S ALSO SOMETHING INDEFINABLE GOING ON…
Thank you! Thierry and myself agreed that the band had to find a sound that was unique and identifiable as us. Of course, there are those influences in the mix but it’s also the French / Irish, electronic / rock, male / female thing going on, I think. Sophie has a big personality which she brings to the songs. She adds her colour and takes the songs into a strange new place.

YOU’VE COVERED MY BLOODY VALENTINE’S WHEN YOU SLEEP AS THE B-SIDE…
With the My Bloody Valentine cover it was weird. I went in to the studio one day with the intention of suggesting we cover the song, but before I could say it, Thierry did. Like he was reading my mind! It was a pretty cosmic moment. WHEN YOU SLEEP is an amazing song and My Bloody Valentine are an amazing band that we love…

… AND THE WHOLE MINERAL PROJECT WAS ANNOUNCED WITH THE 13-MINUTE TRACK ATOMS APPEARING ONLINE… BOTH OF THOSE THINGS POINT TO REALLY BROAD THINKING. NOTHING’S OFF LIMITS?
ATOMS was something we discussed for a long time before we sat down to write it. We wanted a song long enough to allow people time to have a relationship with it. We didn’t want it to be just loops and repetition. We wanted it to change constantly, for elements to be heard once and never again in the song. Even the lyrics were treated in this manner. We set ourselves these musical challenges and we plan to continue to do this.

POP MEETS DANCE MEETS PSYCHEDELIA?
Yeah, absolutely. In regards to psychedelia, Syd Barrett gets played a lot in the Mineral studio – along with MGMT, who are making better records all the time.

I GUESS BEING AN ELECTRONIC ACT A LOT OF YOUR STUFF CAN BE RECORDED AWAY FROM EACH OTHER. BUT THE WRITING PROCESS… DO YOU DO THAT IN PERSON, GET IN A ROOM AND JAM THINGS OUT?
The songs start with myself and Thierry working in his studio in Paris. Sometimes I bring in songs written on guitar that are fairly well formed and he and I develop them further. Most of the songs start out in the traditional way, either on guitar or piano. We’re firm believers that without strong basic foundations (ie. melody, words, form) a song just will not stand up later. If the foundations are in place a song can be bent into a completely different shape by production – but the essence of the song will remain…

… BUT HOW IS IT BALANCING UP THE VARIOUS INFLUENCES AND IDEAS OF FOUR PEOPLE WHEN MINERAL IS NOT QUITE A ‘TRADITIONAL’ BAND?
I guess my strong point is conjuring up melodies. Thierry’s not only an excellent composer, but is really great at finding the right sounds for our music. This is something he spends a long time honing after I’ve completed my work on the tracks. Sophie comes into the studio next and brings some words, some melodies… and her femininity. Damien is an excellent mix engineer who I’ve worked with over the years, and he adds his mixing skills at the end of the recording process. So, everyone plays their part in that process for us to reach our sound.

REGARDING THE ALBUM, THEN… WHAT ARE YOUR KEY MOMENTS?
The key moments for me would be ATOMS, the title track PLASTIC EKPHRASTIC and BRAINWASHED. Each one sprung from a completely different creative process. For me they’re songs which have opened up new worlds of possibilities for us as a band going forward…

… AND, GOING FORWARD, WILL YOU BE PLAYING LIVE? WITH MINERAL BEING SO TECHNOLOGY BASED, DOES THAT IDEA PRESENT CHALLENGES?
Playing the album live has proven to be a lot less stressful than we’d imagined. It probably goes back to the philosophy of having good songs as the foundations. Really, we want to play live as often as possible.

HOW’S THIS PERIOD LEADING INTO THE RELEASE OF THE ALBUM FOR YOU?
It’s a bit strange waiting for an album to be released. I would say most artists feel quite vulnerable around this time. But we’ve put our heads into the second album now, and I’d recommend doing that to anyone who is waiting for an album to be released. Move onto your next one! We hope to be a band that releases new records regularly, instead of once every four years. It’s important for us to keep moving forward with our sound, to test ourselves to the absolute limit and keep setting ourselves creative goals.

MINERAL WAS AMONGST THE FIRST BATCH OF SIGNINGS ALAN McGEE MADE WHEN HE SET UP 359. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?
I’ve known Alan for a long time. We’ve stayed in touch over the years. I sent him the demos of our album, and he called me back a couple of days later and said that he loved them. He was surprised that we weren’t interested in signing to a major label. When he asked if we wanted to sign to 359 Music I immediately said we would…

… SO WHAT DOES 359 OFFER THAT OTHER LABELS MIGHT NOT?
The prospect of working with Alan. He’s someone we all have huge respect for. It was an opportunity too good to turn down. I wasn’t actually surprised when he announced he was forming a new label because I knew from spending time with him recently that his passion for music was still as strong as ever. The icing on the cake was the involvement of Cherry Red Records, which has been a brilliant independent label for many years.

YOURSELF, YOU’VE BEEN AROUND THE MUSIC INDUSTRY BLOCK BEFORE, WITH POWER OF DREAMS AND WITH ARCHIVE…
I have. I’ve been blessed over the years to be able to do – and continue to do – what I love. Music has been the one constant in my life from a young age. And so I treat it with respect and love. It’s taken me around the world and introduced me to the most incredibly gifted human beings I could have hoped to meet…

… BUT ARE THERE SPECIFIC THINGS THAT YOU’RE LOOKING OUT FOR THIS TIME? PARTICULAR PITFALLS OR JOYS?
Experience has given me the ability to be grateful for all of it – the good and the bad… We hear so much negativity these days from people within music, the music industry, about how much less material riches are being gained from it. Perhaps it’s time for people to start sharing how much music has given them instead ..?

PLASTIC EKPHRASTIC will be released by 359 Music on October 28th. Pre-order on CD direct from Cherry Red Records (here), or as a download from iTunes (here).