MUSIC AUTUMN PREVIEW
and Pt. 3 will be released in December. What’s the rush?
‘It’s not a conceptual idea,’ says Robyn, sleepily, over the phone, ‘or something I did to break the world record for how many albums I can release in a year. I just wanted to see if I could find a way of working where I was touring and working at the same time and have a more normal structure where I’m not away from recording for such long periods.’ The results have been prolific – not surprising when you consider that until 2009 she had been on the road for four years supporting the success of Robyn. There must have been some good ideas bottled up. She won’t say that she didn’t like the touring (‘it’s not so traumatic’), but the new way of working certainly suits her. ‘It makes sense. I feel like it’s giving me a chance to be really close to the listeners. I don’t really know a lot more than they do. So we have this possibility of actually sharing the experience of discovering the album.’
It’s a nice sentiment, but it doesn’t get to the heart of the Robyn magic – how she manages to keep ‘meaningful’ and ‘disposal’ in balance in her best tunes, and make slick pop sound down to earth. For example, when she’s singing about ‘stilettos and broken bottles’ on the June single ‘Dancing on my Own’, it brings to mind some familiar memories of grubby night spots. Where are those seedy images coming from? ‘What’s “seedy”?’ Robyn asks. The word is clarified: not posh; more grimey and real. ‘It sounds like that’s what you’re imagining. I don’t imagine anything,’ she retorts. ‘For me, pop music has never been equal to posh – pop music can be anything. I grew up listening to Kate Bush, The Police, Prince and Michael Jackson. For me, it became pop music because it reached a lot of people, and it was inviting to people. But pop music, I don’t think that it was until maybe later that pop music became a musical genre that had a sound.’
Her success is by no means beyond comprehension, but it comes so naturally to Robyn she’s not at pains to explain it. She’s much happier speaking about how she plans to keep that all-important closeness to her fans through the live shows. ‘For me the live thing is a continuous process as well. It’s not a finished show, it changes all the time. It’s a simple thing as well. It’s very much about the music. It’s about connecting to the audience, and making them dance. It’s really not that complicated, for me.’
Which suggests we shouldn’t pry, and instead just enjoy the tunes, don our dancing shoes and go out on the town, Robyn-style.
02 ABC, Glasgow, Mon 18 Oct.
Back to the future Hold on to your senses, Jean-Michel Jarre’s in town with a homage to lapsed sci-fi novels. Hamish Brown looks into the retro-future
The problem with setting books and films in a not-too-distant future, is that it inevitably arrives. Whether it’s the dystopian nightmares of Escape from New York (set in 1997), A Clockwork Orange (1995) or Orwell’s 1984, the pitfalls awaiting any futurist are plentiful.
It’s something science fiction author Arthur C Clarke saw happen many times before his death in 2008. His landmark works 2001 and 2010 are titled after years that are now in our history. It’s an idea that French musician Jean-Michel Jarre is exploring on his 150- date world tour. Famed for using the latest tools in stagecraft and music to achieve vivid futuristic visions, it’s no surprise to discover the two men were friends, although their friendship came about under unusual circumstances, as he explains. ‘Being a big fan of 2001, when 2010 was
released [in 1982] I rushed to a bookstore and was amazed to see my name in the acknowledgements – he was listening to my music as he was writing the book – so I wrote him a letter and we became quite good friends.’ With the musician taking inspiration from
the author, there’s a pleasing circularity in this influence becoming two-way again in a whole new sense with Jarre exploring the upbeat
futurism of Clarke’s work.
‘In a way, we have lost our vision and passion in our expectations for the future. We have a much darker and narrower view of tomorrow. Our view of the future is limited to “are we going to correctly categorise our rubbish for recycling” – so I think it’s time to restore a dynamic, more subversive and surrealistic vision of the future.’
Last time Jarre played in Scotland, at
Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall in 2008, it was as part of the 30th anniversary Oxygène tour, a stripped back show in a small venue (playing a venue with a roof is rare for Jarre) with no computers and over 40 temperamental vintage synthesizers. He’s kept up some aspects of that approach, and the new show promises to combine analog with digital. ‘It’s quite dynamic onstage, complete with the mistakes that come with that. The sound and the scenography are non-linear, so it’s live to the lighting director every night. It’s very rock‘n’roll.’
So an approach which looks both to the
future and to the past? ‘Yes, and also, it’s a very good trick to keep the crew focussed’ he laughs. ■ Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Sun 3 Oct.
21 THEATRE Sea and Land and Sky
(pictued) is a new historical play by Abigail Doherty, winner of the Open.Stage playwriting competition. The play is directed by Andy Arnold, and will be staged at the Tron from Thu 7–Sat 23 Oct, with a post-show discussion with Doherty and Arnold on Wed 13 Oct.
22 FILM Widely talked-about at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, and awarded the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, Restrepo is a documentary that
follows American journalist Sebastian Junger and British photographer Tim Hetherington during their year on the frontlines in Afghanistan. From Fri 8 Oct.
23 VISUAL ART The Tramway will be home
to a major exhibition by Subodh Gupta, one of India’s foremost contemporary artists, from Fri 8 Oct. The exhibition is programmed to coincide with the Commonwealth Games handover from Delhi to Glasgow. See feature, page 29.
24 THEATRE Glasgay!, Scotland’s
annual multi-arts celebration of queer culture, kicks off again from Thu 14 Oct–Sat 13 Nov, with theatre, dance, music, film and more taking place in various venues across the city. Among the theatrical picks are Bette/Cavett, which performed well at the Fringe, and Panic Patterns, an edgy Glasgay! commission. See our pick of the highlights, page 29.
25 CLUBS Jungle Nation brings the
drum’n’bass madness to the Arches on Fri 15 Oct, featuring DJ sets from Chase & Status and Nero. Chase & Status will be north of the border again on Sat 20 Nov, when they play the HMV Picture House.
9–23 Sep 2010 THE LIST 25