international news _ 4th October, 2006
Luke Slater Sings The Blues
Text by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
British techno star Luke Slater is singing vocals on all four tracks of his
new EP Head Converter and planning to perform the new songs with a full live
band, he revealed.
“I took some time away from releasing records as I was moving around a lot
plus I set up my label Mote-Evolver but I wanted this new record to be about
really what I’m thinking now and now what I did before,” said Luke.
“I wanted to move forward from ‘Alright On Top’ but not back to ‘Freek
Funk’. I’m really into my live show at the moment and we did some great
festival gigs in the summer and I want Luke Slater releases to be more
attached to the live side of things so what you hear on the record is what
you get in the show. I love playing live with the full band,” he added.
The new tracks feature guitars, electro sounds and Luke’s (somewhat
scratchy) vocals on top and are distinctly more eclectic than the techno
he’s usually associated with. In fact, as long as five years ago, he was
actively distancing himself from the genre, telling Skrufff in 2001 ‘The
whole discussion about techno is old news- I am a club DJ’ and in 2002
embraced proper songwriting with ex-Aloof singer Ricky Barrow on ‘Alright
On Top’.
“I tend to go for themes that are more abstract whereas he’s more into
straight talking. A few of the songs are about ‘leave me alone, I just can’t
handle it anymore’, which is definitely a feeling that has cropped up on
me,” Luke told Skrufff at the time.
“I’ve always seen love songs as not particularly happy songs. For me there’s
a lot of love in the almost depressing pain of love, rather than the actual
flowery aspects of it. A loss of love is almost part of love itself. It’s
weird, as I’ve always seen love songs as quite ‘dark’, but I appreciate
their depth and drama,” he added.
Luke Slater- Head Converter EP is out on Mote-Evolver in November.
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