Feature: Envelopes

There are some bands out there filled with starry-eyed ambitions, wanting to be the next Nirvana/Pink Floyd/Oasis and praying to their Syd Barrett door poster each night. Not so much with Envelopes. Despite winning serious acclaim for debut album Demons, their singles winning the same favour and a few listens of their second album suggesting it may well receive a similar reception, they’re skint. They’re so skint they can’t even go on tour. So as far as ambitions go, just being able to get on the road would be a pleasant start.

When I caught up with French singer/guitarist/keyboardist Audrey Pic it was after a successful gig in Paris. This is successful in spite of support band The Love Bandits having to cancel because the bouncers decided not to let them in the venue. “It was really cool. There was a queue, it was crowded and the venue was great,” she happily enthused. “We like to do lots of gigs but we’re broke. We can’t tour.”

Not that they’ve never toured. Thanks to their travels this lucky bunch have decided that LA or Barcelona would be nice places to live one day. “We have a thing for warm weather,” she explains in her melting French lilt. “Sweden is so cold. I love the vegetation and the atmosphere of places like LA.”

Originating in different parts of Europe it’s impressive this band has managed to stay together at all, being only able to snatch a few holidays in which the part French-part Swedish band could practice and get some recording done. It’s no surprise that it took five years for Audrey, Henrik Orrling, Fredrik Berglind-Dehlin, Filip Ekander and Ulf Höglund to become a proper gigging band and be approached by London-based label Brille Records.

Demons was put together using mostly their own recordings put together on their own computers. Yet despite its somewhat haphazard nature and tiny record label it got released, heard and praised by the music press and anyone lucky enough to find themselves at one of their gigs. Soon Envelopes found they had made a bit of a name for themselves on the indie music scene.

Plunging money into the band Brille sent the five to a big house in north Yorkshire to record the second album Here Comes the Wind. Over the course of nine months in the middle of nowhere cabin fever slowly set and when it was decided that they needed to begin again from scratch elsewhere their former bass player, Martin Karlsson, decided to leave them behind.

But despite this blow they relocated back to Sweden and entered a studio with known producer Per Sunding, formally of Swedish band Eggstone, twiddling the knobs. There was no messing around this time. “He was both nice and hard. He really pushed us,” says Audrey. “When we recorded Demon we sang like we wanted and we didn’t care. He really coached our music and really worked with Henrik.”

Yet the money situation puts any future studio recordings on the backburner for the time being. Not that that has put them off trying, of course. “Yesterday we tried a new song on stage and it went really well so now we want to record it,” she says. “We need to work a lot because we want to make things happen. I have computer at my place so we’ll try record new stuff over the summer. At the moment we don’t really have any money to do anything so I think we’ll go back to demo land.”

But, although a grounded level of enthusiasm and determination is all well and good, what do the band feel they have plenty to offer today’s new music scene? After all there are thousands of bands out there vying for success. Audrey is initially a bit stumped by the question. “I have no idea,” she begins, her hangover from the previous night’s post-gig party showing its head. “ I think the songs are really interesting, there are so many parts in one song it’s almost schizophrenic. People should really listen to a song, usually the people who are into us listen properly. So I think it’s for people who like to concentrate.”

Like most bands out there whose first language isn’t English, especially those who hope for success outside their own country, Envelopes perform almost exclusively in English. But considering it’s none of the members’ first language have they ever considered bucking the trend and recording or performing music in either Swedish or French? The simple answer is “no”. “In French it’s really difficult,” Audrey muses. “ In English you sing something and it doesn’t really mean anything and but it sounds good. In French if you sing it it sounds kind of stupid. You have to be really good to write in French. So we just write in English, even with our lack of vocabulary. Our lyrics are not the most impressive side of our music, I think.”

So if it’s not the lyrics which that are their strongest side why should we go and seek out this quirky European band with naught but a dream guiding their path? After a pause Audrey replies “The messiness maybe? How messy we can be on stage.” Now doesn’t that just make you curious?

Published in Clash magazine February 2008.

Clash – July, Issue 19

The Full Ponty
Sat 26 May
Pontypridd
Much like anything that happens in Wales it’s wholly important for things that are Welsh to be given a good solid celebrating. This is a ‘country’ that chose to advertise Dr Who as ‘made in Wales by BBC Wales’ and where every Welsh student hangs a flag from their wall, even if they still haven’t passed the border. So it doesn’t take a genius to imagine what the line up to the Full Ponty may be.

Reel Big Fish were the token non-Welsh main stage act, playing third fiddle to The Automatic and Lostprophets. Yet despite being heavily outnumbered they still played an impressive, good-fun set that pulled most of the crowd’s attention from the threatening-looking clouds and got them dancing.

Earlier in the day Gethin Pearson and the Scenery and Viva Machine performed back-to-back in a treat for those who like their local ‘maybe big one day soons’. Pearson is fine example of proper talent with an Arcade Fire-type sensibility and most certainly has a following around these parts. Viva are tipped to be the next Automatic, being signed to the same label, but with a bit less pop and still with a striking live show.

Sets from new punk-rock favourites Gallows went down well with those who were willing to run back and forth from the main stage between The Automatic and Lostprophets and gave it their throaty best. Fellow non-Welshers Paramore from Texas were also a success. But that may have more to do with the pubescent-looking flame-haired cutie leading the fray than anything else.

The Automatic remain the crowd-pleaser they always are and this gig was no exception. Say what you like about poor record company decisions (such as an unwise re-release), and that annoying bouncing midget, they still provide the goods when it comes to live shows. You only have to hear the screams from the crowd when the intro to Monster kicks in to know it. Although there’s always a few who decide that no one else is permitted fun when they’ve decided they either want a fight or to create a giant moshpit between six of them. But this is the Welsh Valleys after all.

The main act, of course, is Lostprophets, Pontypridd’s punk sons who’ve seen their fair share of Stateside success. In fact, it tends to vary whether Ian Watkins has a Welsh or American accent on any given day. But they were here to reinforce the punk hairdos on every music fan’s head and they did what they came to do. Performing songs from Can’t Catch Tomorrow all the way back to Shinobi vs Dragon Ninja, the crowd lapped up every moment. Even when Watkins decides it’s okay to invite family members, including his grandmother, onstage and then all the other cool kids of Wales too.

Head Automatica
Thur 24 May
Muni Arts Centre, Pontypridd
This is something Head Automatica fans have been waiting a long time for. Lead singer Daryl Palumbo suffers from Crohn’s Disease and a postponed tour date is a common fixture with HA. Even the previous night’s show in Southampton was put off until June. So instead, tonight in Pontypridd, as part of the Full Ponty Fringe, Head Automatica perform their first ever show outside the US.

The switch in styles between the first and second albums didn’t go down well with all who listened and Head Automatica themselves haven’t gone down well with all Glassjaw fans. It seems that Palumbo is willing to offer a little bit of everything for everybody and credit to him for trying. He left Glassjaw citing an inability to reach his full desires and Head Automatica came along after reportedly meeting Dan The Automator at a party. Basically, Palumbo wanted to make some pop. And as far as pop goes, this is pretty special stuff.

As a live act they sound much less produced than when Mr Automator is behind the knobs and that can be somewhat unexpected. Much like when you’ve read a wonderful book that you know so well, when the film comes out differences can be unwelcome. Technical difficulties seemed to hamper them at times and despite Palumbo’s hearty yelps they could occasionally be drowned out, which is a shame. Such problems left favourite Beating Heart Baby a little lost and Please Please Please was the better performed.

It may not be what every fan is expecting and certainly some of the singer’s Glassjaw singing styles come back to the surface. But it’s entertaining enough for his camp showmanship mixed with Britpop antics and unusual tendency to blow out his cheeks mid-song. And when you know how long most people there have been waiting it seems that wee bit more special.

Clash – March/April, Issue 18

Cowboy Junkies
At the End of Paths Taken
Cooking Vinyl
After one or two listens it comes clear that an album you don’t really know what to say about is neither a good or bad thing. It’s not good because it clearly won’t change the face of music or make much of a lasting impression but not bad because it doesn’t make you want to tear out your ear drums. Some may say that music based around acoustic guitars may well struggle to offend anyone but James Blunt alone has proved that that’s not true.

Cowboy Junkies have made an album that is pleasing to the ear in a relaxing, chilled-out country way. The smooth tones of Margo Timmins are made for music like this and send a wave of relaxation wherever they roll. Having been going for over twenty years and never really making much of a splash outside of their native Canada it’s unlikely that will happen now. But the album’s nice.

RTX
Western Xterminator
Drag City
Given the varied rock incarnations with Royal Trux that Jennifer Herrema has been through one can make only an educated guess as to what the latest album with RTX will sound like but never be entirely sure. The first track, the title Western Xterminator, is rather misleading, preparing its listener for a psychedelic, minimal journey. Do not be fooled. As the twanging dies down and the CD display flicks to ‘2’ the heavy guitars kick straight in and stay there till the end. Dancing between serious retro rock, punk and the metal-sounding Wo-Wo Din, RTX don’t allow for complacency on their watch.

Foot-tappingly, air-instrumentally, head bobbingly effective, it’s refreshing to see a band still making music the way it used to be made without selling out or sounding daft or stale. It may be twenty years since a very young Herrema stepped hand-in hand with Neil Hagerty into the world of drugs and rock but she doesn’t sound tired yet.

Awesome Color
Awesome Color
Ecstatic Peace!
It certainly says something for our parents’ music that forty years on its influence still shows no sign of fading. Some just take ideas and absorb them, others choose to just copy the whole sound. Clearly these chaps never made it as far as modern music, young as they are, instead preferring to just continue where The Stooges left off. Unoriginal as it may be, it’s good attitude-filled music and should be given a fair listen before it’s discarded as copycat nonsense. Being signed to Ecstatic Peace!, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth’s record company, they’re given a due head start, even if they’re not being pushed as hard as current favourites Be Your Own Pet, and a slightly more attentive ear than they may otherwise have received. The rough, intricate guitars and heavy bass lines would send any rock fan back to the good old days and like all good vintage rock albums the last track, Animal, is smeared in lengthy, indulgent guitar solos and psychedelic effects.

MV & EE with the Bummer Road
Green Blues
Ecstatic Peace!
Another release from the Ecstatic Peace! garage of music that sounds nothing like Britney. MV is Matthew Valentine, EE is Erika Elder, both formally of the folk-singing group the Tower Collective, and the Bummer Road are their five musicians gathered together to create their brand of stripped down, raw folk sounds that really should be listened to in a barn wearing a long paisley dress and jesus sandals. But, stripped down though it may sound, instruments as unusual and uncommon as the ukulele, flute, tambura and mellotron have been expertly worked and weaved into this psychotropic pastiche.

Green Blues makes for mostly pleasing listening, though during the last couple of very long tracks tends to sound much like an attempt at being experimental but reducing itself to din similar to twelve toddlers being given various noise making instruments and then left to their own devices, as a lot of experimental music can tend to do. It’s an easy trap to fall into but preferable to leave such over-indulgences out.