What induced you to do another album?
It was all unplanned and a spontaneous chain of events that led to it. Around one and a half years ago, Marsel checked in with me — he asked me if there was anything he could do to help me get the ball rolling with a release. I’d sent over a few tracks here and there since Reform Club but nothing substantial, in my mind I wasn’t totally in music mode, so I had the attitude to just go with the flow. So after a long-winded effort to put something together, we compiled and mastered an EP which was due for release this year, but something nagged me about it and I felt that the EP didn’t truly represent where I’m at right now at this stage of my life despite being happy with the tracks individually. It all really kicked off early July of this year. I was driving with the family listening to some random music, all taking turns putting stuff on, and I particularly remember a sequence of Missy Elliot “WTF” then a couple of tracks from Aphex Twin’s Druqks came on. I’d not heard these tracks in a long while and this combination gave me that strange exhilaration that I’d forgotten that you can get from music — hence the album title Exhilarator.
A classic experience of enlightenment.
Yes, I think this moment was a bit of a trigger and helped me to make sense of what I’d been working on, not to treat everything as a separate project – like ‘this is ambient’ and ‘this is for the dance floor’. So after a couple of weeks, I decided to put together a proposal to Marsel which included a variety of styles, all of which gave me that feeling in the gut — similar to the mentioned car journey. Marsel was really up for it & said he also liked the context of how the tracks sounded, so we took things from there very quickly.
Stream: Claro Intelecto – Peace Of Mind
Over what period did you wrote all the tracks?
All tracks were written post Reform Club bar one I think and even this was completely stripped and reworked. It’s very old and a private favorite of mine. I was surprised by Marsel’s reaction when he heard it for the first time. But it depends on what constitutes “new” as this collection of tracks have never been heard or released before, so I suppose they are all new to that extent. To paint a picture of previous releases, Metanarrative took about two or more years to piece together and “Peace of Mind” was written in 1997 despite being released in 2003. So I can’t really say any of my key releases were created in one quick burst close to its release. Exhilarator, therefore, is more a sketchbook of work that came together over a longer period and only made more sense & clicked as a package until recently, though I believe to complete it 3 or 4 tracks were written very quickly. So its taken on the whole probably 4 years dipping in and out of the music making. I looked through the files on my computer to see how lazy I’ve been and to my surprise I wrote 54 tracks in 2014, most of them must suck though otherwise you’d hear a lot of them.
Was there any underlying concept that you try to chase writing new tracks?
It’s about intuition, following your own path in life regardless of what’s happening around you, and going with your gut. There’s an underlying connection between the tracks, but rather than concentrate on one particular concept or message there are individual narratives, moments that include the joys of raising a son, seeing him grow up – his personality develop is a truly inspiring thing. There are a few samples of him on the record: “Sunshine” includes a sample of Harry playing down the park which I used as part of the percussion. Then other moments in the album reflect a completely different mood. My mother was diagnosed with cancer over a year ago and it’s been a difficult year for the family, who is all supporting her in her battle to this day. You don’t want to come across like an X Factor sob story, that’s not my intention, but I think maybe all this stuff has squeezed my adrenal’s somewhat and been the catalyst for a bit of creative kick up the arse needed to make a new record. Other references on Exhilarator are our interconnectivity as beings on a subconscious level, with family, friends and even social groups, or our morphic resonance as Rupert Sheldrake would describe. It’s a subject I’d been interested long before making this album. I find it a fascinating concept as a lot of what he writes I’ve experienced firsthand, despite his ideas being widely discredited by science. From almost telepathic connections with my son and my mother to just knowing when it’s the right time to do something.
