October 19–26, 2000
music issue
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Cycle sounds: Eltro’s Velodrome crew (from left), Henderson, Prescott, Sandrini and Johnson. |
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Dense distorted noise spun into elegant musical incantation. That’s the misty alchemy behind Eltro’s second CD Velodrome (Schizophonic/ Emusic). For those of you coming late to Eltro — cool calculated vocalist/bassist Diana Prescott, guitarist/singer Jorge "The Great" Sandrini, scattered skittish drummer Ted Johnson, cheap electronic layering expert Rick Henderson — the unit’s made lush, lo-tech ambient pop since 1996.
Their 1998 album Information Changer (Miner St.) was full of queer Eno-esque pop with a lively melancholy edge. Though the new Velodrome, like its predecessor, was produced by Brian McTear and conceived, says Sandrini, "in a semi-conscious state," its tale is a bit rockier.
First, they had their equipment stolen at a local club which basically told them to take a hike when they asked about an insurance claim. "They claimed they didn’t have insurance," recalls a bewildered Prescott. "They told me to do a benefit for myself." Next, they were courted by Neil Young’s Vapor Records, who kept Eltro on the edge of their seats with the promise of signing. It didn’t work out, unfortunately. "Vapor expected us to be the full-on touring rock band for the unforeseeable future — 18 months to start," explains Sandrini, "and that is not us."
Eltro is, rather, songs about lovers lying on a beach — "semi-comatose for some unidentified reason" says Sandrini of Velodrome’s "Some Vital Function" — or about the falseness of infatuation. To me, Velodrome is a slow flight through ambient Euro-pop influenced by people like Roedilius, Björk and Eno the producer, not the artist. To Prescott and Sandrini — a performance art vocalist and great guitarist respectively, who met, formed a minimal sound project and then married — Velodrome is inspired by Michel Legrand, Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone, Giorgio Moroder and the scattered percussive sensibility of Art Ensemble of Chicago (evident in Johnson’s drumming). "We also find inspiration in the way filmmakers use sound because much of our music is very visual to us," adds Sandrini, whose background includes graphic design to complement Prescott’s painting studies.
So Eltro set themselves up for a record where nuance was the driving element. "But those elements can be boring without chaos," says Sandrini. "So we make sure to introduce the element of discord now and then. That’s the difference between Information Changer and Velodrome. We’re learning how to control the chaos."
Another rapid development for this slow-moving band has been the evolution of Prescott’s vocals and lyrics. "The vocals on Information Changer were mixed at a steady level throughout, where on Velodrome they are mixed either up or down depending on the song," says Prescott. "In fact you can tell which order the songs were written in by the level of the vocals. Low came first, loud came last."
Her singing’s changed since their first CD as Prescott, who by sampling her own voice with a foot pedal, creates a nice tonal contrast that could only otherwise happen if there were two of her.
"Plus, the writing of the lyrics matters more." she explains. "I used to write on scraps of paper and lose half of them. Now I wonder, ‘should I put them in a binder?’ It makes me consider the words differently."
Prescott carries a dictaphone everywhere she goes, collecting random sounds into a sonic scrapbook. "Eventually those bits and pieces of ideas find their way into the music as well," says Jorge with love. "People may not realize this, but her creative process is highly inspired and totally original."
And then there’s the X-factor. As for Rick Henderson’s (also of Emma, City of Horns) role as texturalizer, think of a butcher pounding meat: taking a beautiful cut and pounding it soft. His role in the band is similar, only he uses tube amplifiers, old keyboards and beat boxes. "Rick has a taste for cheap stuff. Anything under $50," says Jorge, "preferably things that don’t work correctly."
But it’s the occasional malfunction woven into these finely wrought tapestries that make Velodrome such a jarring trip.