Tunng - Colorful folk-based patchworks

Among the liveliest revitalizers and manipulators of folk, electronics and assorted oddities, Tunng represent an experience of open musical collective that's hard to find nowadays. From the original duo to an open-ended band, from basement recordings to their first live shows, right through to their recent, numerous collaborations, Mike Lindsay and Sam Genders tell us about the journey that's brought them to their now well-established artistic credibility. And they do so with a sense of fun, without taking themselves too seriously, in the same spirit with which they approach their own way of making music…

Your music ranges from electronics to folk - is there a specific reason why you chose to work in this area, or did you arrive there spontaneously?

Mike – I think at first it was a very natural thing; the first time we met, we were both involved in fairly traditional songwriting and in producing various things in the studio.

We were simply interested in the same things, and at that moment we probably worked through them together. It was very natural.

All your albums feature different styles and influences, yet overall your sound comes across as cohesive. Do you think that's down to your approach to songwriting, or is it something you work out in the studio?

Mike – I'm not... completely sure I understood the question, but I... what do you think?

Sam – Me, Mike, and the other people in the band too... we all love music that has a lot of influences. Even unusual influences, which side by side can give rise to things you wouldn't expect.

I think the reason why all these sounds become one single thing is largely down to Mike's production work.

So creating a more cohesive sound is one of your goals during production?

M. – I just like to create a song that has a lot of character in itself, not necessarily melodic, but with personality in the sound too, in the atmosphere it creates. What do you mean by cohesive?

S. – Well, as Tunng I suppose we have the right to produce whatever music we feel like making each time, and so to create albums that hold together different feelings.

But I'm happy because I think "Good Arrows" really does sound like a Tunng album, and that we managed to create a sound that's distinctly our own, one that people might come to recognize as "something Tunng-like".

What's your approach to writing music and songs? Do you start with a folk song on guitar and then work on it, or the other way round - do you start with an idea and then develop it?

S. – It's all of that; the band works in the studio both ways. It can happen that Mike has a track that's almost completely finished and then adds vocals to it, or I might have a song, or someone else might come up with a backing track for it.

Does it maybe depend on who writes the songs first?

M. – Yes, sometimes one of us will show up at the studio with a nice song or a guitar part, and all of us try to give it a direction, something like that, and in the same way the others in the band might come to the studio or come to me with ideas – that's how it happens.

In the folk music scene, artists often try to avoid classic styles and experiment with new things, and sometimes it all comes across as very forced. In your case, even though you're not doing anything classic, everything feels very natural and spontaneous. Do you like to write something and then let the sound develop on its own?

S. (turning to Mike) – I think your writing technique is more than just a writing technique. But since we live in a different era from that of classic folk music, I think it's good to play with ideas and create something that also works in other directions, but without forcing it; personally, I don't want every sound to feel forced or unspontaneous just for the sake of filling it out with a bit of noise, because that would empty it of its meaning.

M. – I think good music, whether classical, pop or folk, is always a kind of fusion of certain traditional ideas already heard before, which sound familiar. And we're all usually drawn to what's familiar; then you try to bring these things back in a different way. It's the same with lots of things – there are people who live in a traditional way and look at someone using a computer and say “what on earth is that?”, when actually it's so simple!

As far as I'm concerned, if I find something interesting it doesn't matter whether the sound comes from a computer or a voice; I believe that in many respects good music, classical or traditional, is just as good as contemporary music – there's always a kind of fusion of influences, the only difference is in how it's all put together.

Your songs are almost always ironic, even when they deal with serious subjects. It's clear you take music seriously, but do you like the idea of not taking yourselves too seriously?

M. – Yeah… I don't know! (they laugh) I couldn't say, I have my doubts, I don't know whether I take myself seriously or not.

From your first album to this latest one, do you feel you've become increasingly drawn to making melodic music? On “Good Arrows” there are songs like “Bricks” and “Bullets” that could be perfect summer songs, ideal for radio play. Is that down to a growth in your melodic sensibility and approach, or is it an evolution of your creativity and songwriting skills, meaning you now find it easier to write melodic songs?

S. – It's more a reflection of how we, together, are becoming more than just “six people playing together”. “Good Arrows” came together during our last European tour, we were having a lot of fun, creating things together; melodically there are loads of voices and more sung parts with a pop colour to them, the sound isn't as dark as on the first album: maybe back then we were smiling more!

M. – Yes, but that's just one element – when you make a new album you try to create something different from the previous one. We all like something dark just as much as something melodic, and it's great to use these ideas in different ways on different albums, it's interesting.

Do you think the term folktronica suits your music? And do you even like that kind of music, or does it not interest you at all?

M. – I think it's a very old term now, and I believe that when it was coined it described a scene that, in a way, the media made happen. We actually stayed fairly outside of it. But yes, I think it does describe folk with electronics fairly well.

Among the references often cited when discussing your records, the name Books comes up a lot. We don't entirely agree: don't you feel closer, for instance, to Remote Viewer and the Moteer productions?

M. – We've played alongside Books, I like them and respect them a great deal. In general there's a lot of electronic music that inspires us, from Modeselektor to a lot of minimal-techno productions.

But I really do love Books. In “Comments Of The Inner Chorus” there's a track (“Wind Up Bird” ed. note) that says “i libri fanno schifo e non hanno nulla da dire”, and I thought that's what the question was going to be about.

One of your tracks is featured on the mini-compilation “It Happened On A Day”, alongside interesting bands like Shady Bard, Woodcraft Folk and Laughing Window. Was being part of this record a good experience, or did they just call you up to ask for a song? And did it really all happen in a single day?

M. – No, actually it was the other way round. It took us so long to hand in our contribution that the whole track is basically a kind of apology, like “we're really sorry it took us so long to deliver the song”. That's literally what it's about - it's a strange song, because it was written while we were still thinking about the song for this album! I love it a lot.

You started out as a duo and now you're more of a group, a kind of collective. Do you think this will boost your potential when it comes to writing music?

S. – Definitely. We've been together for a while now, me, Mike, Ashley and Becky. We've been together for three years, so we really are a band. As a live band, we welcome everyone's contributions, and everyone brings a lot of ideas to the table. It's no coincidence that the first album was written just by the two of us, the second almost entirely by us, while “Good Arrows” is the work of the whole band, as shown by the fact that the credits are different.

You produce yourselves and have never worked with an outside producer. Do you think you could do that in the future?

M. – It's hard to say. I'd love to make an album with another producer someday. But I'm used to writing music right there in the studio, track after track, working on sounds and words, piecing things together. If I had to make an album in another studio, all the songs would already have to be written, the tracks worked out, and someone else would be shaping the sound. No, I probably won't do it for a long time, even though I like the idea.

Your first album came out on Static Caravan, a very small label. Now you're with the much bigger Full Time Hobby: is there a difference in the way you've worked with the two labels, and why did you decide to switch?

M. – Yes, there is a difference, even though we have great respect for both labels. We chose to switch because Full Time Hobby could offer us greater financial support to further develop our project. Static Caravan has a personal, family-like feel to it, but it doesn't have much money to work with. We're good friends with its manager, Jeff, so much so that he even came along with us to meet other labels and make sure we made the right choice.

On your first album with Full Time Hobby, in fact, the Static Caravan logo is there too. Was that a co-production, or simply a tribute to your “roots”?

M. – Jeff didn't actually contribute financially to the album, but we did it anyway because he deserved proper recognition - he did a great job with us. And besides, Full Time Hobby is still an independent label, nowhere near a major.

Everyone in the band is involved in other projects, which means your influences broaden and your music develops in other directions. I know you work with The Memory Band and produce Serafina Steer. The other members of the band are involved in other things too. Do you think it's good for them to have other projects?

M. – It's generally good for people to have different projects, it's like it refreshes the mind!

S. – You get inspired in so many ways by other people with new ideas, like Mike producing Serafina Steer and playing several shows with her in France. It's a good thing, it's a source of new ideas, while I've recently become part of a new project, The Accidental, which brings together artists from various other bands.

M. – And they're really good.

Why didn't you play live at the start of your career?

M. – It wasn't really a deliberate choice: it's just that at the beginning we spent a lot of time in the studio and thought we might be able to do something on the radio. So the idea was to find a job that would give us enough time to do that, but more as a personal hobby than anything else. A proper band, on the other hand, requires a full-time commitment, and once Tunng started to take on that shape, we also started playing live.

Maybe you've already been asked this question too many times, but we don't know the answer: what's behind the choice of the name Tunng, what does it mean?

M. – It doesn't mean anything at all.

We were sure that would be the answer…

S. – It has no meaning, and that's exactly why we chose it. It sounds good, it's nice, and I think it represents something we were doing at that moment, (turning to Mike) though I'm not even sure we liked it back then.

M.- Yeah, I like it! It's one of those words that lends itself to all sorts of interpretations, a lot of people come up with guesses about what it might mean, but you see, "tunng" (claps his hands once, ed.), is a kind of onomatopoeic sound.

All your records have really beautiful colours. Is the artwork chosen by you, or suggested by someone else, by the label?

M. – No, it's all done by the same person, by a girl.

Really? They seem very different from each other.

M. – No, she's illustrated our singles and everything we've done so far.

Was it a conscious choice to go for something more vivid and full of colour for "Good Arrows", your most melodic album?

M. – I think so, right?

S. – Yeah, we felt this album had a stronger, more direct impact, so the cover is a kind of jumble of colourful objects, and it fits with the song titles, many of which refer to everyday objects.

There are a lot of remixes across your albums and singles, and you've also covered a Bloc Party track. It seems you quite like having your songs remixed, whether by yourselves or by others.

M. – Yeah, I like remixing other people's stuff, you work on things you actually have nothing to do with and then you give them back, hoping you've respected the track made by someone else… It's nice because, in turn, you can draw ideas for something you want to do on your own. I also like it when others remix our stuff, the result can be a track you'd never have thought of, the creation of new possibilities within the music itself.

The last question is always the same. Plans for the future, are you writing something new?

M. – Very, very slowly, maybe something for next year, but we don't know what, how or when.

Will it be in the same vein as the material you've recorded, or don't you know yet?

M. – (hums, stays vague)

Ok, you don't want to tell us.

M. – You know, we're still not sure, but there will definitely be some heavy metal! (they laugh)

We hope you're joking!

Translation by Enrica Chimienti

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