How far can a band take risks? How much of her brand core can she reveal when she reinvents herself? Questions that come to mind when you hear the current record from archives. "The False Foundation is a new beginning that polarizes the archival community. It works like a complete reset. While in recent years the band has focused on extreme contrasts between individual songs on an album, the new CD seems like a single long track without significant ups and downs. The album itself is the song. Archive mastermind Darius Keeler grins from ear to ear.
"On our last two records we had tried to recreate the live experience in the studio, but it never got close to the live experience in front of an audience. It was a lot of fun, but at some point I had the feeling that we weren't going as deep as we originally could. Of course we are also proud of the last records, but once again we felt the need to go as far as we think possible with something that we ourselves don't think is possible. To penetrate something so deeply that you leave all conceivable possibilities behind you. On the new record we didn't want to let rules apply anymore, but only to hear what we love. We went to the brink of exhaustion, even interpersonal. We don't care if anybody likes this music but us. This is a record for us. This album has cost a lot of time and nerves."
New archiving system
For archive companions of many years, the new CD at least needs getting used to. Keeler and Co. are not among those musicians who would apologize for the past or even relativize it. The old shelves have flown out of the archive, a completely new archiving system has been introduced. But every new beginning means first of all a loss. "On the last two records we tried to find out what archives can be next to each other," recapitulates Keeler.
"But at some point, as an artist, you will again have the need to do something in which you can really bury yourself. It was such an important album for us. For the song 'Driving By Nails' we used a drum computer for the first time. The piece is based on a single chord over which we have laid eighteen vocal tracks." Singer and guitarist Pollard Berrier jumps to his boss's side: "Originally there was much more lyrics to the song, but we left it at the one phrase that kept repeating itself. In many places it's really mainly about the sound. We paid a lot of attention to that and actually only gave the respective song what it needs."
The music of the new CD is much more linear than in the past. It's less about melodies, more about sounds. The finished song is not as important as the process. One can assume many things from archives, perhaps even that they have given up their identity as bodies of sound. But they certainly wouldn't make it easy for themselves. Darius Keeler is concerned with integrity as an artist. "I have to admit that it started to bore me to make a song and stop doing it when it sounds good. I wanted to experiment more again. If the songs on 'The False Foundation' sounded good, that was just the starting point to think about what else we could do with them. We wanted to test the possibilities inherent in a good song."