The collective around Stuart A. Staples is always good for surprises - be it with cover versions, soundtracks, solo and side projects or bold stylistic lunges. This is also the case on their 13th album "Distractions", on which the Brits try their hand at pieces by Neil Young, the Television Personalities and Dory Previn, but also at French chansons and a concentrated load of Krautrock. Why, why, why - eclipsed asked.
eclipsed: Is "Distractions" what the title implies: a little pastime during the lockdown?
Stuart A. Staples: There's something about it. Because at times like this you just have to block out reality because it can be so depressing and you can't let it take you over. When this window of opportunity opened up in the last few months, I used it to implement some ideas that I'd been carrying around for a while. So the album was a way to dream a little bit again, have fun and distract myself
eclipsed: Like with the eleven-minute "Man Alone (Can't Stop The Fadin')" - the longest and most experimental thing the Tindersticks have ever done?
Staples: Yes, it's just something different - and the result of a long search for the appropriate structure and instrumentation. But I never expected the whole thing to be so epic. I had a shorter version, but it was just missing something.
eclipsed: A trip into Krautrock - what fascinates you about it?
Staples: I've been into that since I was a teenager. And I had this song idea that I had to tackle on my own because of Corona. So I got out my old drum machines and bass and developed a sketch. Whereby I didn't even think about the proximity to Krautrock. I just wanted to formulate an idea - and that's what it turned out to be. Probably because the first Neu! album is an important part of my DNA. I discovered it through Cabaret Voltaire, who I listened to up and down as a 16-year-old and who inspired me a lot. When I started looking for their influences and roots, I came across Neu!, Amon Düül II and Can - music with incredibly hypnotic, monotonous beats that send you on a real journey.
