Bell Orchestre Interview

Those of you awaiting the next recording from Montreal's Arcade Fire with frothing enthusiasm - that is, anyone who has heard them - will be glad to know that there is reason to be patient. Lanky multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry (the one who plays guitar, keyboards, percussion, accordion and crash helmet) and violinist Sarah Neufeld have their own group, The Bell Orchestre, who recorded their astonishing debut 'Recording A Tape The Colour Of The Light' in between sessions for 'Funeral'. Not only does this record absolutely stand on its own merits, outside any comparisons with their more famous friends, it occupies a wholly different area of the musical spectrum - cavernous instrumental tracks, the Montreal winter and night wondrously evoked in musical form. Richard uses the medium of email to tell us more, and uses lot of full stops like this...

Lies!!: What kind of imagery did you have in mind when recording the album?

Different things at different times... We don't start with an image in mind, generally. We tend to just go by intuition, and follow musicalfragments that seem evocative in one way or another, and expand on them until they're somewhat cohesive... The images are in the listening, I suppose, rather than in the creation, although in a couple of cases there were images in mind... for the piece "The Upwards March" I had an image in mind of a whole lot of people I know who aren't alive anymore, just walking around up in the air, just overhead, kind of protecting people below, keeping watch.

Lies!!: If you were a journalist, how would you describe your sound? Have there been any descriptions that you felt were way off the mark?

I don't know, really... Somebody said "cowboy chamber music from a dream" the other day - I like that a lot... i don't really think we're "postrock" but i guess that's a title that people can use to get a handle on it. I'd like to think that we're more like, you know, african jazz from fifty years ago, but I guess that isn't actually true. Heck.

Lies!!: 'Recording a Tape The Colour Of The Light' and 'Funeral' were recorded at the same time, in the same place, with some of the same people. How different was the process involved in each album?

Quite... It took longer to make the Bell Orchestre album, for one thing. It also took a lot more concerted effort on our part to make it hangtogether as an album than with 'Funeral'. With 'Funeral' we just sort of sat back with the songs that we'd recorded, and tried them in a couple of different orders, and it just seemed to fit together in this slightly surprising way. With 'Recording A Tape..' we had to ditch a bunch of songs and write/add more material as we went along, in order to get something that seemed to make sense. It sort of ended up being tied together in this way that referenced itself in different ways - melodies coming back at different points during the album, reccuring sounds, etc. We also recorded the Bell Orchestre album in a LOT of different places - two studios, a practice space, a loft, a tunnel near my house, a university, and an arts center in the mountains.

Lies!!: To put modesty aside for a second, do you ever look on what you've achieved over the past year (record not one but two amazing debuts) and think: "Wow, what we're doing really is great"?

I try not to get too caught up in that frame of mind... I'm proud of what we've done, for sure. Sometimes it's fun to wonder if or what people willthink of this music in, say, thirty years, or if it will have completely disappeared... I guess i do feel proud to be making things that I feellike are somewhat unique. A couple of times I have imagined someone in the future randomly discovering the Bell Orchestre record in a used record store and listening to it, wondering where the hell it came from... I've found a few old records that are really unique and I don't have anyinformation about them. I guess that can't really happen in the same way anymore, with the internet and all.

Lies!!: What are Bell Orchestre like live? Will you be coming to Europe any time soon?

I really like Bell Orchestre live. I think it's a lot, lot better than the record although perhaps it's easier to go to sleep listening to therecord, which is something you sometimes want. Live it's a lot more dynamic, for sure. We have a lot of music, good music, that didn't makeit onto this record for various reasons. It's very sweaty live, as well. I really like it after shows sometimes when people come up to me and saythings like "I think I experienced every single emotion during that show". That's really satisfying to hear, when you're trying to jam the musicfull of different emotions... I think the live show is a lot more well-balanced than the record. And we will come to Europe soon - probablyin the late winter or early spring. Although how extensively we will tour there I don't really know. Hopefully quite extensively, although maybe not at first.

Lies!!:Is there any particular track on the album that stands out for you?

I like "Les Lumieres pt. 2" a lot, in that I've never heard another piece of music that sounded quite like it, although it's not really very sophisticated compositionally.

Lies!!: Instrumental albums often tend to better convey the simple thrill of playing music with others. Looking at the finished album, what do you see as having influenced it?

Hmmm... Musically speaking, The Penguin Cafe Orchestra, for sure... Little tiny fragments of a whole lot of musics, all sort of splicedtogether. Vicissitudes. It definitely unleashes a certain type of energy when there are no words getting in the way of everything...

Lies!!: Do you think your album could have been made anywhere else in the world?

No. Maybe. Yes. Lots of different places?

Lies!!: What will you be doing from now until Christmas?

The band will be touring for a couple of weeks, and then Arcade Fire will be recording a bit, Bell Orchestre will be writing, and I will hopefully be learning how to play the double bass a bit better.

THE END

Bell Orchestre - Live in New York

Bell Orchestre - Throw It On A Fire

Bell Orchestre - The Upwards March

Bell Orchestre - Les Lumieres (Parts 1 & 2