[Interview] Richard Davis Exclusive for MNML.nl

all interviews.
User avatar
Daniel Logikal
mnml moderator
mnml moderator
Posts: 703
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2004 5:47 am
Location: Melbourne, Aus.
Contact:

[Interview] Richard Davis Exclusive for MNML.nl

Post by Daniel Logikal »

Richard Davis: Epic Minimalism

Richard Davis is undoubtedly one of electronic music’s most talented yet unsung artists & producers. Working within the minimal house framework he has delivered some of the deepest & melancholic releases on labels such as Punkt & Swayzak’s 240 Volt label. He has just released his third long player entitled Details on German label Kitty Yo in which he has further developed his vocal & instrumental skills in addition to his 4/4 production repertoire, delivering an album at ease at home as well as on some of the more self-reflecting times on the dancefloor. Read on to find more about this Englishman who has been plying his trade out of Berlin for the last few years…


Image Image

Your originally from the UK but have been living in Germany for the last few years. Can you describe what you were doing the in the UK before the move & what made you decide to head to Berlin?

I was working for the government in the National Archive in London, looking after ancient documents(!) not as bad as it sounds actually. Music was what I did for fun.
I moved to Berlin 8 years ago after meeting my girlfriend in a bar while I was on holiday. I went home, left my job the first day back at work and moved to Berlin about a month after meeting her. She did the painting on the album cover.

Before you began experimenting with electronic music, what kind of sounds were you in to?

Very loud guitar sounds. And sad acoustic guitar songs.
Electronic music is just one aspect of my taste in music. I was bassist in a punk band in the 80’s, made solo acoustic guitar songs and then switched to computers and samplers in the mid-nineties, now I’m back playing bass, with a band called Dominique, when I’m not slaving away at my computer.

Your first LP on Punkt, ‘Safety’ has been described as a house meets vocals type of album. Your new long player, ‘Details’ is more a vocal meets house orchestration affair. Can you describe some of the more subtle differences between the two albums?

Image Image

Well obviously there’s more of an emphasis on vocals and strings. The vocals are much louder and more direct without the sort of FX processing I used on Safety. Also the songs are much more song structured, they’re still long but there’s less minimalism in the arrangements. I think the overall sound of the album is generally much bigger and the song make more individual statements with their sound than on Safety.

The majority of tracks on the album have a very self-reflective nature about them; something that is at times lost with some house music that is lacking in vocals. What were the main inspirations in writing songs such as ‘Honest with You’, ‘The Truth’ & ‘Empty’?

I mainly use personal experiences, good and bad, for inspiration. Honest With You is based on a relationship from many years ago, with a bit of poetic license, The Truth is basically about Astrid, my girlfriend and the effect she had on my life. Some were just getting something out of my system and some I have difficulty explaining because they’re too personal. Maybe if I was drunk…

How did the opportunity to work with Kitty Yo come about?

Peter Armster, who runs Punkt Music who put out Safety joined Kitty-Yo last year and had a CD of early versions of a few tracks from Details that he played to Raik from Kitty-Yo. He obviously liked it as he signed me. I’m happy because it’s not just a straight up house/techno label with a particular customer base to keep happy, it gives me more musical freedom.

Image Image

Prior to completing ‘Details’ you were asked by Swayzak to go on tour with them as their singer to promote their album ‘Loops From the Bergerie’. What was that experience like & did it have any direct influence on the musical direction ‘Details’ took after you came back from touring?

It was a new experience for me. All the travelling and being away from my girlfriend was quite hard. However I saw a lot of great places, met some nice people and usually the gigs were very enjoyable, with a really good response from the crowd.
I think that the experiences I had last year, touring a lot did have some influence perhaps on my singing ability which was helped by singing live, getting more power in my voice for the later tracks on the album, but not really on the music, it’s a different style to Swayzak.

I read that you also work for Native Instruments. What is your role there & how has this helped you develop your production skills using their products? What does your studio set-up consist of?

I don’t actually work for them, it’s just that sometimes they ask me to make some sound design for Reaktor or a drumkit for Battery, their drum sampler. I don’t think it’s developed my production skills other that learning how to use their stuff. I find that most of their products fit with the way I like to work and I can achieve most of what I’m looking for with something in their range. I use Reaktor, the Kontakt sampler and Battery 2 a lot, many of the sounds on the album were processed using one of hundreds of Reaktor modules that I have, if I want to make a certain kind of sound it’s very likely I’ll be able to find something in Reaktor to do it.
My studio is built around a big desktop, a laptop, lots of software, an SPL mic pre-amp and a valve microphone for my vocals and for recording the cello etc..

How often do you perform live & what does your live set-up consist of?

Well, not all the time, but there will be quite a lot of gigs this year. The set up is a laptop, and live vocals. I just have Ableton Live on my laptop so I can perform the main structures of the songs and then improvise along. I don’t plan what order I do it so I can be flexible in the length of the set or in how I build it up. And I just have an SM58 microphone which I sing loudly into.

What projects, remixes & releases can we expect to hear from you in the near future?
I don’t know yet. As for projects there’s nothing planned except starting my next album after I’ve finished touring, at the end of the year and recording with the band Dominique.
There will be a couple of singles from Details with remixes appearing during the year.

Name your top five albums of all time.

Not electronic.

Spirit of Eden/ Talk Talk
Scott 4/Scott Walker
Are we not Men We are Devo/Devo
Marquee Moon/ Television
Forever Changes/Love

Electronic.

Bytes/Black Dog Productions
20 Jazz Funk Greats/Throbbing Gristle
Selected Ambient Works Vol. 1/Aphex Twin
Reproduction/Human League
These Branching moments/Wamdue Kids

Related Links:

http://www.kitty-yo.net/artist.php?id=41

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Richard+Davis
Last edited by Daniel Logikal on Fri May 23, 2008 2:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
AbstraKt
mnml mmbr
mnml mmbr
Posts: 121
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2004 9:15 pm

Post by AbstraKt »

thx D!
"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything."
- Plato -

"Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things. "
-Denis Diderot-
User avatar
fredrik_h
mnml maxi
mnml maxi
Posts: 600
Joined: Thu May 19, 2005 5:55 pm
Location: falun, sweden

Post by fredrik_h »

too bad there wasn't a new album in the pipeline already, I was actually thinking of this guy's stuff last week (when a new album would be out) ... looking forward to it for sure.
User avatar
Daniel Logikal
mnml moderator
mnml moderator
Posts: 703
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2004 5:47 am
Location: Melbourne, Aus.
Contact:

Post by Daniel Logikal »

fredrikburok wrote:too bad there wasn't a new album in the pipeline already, I was actually thinking of this guy's stuff last week (when a new album would be out) ... looking forward to it for sure.
His new LP on Kitty-Yo has just come out :wink:
User avatar
fredrik_h
mnml maxi
mnml maxi
Posts: 600
Joined: Thu May 19, 2005 5:55 pm
Location: falun, sweden

Post by fredrik_h »

ah my mistake, checking :)
User avatar
-ix
mnml admn
mnml admn
Posts: 2794
Joined: Fri Apr 17, 1970 6:37 am
Location: Leiden NL
Contact:

Post by -ix »

Heard a part of his liveset at Melt! last weekend.
Nice music!
User avatar
ganik
mnml admn
mnml admn
Posts: 1261
Joined: Wed May 12, 2004 6:48 pm
Location: zagreb, croatia
Contact:

Post by ganik »

Thx, nice like always :wink:
multum in parvo
pedrodollar
mnml newbie
mnml newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2005 5:24 pm

Post by pedrodollar »

richard makes lovely music! it is all about the singer/songwriter-house.
Post Reply