| When Young Terrorists Chase
the Sun
Flying Nun Records is proud to present the
new album by gerling ‘When Young Terrorists Chase The Sun’.
Ever since its beginnings, Sydney-based
trio gerling have built a reputation on being slightly askew and
always thinking outside the square. As a record label that continually
celebrates the new, Flying Nun heartily welcomes gerling into it’s
ever-growing stable of artists.
With
the 1999 album ‘Children of Telepathic Experiences’, the young backpack-wearing
group proved on disc what its live shows had been harking at for
ages – that frenetic guitar energy and a punk ethos could comfortably
straddle the electronic domain, too.
Now, with new album ‘When Young
Terrorists Chase The Sun’, those who heralded the band back then as
prodigiously talented crossover futurists are vindicated. For where
gerling's last album was the dawning of a new rock-tech fusion, Terrorists
is the trio's determined step into adulthood.
"This album's been a very gradual
process," explains gerling member Presser, adding with a laugh,
"Especially considering that the last one only took five days!"
In fact, sessions for the Terrorists album
started two years ago. Original recordings were kicked off with Steve
Foster (favourite studio player of the Australian post-rock set), then
remixer/dance artist Josh Abrahams and award-winning producer Magoo were
both enlisted to the project too.
Over the course of this two-year journey
the members of gerling taught themselves how to use computer-based
technology, while simultaneously writing and recording the new album in
their own G-House Studio. The band says that this process of
self-education contributed significantly to the leaps-and-bounds growth of
the current record over the last.
"It's more concise than our stuff in
the past, " says Darren Cross. "A lot more work's been put into
the individual songs, as well as a lot more effort at making the album
work as a whole."
And work it does. From the anthemic
feel-good summer hit ‘The Deer In You’ to the old-school hip-hop
expedition of ‘Brother Keith On Destructor Mountain’; from the
luminous ‘Windmills And Birdbaths’ to the string-enhanced ‘Fight
Revolution Team’, myriad styles are brought together for a seamless
finish.
And, of course, there's the track that
should raise a few eyebrows. Titled ‘G-House Project’, and described
by the band as "a gerling house song", it is perfectly finished
with vocals by Ms. Kylie Minogue.
So how best to sum up ‘When Young
Terrorists Chase The Sun’? Well, it's a housey, 70s disco, hip-hop,
ambient, edgy, melodic, downbeat, upbeat, stripped down, embellished up,
punk rock, electro crossover album which travels faultlessly from
beginning to end and has enough stand-out tracks to keep the singles chart
happy for a couple of years to come.
And the short version of all that? Well,
seldom has a band so confidently attempted such a unique melting pot and
never have the results been as blisteringly exceptional as on gerling's
new album.
TRACK-BY-TRACK with Darren and Presser from
the band
PHAZER KIDS IN THE WINDY CITY
Electro sounds and sampling are merged with
two different drum styles, as well as a fair smattering of live sounds.
"It's a little story, our little movie, the introduction to the
album."
DUST ME SELECTA
"A lot of people are freaking out
about this one, saying: Is that gerling? We've really gone for it with
this song. We tried to do something similar with ‘Enter Space Capsule’
[from the last album] but we only had two days to do that." This
track takes its influence from Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx and their ilk, and
features shining vocalist Inga Liljestrom.
HIGH JACKERS MANUAL
"Burke and I did that in about two
days," says Darren. "That was one of the last songs that we did.
It came together really quickly."
G-HOUSE PROJECT
"We met up with Kylie in this pub and
the next day she was in the studio with us, singing on it. She had the flu
and we were writing out the lyrics for it while we were waiting for her.
Magoo did some good stuff with her vocal – the filtered stuff sounds
really crazy at the beginning. This one's like a gerling house song
combined with traditional disco sounds like the clav and the guitar."
FIGHT REVOLUTION TEAM
This one was recorded with Steve Foster
then reworked with Josh Abrahams. Features strings by Sydney quartet
Fourplay, and vocals by Fourplay member Lara Goodrich as well as Josh
Abrahams. "The lyrical content is a love song for the E
generation."
BROTHER KEITH ON DESTRUCTOR MOUNTAIN (4001)
"One of our heroes is Kool Keith [LA
modern hip-hop legend] and when we were recording this song we heard he
was interested in working with other people.
So we sent the song to him and when we
eventually got it back it was two minutes of him talking mumbo-jumbo -
freestyling and stuff. So we spent two days cutting and pasting all his
words and making phrases up, 'cause it sounded like he's had a bucket bong
and then went and did the track! It's an old school hip-hop track, really
downbeat."
DEKA
Previously released as a giveaway promo
single only available at the band’s
Australian live shows.
"This was originally just an ambient,
fast-break kind of song. We added the vocals at the last minute and it
sounded really good, more aggressive. It's like a lo-fi Prodigy song or
something."
HOT COMPUTER
"We wanted a fucked-up slow house song
that was just crazy. This song captures our humour, I think. It's probably
the funniest gerling song, it's really camp, it makes us laugh heaps. It's
about internet pornography and the evils it'll do to people."
SERPENTHEADZ
Another cruisey song on the record, this
one was recorded early in the album sessions. "It's our take on the
whole Super Discount [French house] type of stuff. The song is just about
dancing at a club, having a good time."
THE DEER IN YOU
Recorded with Josh Abrahams.
"This is our anti-capitalist song, but
it's not political. We tend to look at all the anti-capitalist [culture
jamming, No Logo] stuff more on an entertainment level. It's a cheeky song
about revolution - big brother and the man, all the usual 60s stuff."
WINDMILLS AND BIRDBATHS
"Burke wanted to write a really nice
song in the realm of Bjork – interesting sounds, ambience. He wanted to
get someone really nice to sing on it and obviously we couldn't get Bjork
at that time. Burke was really into the Solex CD [renowned Amsterdam-based
performer] and asked her if she wanted to sing on it and she did. Girls
always love this one."
SUMMER LAKE REWIND
"This is a weird folk song inspired by
when we were in the Lakes District last year - in Cumbria in England - and
also by this BBC show called Nature Boy which was set in the Lakes
District as well. It's a really, really beautiful area."
WE DESIGN THE FUTURE
"We were playing this song about two
years ago and it was called Sex In High School. It was originally
really Mogwai-ish, but then we changed it into this ambient track.
It really ends the album well. We did this one with Steve Foster,
too."
|