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sinceileftyoublog · 4 years

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Manu Delago Interview: From Sleep to the Snooze Button

Photo by James Styler

BY JORDAN MAINZER

After 2018′s elements-facing Parasol Peak, Manu Delago decided to look inside his own head. Circadian, released a year ago, explored the different stages of the sleep cycle and circadian rhythms, a project inspired by his trouble sleeping when on tour with artists like Bjork and how it made it difficult to distinguish dreams from reality. The result is gorgeously hypnotic narrative. The title track explicitly mirrors the sleep cycle with its repetitions of patterns and occasional blips. “The Silent Flight of the Owl”, inspired by Delago’s encounter with an owl he may or may not have dreamed, uses soft woodwind swoops to imitate the sound of a flying owls wings. And spritely, loud closer “Zeitgeber” is meant to be a stage of sleep but the space in between sleeps, waking up and maintaining awareness and activity throughout the day.

Despite the album’s ambitions, though, Delago wasn’t done: earlier this year, he revisited album centerpiece “Delta Sleep” (recorded in the middle of the night) with 7-plus hours of remixes meant to be listened to while sleeping. And now, he’s shared an album of live recordings of a different kind of grueling cycle: the tour. Announced with a live video of the ensemble performing “Uranus”, Circadian Live is a mix of recordings from the 18 concerts performed in Europe across 21 days, consisting of songs from Circadian plus rearrangements of tracks from Delago’s back catalog. It stands out from many live albums by truly offering something new for fans of Delago’s music. For one, the performances from Circadian songs offer differences to the recorded versions, bits of improvisation and extensions, sounding like a new album more than a live album. (You can really only tell this is a live album when audience members clap in the middle of “Zeitgeber”, thinking the song had ended.) Moreover, it gives you the chance to revisit old songs in new ways. The Pete Josef collaboration “A Step” is presented as an instrumental, while Silver Kobalt banger “Down to the Summit” is adapted as a gentle, acoustic track. And “Satori”, an over-10-year-old collaboration with Christoph Pepe Auer sees Delago and the saxophonist join forces along with the rest of the ensemble for an even greater sum.

I asked Delago some questions over email about Circadian Live. Read his responses below!

Since I Left You: How has your sleep been during the pandemic?

Manu Delago: Usually pretty good, thanks. I think my average sleep per night has gone up quite a bit since there’s no more touring.

SILY: On a song like "The Silent Flight of the Owl", which has a specific backstory, do you think about that story every time you're performing it?

MD: Not really. It’s usually quite early on in our concerts, and I’m trying to settle in. Getting used to the stage and sound and ideally playing well.

SILY: Why did you decide to release the video for "Uranus" as a preview and/or representation of the rest of this record?

MD: When the studio album Circadian came out, we already promoted three singles/videos, so for the live album, I just wanted to put the focus on another track. It features the warmth of the clarinets and accordion but also has an amazing trombone feature towards the second half of the piece.

SILY: On Circadian, "Zeitgeber" is such a symbolic endpoint, starting the cycle again. Why didn't you finish your sets with it?

MD: We kind of did finish our sets with it, like an alarm clock in the morning, but then we also play a couple of encores afterwards which were like the snooze button.

SILY: Did people every night think that "Zeitgeber" was over after the initial pause towards the end?

MD: I have a feeling that many people did, but I’ve never asked them.

SILY: How did you decide which songs from your back catalogue to play on this tour and include on this album?

MD: That was almost an evolutionary process. I’ve been playing some of those tracks for many years, the oldest one dating back to 2006. And then you realize which songs work well with which instruments and which ones I still enjoy performing.

SILY: Do you think "A Step" takes on a new life or different quality without the vocals?

MD: I think it certainly works as an instrumental piece, even though it’s quite different. I’m not trying to replace the amazing vocals of Pete Josef, but creating a new sound world with the Siberian crystal harp, wooden temple blocks, and very warm clarinet and string sounds.

SILY: You were able to include Christoph Pepe Auer on this tour. Would you have played "Satori" even if he wasn't able to join? How did you come to extend the length of the song so much in the live version?

MD: This track goes back to 2006 and I’ve played it more than 200 times with Pepe, so it has been great to have him in the ensemble, but I have also played the track with other line-ups, too. Every night, he played a killer solo in the middle of the track which contributes to the extended length. But also our genius trombone player Alois Eberl played an amazing intro to the song which was different every night. Since we did 18 shows on the tour and recorded all of them, at some point, I was considering releasing an album of just solo trombone intros because they were so special.

SILY: These performances are entirely acoustic. How did you go about adapting a song like "Down to the Summit”?

MD: The acoustic live version is a bit more chilled than the studio version, which at some point goes quite aggressive and electronic. To me, the core elements of the piece are its harmonic progression, the melody floating on top, and a long gradual build-up. But to me it works in an acoustic version that goes to 70% rocking-out as well as in a 100% rocking-out electronic version.

SILY: What's next for you?

MD: Over the next weeks, we’ll be touring Circadian Live with my ensemble, and I’m hoping that as many shows as possible will take place. The next big and new project will be the ReCycling Tour in May 2021, where my band will cycle 1600 kilometres and play 26 concerts on the way.

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