An institution in their own right, Simian Mobile Disco (James Ford and Jas Shaw) remain an inspiration in electronic music, musicians who experiment on the fringes of a digital with analog sound. Determined to do something different after 2012's Unpatterns, the English duo's upcoming foray into new modes of production brings a novel approach to live versus recorded mixing. In fact they will be performing their forthcoming album, Whorl, live on April 26th in Joshua Tree, then taking the sound back into the studio for mastering. The entire live session, where the guys will only have "just one synth and one sequencer each", will be worked over, so the in-person performance can blended into previously-recorded material in a whole new manner. As James puts it:
“With this new set up, playing our old music will be impossible. Over time we might attempt to replicate some of our previous releases, but starting from scratch with a new sound pallet and way of writing will make them more like cover versions! We wanted to make clear to our fans what this performance and album will be– a set of totally brand new music, which will feature no vocals and no samples.”
For those of you lucky enough to be in Southern California, or diehard fans willing to trek any distance, tickets to the rare show here. Otherwise, the rest of us will have to eagerly anticipate Whorl and an entirely new approach to Simian Mobile Disco.
