Your voice on this record is really distinctive; it’s raw and unnerving and not afraid of sounding that way.
Yeah, I think my voice really sets me apart. People can hear a real kind of natural thing about it. It’s not perfect, and I think people really respond to things that aren’t perfect, or things that sound raw, instead of things that sound shimmery and shiny. Those kinds of voices sound great on the radio and whatever, but at the end of the day they don’t sound like anyone in particular, and they lack character and real feeling and real emotion. I think a lot of people have just gotten quite used to that kind of sound, and that’s definitely something that Ben and I have tried to go against with this album.
The vocal timbre isn’t the only thing that’s raw; the lyrics are full of all sorts of anguish. Is there any pressure now to re-enter that kind of world to reproduce those feelings for the next album?
No, not at all. You know, when we did this album, I didn’t want to make a really melancholic album — I just felt like that then. But I wouldn’t try it again, that would be boring, to repeat the same feelings and emotions. And more importantly, I don’t feel like that anymore, I’m much happier now than when I wrote that record. I think the next record will be more . . . observational, mainly because I think writing about any personal emotion would be difficult. I’m just too busy to focus, and there’s not much to write about right now in those terms, because I spend all of my time in hotels and touring — although a lot of rock bands have made a lot of money writing about that!
In your presentation and in your music, is there a sense of confrontation? Do you feel like you have to be unusual to be distinctive?
Well, the thing is that it’s not about being unusual, you know — in a lot of ways this whole thing is just a character. I mean, it’s not like I’m some kind of flame-headed freak! And it’s not like I’m trying to come off as unusual because everyone else is just so plain-Jane or anything like that. It’s just sort of how I am.
LA ROUX + YES GIANTESS + MISTAKER | Paradise, 967 Comm Ave, Boston | October 27 at 7 pm | $13 (adv.), $15 (dos) | 18+ | 617.562.8800 or www.thedise.com
