Chris Herbert – the “slightly wonky backwater of electronica”

Back at Supersonic a few weeks back, we caught up with Fennesz-influenced Chris Herbert. Herbert creates music which is sublimely subtle. Crackling, static loops which gently roll, hinting at melody and rhythm, tantalisingly building to crescendos that don’t arrive. Here’s what happened:

How would you describe your music?

With considerable hesitation. I wouldn’t want to pin it down too much. Inevitably, it tends to be classified as a slightly wonky backwater of electronica and I’m sort of comfortable with that (it is after all assembled with a computer) but I’d shy away from genre terms like ambient or drone which are perfectly good descriptions but bring to bear certain ideas I’d want to get away from.

I make use of quite a lot of field recordings and environmental sources. I suppose I’ve got a bit of a bee in my bonnet about keeping the sound as open as possible and let things sound as they are evolving naturally even though the process can be quite involved. I try to imply hints of rhythm or melody, leaving as much room for the listener as possible. Hardly an original idea but there you go.

How did you get from the hobby-tinkering stage to releasing an album on Kranky?

At some point several years ago I crossed the point from solely consuming music to starting to make it. There was probably a dormant creative itch lurking somewhere and I’d been absorbing music long enough to have internalized a framework within which I could make the kind of music that would instinctively appeal to me. I can’t remember exactly how I was introduced to the application I use (Audiomulch) but I remember downloading it and almost instantly thinking it was exactly what I needed.  A couple of years later there were a few CD-Rs circulating among friends, little volumes documenting some sketches I might have been toying with at the time. That kranky came to be involved was something of a cosmic fluke. Whilst visiting kranky towers my close friend Paul Dickow (who records as Strategy) played them some of this fledging material. Their curiosity was sufficiently piqued to get in touch. It’s about the best working arrangement anyone could hope to have – they’re infinitely patient and grant something approaching total freedom. Exactly the conditions I needed for finished tracks to develop.

What’s your personal history with Supersonic and how did your debut festival slot come about?

I really love live music, for me it’s almost the most exciting thing to watch and for that reason I don’t think it’s enough to play live and merely take a laptop and run through similar-to-identical versions of the album tracks. For that reason I don’t play live often but when I do I really try and make the performance fit the environment. I’ve played in a few one-off events that have been in decommissioned factories or old industrial spaces and have made recordings in them beforehand. I very much prefer this rather than playing bars, which I don’t think necessarily suits my music. Last year’s show with Stars of the Lid (also on kranky) was a notable exception to this – such swell fellows it was impossible for me to turn down their kind offer to support them. Musically, I’m quite a recluse and that was probably the first time I’ve been visible within the local music scene which is really vibrant. I think I spoke to Lisa from Capsule the first time that evening and she collared me after a Shellac gig about six months later and asked if I would like to be a part of Supersonic.

Capsule have single-handedly transformed the city’s music scene, it’s now incomparable to what I remember as a student in the early 1990s. With their bare hands they’ve built up a world-class network of music promotion (and much more besides). Supersonic has become a pinnacle and has improved year on year. Having attended as a punter for several years, I felt honoured to be asked and proud to be a part of it. I’m hard pressed to think of another UK festival with which I would want to be involved.

Did you get much of a chance to see any of your fellow festival guests and did any stand out?

Domestic commitments (I have a young daughter) meant I was only able to attend on Sunday this year but I’d heard lots of great reports from the previous days. I would have loved to have seen Drum Eyes, Nisennenmondai, Flower/Corsano Duo and also made a bee-line for Growing and Master Musicians of Bukkake who I’ve never seen live. From Sunday I was pleasantly surprised by Caribou and Head of David’s bass sounded filthy and fantastic. I caught a tiny little bit of Tim Wright sound checking which looked really interesting. Goblin were quite absurd but a wonderful finale.

How do you feel your performance went?

From my side of the fence it was fine – most of the live set is an improvisation with some more defined areas that I know I’ll visit. There’s enormous scope for error but I think it went okay. I would have liked to have seen the visuals beforehand as they were put together very quickly.  I think we were both winging it to a certain extent but everyone has been gracious about it which is very humbling.

What’s up next for you and can you tell us anything about album number two?

Even if nothing is getting recorded I’m usually stirring something around. It was hugely liberating to finish the first album and clear the air. Initially, I had the idea that I wanted to draw a line under that and try something new. Where mezzotint had been all about soft edges and things half-glimpsed I thought I might like to try a different approach. For a while, everything was bright and sharply focussed but now it seems the murk is creeping back in, that said there is a more sort of sharper and more focused element to the sound that harks back to early electroacoustic records I’ve been gorging on lately.

I’ve been invited to play the Plateaux festival in Toru, Poland in November which could be the next live outing. I said I’d see how Supersonic  went before committing so it looks like I don’t really have an excuse. The place looks beautiful and friends who have played there have said how well-organised it is, how switched on and attentive the audiences are. It sounds great.

There are some new things recorded, mostly quite long-form pieces. For me, putting an album together is a process of tracks achieving a kind of critical mass, the tracks must work together a whole and as everything grows so slowly and organically it’s difficult to say when it will be ready but it’s flowing much as it always does: at a glacier’s pace.