Blazing a Trail

LONDON TRIP HOP STARS MORCHEEBA came to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, breaking out into the mainstream with platinum-selling albums like ‘Big Calm’ (1998) and ‘Fragments of Freedom’ (2000). The silky smooth vocals of Skye Edwards coupled with the laid-back fusion produced by brothers Paul and Ross Godfrey became a defining sound of the chill out haze, but there was tension bubbling beneath the surface. Creative differences led to Edwards leaving the band in 2003, after which the brothers recruited a slew of singers before she rejoined in 2009. Since Paul’s resignation 5from the band in 2013, Skye Edwards and Ross Godfrey have been going strong as a duo; last year saw the release

of ‘Blaze Away’, Morcheeba’s ninth studio album and first effort in more than five years, which signals a return to the genre-jumping of their early years, borrowing equal parts from blues, psychrock, dub reggae and hip hop. Ahead of their Istanbul gig, we caught up with

Skye Edwards to chat about inspiration and what she’s listening to on the road.

 

Last year you released your ninth studio album in a discography spanning over 20 years. How does it feel to be in a band for this long?

 

I have been in Morcheeba since I was 18. I am 42 now, so it has consumed more than half of my life and I can’t really remember what it is like not to be in it. We sometimes do other projects but Morcheeba is the mothership we get beamed back to at the end of each episode.

 

You’ve described ‘It’s Summertime’ from your latest album ‘Blaze Away’ as a pop song. How does pop sit within Morcheeba’s musical output?

 

I like good pop music, which I’d say is probably about 5% of what is out there. It is uplifting and takes you on a journey in three minutes. I think pop is simply trying to connect with a larger audience and it can be a tightrope walk, balancing between being cool and appealing to a universal truth everybody can relate to.

 

How has your musical approach changed over the years?

 

Not a lot has changed apart from us getting older and technology redefining the way we make and distribute music and connect to our audience. We still love to write a good song and produce it in an atmospheric mood. We just do what we feel naturally and that sounds like Morcheeba, nothing is forced or premeditated.

 

Morcheeba broke out into the scene in the 1990s. How has the music industry changed since then?

 

The 1990s were great, it was very varied and experimental. I loved grunge music, electro and hip hop. I was always hoping or expecting a punklike revolution that would redefine music, but it didn’t happen and I would say that music has stopped having such a big social impact since the 90s. The Internet has made everything more accessible but has taken away the tribal power that local music scenes had on young people.

 

Morcheeba is often described as one of the foundational figures of the trip hop genre.

How do you feel about this pioneer label?

 

We think it is quite cute now, although we used to dislike it. It is an umbrella term for a lot of very different artists that had the common factor of slow ‘blunted’ beats as the bedrock of their music. To have been one of the first will always make us have a certain amount of credibility. I think ‘Dummy’ by Portishead was the genre defining record of trip hop and still sounds the best.

 

What inspires your songs and lyrics?

 

Love and our lives. We take inspiration from our immediate surroundings, family and friends. But sometimes they can be more fantastical, like a movie in your mind.

 

How would you describe the effect your songs have on your audience? You have played in Istanbul before, what do you think about Turkish listeners?

 

Our audiences are very wide demographically but I think our music has some kind of soothing effect for them in their lives, a time to relax and go with the flow. Turkish audiences are great, enthusiastic but gentle. We love coming to Istanbul, one of the greatest cities in the world, and are really looking forward to PSM Jazz Festival.

 

What are you listening to while touring? What music has inspired you lately?

 

I really like The Barr Brothers from Canada, Khruangbin from Texasand Djrum from London. I get inspired by music that sounds like it has a life of it’s own.