When Melbourne-based ambient act All India Radio first began releasing music back in 1999, it was a solo avenue through which Martin Kennedy was able to express his inner musical monologues. Since then however it’s developed into a quartet, with Leona Prue most recently joining the band to provide vocals. Their sound is one that combines organic live instrumentation with lushest of digital soundscapes, and they’ve been known to inspire a trance-like state among their fans. “A lot of people close their eyes while we play,” Martin told ITM. “Hopefully they’re in a trance like state of enjoyment, rather than fast asleep!”
However, all the accolades that All India Radio have racked up would strongly suggest it’s the former rather than the latter. The late and great John Peel awarded them with an ‘Album of the Week’, they scored themselves an ARIA nomination and they had their music featured in Michael Moore’s edgy documentary Sicko. They’ll be launching their fifth album Fall this month, an effort that features Leona Prue’s recently added vocal talents in full effect, and to mark the occasion ITM chats to Martin Kennedy from All India Radio.
When you first began, you started off as a ‘DJ Shadow-esque solo act’. What inspired the change to ambient, trip hop music? What process did you go through to get to that stage?
I think there has always had an ambient vein running through the music from the beginning. To be honest I didn’t even know who DJ Shadow was when I first started out, but the description seemed to fit the early All India Radio albums. The music developed as I added more people to the band and as home recording became cheaper and easier. The ‘trip hop’ element started when we recruited Leona Prue on vocals last year and people started to say we sounded a little like Portishead.
Your music is quite perplexing in the way that different sound elements are layered. Is it a complex process of composition or do you each play at your hearts desire until the song sounds a particular way?
It’s easy to create the layers, but complex getting them to gel together. The band never jams the songs into shape… It’s mainly just me in the studio creating the electronic noises and soundscapes. It’s a bit like throwing paint on a canvas and seeing what happens. Usually it’s a load of rubbish, so then I’ll have to push the paint around to try to get something more concise!
Leona Prue has recently joined the band with her wonderful voice. How was including a singer changed the band and the music?
The song writing has become more democratic which was a good experience for me after years of flying solo! The songs on Fall were written with lyrics in mind from the beginning, so they are much more ‘traditional’ verse/chorus songs than on previous albums.
It’s easy to zone-out listening to your music and nearly experience a different world. Do you experience that when you play? Does it encourage your creativity?
Yes, when all the pieces of a live show fall into place, it is very easy to zone out… Well not for me personally, I’m too worried about what chord to play next, but I’m sure the other guys get into it.
Where do you think ambient music stands compared to some other popular electronic genres? Where do you think it is heading in the future?
I’m actually not a huge fan of a lot of modern ambient music… It leaves me a bit cold. I prefer the old school – Brian Eno, Roger Eno, Michael Brook, Harold Budd, Robert Fripp, Jon Hassell, Laraaji, Roedelius etc. I don’t know where the genre is heading, but for me the future is more organic sounds and less computers in the production process.
How do you come up with names for your songs?
Working with Leona who writes the lyrics, it was a relatively easy process, but when we were instrumental, it was usually left until the very last moment before the artwork was completed and then randomly chosen out of a dictionary or whatever book was lying around.
Everyone would experience your music in different ways, do you produce songs aiming to evoke particular emotions or do you let the music speak for itself?
We generally let the music speak for itself, but sometimes we deliberately choose to write a song that could be described as ‘happy’ or ‘uplifting’ usually to counter balance the sombre or moody ones!
How do you get inspired? Are there any other bands or artists you see as sources of inspiration?
I have a lot of all-time favourite artists but they are perhaps only subconsciously inspirational. I’ve recently been listening to Balmorhea, Eluvium, The Necks and Cinematic Orchestra.
I imagine you to be very mellow people due to the music you play. Are any of you in actual fact, quite the opposite? Is playing and producing your music a way of channelling out anger and stress? Do you ever get the urge to throw a guitar out the window?
We are actually generally quite mellow. More likely to watch the TV rather than throw it out the window. But you never know….
How would you compare your new album to previous ones?
It is much lusher and melodic. Having vocals for the first time means the songs are a bit more traditionally pop in structure. It was more of a planned album and it is probably the best produced, whereas previous ones tended to be more lo-fi and slightly rambling, not that there’s anything wrong with that!
You’ve come a long way in terms of developing the band, are there any other big changes we can expect?
No massive changes planned – if it ain’t broke etc. We’ve done some soundtrack work in the past, and that’s something I’d like to move towards in the future. There are a number of All India Radio related projects in the works – an instrumental album, a new vocal album and a collaboration with The Church’s Steve Kilbey.
All India Radio launch their new album Fall this Thursday 25th September at The Excelsior Hotel in Surry Hills, Sydney.
