aspidistra fly

by Lounge Lizard

Photos Courtesy of Aspidistra Fly

Dreampop is enjoying a revival among the mainstream audience, thanks to Sophia Coppola’s ‘Lost In Translation’. It never went away for some folks. Aging Youth chats with sonic sculptors, April and Ricks of Aspidistra Fly (http://www.aspidistrafly.com) about their tunes which sound like dreams played out in stereo and their gear obsession. They will be playing Baybeats 2004 on the 17th July, 1730hr at the Chillout stage and will be releasing their sophomore EP, ‘The Ghost Of Things’ on the same day as well.

How did the name, Aspidistra Fly come about?

april: I had been reading a George Orwell novel titled "Keep the Aspidistra Flying".

ricks: I shortened its title and I thought this was it... No particular meaning in the name. It’s just something people can identify us with.

april: The book was a special book to me.

How long have you guys been playing together?

ricks: April and I forms the core of Aspidistra Fly. We started out as a home-recording experiment during December of 2001, using just a laptop and a computer mic. We produced our first EP "Children's haiku garden" in August 2002. Since then, we took the idea of home-recording more seriously and spent the rest of our time acquiring better recording gears to improve our sounds, remaining 'reclusive' until we played our first gig at the Substation organized by Wallwork Records in December 2003. Jim was then quickly roped in to fill us in for our live set.

Was it a conscious move to play something so ambient and moody?

ricks: To start of with, we love pedals and gadgets. We are all guitar geeks. We love to produce different textures using our guitars with the use of delay, reverb and filters. Mainly, we wanted to document our memories into music and sounds. Likewise, sometimes we achieve the documentation by means of photography. We like to project our music along with our photography, audio samples and home-made videos. That could be why our songs turn out rather nostalgic in some ways.

april: Our soundscapes, melodies and words are built in relation to memories and space. We wanted to evoke an experience that would awaken the sensitivity of a listener toward the space and time around him.

Talking about ambient soundscapes, Ricks, how do you get the thick dreamy sound on ‘Sea Glass’?

ricks: There is a lot of movement in sound in the background with the use of simulated analogue delay. Sometimes they’re almost subliminal, but that’s the beauty of it. You can hear something is happening but couldn’t point out exactly what is it. I guess you can call it a production trick which I’m conscious of doing most of the time to get that dreamy effect. One of the biggest misconceptions is that we use synths. Ironically, what I do on the guitars is sonically influenced by synth-players like Ryuichi Sakamoto and Richard Barbieri of Japan.

Since April is the vocalist, does she bring the song out for the rest of the band or it is usually a collaborative effort?

ricks: I produce the tracks while April and I share song-writing duties. Either one of us will write the lyrics or come out with the initial tune. Selection of titles sometimes set the mood of the song, working around a projected imagery or inspired by some photographs that we had taken. We seldom “jam’ though, we work separately as I will usually get the arrangement and instruments done first. Then April will layer some extra instruments and add her vocals. Having the mutual trust allows us to focus on our own roles and the end result is usually the synergy of these different elements coming together.

I heard several songs from your website. I hear some bass and beats in the background. Are they programmed or played by some sessionists?

ricks: In the past we used to program our beats on the computer, but we are doing less of that recently.

april: We are looking into tracks that are more fluid and organic.

ricks: We do not wish to impose on our listeners. We want to move people with our sounds instead so the lack of beats makes us what we are.

I quite fancy ‘No Chance Of Reconciliation’ though the title reeks of bitterness. I think that it’s a shame that Aspidistra Fly is no longer moving towards that direction. What is the song about?

ricks: We are looking at a more timeless feel for our tracks as electronic beats get outdated very fast. However, we did make a conscious effort to take reference from the song to grow from it after our first EP was released.

It is about certain people we knew who walked out on us without saying a word. Sometimes you never know when things were going to finish. Some people choose to walk away without a word; it’s the easy way out.

Since all three of you (inclusive of session player, Jim) play guitars, how do you guys plan out what parts to play? I hear from ‘Stranger, Here Is Where We Live’ that April is driving the band with her acoustic guitar arpeggios. What goes after that?

ricks: We usually write our songs on the acoustic guitar. “Stranger…” was presented in its simplest form the last time we did it live. One of the things we try not to do is to have an impression of what the song is supposed to sound like in our heads. It is a lot easier if we just let the track evolve and surprise ourselves without much planning.

What are the main influences for A.F., and perhaps, each individual member?

april: Aspidistra Fly is interested in the ghostly transient gap between the moment of a scene and thereafter, the recollection of it. It is the bits of nostalgia that take place day to day. We feel that our music flows along these unknown unseen lines, and we try to reflect these fragments into our photography, as well as the videos for our songs. As for individual musical influences, I have always been captivated by the storytelling of David Sylvian; and closer to home, the music of Humpback Oak.

ricks: Inspiration can come from anywhere. It is the ability to see the beauty and spirit in things and defining these moments in sounds. Taking Polaroids using the old SLR680 or reading a Banana Yoshimoto novel can serve as catalyst to the whole production process. Musically, I am inspired by the poetic ambience of David Sylvian and Sugizo of Luna Sea. To me, it is the attitude that counts, as they are very unaffected. It is about taking all these influences and developing your own individual artistic personas which could then lend themselves to new and innovative musical possibilities.

Jim: The Verve, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, and Japanese horror.

What records are you guys currently listening to now?

ricks: Yoh Chu Sha, Cruyff in the bedroom’s “Hikari himawari”, Colleen’s “Everyone alive needs answers”, UA’s “Sun”

april: Yoh Chu Sha, Luna Sea’s “Eden”, Polaris’ “Family”, Biosphere’s “Substrata”, Takagi Masakatsu, and Losalios.

Name your all-time favourite record.

ricks: Secrets of the beehive by David Sylvian

april: This is an all-time difficult question! But one of my all-time favourite songs, as far as I can recall right now, is Knife by Spitz.

the workmen's tools

Aging Youth goes technical and takes a peek at Aspidistra Fly’s tools which are used for their brand of rock n roll.

You guys seem to favour single-coil guitars (Ricks uses both Fender Stratocaster and Jaguar while Jim plays a Telecaster) over humbuckers guitars. Why the preference?

ricks: I love the “Strat” sound. I seem to associate humbuckers to wailing rock solos which are probably the last thing that I ever wanted to do. My fret works are not what you expect to hear on a typical guitarist. It is a lot less technical but I have my own approach that I see the guitar as a tool to extract sounds out from my chain of effects. And because it usually involves effect pedals in series, single-coil gives a brighter, refined sound and it is definitely more controllable.

Specifically, why Fenders?

ricks: It’s always been a toss between a Jaguar or a Jazzmaster as used by Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins) and Kevin Shields (MBV). I wanted a guitar with lesser sustain as oppose to the Strat to get a clearer definition out of some effects. I got the Japanese reissue Jaguar 2 nd hand as a cheaper option when the offer came, but the stock pickup is as bad as it could get, as the output was really low. These were replaced with Seymour Duncan’s SJAG-1 vintage coil for higher output, enough to drive some of my pedals to its full potential.

The Squier Strat is my very first guitar which I’m still using. It has this unlikely ability to make notes swell to create more textured soundscape heard in some of our recordings. It’s still a mystery to me, because it does some tricks other guitars can’t.

I either uses both these guitars for live depending on the requirements of the songs. The Strat will be employed for synth-like soundscapes and Jaguar for layered guitar notes and arpeggios.

Ricks, you have mentioned the liberal use of delay, reverb and filters pedals. Could you discuss what types of pedals you use or have?

ricks: I have 3 delay pedals namely Line 6 DL4, Electro Harmonix Memoryman and Digitech Digidelay to create an illusion of space. However I rarely use more than one at any one time. The same can be said that I rarely play the guitars without any at all! Delay forms the integral part of my sound.

The Alesis Quadraverb 2 is strictly employed for reverb to satisfy the thirst for longer decay time while the Digitech Digiverb is used as a basic reverb. For delay and reverb, I stay away from the Boss models as they tend to produce some nasty metallic tone which I loathe. The Electro Harmonix Microsynth gives a lot more options to dial in different tones for the guitar. It also replaced the ebow which was used before as the Microsynth can also do long sustain but without compromising on expression, and ultimately it changes the guitar tone into something more surreal. Then there are the various paint-chipped vintage Boss pedals like the PN-2 and CE-2, and a couple of MXR classics. Everything is 2 nd-hand, so they are significantly cheaper. If not, I can never afford these toys.

I love the Gibson J-200 but we all know that they are insanely priced. April, why the preference for Gibson J-45?

april: The sound of the J-45 was a sound that I had dreamt of. When I first played it, I could not get accustomed to it. Previously I had been using a Takamine Jasmine 12-string. I thought I would be playing a 12-string for the rest of my life until I met the J-45. It has an impossibly thick, warm woody sound (despite its light, slender round-shouldered body) that I can never give up for any other acoustic guitar. Sometimes, it is an issue of getting accustomed to your gear. I don’t think I can ever feel comfortable with a Taylor or a Martin.

I have also tried siblings like the J-160e and the hummingbird, even the J-45 deluxe, but I wouldn’t trade my J-45 for either. I’ve always been amused at how differently the J-45 is crafted, in comparison to the rest of the series. For starters, the tuning pegs are a white plastic, the inlays are plain pearl dots, and the pickguard is a simple tortoiseshell undecorated piece. In fact when I put a Fatfinger sustain enhancer on its head, nobody could tell it was a Gibson. But none of these bother me. It produces rich, beautiful tones, amped-up or not.

Home studios seem to be the rage among young musicians nowadays. What software are you using right at the moment? What would you recommend?

ricks : We record into a P4 PC loaded with Cubase SX 2. Mixing and editing are all done digitally. The only software instrument that we ever used is probably Steinberg’s The Grand. It is recorded from true samples, so there are no fake sounds here. It’s almost impossible to fit a real grand sized piano in the house! So, The Grand is a worthy alternative. Our guitars are processed before being recorded, but computer plug-ins replaced outboard processors for enhancement and mastering. Most of our guitars are closed-miked and everything else is recorded in the bedroom. Therefore, plug-ins are needed to give it some room treatment to sweeten the sound. We use Waves bundles for that.

Ricks, you mention that you were building Aspidistra Fly’s home studio. What hardware or recording gear have you guys collected?

ricks : As far as our home studio goes, it’s really humble. Essentially my bedroom, we capture all the sounds using standard microphones like Shure SM57, SM58 and a spiffy Rode NT2 condenser for vocals borrowed from Jim. From there, the signal goes into an M-Audio DMP3 microphone pre-amp for guitars and a Joe Meek compressor for vocals and acoustic guitars. Finally, these will be routed into an M-Audio 2496 audiophile soundcard. Additional processing and editing are done digitally in Cubase SX. Our choice of amps includes a Roland Jazz Chorus. We also use a pair of AKG k240 muffs for those rather long tracking sessions. There is also an Evolution mk-149 midi controller and a Yamaha PS-2 polyphonic keyboard lying around. Most people might find our setup limited but it gets the job done for us.

Jim has also collected 2 Roland Space Echo tape delay units which we borrow every now and then. Only for the purist, we must add. We used for a touch of magic in April’s vocals or random ‘sound on sound’ echoes.

What brand of strings and string gauge do you guys use?

ricks: Ernie Ball regular slinky for the Strat, and heavy bottom for the Jaguar. Does anyone know where to get the heavy bottom strings locally?

april: Martin Acoustic SP, 80/20 Bronze, light for the J-45.