The Early Versions of This Song

It was we starte pretty much everything, but off with the chord element and the musicality. And so were they the very start of this song. Then yet, the pads where it, it's like t gone back to it again. Ye ink its abot, eight or nine layers of that piano,. Some gon trougth granular, and some thay were just anchored on their own.

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In quite possibly one of the most synth-heavy episodes ever, John catches up with Matt and Andy of Bicep to talk about how they wrote, recorded and produced their latest album ‘Isles’.

Unravelling the mystery of how they do what they do, Matt and Andy talk us through the countless demos and subsequent iterations, exploring the abundance of sounds and samples sent to them from collaborators and how this influenced the direction of their music.

From hours spent experimenting in the studio to what they did when creativity hit a low, we hear stories of mixing vintage gear with the latest kit, the intricacies of using drum machines to trigger synths, and anecdotes on how they both became masters of the modular synthesizer.

Listen to find out how they ended up with a ‘Kenny G’ version of a track, why they bought every kids Casio keyboard they could get their hands on, and why there is no such thing as a warm-up set in Belfast.

Tracks discussed: Atlas, Apricots, Saku, Lido

LINKS TO EVERYTHING TAPE NOTES

https://linktr.ee/tapenotes

Listen to 'Isles' here.

'Isles' - Ninja Tune

Intro Music - Sunshine Buddy, Laurel Collective

GEAR MENTIONS

Intellijel Metropolis