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Faithless
have always been a hard act to pin down. The critically acclaimed,
award winning, internationally popular, multi-million selling collective
specialise in genre-busting music aimed at the head, heart and feet,
encompassing a range of sounds and styles that simply defies easy
categorisation.
They have balanced four-to-the-floor classic house hits (Insomnia,
Salva Mea, God Is A DJ, We Come One) with poetic works of lyrical
genius (Bring My Family Back, Muhammad Ali), and heart-rending gospel
anthems (Don't Leave). Their albums have embraced soulful spirituality
('Reverence' 1995) introspective melancholy ('Sunday 8pm' 1998)
and uplifting, emotional atmospherics ('Outrospective' 2001).
Their ever-changing line up has spawned such fabulous offshoots
as Britain's ice queen of pop, Dido, and global video-mix mavericks
1 Giant Leap, as well as a whole strata of underground talent (Skinny,
P*nut, Slovo).
But if you think, after eight years, a dozen hit singles, three
original albums, three remix albums and literally thousands of live
shows, you have started to get them worked out, it is time to think
again. 'No Roots', the fourth album from Faithless, marks a bold
new departure: a melodious, free-flowing, seamlessly interlocking
electronic soundscape that forms the backdrop to a lyrically uncompromising
picture of the state of the human race. Preceded by the highly-charged,
politically controversial single 'Mass Destruction', this is, unequivocally,
their finest hour.
'No Roots' could be described as a twin-concept album, operating
on separate (but complimentary) musical and lyrical levels. To make
sense of this, it helps to understand the band's unique line-up.
While Faithless' open-door policy has encompassed (and encouraged)
a lot of remarkable musical contributions, there are three core
members: Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo Armstrong.
Maxi is the live frontman, a rapping Buddhist with an astonishingly
eloquent, poetic style all his own. His deeply held philosophical
convictions lend Faithless an intellectual profundity rarely found
in the dance arena.
Bliss is the band's musical engine, a classically trained pianist
with a passion for electronic dance music, renowned as the world's
leading female DJ. She recently composed the incidental music for
ITV's hit series, 'Life Begins' (with the title track of the new
Faithless album doubling as the show's theme tune).
Rollo is the band's instigator and producer, a cheerfully eccentric
figure who confesses he can neither play a musical instrument nor
dance in time (hence he chooses not to join Faithless when they
play live). Head of the Cheeky record label, Rollo has made multi-million
selling dance singles in his own right, co-written and co-produced
both his younger sister Dido's world beating albums and contributed
remixes for a variety of stellar talent including U2, Bjork and
The Pet Shop Boys. He has what might best be described as an intuitive
musical intelligence, taking Sister Bliss's musical sketches and
turning them into structurally coherent songs. "It is a meritocracy
in which we have very assigned roles," explains Rollo. "We
spend some time together, but mostly we are left to our own devices."
"We set out to do something entirely different from the other
albums," explains Sister Bliss of the genesis of 'No Roots'.
The challenge being to get away from the almost wilful eclecticism
that characterised Faithless to create a single continuous piece
of music that operated as a musical whole. The initial recording
was done at Dave Stewart's famous Church studio in North London.
While Rollo was producing Dido's 'Life For Rent' in the main studio,
Bliss was ensconced in a cramped room full of equipment, where she
composed thirty separate pieces of music, all in the key of C. "To
be creative within restrictions gives you a wall to push against,
so sometimes you can go further within narrow parameters. But it
was fucking hard. I kept worrying that it would get boring but it's
actually amazing how we've managed to create so many different tunes
with remarkably different atmospheres."
By keeping everything in one key, all the musical segments became
interchangeable, giving Rollo maximum freedom as he pieced them
together, adding sounds and effects. It was only when Rollo and
Bliss had completed their instrumental opus (which will eventually
be released in its own right) that Maxi was summoned and a lyrical
perspective agreed upon. "The theme we chose was love, in the
macro and the micro sense," says Bliss. "We felt this
was a platform to say something about what the fuck is going on
today. And Maxi was the right person to do it, without tub thumping
or preaching, but looking at human nature and the pickle that we're
in. This is not a wishy washy album about love. It involves questions
about how we live, and leadership, and how we're involved in each
others lives. We thought this album was definitely a chance to make
a stand and be counted."
"Everybody
knows the situation in the world is bad and getting worse,"
according to Maxi, before launching into an involved exposition
of the emotional problems that underpin political and social ones.
"A big part of the problem is that sex and violence seems to
be what turns most people on, and until that changes we are going
to have violent politicians who are reflecting our own fear and
mistrust of everybody else in the world. What I always try to do
is attack people's hearts, cos your heart is your most powerful
organ, but this is definitely a hearts and minds album. I want people
to stop, look, see, think."
Maxi is not the sole lyricist on the new Faithless opus. The trio
invited cult Sony recording artist, the multi-talented LSK, to join
them for the project, and his elegantly composed, beautifully sung
contributions match Maxi for emotional eloquence, particularly on
the achingly philosophical 'I Want More'. "I think LSK's contribution
is key," says Bliss. "Before this, the other singers have
contrasted rather than complimented Maxi. LSK gives Maxi something
to reflect off, it puts him in a new context. And he fitted right
in. He's a music-head, he plays, he records, he raps, he sings,
he's just ridiculously talented. Its embarrassing to be around really."
One more element had to fall into place to complete this tour de
force: the angelic tones of a woman who has featured on every Faithless
album. That she happens to have become the world's biggest selling
female singer-songwriter in the interim is quite beside the point.
"We made the album, sat with it, pulled it apart, redid it
and there was one thing that was obviously missing: a female voice,"
says Bliss. "Luckily Dido loved it and came up with something.
It's very short, it's a cameo role. But it was actually because
the music needed it rather than a cynical attempt to use Rollo's
sister to sell a few more fucking million records!"
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"She loves it as much as we do," reports Rollo. "For
me, this is definitely the best album I have ever made ... including
my sister's!"
'No Roots' is a record that has to be heard. Musically ambitious,
lyrically powerful, it is an album that sets new standards for adult,
intelligent dance music.
"There's not a note I want to change, nothing I would do differently,"
says Rollo proudly. "This is what I think Faithless is about.
It is melodic, it grooves, it's meaningful and it embodies the gospel
of Faithless, the idea that self-worth creates goodness. That is
fundamental. If you believe in yourself, if you are without fear,
you will also be tolerant, non-aggressive and find love."
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