LastSigh online Magazine
Date printed: 1998

ALAN WILDER
Conducted per e-mail in June, 1998 by Michael C. Lund

Last Sigh:  Your latest album Unsound Methods is musically quite different again from your previous Recoil releases. How would you describe the sound on this album? And, to what do you ascribe this development?

Wilder:  It was always likely to be quite different to Bloodline given a gap of 6 years between the two LPs.  I would say that the sound relates much more to the approach taken on Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith and Devotion LP, which featured and combined lots of snatches of performance (with all their inherent feel).  These parts were then sampled and sequenced utilizing all the available technology, to hopefully achieve something more interesting than the sound of a band playing together.  On Unsound Methods, I wanted the rhythmic features to be very groovy and the other sounds to be wide and varied.  I like the idea of combining elements from different styles of music (gospel + electronics for example.)  The sampler is the perfect tool for implementing ideas like that.  I also wanted the overall sound to be cinematic but not swamped in reverb.  Clarity is very important to me, and the challenge of creating depth by placing musical parts so that they have a natural space, is one that I enjoy.

Last Sigh:  Like Bloodline, Unsound Methods too features vocal performances by a number of different artists. How do you select these vocalists?

Wilder:  With Recoil, I am looking for vocalists who present something either out of the ordinary and unique in some way or who are incredibly powerful singers. For Unsound Methods, Siobhan Lynch came to me via a demo cassette, and I was immediately drawn to her slightly desperate voice. I recruited Doug McCarthy, who performed on the previous Recoil LP and the single, "Faith healer", partly because I knew he would suit the 2 tracks I had in mind for him, and also because he is probably the easiest person in the world to work with. He was formerly one half of Nitzer Ebb, and we became good friends after they supported Depeche Mode on the Music For The Masses and Violator tours. Maggie Estep, a New York spoken word artist came to the project after I had been searching, unsuccessfully, for an intelligent rapper with an interesting angle. Even though she is clearly not a rapper, in the end she proved far more in tune with the overall feel of the project and is in sharp contrast to the other vocalists. Finally, Hildia Cambell, who was one of the gospel singers on the Depeche Mode Devotional tour.

Last Sigh:  At what point in the recording process do you decide who should appear as vocalists on your albums?

Wilder:  I wail until the music is about 70% complete -- only then do I have a clear idea of what is appropriate.  From there, I just search for interesting people to contribute something within the framework I have set.

Last Sigh:  Many of the lyrics to the various songs seem to be thematically connected. To what extent do you guide the writing of the lyrics? And, do the individual artists in any way communicate, or work directly together in writing their material?

Wilder:  I don't tell them what to write and generally, I don't interfere with their words.  For Unsound Methods, I directed the music and the singers towards a theme I had in mind for each track. I explain that I am liable to change the structures once the vocals have been recorded and always make sure that my collaborators trust me to manipulate what they've done afterwards. Luckily, they were all happy to work within those guidelines. The vocals were recorded at my studio.  Prior to that, I generally communicated with the singers via tapes through the post.

Last Sigh:  What is your own work process, when you compose your music?

Wilder:  My starting point is often a combination of tried and tested guide sounds that evoke a particular feeling or mood in order to get the ball rolling. Then, by trial and error, I keep throwing ideas at the track until a theme or concept emerges which I like to keep in mind to focus the direction. From that point I usually park the idea and move on to another track until I have built up more of an overall picture. In the case of Unsound Methods, it became apparent that vocals would be required to do justice to most of these ideas. Whilst keeping this in mind, I then bring the music to a point where it accurately demonstrates the atmospheres I want to create and is acceptable to play to vocalists.

Last Sigh:  A number of the tracks on Unsound Methods have strong film soundtrack qualities. Is this something you worked very intentionally towards on this album? Have you ever thought of writing the score for a film?

Wilder:  Yes, again the scope available when you're not confined to a pop format allows for more time to develop the music and tell the whole story.  The structuring of the individual parts is very similar to the film editing process where one is 'cutting' together many different elements into hopefully, a seamless whole, in order to tell a story and create an overall effect. If I got a good offer to write film music I would consider it.

Last Sigh:  While some musicians "borrow" large and immediately recognizable elements from the work of other musicians, you very subtlety incorporated little snippets of other soundtracks into your compositions. Are these inclusions your way of paying tribute to music and composers that you personally admire? Are they references to certain moods that you wish to invoke? Or, is there a whole other reason for your use of these samples? And, what considerations do you personally make, before using a sample from someone else's work?

Wilder:  The whole sampling question is still a grey area. If someone uses something of mine and uses it cleverly and creatively, then I'm flattered and don't really mind. However, if they take a huge chunk, reproduce it identically and then call it theirs, that's a different matter. But I'd be hypocritical to complain about sampling. It goes back to this post-modernist approach of combining completely different styles to make a new style.  If you use something as a source sound which you then manipulate into something essentially new, to me that's perfectly acceptable and creative.  

Last Sigh: In the recent past a number of bands have incorporated the static sound of old vinyl records in their music, and on a couple of tracks on Unsound Methods you use this same convention. What effect do you hope to achieve with this element in your music? And, why do you think this has become a popular thing to do in this age, where digital recording methods have made it possible to avoid any noise on recordings?

Wilder:  I think it's a nostalgic thing.  There's something comforting about vinyl, something very tactile about holding a record, studying the artwork etc...  CDs sound fine, but they're not as interesting to feel. Inclusion of scratches and surface noise is something that comes from a love of record collecting.  It evolved from the Rap scene where the naive process of low-bandwidth sampling from vinyl created a whole grungy sound that is very appealing.

Last Sigh:  Whose idea was it to use parts of the opening monologue from Apocalypse Now in Douglas McCarthy's lyrics for "Incubus"? What did Coppola think of this idea? And, did Apocalypse Now also inspire the title of this album? Or, if not, what does "Unsound Methods" refer to?

Wilder:  The track originated with the Martin Sheen lines from the film - long before Doug got involved.  I sent a 'work in progress' copy of the track to Coppola's production company, Zoetrope, for approval and they wrote back saying that I could use it (for a percentage;-).  I don't know if Francis actually listened to it or not.  The LP title does come from Sheen's dialogue where he is describing how Kurtz's methods had become unsound.

Last Sigh:  Although synthesizers are still the dominant instrument used on your albums, the sound of each successive album seems to be progressively more organic, and the sound quality has become decreasingly "synthetic." Yet, both Bloodline and Unsound Methods end with tracks that are very obviously electronic. Do you have any desire to again create music that has the "clinically synthetic" sound?

Wilder:  I don't tend to start out with any set ideas - I'm very instinctive, I just like to let each project develop in whatever direction it wants. I love all kinds of music so the chances are that will be reflected in my future work.

Last Sigh:  You have begun work on a new album. How far along are you? When do you expect to release the finished work? And, can you give us any idea of what direction you are moving in musically on the next album, and possibly what vocalists will be involved?

Wilder:  It's far too early to say. I have just invested in a new system to allow me to complete an album at the 'Thin Line' rather than having to move my entire set-up to another studio in order to mix. This means I am still in a learning stage but things are coming along.  Sorry I can't be more specific.

Last Sigh:  Are there any specific musicians and/or vocalists that you have not yet worked with, but hope to collaborate with in the future?

Wilder:  There are a few names floating around, singers I admire etc... but until I have some music in place it's really difficult to say who would be right.

Last Sigh:  Now that you have set up your own recording facilities, is it possible that you will be producing the music of other artists? Do you have any interests in establishing a label of your own eventually?

Wilder:  Unlikely in both these cases.  For the same reasons -- that I need time to concentrate on Recoil.   It's something that I want to devote all my time to now.  Even getting involved with programming the Recoil website has taken longer than I would have liked.  I think the internet is going to be crucial in the near future for selling all products, so, in that respect, I may take a more active role in that side of things.

Last Sigh:  In the various interviews I have read with you, and in your attitude towards your fans as presented on your Shunt Web Site, you appear as one of the kindest and gentlest of people. Yet, your music has always been dark, and -- on Unsound Methods -- preoccupied with evil. To what extent do we find "Alan Wilder -- the person" in the music of Recoil?

Wilder:  Well it must say something about me, but I'm not like people expect me to be.  We all have our dark sides but I keep mine pretty much in check.  I'm happy enough with my lot, but I'm just not stimulated by disposable, polite music. It's difficult to explain but I do draw on bad situations -- I haven't had a troubled life myself but I've seen others dealing with their own.