Recoil : subHuman track by track commented by Alan Wilder :

French version here

Prey

Alan Wilder : Being the first track of the album, "Prey" is also the first song on which I worked for "subHuman". The instrumental track went through different phases and had many changes in its structure. In fact, that is mostly what happens with most of the music I compose, which grow up slowly without a definitive direction, until a vocalist enters in the loop and brings me a text or a melody.
Joe Richardson brought me that story of a "mambo" called Queenie. He told me that 'mambo' is a slang term used in Louisiana to talk about a voodoo princess. That word came in Louisiana through Haitian voodoo. In the story a curse has been casted- and that's where the title comes from :"Prey". It fits perfectly with that murky groove with accents of swampy rockabilly on which I was working. After having recorded that track with Joe in Texas and put his band in the balance, I reworked all in my studio in England. At that time, I added some extra parts and sound effects to complete the frame and I hope to intensify that feeling of uneasy.

Allelujah

Alan Wilder : "Allelujah" was for a long time an atmospheric rhythm to which I was looking a certain angle. I wasn't even sure to keep it for the album (there are a few tracks that never got further from the early stage) but each time I got back to it, I thought there was something with it and I felt that it would match well with a feminine voice. It was meant to be part of some kind of breathing, a counterweight to the intensity that was the presence of Joe. Even though Carla Trevaskis was the one who wrote various texts for that track, we reworked her voice in a more atmospheric direction, which can remind you Elisabeth Frazer's style (Cocteau Twins). To me "Allelujah" , which is the only word that remains, takes an ironic dimension relative to its context : when you associate it with the next word , it takes a very different meaning.

5000 Years

Alan Wilder : Joe gave me that track and I brought my contribution to it after. It was an easier and clearer way to work for me, as since the beginning I had given the idea about the direction and the theme of the track. This piece treats in a rather explicit way of the perpetual conflict between the religions, and I think that it is a pivot of the album. It made me think of the cyclic human behavior that consists in the fact that a group takes the top on another
When we were in Texas, Joe, John and Richard interpreted this piece, which I then took along with me to add other elements. I also changed its structure a little; I added a bridge and the end. I really had in mind to create a kind of sonic image that fits the words that I interpreted. I added noises of step, helicopters, extracts of speech and Arab instruments that after I deformed, reversed, and passed through guitar effects.

The Killing Ground

Alan Wilder: The bases of this track already existed without me realizing it. I had well already the music in my head before meeting Joe, and the various parts of the track illustrate well, I think, my tendency of overgoing the lack of direction - by creating at the same time dynamic structures and more stretched passages. Until a text comes to be grafted there, I prefer to preserve the instrumental one just as it is, without touching too much there. This is why most of the songs of Recoil become long pieces. I do not say what it is a bad thing; it is right the way in which I compose them who induce this format. I think that it is what you can call "the trademark Recoil". You see, my favorite discs are those that the listener has need to tame - albums that require some listenings before showing their arrangements and even more subtle details.
After I contacted Joe, I listened to most of the music that I had already recorded and I isolated "Killing Ground" (which talks about a crucifixion). I sampled the acoustic version of Joe and I placed it over my instrumental track. With a little technological knowledge, I succeeded in fixing perfectly one on the other and I presented my version to Joe. By a common agreement, we re-recorded his part correctly and changed a bit the text to lead to a composite result.

Intruders

AW: Probably the piece that was most difficult to put out of box. I had succeeded in creating a good atmosphere from the very start and I knew that I wanted to go until the end - but I did not manage to make so that the text adapts to it. Joe wrote full verses that I could not use, except for only one. Well before that, Carla had brought to me lot of ideas that we both had to put in form. I will not say that the result with at the end sounded in a too conventional way, but it was what frightened me. I also believe that the idea that we had about the words did evolved quite a bit , and I think that my interpretation is different from Carla's, but personally I have the feeling that Intruders is about the paranoia and the feeling that you'll never feel yourself at ease (or protected ) without fearing that somebody (or something) comes to mine you.
I will never dry up of praises about the very open attitude of Joe's band. There was a 5 minute passage at the end of Intruders that is in fact an improvisation between Joe, Richard and John, we did only one catch of it , and I believe that it shows well the eclecticism of the musicians implied in the project. Paul Kendall crawled on the ground during the recording while struggling with Joe's effect pedals ; therefore I think that it was probably the moment when we were all mobilized

99 To Life

AW: a history much more direct, that of a man who puts himself in trouble and who finishes in the penitentiary with absolutely no chance to get out. I did not want to dig too deeply in Joe's past just in case this history was inspired by his own experience! Since then, he explained to me that his text is inspired by a true story, apparently about one of his friend. Even if the musical theme appeared very quickly, it is a track that was difficult to finish, in particular because of all the various parts that encase the ones in the others. It is really only when the mix were finished that I ended up being satisfied. I wanted to symbolize the intensity of the repressive side of imprisonment by using sounds of metal and glass associated with the band who is present at the end of the track.

Backslider

AW: While we were recording in Texas, I asked Joe if he had any other songs to run by be. He came up with 'Backslider' - which I believe is a generic term for ‘falling off the wagon’ in relation to any kind of addiction. After we had recorded his band playing the song, Joe and I decided to slow down the multitrack to lower the speed and key which created a sleazier sound. I left Texas with a week’s worth of recordings on a palm-sized drive, got back to England, loaded everything into ProTools and, in this case, stripped their performance back while adding new elements of my own. My thinking was to increase the sleaze factor further as well as heighten the atmosphere with a backdrop of dub effects, new grooves and an evocative girl's voice sample during the final section. (In fact, the girl’s voice was something re-worked from an older Recoil track.) Right at the very end, almost as a surprise for Joe, I added a recording of him in solo playing a funny tune on the harmonica. He didn't know we had recorded it at the time and I thought it was a humorous and fitting way to finish the album.

‘subHuman’ took me a year to complete, with a lot of self-doubt, hair-pulling and computer-tantrums thrown in. I hope it was worth it and that people will enjoy the results.