Electronic pop duo Coloma’s new album “Love’s Recurring Dream” is out now on Italic Recordings. It’s electronic dance music harbouring a love for pop (attitudes), as exemplified by the likes of Steely Dan or Prefab Sprout. We invite you to stream their perfect pop album, get a free track to download and read their interview.

Who is Coloma and how did the project start?

Rob: Alex Paulick and Robert Taylor met in Paris in 1990. They were similar enough and different enough to realise they needed to work together. They made an early demo way back in 1992, lived in shared rooms, ate a lot of chicken and pasta, matched each other for alcohol intake, played live a lot and wrote a lot more songs. They set up their own label and made some albums. Coloma started in 2000 as an experiment to see if electronics and the song aesthetic could be successfully combined.

Alex: It wasn’t all that much chicken, as I remember it.

What’s your album “Love’s Recurring Dream” about?

Alex: We had the idea to make an album that was based on modular elements, which could be recycled and reinterpreted throughout a number of songs. The songs are rhythmically and harmonically linked, with a recurring woodwind line. Some people might call it a “concept album” – we prefer the term “song cycle”.

Rob: It is a love story which takes place over the course of a year. It’s about the way that falling in love always feels like a new beginning. And the way the seasons make you feel. I like the English seasons, or at least the way they used to be, the way I remember them.

Are you on other projects?

Rob: No. Alex sometimes plays bass for Kreidler.

Alex: I worked with Kreidler from 1999-2003, and I’ve been playing with them again recently. I collaborate with Min Stiller on a project called Narrow Bridges. We’re putting the finishing touches on a record called “Degree of Separation”, which we recorded in Buenos Aires last year with some marvelous musicians we met there.

You are just releasing your new album in a difficult time for the music industry: how do you see the future for it?

Rob: I assume you mean the future of the music industry? We recoil from the mainstream industry, whose products we find largely mediocre. But of course it has a future – people need music as a backdrop for the events in their lives. There is a hope that new technology will provide non-mainstream artists with a platform, but that remains to be seen.

Alex: I try and focus on creating music: writing, recording, performing. I never wanted to be part of any “industry” per se. Artists attempting to make something inspiring or engaging have been undermined by people who mutate the basic human need for expression/contemplation/celebration into widgets with which to fuel an “industry”.

How’s the scene in Cologne?

Alex: I live in Berlin at the moment, so I’ve lost touch with developments on the ground there. The wave around 2000 or so had a big influence on me – particularly the interactivity, friendly competition and general productivity of the people involved. Like many things, it seems to have fragmented since then, and nothing seems to matter quite as much.

Rob: It hasn’t thrown up anything new in a while. The “Sound of Cologne” has become a bit of a commodity, receiving funding from the city coffers (not necessarily a bad thing). Maybe something new will come along. I hope it has more to do with words this time. I’m excited by the combination of words and music.

We are in a world with a lot of different models on the net (free streaming, digital stores, mobile, collector vinyl etc.): what kind of service should be brought to the table?

Rob: This is the kind of question Al normally answers.

Alex: I believe you are on the right track here at Fairtilizer – but there is still a very long way to go. There is so much music being created at the moment, and I believe that most of the best of it gets lost in the huge crowd. Recommendation engines and interpersonal networking will help proactive listeners find better music, which we might not have heard of yet, that appeals to our personalized tastes. But if we want the artists we appreciate to make more music, better music and to develop creatively, it has to be economically viable for them to spend the time it takes to hone their craft. Otherwise we have a lot of almost-good music made by well-meaning people who are too busy trying to earn a living to actually create something exceptional – and millions of one-off, cool tracks made by enthusiasts with no long-term artistic vision. Or rather: an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of laptops will eventually produce the complete works… of the Monkees.

As artists how do you use the web today?

Rob: As an artist I am trying to make sense of the world around me. And a big part of that is what streams into my laptop every day. Plus, you can look things up that interest you, just following a google-youtube trail all day. The internet makes it easier to live in different cities and still work together, eg I can mail Al lyrics, he can send me mp3s.

Alex: I don’t see it as an active part of my creative process – just a tool for everything else that has to get done. It does make it easier to lead a geographically rootless, precarious existence, which can often inspire creativity.

And how is it important for you today?

Rob: It is a key factor, because it is there. Without it, I would read more books probably. Plus, as I said, it plays an important role in how Coloma works day to day.

How do you see it evolving in the coming years?

Rob: I don’t know how it will change technically, but I’m sure it will become all-pervasive. Our way of seeing the world and relating to others will change because of it.

Alex: I think that most people will distract themselves more than ever before from things that really matter. For my friends, it will make us work harder for less money, under the illusion that we have more freedom. A small number of people will earn a tremendous amount of money by doing very little, at the expense of others. But it provides an incredible possibility for exchange with people we wouldn’t have meet under other circumstances, and perhaps work together to solve little problems and even big problems. It’s exciting to see if it will merely accelerate the damage caused by increased, senseless consumption, or be a catalyst for an eventual shift in course.

What are you currently listening to?

Rob: My playlist says David Sylvian, Fred Neil, Frankie Armstrong, Shirley and Dolly Collins, Marvin Gaye, Harry Nilsson, Ricky Lee Jones .

Alex: Bird On A Wire – Leonard Cohen.

5 classic tracks that define Coloma’s influences

Rob:

Montague Terrace in Blue – Scott Walker
September Song – Frank Sinatra
If I Had a Hammer – American Music Club
Greetings to the New Brunette – Billy Bragg
Oh I Do Like to Be Beside The Seaside – Mark Sheridan (John A. Glover-Kind)
Alex: Bird On A Wire – Leonard Cohen

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