Blessed to be Faithless
It was only a few weeks before this one that I was listening to ‘Insomnia,’ coincidentally, late one night. Little did I know at the time that this week I would have the opportunity to interview Sister Bliss from Faithless to discuss the first studio album in 10 years- ‘All Blessed.’
I was the one more blessed in this moment.
Taking the world by storm in 1996 with their debut album ‘Reverance’ -at the age of thirteen there was something so commanding about the music and videography.
Faithless have held a pioneering position in the world of dance/electronica that dates back prior to the release of this album and followed by the success of further albums, ‘Sunday 8pm’ in 1998, ‘Outrospective’ in 2001 and ‘No Roots’ in 2004. In their career, Faithless have graced Festival stages the world over including Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage and Tomorrowland Festival.
On Tuesday, Music Festivals Australia spoke with Sister Bliss Live from the U.K. to discuss the new album ‘All Blessed’ and the lifetime of successes that have embodied Faithless.
Thank you so much for your time, Sister Bliss.
Faithless have achieved massive success spanning the some (25) year career. 7 top ten singles, 6 top 10 albums with three at number 1. Can you discuss this journey and some of your career highlights?
Gosh I mean, I think a lot of the highlights for me has been in the performance, you know, going out live. Because that’s the point of focus really -that connection and you have this pivotal moment where all that stuff you’ve been doing in the studio and all the obsessing and stressing and you play that music and see people’s faces shining and lost in your music or cheering or jumping up and down it’s the most amazing thing. I have been so blessed touring the world as a DJ. When you have an audience there and of course that’s the thing that I’m missing terribly.
We did this album in 2015 called ‘Faithless 2.0’ a remix album of our greatest hits and toured it and there was so much love and appreciation which gave a sense of being more invigorated. People still care.
There is something very timeless about your music
Yeah, Wow- sometimes you wonder if you’re going to stay relevant and all of those things. You struggle with it. I think electronic music is one of the more forgiving genres
There have been so many highlights- we’ve headlined festivals across the world, sharing the stage with some of the greatest artists who ever walked the planet.
Can you tell us about some of your collaborations such as Robert Smith from The Cure?
It was all very chill. I couldn’t believe it. It all happened via email. He liked what we were doing with the track and off he went. It was one of those ones that happened long distance. Like some of the collaborations we had done long distance Cat Power and on this album Damien Jurado. He sings a song on the end of the album called take your time which is about slowing down just like we’ve been kind of forced to and about that idea that in the rush we miss the beauty in life. Little moments which are actually the most beautiful and nourishing. I just absolutely love his voice. He basically sent us a vocal and some lyrics and then I wrote the music around it. It was just a lovely way to collaborate as I think a lot of people do it that way. But, I love being in the studio where your openly connecting with people and getting to know them. You’re making yourself vulnerable and I think that’s one of the great pleasures of making music is that moment of vulnerability.
The first new album in 10 years, ‘All Blessed’ was released last month on BMG records. Can you discuss the concept of this album and how it came to fruition?
It’s completely bonkers that we put an album out in this environment when we had no idea when the album was done (2020) would come along and that our industry would be so massively impacted. I believe that this album will have the potential to connect with people in this particular time in a bizarre way. All Blessed is quite relevant.
“It’s about human connection and about reaching out and finding nourishment in those smaller moments in these divisive, polarizing times. Where do we find empathy? Where do we find tolerance? Where do we find those little moments away from the trauma of everyday news? Where do we find our humanity in what we feared or failed for? ”
Originally we weren’t going to do an album- we just started making tracks and playing them out in our DJ sets and getting all excited. We worked with artists on this album that we have never worked with before Suli Breaks, Caleb Femi who comes from a spoken word poetry scene. Jazzie B. and also Gaika and it was amazing being in the room with these guys a very profound experience. It reminded me of how we made Reverance our first album and we had just met Maxi and learning about him and Buddhist beliefs. Once we started writing then the music would change because these guys all have different voices
There’s a lot of heart on this record- it’s a very warm record. It’s not angry and aggressive- it’s got a lot of swagger and some dark corners that are very lush. It will take you on a journey.
It’s a call for unity and empathy because I don’t see how we are going to move forward as a human race without it.
The song ‘Synthesizer’ released 23rd August features Nathan Ball. What is the story behind this track?
It was the first track that made us go- let’s put out lots. It started as a sketch idea. Electronic music is the central spine, it’s our passion and I love the way that it feels like it comes from the future and it kind of hollows you out. It was more than that, it was about technology and the way we have relationships with technology that is like a lover- like we don’t let go of our phones and our relationships with people become very transactional- What’s the role of people when we mediate everything through technology? It’s a kind of little double meaning, but it was a bit tongue and cheek. It’s a love letter to the human being .
The video for synthesizer directed by Strangeloop and produced by [namethemachine] is set in a futuristic robotic world. Can you discuss the direction of the video and how it was conceptualized?
The video brought more of a dystopian theme this idea that the drones are feeding from a mothership which is this kind of a huge synthesizer that powers the whole planet and there’s a kind of crazy megalomaniac scientist with one finger bashing to destroy the whole planet. It’s an idea that they’re being powered by the unvalued work of the drones- the worker bees it creates capitalism basically and they’re exploited for it- then the whole system overloads and blows up
What was in your kit for Áll Blessed”- software hardware or a mix of both?
I use Logics as my software, I use a Mac and I use lots of keyboards a lot of plug ins. I write everything on keyboard pretty much and piano. If we want guitars then we get guitarists in which brings a freshness to it. I pretty much play everything so it’s just me.
You’ve stayed traditional to your original sound when even a lot of old producers have touched on some of the newer elements of bass, trap etc. How have you enjoyed the progression of electronic music?
For me it keeps everything fresh- I have a radio show ‘Sister Bliss in Sessions’ every single week, rain or shine. I’m always listening to new music so it keeps me on top of everything I guess. I think there’s a lot that’s quite retro at the moment, there’s a lot of disco type records, stripped down old school house which is truly nineties. And then you have artists like James Blake who just take it to a whole new multi-dimension, “welcome to the future” because the sound is so layered and textured and very forward thinking production techniques in a lot of his music for example. You have a lot of people who keep pushing the envelope with what you can do with production in a studio so it’s as rich a time as it ever was for electronic music. Especially now people are stuck home and they cant go out to gigs, my god, there is literally a tsunami of dark music coming our way.
What’s next for Faithless?
I’ve got a couple more remixes of Synthesizer coming out, and then our next single ‘I need someone’ which features Nathan Ball and Caleb Femi- a big emotional tune which feels more relevant.
When the world opens back up are you looking forward to touring the new material? Can Australian audiences expect a Faithless tour in support of your new album ‘All Blessed’?
I would love to come back to Australia. I was gutted- I was supposed to be there for a tour in May. I had a very good tour in 2019 and it was so wonderful to connect with the Aussie audience. It was quite punishing something like 8 gigs in 10 days in something like 6 different time zones and New Zealand as well. Let’s hope everybody can come together again safely. Life gets very monochrome when you can’t do the things that you are used to doing. But there’s also that feeling that when we do come back out again, people won’t take it for granted . Having our freedom removed in that way is very powerful it’s very poignant. Sometimes clubbing is a community. Some people invest in the whole lifestyle, it’s inspiring and that feeling of communal joy, it’s very special. It’s not just people enjoying amazing music and artists but they're enjoying a collective experience they don’t get very often in our everyday lives, that feeling of community that keeps people grounded and connected. Mental health is so important. It’s not the same dancing in my living room. I just love going out.
There is definitely something in the experience
Absolutely, it’s a part of keeping that inspiration going, seeing new venues and getting excited ‘Right, I really want to play there.’ Anyway, fingers crossed for next year.
Faithless ‘All Blessed’ is available now on BMG Records.
Images supplied courtesy of Faithless
Article by Pieta Clarke