Blonde Ambition

Apr 04 2008 10:16 am,

Profile: The Long Blondes

Words: Camilla Pia

As fresh and feisty as it sounded when it was first released, The Long Blondes really did tour their debut album to death. So it’s no surprise to find them chomping at the bit to play new songs and waxing lyrical about just what makes latest offering ‘Couples’ so special when we meet Kate Jackson and Dorian Cox in the West End just hours before a secret London show. Cox arrives a little late, looking dapper in a grey suit, with Jackson following closely behind in a sparkly black and gold striped jumper, pulling off a huge woolly hat as she sits down to reveal a messy clump of black hair and thickly applied eye-liner. The band’s most name-checked pair are a little dishevelled due to a stormy van drive down from Sheffield and a rushed soundcheck, but they are incredibly warm and friendly all the same, and are as physically striking in the flesh as they appear in magazine shoots.

The Erol Alkan-produced ‘Couples’ is a truly stunning second album - sultry, stripped-down disco, falsetto vocals and dark, atmospheric soundscapes mix with the band’s trademark gritty guitars, wit and sassy stomp - but do the guitarist, vocalist and chief songwriting duo feel jittery about what fans will make of this radical departure in sound? “I don’t feel nervous at all actually,” Cox says with conviction. “I think people underestimate other people’s tastes. It’s not like we’ve made a jazz album or anything, it still sounds like us, but it’s just a step on really.” “I think it might appeal to a slightly different audience too, which is exciting,” adds Jackson. “We didn’t sit down and decide to make a totally different album but I think we were just all so sick of touring and playing those old songs that we naturally started writing in a different way. It’s much more collaborative this time, all five of us have had a lot more input with this record and Erol really helped to bring our influences out.”

Cox and Jackson cite Donna Summers, Brian Eno and Can as inspirations this time around, as well as various British light entertainment characters whose spectres watched over them in the studio from a ‘couples wall’, constructed by the band and Alkan, featuring images of dynamic duos throughout history including The Crankies, Sparks, The Two Ronnies, Pet Shop Boys, Gilbert and George, and Basil and Sybil Fawlty. Their latest work is also held together by samples of dialogue between songs from famous figures such as Terry Wogan, Peter Sellers and Kenny Everett, and, as Cox goes on to explain, culture of all kinds is as important to the band as it ever was. “I have never been interested in musicians who are into music alone. Any band that has ever been any good, like The Smiths and Pulp, has always had a bigger world view. It’s not just about sitting in a room jamming with guitars… That is such a boring attitude to life. Culture is the reason we exist, so you should try and engage with as many different parts of it as you can. We feel that there are a whole load of influences that we always claimed to have but never got across in our music, and this is the first time we have been able to do it,” he says excitedly.

The Long Blondes return to a much changed musical landscape in Britain, where countless acts are currently competing for our attention, so how do they feel about no longer being the hyped new bunch on the block? “I think people doubted that we would even be around for a second album because we were supposed to be the female-fronted Franz Ferdinand, but we never set out to be like that,” says Jackson. “They ultimately found it hard to pigeonhole us because we were so out of sync with what was going on around us, and I think at times that went against us.” Cox nods, “We have always just wanted to get on with our own thing and not be compared to anyone else and it’s no different now. We’re not vying with The Courteeners or anything,” he giggles. “I think that ‘Couples’ will totally change people’s perceptions of us,” Jackson adds, eyes flashing. Hopefully with this one we have proved ourselves and shown that we can make an interesting, very musical record.”

‘Couples’ is released on Rough Trade on April 7^th.

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