Impenetrable lyrics and dancefloor grooves conducting the masses with the noise of a synth have always been the characteristic traits of HotChip, and they don’t disappoint with the new record.  Lyrical recurring themes of ‘love’ and its transforming power, and the oh so recognizable 80s house and disco sounds comprise a huge new album from them. ‘One Life Stand’ launches today [Feb 1st] and we managed to get them for a phone interview even amidst their busy rehearsing schedule.

Please introduce yourself and your preferred instrumentation.

My names Owen, I play whatever I want when we are recording!  I play a Roland SH101, Moog little phatty and I play bass and guitar.

Where did you guys meet, how did Hot Chip come about?

I’ve known Alexis and Joe for eighteen years; I met them in secondary school in Elliot, a school in Putney, South London. The rest of the guys we met in various ways, I joined the band in officially in 2002 having left Art school, which I went to for four years. I did a painting course, did a year in London and three in the West Country.

Likes and dislikes of art school?

Likes…the freedom of the art school.

The dislikes…I suppose freedom!  I had too much of it, I didn’t know what to do with myself.  I definitely need a little bit of structure in my life.

You’ve got a new album (One Life Stand) which releases today [February 1st], how has it been making the record?

We enjoy it quite a lot; we took a year off from touring which gave us the luxury of time in order to record. We’ve never really had that before, we have always done things quite off the cuff and quite quickly.  This was our first pay monthly album, everything else has been pay as you go before, and so this was quite a commitment for us which I think is reflected in the music.  We had time to explore things, and make those phone calls we never made before.

Was it a natural progression going back to the studio?

Yes I think so, you know in a way it was a bit of a reaction to our life experience.  Exploring the use of different instruments that we don’t usually have on tour like pianos, violins, and to do it in a way that wasn’t too grandiose.  Including it with the sound that we already have and to be able to incorporate the live stuff as well.  We had time to thrash things out, not like on a rock album that has strings just shoved on it, we wanted to make sure things fit together.  I think the instruments we chose went well with synthesized sounds too. We used some steal pans which go well with arpeggiated keyboard parts, and soft pad sounds go well with strings and things, they went together quite harmoniously we thought.  We also worked with other people like Peter Gabriel before; we were more open to working with other people, so we had Charles Heyward play some drums and our friend Tim Bravado who Alexis had been doing some recording with come in and put down some steel pans for us.  We also asked our live drummer, Leo Taylor, to come in and play with us to kind of liven things up.  It was a good experience.

Sounds like there is a much larger range of instrumentation used on the record, would you say there are any other specific influences on the record?

Well it’s a wider range of instruments on the record but in a way they kind of gelled more cohesively.  On the last record we kind of explored both ends of our spectrum, we had quite slow ballad songs and then very up front fast numbers.  This is by no means a slower record, it’s still similar sort of tempos but it has different layers which have an ability to grow, so that’s a nice feature I think.

Would you say, for people who have already heard the other albums, that its a change from that or rather next progression?

Well its easier to say it is a progression, but it isn’t like that, people want bands to make some sort of huge leap and then are often disappointed if the band makes changes.  They get to know and like a band for a certain ‘thing’ and if they were to literally add strings to their bow and change direction there’d be uproar; “They’ve gone keyboards, they’ve gone rock, or this way or the other”.  

I was struck having spent a year on the record, and hearing our very first record played in the local pub where we filmed our first video for a single called Playboy. It was like its quite similar to the first album in a way, because it is quite personal.  Our first album was very bare and quite clunky, and this new one feels quite…I hate to use the word mature because it makes it sound like we are getting old, or that we are full of ourselves, but it does feel sort of grown, it feels like its evolved.  So it’s a change, and I think it will surprise some people who are only familiar with our singles, but they are nice surprises, not shocks.

After finishing the album, I’ve heard you’ve been in the studio preparing for tour, how’s it been going?

That’s been going pretty good!  It’s quite hard for us because we do things the wrong way round, usually you’d have to learn your own songs, everyone test drives them, then spend time in the studio, then lay it down.  Whereas we construct things together then they become their own beasts, and we have to tame them afterwards, then unleash them.  Sometimes that’s a positive thing!  Maybe its like some kind of safari or something, capture the animal then raise the cubs and set them free!

Do you guys spend most of your time in London?

We are all in London now.  We were all born in London, myself, Joe and Alexis are from South London and Felix lives bang in the middle of town, in Central London.  Al was brought up in Leeds but he’s been living down in the east end for 6 or 7 years now.  Sometimes I have to ask Al for directions when I’m in town, he knows it better than I do now, but that’s just the way it is being a Londoner sometimes!

To London as a whole… Thumbs up or Thumbs down?

Well I suppose thumbs up…increasingly thumbs up.  I think having been lucky enough to go around and see other cities, you gain a sense of home for one, but also you see your home afresh.  I never really went into town when I was a kid, I sort of hung around parts of South London, so it still feels like an exotic city to me. It’s still quite exciting.

What is planned for 2010, any other interesting projects on the horizon?

We have a few things, we are helping a friend, well two friends with a film they are doing.  A few of us are doing the soundtrack for that.  Alexis and Joe both had solo albums out just before the release of this album, so they are a bit burned out…well… done.  We are all focussed on doing Hot Chip stuff for now, and touring and then getting back into festivals.

And finally…if you were to have one ‘go too’ clothing brand of choice, who would it be?

Well, we were in New York recently doing some promo stuff for the album and although we had very little time off, Joe and Alexis went to the Supreme shop there. Generally when we are in London, we like to sort of go to charity shops and things like that, but we try to put things together ourselves. We aren’t good at sewing or anything, but we prefer the individual style.

Click Here to Pre-Order the Album One Life Stand.