Interview: Melody’s Echo Chamber
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Fresh off the release of her debut self-titled LP, we chat with Melody Prochet of Melody’s Echo Chamber about writing/recording with Tame Impala‘s Kevin Parker, her psychedelic hangouts with the band POND, and the importance of visuals.
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You enlisted Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker to help you create the tracks on your new record. Who wore the pants in the recording relationship? Did you guys ever get in spats over the directions of the album?
I had a really strong vision of how I wanted the album to sound like but this sound was already in Kevin’s natural Spectrum, so it was easy for both of us to agree on any experimentation, direction-wise. We never over-thought the album, it was really organic, fun and natural the whole time.
You wrote, recorded, and mixed your new record in both Perth, Australia and at your grandparents’ beach house in Cavalière, France. Was it hard to keep consistency in your recordings?
We recorded most of the music in Perth at Kevin’s studio, I only went to my grandparents’ house to record vocals and write lyrics. it was very organic and both places bonded really naturally. It was kind of the same Atmosphere too, Summery and very close to the beach and loads of space around me.
While in Perth, you stayed with Parker and his house-mates, POND. What was it like being the only girl amongst a bunch of psychedelic rock dudes?
It was a big family of silly musicians living together, influencing each others to be as loopy and psychedelic as possible, I think that was my favorite part of the recording! Nick Allbrook from Pond was a real inspiration. He’s the silliest dude and a born rockstar.
You’ve previously stated that you’ve always wanted to make a record that sounds like this. What inspired these recordings? Have you always been heavy on psych-rock?
This record sounds exactly how I dreamt it thanks to Kevin who helped me sculpt it. I’ve been listening to a million different bands, composers…during the recording I was listening to Can, Messiean, Ethiopics, Women, Deerhunter, Stevie Wonder and Coltrane…
Do you listen to music while recording? A lot of musicians don’t like to be distracted by outside influences while producing a record—are you the same way?
I’m a crazy music fan before anything else, I always need to listen to music, I know that Kevin doesn’t listen to much music while he’s recording but I played him Gainsbourg while we were recording, he fell in love with it and played it all the time between our sessions.
You recently made a music video with director Laurie Lasalle. Why was it important to get her involved?
We were supposed to go just on a holiday together and we just improvised that idea with Laurie a week before going down south. We had loads of fun shooting it underwater and it was great spending nights changing colors image by image on some bits and experimenting! It was at my grandparents’ house down south and meant a lot to do it on that beach and with a dear friend. It’s a very personal video, I love it. it really represent us two.
Is it important for you to identify with your songs visually?
I just want my visuals to have the same kind of trippy, colorful, intriguing, crunchy textured aspect as my music and represent my personality. It’s really hard to keep a certain coherence but I’m trying to do so and keep it fun.
In a perfect world, where would you want your fans to listen to your new album for the first time?
I’d love them to listen to it somewhere special to them, with space around them so the music can transport them to another place.
Thanks Melody!
- brononymous
