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Luke Slater sings the blues

Author: Jonty Skrufff
Tuesday, October 3, 2006

British techno star Luke Slater is singing vocals on all four tracks of his new EP Head Converter and planning to perform the new songs with a full live band, he revealed.

“I took some time away from releasing records as I was moving around a lot plus I set up my label Mote-Evolver but I wanted this new record to be about really what I’m thinking now and now what I did before,” said Luke.

“I wanted to move forward from Alright On Top but not back to Freek Funk. I’m really into my live show at the moment and we did some great festival gigs in the summer and I want Luke Slater releases to be more attached to the live side of things so what you hear on the record is what you get in the show. I love playing live with the full band,” he added.

The new tracks feature guitars, electro sounds and Luke’s (somewhat scratchy) vocals on top and are distinctly more eclectic than the techno he’s usually associated with. In fact, as long as five years ago, he was actively distancing himself from the genre, telling Skrufff in 2001, “The whole discussion about techno is old news - I am a club DJ” and in 2002 embraced proper songwriting with ex-Aloof singer Ricky Barrow on Alright On Top.

“I tend to go for themes that are more abstract whereas he’s more into straight talking. A few of the songs are about ‘leave me alone, I just can’t handle it anymore’, which is definitely a feeling that has cropped up on me,” Luke told Skrufff at the time.

“I’ve always seen love songs as not particularly happy songs. For me there’s a lot of love in the almost depressing pain of love, rather than the actual flowery aspects of it. A loss of love is almost part of love itself. It’s weird, as I’ve always seen love songs as quite ‘dark’, but I appreciate their depth and drama,” he added.

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