ATH Interviews: Bonobo

Coming through Austin this Wednesday is Ninja-Tune artist Bonobo hailing from Brighton, UK. Following the release of his 4^th full length album, Black Sands, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, Simon Green (aka Bonobo) took a moment to answer some questions for us. Follow the jump for the interview.

ATH: How are you enjoying the US so far?

SG: It’s good; we’ve been through Chicago, New York and are selling out shows, which have been a bit of a surprise. It’s been nice. We’ve got a new band and we’re just finally working out all the kinks. It feels that we hit our strides in the past week.

ATH: The BBC review called you a ‘one-man Cinematic Orchestra’, how would you respond to that?

SG: It’s flattering; he’s a one man band as well though. I’m a big fan of Cinematic as well and it’s nice to see both of our careers evolving in different directions. It’s also interesting to see the fan bases attached and how they respond to changes. He is going in a more organic approach, where I am going more electronic.

ATH: It seems to me that Black Sands is actually less of an electronic record and more natural with more live instrumentation, much in the vein of Animal Magic or Dial M for Monkey; was it a conscious decision?

SG: I’m just picking up where I left off. This release is more of a document of where I’ve been. It’s certainly my most broadest and most cohesive. It’s just gone full circle, to where I haven’t visited in a while.

ATH: Your choices for collaboration have matched really well with the overall tone of your work. Andreya’s voice seems like another instrument rather than as a standalone unit.  She’s a great find by the way.

SG: You’re right; we never set out to be song writers, but to use the voice as a texture to combine the human element. The voice is the immediate part of any song, so it helps to have a subtle influence. She’s great, I’m currently producing her debut album.

ATH: Any one in particular you’re recruiting for your future projects?

SG: Not at the moment, I’m just enjoying this one and enjoying some time out of the studio. The last one (Days to Come) really took it out of me and it’s nice to get out and enjoy myself and perform some of these new songs.

ATH: Speaking of natural inspirations, the cover of the new album is intriguing. Is it from a place that holds special value to you?

SG: Not particularly, it is in the Lake District in the UK. We wanted to find a remote location where the natural world was untouched, yet showed some influence by man. It is a romantic idea of man’s influence on the natural world.

ATH: You have spent your career create layers of sound, are there any new instruments or things you are tinkering with lately.

SG: Well, I always enjoy finding new noise makers and playing around with them.  We found an auto-harp in Portland during last year’s tour that I produced a few singles from. We also used it on Andreya’s new album.

ATH: I see you have some down time between N.O. and Austin, Any chance you’ll spend some time in our fair city?

SG:  Yes, I love Austin, I was there playing at Stubb’s last year and it’s a great city. We are going to go on a drive for some BBQ.

Thanks again for Simon Green taking the time to answer our questions. You can catch him with his live band at the Parish Wednesday night.