subscribe to style file blog via RSSgreek myths and disco? sounds good to us
May 16, 2008 9:52 am
When Andrew Butler’s first-grade teacher decided against the Grimms come story time and read Greek myths aloud instead, she had no clue that her choice would still be reverberating, almost 25 years later, through sound systems at clubs all over the world. But reverberate it does: Butler is now the presiding spirit behind Hercules and Love Affair, the New York-based band whose self-titled debut is destined to soundtrack the summer of 2008. Released to steady acclaim in Europe and the U.K. earlier this year and due out stateside on June 28, “Hercules and Love Affair” is a myth-inspired song cycle set to a disco beat—with the caveat that Butler works both lyrics and music to his own inventively romantic ends. The album’s pedigree has already made it one of the year’s spotlight releases—DFA Records impresario Tim Goldsworthy co-produced, and Antony of Antony and the Johnsons chips in vocals—but it’s the passion lurking inside Butler’s synthesized, sequenced songs that’s making both critics and clubgoers swoon. On Saturday, the Hercules crew take over Studio B in Brooklyn for an Opening Ceremony-hosted show previewing the record; here, Butler talks to Style.com about his ongoing love affair with the dance floor.
This is the absolute lamest question to ask someone in a band, but I’ll go for it: Where did you get the name Hercules and Love Affair?
Actually, the name is pretty central to the record; I took a lot of the imagery in the songs from Greek mythology, which has been an obsession of mine ever since my first-grade teacher started reading them out loud to us in school. But more specifically, the name comes from one of my favorite myths—it’s a story about Hercules and a lover he had, a male lover he lost on a journey. There’s a really intense description of Hercules as he’s looking for this lost lover, and I so connected to that idea, the strongest man in the world at his most utterly vulnerable. That, and “Hercules and Love Affair, ” sounds pretty disco.
Were you always a disco fan?
I’ve always been into club music, which came out of disco. But the more important influences are probably bands like Yazoo and Cocteau Twins. The music is electronic, but it’s emotional, too; you relate to it on a personal level. My friendship with Antony is founded on a shared love of those bands. Before we ever recorded together, we’d just hang out listening to Cocteau Twins.
And the whole time, you were secretly plotting a collaboration?
I loved his record, and he knew I was a songwriter, too, but it wasn’t until I wrote “Blind” that those pieces fell into place. I thought it would be interesting to hear his voice in a more synthesized context, so I brought it to him, and it worked. And then we kept at it.
You have a few different vocalists on the record—Antony sings, you sing; there’s Kim Ann and there’s NomI… Why so many singers?
Well, some of that’s just happenstance. Kim and I were friends, and sometimes she’d be at my place when I was working on a song and needed to hear a voice on it. Nomi we approached more formally, at Antony’s recommendation; she’s usually more of a hip-hop girl, but I love how she sounds. Beyond the vocals, a lot of people got on board for the record—we recorded a whole horn section, for example, and drums and bass and rhythm guitar, a whole live band. They’re all coming on tour with us, it’s going to be a real show. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m a big believe in collaboration and getting as many good people involved as possible. Like, the DFA guys are going to deejay at Studio B on Saturday, and Opening Ceremony is hosting the show, and promoting it at their store… I like to use my community. That doesn’t happen enough in New York these days. Maybe we can bring it back into style.
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