Blurred City Lights é Jarek Leskiewicz e Dean Garcia. Uma dupla que dispensa maiores apresentações, ou melhor, a apresentação mais correta vem através do espetacular debute Anamorphic que além do duo ainda tem as participações especiais de Rose Berlin e Perry Pelonero.
Um supergrupo? Para os adoradores de shoegazer e suas variáveis sim, porque Anamorphic é um delirante artefato que pega todas as bandas dos envolvidos e as cataliza para dentro dessa odisseia.
Certamente Anamorphic passou despercebido pra muita gente mas aqui no TBTCI ele esteve em constante rotação, e sinceramente não é preciso explicar maiores motivos, o novo projeto de Jarek e do mago Dean Garcia é genial.
***** Interview with Blurred City Lights ******
Q. When did Blurred City Lights started, tell us about the history...
J: The collaboration between me (Jarek Leskiewicz) and SPC ECO team (Dean Garcia/Rose Berlin) started with the remix that they did of one of the songs from my other project NOMODD.After that i did some guest gtr/drone stuff on SE record "Dark Notes". BCL was born out of the idea of creating music heavily influenced (in concept and feel) by Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" record. Intimate, dark and true. So far we did an EP called "Neon Glow" (2013) and a full length album "Anamorphic" (2014). On "Anamorphic" we were reinforced by the drummer Russell Keeble.
d) I was on the SE Facebook page when I got a ping from Jarek re a comment I'd made on a wall post about a Captain Beefheart, we got chatting and J sent me a link to his band, this is where I would normally book out but I didn't due to the Beefheat connect, after a minute or so I was getting more and more blown away by the depth and feeling of the track, I think it was Changeless by NOMODD, I'm not sure TBH all I know is it was fucking amazing and to top it off the vocal-lyrical sentiment was great too, very rare for me to connect with vocals, they have to have a very particular ache and charm about them for me to take notice, everything just sounded very cool to me and I immediately wanted us to work on something together. That's how it happened, a magical moment. From there I remixed a NOMODD track and discovered how Jarek assembles and records/produces the music, very precise indeed, not unlike the way I structure things for others to mix ie prepping the Curve stuff ready for Alan Moulder, it's done in such a way that when all the faders are level ie flat the track is more or less fully formed and balanced which is something both Jarek and I are very particular about, the balance is what makes a track work, it's very easy to abandon or lose interest in any song you've produced if the balance of the individual elements are not as you imagined it or originally had it. Jarek's sense of this is unmatched, and that is not even mentioning the talent and musical skill involved to make such pieces work. It's a joy to work with such skill and craft.
Q: Who are your influences?
J: Pink Floyd for sure...but the only direct homage to them would be our track "Circles". To be honest the influences come from different sides. There's some trip-hop, there's some gaze, some indie rock, soundscapes....i could go on and on. I think all the projects i do have a common "thing" which allows me to experiment with different vibes and genres without it all sounding schizo. I believe it's the same with Dean. We take elements/inspirations from various sources and mix it into our own sound.
(d) All that is true, I think we enjoy what the other brings to the piece, they always have a certain feel about them from the off, the influences are made up on the fly, whatever springs to mind or suggests itself, influences are a very personal and subjective thing that only the people involved know about, they can be very obscure references that only make sense to those making the piece. Listeners will always hear different influences which is always a good thing....
Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
J: My list (from the BCL point of view) would be:
1.Pink Floyd "Dark Side Of The Moon"
2.The The "Dusk"
3.Iggy Pop "The Idiot"
4.Cocteau Twins "Heaven Or Las Vegas"
5.Peter Gabriel "Melt"
...with a hint of "Protection" by Massive Attack
...and My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts cherry on top
(d) literally off the top of my head...
DSOTM Floyd
Abbey Road Beatles
Revolver Beatles
Safe as Milk Captain Beefheart
Best of James Brown
Q. How do you feel playing live?
J: We don't :)
(d) never say never...
Q. How do you describe Blurred City Lights sound?
J: Twilightish, intimate, escapistic, semi-prog, glowy.
(d) yep..
Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs.
J: I usually submit some demo ideas for Dean's consideration...and if he likes it we take it further together. Sometimes the song needs just some subtle tweaks and proper production/mix, sometimes the startup idea goes through many metamorphoses. We send back and forth through the wires until the track sounds right (...or close enough ;)
(d) As Jarek knows only too well I don't like to procrastibate when it comes to any creative recording, I can lose the will to live quickly if the track is done to my ears but we continue to explore it to its inevitable death. I realise this is cause for concern for others but it's just the way I am and the way I like to work with music. I'm not one of those people who enjoys exploring things to the point of week n weeks only to come back to the original to find it was better, it's very much of the moment for me, now is the time I'm spending on it and now is the time I will give it my all and if it doesn't work I'll give it one more go after some feedback from Jarek but that's about as far as I can take it, I'd rather move onto something else that does work than microscopically fuck about to possibly make it better, I do not subscribe to the notion of the longer you work on something the better it will be, I feel the complete opposite in fact which is where we come to blows and end up compromising (never good for any art ) in order to get a track over the finish line. This is our Achilles heel as a creative partnership, but when we are able to get through this scenario we generally always get something great. It's a difficult one but nothing this creative and personal is ever easy, it's all about personal taste and chemistry in the end, it always is….
Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
J: SPC ECO ,Dopedrone
(d) NOMO Trolly Snatcha
Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
J: I would love to hear BCL take on Eurythmics "This City Never Sleeps".
(d) Let's do it !
Q: What are the plans for the future....
J: To finish some BCL home movies.
Q: Any parting words?
J: Beware of the darkness...
(d) Embrace the darkness….
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Thanks
https://blurred-city-lights.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blurred-City-Lights
