Any differences in the pair’s musical tastes only turned out to be a blessing, each equalising the musical preoccupations of the other. “We agree on the basics, but then we’re also different. [Isi] loves his funky, disco stuff, I’ll go all techy and dark, so it balances everything out,” Jence refines. “We kinda complete each other.”
Including audacious re-edits of crowd favourites like
The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army in their fledgling DJ sets, Digitalism’s reputation grew emphatically beyond the confines of their home city. Combined with their crunchy epic original debut offering Idealistic – so good the publishers categorically dismissed releasing it, as intended, as a bootleg B-side but rather standalone – the chances of an imprint of Kitsuné’s absurdly cool standing taking interest was inevitable.
Counting themselves as label founder Gildas Loaec’s first album artist signing only added to the prestige. “They never used to, or wanted to, sign artists; only tracks, release them and that’s it,” Jence explains. [Signing us] was a novelty for them, but then they thought, ‘Ah, that’s interesting,’ so they’re a bit more into artist development now. But they’re still really small, ‘little Kitsuné’; it’s very chaotic. The office is the sign of a company where there’s absolutely no structure, but it’s cute, funny and there’s a real family vibe.”
The minute
Erol Alkan and the other distinguished golden boys of electro’s upper echelon began rinsing Zdarlight – Digitalism’s second official 12 Inch – and their pulsating re-edit of
The Cure’s Fire In Cairo – indie and club kids were equally smitten. When Idealism finally hit, it not only impressed as more of a fully-fledged concept album than the likes of Justice’s Cross; a journey through the sands of Egypt, to the interplanetary party in the Jupiter Room and back again, but also sounded more like a band recording than any dance album that year.
The calls for a live show were understandably fierce. The trouble being that as Digitalism were studio artists, there wasn’t one. “We didn’t know how to translate all that stuff to a live show. Our first live set was at this festival in Strasbourg three years ago; we just jumped into the cold water… it was really embarrassing.” Jence recalls. “We had one of the founding members of our studio as a guitarist, I was singing, and we were wearing white shirts and purple ties. There were loads of people from record companies coming, the Kitsuné guys of course, we had a big entourage and emptied maybe five crates of beer before we went on. People really appreciated our efforts though; they stayed. We had fun, but after that going and seeing other bands play really put us down again.”
The ensuing time has seen Digitalism constantly change and refine their live set-up to the point where both Jence and Isi are happy – if too perfectionist to be altogether satisfied – with last year’s Brisbane Parklife performance proving the moment when everything truly clicked. “That was the first show with our current set-up, but we didn’t even have time to rehearse; so that was our rehearsal, in front of 20,000 people,” Jence remembers. “It was amazing.” Just don’t expect to see the touring exploits of Digitalism caught on film, a la Soulwax’s Part of the Weekend Never Dies; though content with where they’re at, Jence, a self-professed optimist, is also real enough to admit: “It’s pretty rough with us on tour.”
He may not be comfortable in front of a camera, but behind the mic Jence has grown into a confident frontman, bouncing around and belting out the lyrics to hits like Pogo in his characteristically scratchy-yet-adolescent voice. “It took me a long time to accept myself as a singer,” he reveals, recalling the leap to performing live vocals that an artist such as Tiga has still to make, “but you get such a huge buzz off it. At the beginning I just added some vocals to our productions because we were taking the DIY approach, but now I love it; so there’ll probably be more singing on the next album, it’s big fun.
Though material has yet to be written for Digitalism’s sophomore effort, once the final dates of this current tour are over it’s back to Hamburg and into the studio. “It’s definitely going to be more song-based, maybe even more adapted to a band aspect than before,” Jence predicts. “We always try to stand alone. There’s ‘nu rave’ or the ‘French scene,’ then there’s us.”
That’s Digitalism all over: rock n reverb; no gimmick required.
WHO: Digitalism
WHAT: Play Pyramid Rock Festival / Field Day / side-show at the Metro
WHEN: Tuesday 30 December / Thursday 1 January / Friday 9
MORE: myspace.com/digitalism / fuzzy.com.au 2009년 1월 25일 새벽 1시, 내 생애 최고의 생일이었다. 친구 말로는 초반부터 반응이 너무 뜨거워서 옌스가 눈시울을 붉혔다고. 디제이셋에 북적거리는 클럽 안이라는 점이 조금 아쉬웠지만 이게 어디야. 선곡 리스트부터 관객과의 소통력까지. 진정 추앙받아야 마땅한, 팀네임이 전혀 과장이아니었던 밤이었다. 게다가 내가 정신줄 놓고 양손을 뻗자 옌스는 그 길고 따뜻하고 커다란 손으로 두 번이나 꼭 잡아주고. (눈물 찔끔) 그렇게 세계적으로 이름을 날리는 아티스트인데, 겸손함과 풋풋함이 묻어나는 팬서비스라니, 이 사람들 뭘 좀 알잖아!. (알고보니 이시는 팀내에서 귀여움 담당이고 오히려 수줍어하는 건 옌스!) 나중엔 야외에서 더욱 강렬한 라이브셋으로 부탁해요! go baby go, digitalism!
