Whatever NMEsaid about them, Test Icicles were no darned good. What a pleasant surprise, then, that from the ashes, Lightspeed Champion has fashioned a record of subtle delights, writes Tony Clayton-Lea
What do you do when you're a member of a much vaunted NMEband; a band who aren't up to much, yet have the backing of a music magazine (past its prime by a long shot, but that's another story) that claims to have its finger on the pulse? And what do you do when same band implodes after one album and a brief existence?
Well, if you're Dev Hynes - former guitarist in that much lauded, no-darned-good band, Test Icicles - you backtrack. You steer clear of tuneless, free-for-all frantic frug workouts and let the music see the wood for the trees. It's surprising, then (and with no small pleasure) to announce that Hynes, aka Lightspeed Champion, has fashioned a new record ( Falling off the Lavender Bridge) of such subtle delights that he should be forthwith allowed to carry on his life and career without fear of ever again being associated with Test Icicles.
While Hynes doesn't necessarily agree with this - he thinks it a tad harsh - he will admit that surprise is the main ingredient in the type of reaction the new record has been receiving.
"And it's cool," he avers. "I have loads of different ideas, constantly swirling around in my head, and I was always wondering what I would do next to show people how different I could be after Test Icicles. In the same way, curiously enough, the guys in Test Icicles were slightly shocked by it. So there has been quite opposite kinds of reactions."
Hynes's obsessiveness might make him murder to live with, he readily admits, but he also reckons you can't prevent creative juices from sloshing around in the mind. This is why he is a prolific sort (he also produces a graphic comic at regular intervals) and the type of person who can't not do certain things. Has he always been a compulsive, obsessive kind of guy?
'ALL THE TIME. God knows how many albums I made during the time I was with Test Icicles. I've been trying to work out a mini discography, and at the moment it's around 28 albums. It's funny, because Test Icicles had just the one album properly released. I'm thinking of doing another album this year, and whether it comes out traditionally or online it doesn't matter - I just want it to come out some time this year."
Being so prolific, is there a frustration on his part regarding the traditional record release - the way an album (if the act is lucky or in any way successful) is slotted into a week of record company window-of-opportunity time?
"A bit, of course. For instance, I finished Falling off the Lavender Bridgeexactly a year ago, January 2007. The time distance between finishing and releasing is a bit silly - anyone can see that - but I'm not too fussed because I get my happiness from knowing that there's a finished piece of work out there. And besides, I just start working on more stuff. The way I see it is that people can catch my material whenever it comes out. Whatever they get whenever it comes out, either by traditional methods or online, that'll be the group of songs they get."
The record is a little ball of warmth and fuzziness - except when it's detailing, in seriously deviant form, the break-up of the relationship between Hynes and his girlfriend. Sound-wise, it's on the receiving end of cosy country/roots rhythms; this is the twin result of Hynes's American background (as a child listening to country music stations in and around Houston, Texas) and his decision to record the album in extremely chilly Omaha, Nebraska (home to the Saddle Creek organisation, of which resident producer Mike Mogis assisted in shaping the overall sonic template).
CERTAIN THEMES PREDOMINATE, sex being one. It seems this topic is more than just a passing interest. "Hmm," Hynes deliberates, "I think I might be obsessed with it, although I think I should state that I am as much for as against it - which I know comes across as a wilful contradiction. I'm not really sure where my obsession comes from. I was slightly frustrated during the album because I took a vow of celibacy for a while, and the album's themes could well be a remnant of that. Any overriding themes that make themselves known could also be derived from the fact that I was breaking up with my girlfriend at the time, so a lot of that came out. When I listen back to some of the songs now, I'm like, oh God, I shouldn't really have said that!"
As for the overall woozy-snoozy, country-grits sound, how did Omaha compare with, say, London? "Being thousands of miles away from home definitely provided some form of warmth to the album," Hynes maintains. "I hadn't been in that part of the world before, and was really taken by it. It's typical Midwest - a quiet and civilised town. It was really cold, however, with about four feet of snow on the ground. You were trapped indoors and sometimes you'd have to climb out of windows with a shovel to clear a pathway. I miss it, though, it was a great time."
Hynes was previously in Ireland as a solo act late last year. Is he planning to return to Dublin? "Hope so, this year too. The Dublin gig was one of the best on that tour. Everyone got into it, dancing and stuff. Funny, though, no one called out for Test Icicles songs!"
Falling Off the Lavender Bridge is out now