MUSIC | Django Django DJA N G O U N C H A
Django Django bassist Jimmy Dixon chats to Henry Northmore about the band’s new album, Marble Skies, and the challenges of reproducing their lush, multi-layered sound on stage 70 THE LIST 1 Feb–31 Mar 2018
D espite being formed at art school, Django Django hate the term ‘art rock’. ‘It seems like a really odd, lazy term,’ states bassist Jimmy Dixon. However, he admits their output is almost unclassii able. ‘When anyone asks, I feel like I have to describe every single song, they vary so much. I think it was a fan who said “cosmic rockabilly” which is about as succinct and close to how broad the music is. I have no idea how I would describe it.’ Their new album, Marble Skies, is equally hard to categorise. A lush collage of aural experimentation that ping pongs through the 80s synthtronica of the title track, to the smooth jazz of ‘Sundials’, to the pulsating beats of ‘Real Gone’. A mix of new wave, disco, house and indie rock that refuses to be constrained by genre.
Django Django is the brainchild of drummer / producer David Maclean (brother of the Beta Band’s John Maclean) who started collaborating with vocalist / guitarist Vincent Neff at Edinburgh College of Art. ‘It was just the two of them at the beginning, literally in Dave’s bedroom,’ explains Dixon who i rst met Maclean while studying at Glasgow School of Art. ‘They posted a couple of tracks on MySpace and straightaway they were getting gig offers so they got Tommy [Grace, synths] on board and eventually I got involved. We almost just stumbled into it, there was no pressure or expectation.’ The resulting eponymous LP went on to be nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2012. Second album Born Under Saturn was an interesting follow-up but at times felt disjointed,
as if they were cramming too many ideas into 60 minutes without considering the larger picture. Dixon admits they felt the pressure of following up the critical success of their debut and time constraints in the studio amped up the stress levels.
It also Preceded by addictive single ‘Tic Tac Toe’, Marble Skies feels more cohesive. It’s a sentiment Dixon shares. ‘This time we did most of the recording in our own studio in Tottenham, it was a lot more enjoyable and I think we feel a lot more coni dent. With the last album, we ended up putting pretty much every song we’d written on, but this time we had time to sit with the songs and be a lot more diplomatic and honest and make an album that works as an album rather than a bunch of songs thrown onto a record. I think it’s much more true to ourselves.’ features a couple of gorgeous collaborations. Firstly, Rebecca Taylor of Slow Club, who the band i rst met at a British music showcase at SXSW in Austin, Texas, provides the dreamy vocals over the reggae grooves of ‘Surface to Air’. More intriguingly, ‘Sundials’ was built around a piano loop written by Czech composer Jan Hammer (probably most famous for his searing theme tune to 80s TV staple Miami Vice). ‘We had the album i nished, then we had to get in touch with Jan and hope he would give us permission to use this piano riff. We thought it would just go through management but he was great, emailing back and forth, giving us suggestions. He was really into the track.’
The real skill is taking all these elements and binding them into a coherent whole. ‘I think