The Taste For Any Occasion

Hot Chip

In 2012, it perhaps seems like genuine, remarkable talent is difficult to come by. Even with this gift, dragging it to the next level, onto the world stage while simultaneously gaining success and popularity – not to mention credibility – it seems like longevity becomes pretty hard to come by. It's perhaps hard to believe that London's Hot Chip are 12 years old, have recently released their fifth (and arguably finest) album In Our Heads and notched up what seems like a plethora of banging hit singles, walking that fine line between commercial-popular and indie-credible, topping critics' best of lists and generally making the crossover.

Joe Goddard and vocalist Alexis Taylor feel something akin to the modern day Morrissey/Marr or a Tennant/Lowe and have created a legacy so strong that it appears to only be getting bigger with every release. Of course, talent is not something the five Londoners that make up Hot Chip are short of – just take a look at the numerous solo outings that have been spawned from each and every one.

The incredibly prolific Joe Goddard alone, has released a handful of EPs and an album with collaborator Raf Rundell with The 2 Bears as well as dropping hits like last year's Gabriel under his own name. With his little girl playfully rustling in the background, Goddard is sounding remarkably relaxed despite his hectic schedule. In fact, he calls this “a rare moment of downtime” despite the fact he's currently giving interviews for Hot Chip's impending tour Down Under.

“It's very hard finding that downtime” he laughs casually. “But I really love everything that I am doing so, if I am honest, I don't find it too bad at all. I guess I should really try and work a lot less, but it's tough when you really like doing it, you know? Currently, I am just getting back together with Raf to work on some 2 Bears music so that will happen all next week – we're aiming to get a bunch done in the next few months and maybe put another record out at the end of next year. We have a few remixes pending at the moment, I just finished one from Dirty Projectors that I'm really happy with, plus I'd like to release some music under my own name again for maybe early next year.”

He confesses that juggling three successful projects isn't quite as difficult as some might perceive, and that the songs eventually unravel themselves and reveal just what project will end up claiming them as their own.

“Some of it is just simple, practical things, like if I start a track with Raf then obviously that's a 2 Bears thing. But, generally, if it starts to sound like more of a pop song, then I'll fling that to Alexis and see if he wants to work on that with me. If it's more of an esoteric club track or it's an unusual thing then I might put it under my own name. I try not to think about it too much; obviously, if I'm working on a track I just focus on getting it as fully realised as I possibly can but it does occasionally cross my mind. But I do find I can't think about that too much, [however], it's generally not that difficult.”

Released in March, In Our Heads is being touted as one of Hot Chip's finest albums to date. Preceded by the thumping club single Night And Day, the album shines in every way possible – the production has stepped up and the songwriting by Taylor and Goddard is sharpening further with every new release.

“Quite a lot of people have said they like it the most,” Goddard laughs. “I think it's a strong record yeah, I made it and I still like listening to it. In terms of purely a production level and sonically, I think it's really good and clear and sounds really nice. I am super proud of the clarity and the general engineering of it – it sounds really nicely made. I was looking for the kind of sound that you get on a Chic record, you know, very tight and really funky and, well, kind of hi-fi but also quite disco-y and I think we've got that. It's a well written record.

“It didn't feel daunting to produce it ourselves, to me anyway. It felt pretty natural at the time we were making it because we had a lot of the songs kind of half finished. There were a bunch of songs – a couple of which we wrote right after the previous record and a few new ones came together quite naturally and quickly – and I guess when we were making demos of the songs, we were always thinking about how they were going to be produced and the sound of the track when it was finished. Getting into the production and finishing the record doesn't feel like that big a step as it's half done already. When we come to actually finishing it off, it's about making it that little bit nicer, better engineered and better played really.”

Rightfully so or not, there are some songwriting comparisons being thrown around that are incredibly complimentary to say the least. Goddard reveals that he doesn't really aspire to any of the great British songwriting duos often name-dropped, in fact, he doesn't really consider himself a “writer” as such at all.

“I consider myself more of a beatmaker, producer kind of character. I think Alexis is the writer – when he writes he sits down at a piano or with a guitar and writes the song to the finish. When I make things, I use loops and rhythms so I don't see myself as the writer as such. I am really proud of the relationship with Alexis and we've written some pretty good tunes over the years, but when I read things that talk about great songwriters that we're aspiring to be, in truth, I haven't really considered that.”

Hot Chip aren't strangers to an amazing live set either. They're on their way back to Australia for the New Year period, playing the festival run as well as a few headline dates of their own.

“We're planning to do for the show on New Year's Eve – it's a bit of a secret but it's a few bits and pieces with the songs that we've never done before,” Goddard says, biting his tongue. “Like we do, we take the new material and play it yes, but work it into the set weaving songs into each other, referencing a DJ I guess and trying hard to make it exciting. We've been touring this for a long time now so we'll be nice and tight when we get to you.”

Hot Chip will be playing the following dates:

Friday 28 December - Tuesday 1 January - Falls Festival, Lorne VIC
Saturday 29 December - Tuesday 1 January - Falls Festival, Marion Bay TAS
Tuesday 1 January - Field Day, Sydney NSW
Friday 4 January - Southbound, Sir Stewart Bovell Park, Busselton WA
Saturday 5 January - Summadayze, Doug Jennings Park, Gold Coast QLD