In Conversation With - FARR
Transatlantic duo FARR have just released their album ‘Weightless’, mixing alternative pop with electronic soul to create something of their own. With vocalist Romeo being based in LA and producer Linden Jay living in London, we had a chat with them about - despite living in two completely different parts of the world, they manage to create music together.
So the album is out now, how does it feel to have it finally out there?
Linden - Honestly I’m just happy I can tell people about the record and they can finally listen to it rather than just keep waiting. I’m really proud of it and its pretty liberating to let go of all those songs on there and just keep moving forward. The album was once ours but I now feel like now we’ve given it away to everyone else, I like that - There’s no going back!
It is called ‘Weightless’, is there any meaning behind that?
Roméo - The album was never really conceptual until last summer. My best friend died in drunk driving accident and we listened back to the record and it felt like it was so much more specific. It has always been about trying to find the beauty in our darkest moments, trying to see to the other side. But earlier last year Linden and I were sitting in the room working on finishing songs for it and I put a vocoder and basically started singing the title track. We sat with a voice note of it for quite a few months and decided that it perfectly captured what it was about. The search for a weightless existence. You can live for 10 years of 90 but unless you’ve lived hard and given something to leave with everyone you’ve crossed paths with then what’s the point. Love the people you hold dear and live your life to the best of YOUR ability.
You both live in completely opposite directions of the world - L.A and London, how does that work when writing music? Given your locations, how does an idea start and then blossom?
Linden - We’ve tried to figure out a process that works every time but the reality is it never works the same way twice… The main thing is that we’re always sharing ideas with each other and communicating how we feel about the songs. That way we keep developing ideas until something lands. Gotta swing the bat until it hits! Sometimes even a short part of a voice note Roméo sends me could inspire a new idea. Once we have something we’re both feeling, it’s usually time for us to go into our own incubators and refine the tracks. Roméo will spend a long time finessing lyrics and I’ll spend countless hours trying different production approaches. We always get there in the end!
How did you meet?
Linden - We met at my studio in London in a session put together by a friend. He’d sent me Roméo’s stuff to check out and I’d originally thought ‘ok cool I’ll put in half a day session and see how it goes… Turns out it went alright!
Your musical style on the album is kind of alternative pop mixed with electronic soul music, what have been your key musical inspirations when making it?
Linden - Growing up in London I was exposed to a really diverse mix of music.. During school time I listened to a lot of hip hop but I also played drums in rock and jazz bands – I didn’t quite know where I fit in the bigger picture. Then when I started going out I got heavily into electronic music which added another angle to the whole thing, I knew I loved music and wanted to find ways to use all of these influences. Soul music is always the style that I feel most settled listening to and playing so that’s one thing that always comes through.
Do you have a favorite lyrics on the album? If so, which one and why?
Roméo - “Nothing even matters any more, we’re only just some matter in the end.”
When I was 18 I tried mushrooms for the first time. I wrote down, “it doesn’t matter to matter we’re only matter” haha. Being my tripped-out self, I took that line to heart. It meant, stop worrying about everything cause when you look at the world from outer space we’re just some tiny dots. It kind of correlates with “Life” and the line that says Life is a little bit less of thing than you think it is. I’m a serial over thinker and I find myself needing to remind myself of that every day, and I know that I’m not only one. Do your thing, live laugh love yada yada.
Now the album is out there, what next?
Right up until the album was finished we were still writing a lot of new songs, so we’re already working on the next project. Touring is off the table for the moment with the current state of things - so we’re happy just to be working on new music, shooting videos and being human beings. :)