Erasure • Features • Interviews
Claudia Brücken (2005)
Claudia, the last 18 months have been very busy for you, with collaborations with Paul Humphreys, Andrew Poppy and most recently Andy Bell. How did this most recent collaboration with Andy come about?
Claudia: Well, Paul and I released our EP Item and initially began selling it via the internet, Chris Smith discovered it and contacted me through our website. He emailed me and asked if I would be interested in doing a couple of recordings with them.
He lives in North London which is close to me, so we met up with Philip at Philip's house and they went through a few ideas with me. They played me all their songs and I just picked a couple that I really liked and we took it from there.
So the music and the lyrics were already written by this stage?
Claudia: Yes they were all pretty much written. They played me an incredible amount of songs, about 14 songs were close to completion and they had been finishing them off over the past few months.
Paul: You contributed to the writing of one of them though didn't you?
Claudia: Well yes, I contributed a little to 'Love Oneself', it's the spoken part, a small but nice contribution!
'Love Oneself' and 'Delicious' - the two songs on the album 'Electric Blue' that feature yourself with Andy, - how would you describe them?
Claudia: Electric pop really ! 'Delicious? probably more so than Love Oneself, it has a very electronic disco sound. How would you describe it Paul?
Paul: Yeah, very pop and dancey - I think there's always been a bit of a dance floor diva in Andy and it has definitely come out in this record!
I think it's interesting that it doesn't sound like an Erasure album, it's more disco as you said, and sounds slightly more contemporary.
Paul: Yes I think so.
Claudia: I think it sounds like a solo album, which is great and also important to not sound exactly like Erasure.
Paul: It's only to be expected really with Vince not being there, as Vince has such a trademark sound which he stamps on all of his work.
Although of course Vince has done a mix of 'Crazy' which will be on one of the single formats, which will certainly be interesting to hear!
Paul: Really? Great I can't wait to hear it!
Were you in the studio together or did you record the vocals separately?
Claudia: Andy did all of his vocals with Philip. Paul recorded my vocals for Love Oneself in our studio, but in the case of Delicious? I had originally tried it out at our place, but then recorded it properly over at Philip's studio.
Andy had originally sung the entire song himself, so in order to make it a kind of duet, we had to chop it up a bit to see where we could fit mine and Andy's parts together, and separately. I would record my parts with Philip and then go home, Philip would do some editing, then I had to go back and do a bit more.
What attracted you to those two particular songs?
Claudia: Well for both Love Oneself? and Delicious? I loved the lyrics. There was one line that I particularly liked: 'You stick the knife in and twist it round' - which is a vicious lyric but sung in a nice way - it's quite poppy but dark at the same time which is a combination that I've always liked, but also, I just really liked the tune. With Love Oneself, I just thought that it had a really good message within the lyric.
Any plans to perform live with Andy?
Claudia: I would really like that if we could make that possible as I love to perform.
Paul: They have mentioned something about it haven't they?
Claudia: They've mentioned a possible live showcase in a club in September, and they've asked if I would like to do a couple of numbers with them so maybe that will happen. It's been a lot of fun being involved in this project, as Andy, Philip, and Chris are all really fun and easy going guys who take everything in their stride. I've done quite a lot of collaborations over the years and with some it can be quite difficult at times (not mentioning any names!), but with these guy's it was so professional, fun and easy!
Have you heard the album? What do you think of it?
Claudia: I finally got my copy the other day and I think that's it's a really fun electronic dance record. My favorites so far are Runaway, Shaking My Soul Crazy & Delicious. Paul and I would like to take this opportunity to wish them lots of luck and success with this project!
Claudia and Paul's first collaboration as Onetwo is the mini album Item, which features 5 new compositions and is a taster for their forthcoming album.
Item is available by mailorder from Mute Bank. Interview originally published on andybell.com