Neu Doldrums: ‘The Spin, That’s My Own Mark’

A preferable Doldrums interview experience would involve getting into the very depths of Airick Woodhead’s mind, stumbling upon the little pieces of genius that exist within. This would unfortunately encounter various legal issues, even if DIY were, somehow, to gain Woodhead’s consent. Instead our First On talk takes place some 100 miles or so apart, as the Doldrums’ tour van busies itself towards another awaiting destination, this time Dot To Dot’s Manchester leg.

Spending a good part of the past two months driving from place to place could easily take its toll, however Airick is upbeat throughout our conversation, probably counting down the days before he can go home and master his debut album which, at the time of print, might just be completed. Writing songs is his biggest issue. Usually, there’s a daily Doldrums routine when at home, where the Canadian artist will make a beat, go out for a walk, expand on it and work into the night. “But I find it nearly impossible to have a song come to fruition on tour,” Woodhead stresses. “I can make a lot of sketches and do a lot of little ideas and build loops, I’ll write lyrics, but there’s no possible way for me to complete a song.”

Doldrums’ set-up is hardly an acoustic guitar plus a four-track tape, so it’s easy to see why writing songs is such a futile exercise when locked up in the back of a van. Of what we’ve heard so far, these are wild, vivid experiments put into a recording. From last year’s ‘Empire Sound’ EP (released through No Pain In Pop), to most recent single ‘Egypt’, we’ve barely been able to predict a single one of Woodhead’s next steps. A lot of this is to do with samples, and the broad spectrum from which Airick sources these. “It’s very difficult because I have the entire recorded music catalogue of humanity at my disposal, so basically the more finite and specific I can get my materials, the stronger the thing I’m making will be,” he explains. One specific song, ‘I’m Homesick Sittin’ Up Here In My Satellite’, has a Bollywood sample discovered through a single use of the Shazam app in a club. Such a twist of fate can rarely be repeated, so Airick deems it paramount to put his own spin on each song: “Materials are one thing, but the spin of it - that’s my own mark.’

This personal stamp is of intrigue in itself: Woodhead’s Dad is a musician and he’d often go to music festivals, where “there’d always be these all-night, fireside raves, with everyone playing and drumming and singing and dancing.” Only up until recently, Airick never owned a computer. He also admits to not purchasing a record since the age of 14, yet his attitudes on the digital age are compelling. At one stage in our conversation he raises the possibility of an “anti-altriuism, anti-connection” art movement emerging in response to the restrictions networks like Facebook and Twitter place on individuals and our friendships. “To me it’s still a fictional, future thing,” he concedes, before adding “I just feel lucky that I have real friends that I can talk to and hang out with.”

Woodhead remains an enigma of sorts, his relationship with technology hard to pigeonhole (he describes his music as “my own reaction to technology and style in general”). The songs themselves are often wildly different in sound and atmosphere, leaving us even more dumbfounded when it comes to categorising the guy. The desire to locate yourself in the very depths of Woodhead’s imagination becomes even stronger as the chat progresses. For the time being, we can expect a debut full-length to expose more parts of this fascinating, exploratory character.

Doldrums’ new EP ‘Egypt’ is out now via Souterrain Transmissions.

Taken from the July 2012 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.