News Rhye: ‘Revealing Our Identities Would Take Away From The Songs’

How do you go about interviewing a pair of people who would prefer to remain anonymous? Does it consist of taking a flight to the other side of the world, attending a meeting on a deserted island where all participants wear masks and speak in code? A phone call, perhaps, where the interviewees have their vocals warped to a lower pitch, so as to maintain the mystery? First On did it the old fashioned way when it came to LA-based Rhye (a band we profiled less than a month ago); by sending over some questions via e-mail, asking them about their debut EP and their keenness to remain unidentified. Had it been arranged, we’d also have said yes to the desert island.

You released the video for ‘Open’ the day after Valentine’s day. Was that a conscious move? It seemed very fitting at the time…
It actually wasn’t something that we had planned however as the date approached we definitely became cognizant of it. But no, we didn’t plan for that.

How much are your songs based around romance and love (or lack of)?
The songs are heavily influenced by romance, one romance in particular I would say. From a technical standpoint we know that we are going to be writing, that is something that we set in motion. However lyrically, the songs come from actual events, things that I have experienced and the words are a result.

‘Open”s received a few comparisons to Sade - would you agree with these? What are your other influences?
I wouldn’t say that we sound like Sade to be honest, it’s not something I would have ever come up with on my own. But that’s what music is about, letting something you create out into the world and people have their own experiences and opinions with and of it. As for other influences, hmmm. I would say there are a lot of influences in the music we are creating though none of it is created to specifically embody any thing that is out there. We both kinda bonded a bit over our love for Marvin Gaye, but in no way is this album trying to be that.

Was the debut EP a case of showcasing your various talents? ‘Hunger’ and ‘3 Days’ are very different to the opening track.
Yeah, we just wanted a little collection of songs out there that were all different aspects of what Rhye is.

Do you intend on playing these songs live at any point?
Yes we definitely plan on playing these songs live along with the rest of the record. It’s just a matter of when.

What are the rest of your plans for 2012? Is there an album in the works?
Yep, the album is complete already. We are just mixing and mastering it at the moment. As for plans for 2012, we are just going to let it all evolve on it’s own.

So far you’ve remained anonymous as to your identities. Does this mean that you strongly believe that the music speaks for itself?
Yes, our main reason for staying away from using ourselves in the imagery or even our names in press is that we want the songs to just be their own thing so to speak. We would love it if people just heard the songs on their own, knowing nothing about us and just have their own non biased experience with the tracks. We are both deeply driven to create music that we are proud of. We feel it would take away from the sincerity of the songs and our efforts if it became to much about us, the musicians.

Rhye’s new EP ‘Open’ is available now via iTunes. Stream the NSFW video below.