The first solo endeavour from sought after UK songwriter/producer Oli Bayston, Boxed In are on the eve of releasing his debut self-titled album (out this May the 29th). Getting his start in indie band Keith he’s amassed a pretty hefty list of collaborators including teh like of 2 Bears, Steve Mason, Willy Mason, Lianne La Havas, Lily Allen and more.
Now with Boxed In Bayston has the opportunity to explore and experiment with his two greatest musical loves, Krautrock and house music, taking inspiration from the motorik rhythms of Can and Neu!, as well as house DJs like Pépé Bradock and Theo Parrish with a pretty exciting result.
To celebrate this upcoming self-titled LP Boxed In has given us a stream and track by track run down of the album which you can check out below. For more info on Boxed In, visit his Facebook page or pop by iTunes to pick up a copy of his LP.
Mystery
This is one of the tracks formed from the original sound of Boxed In – sine wave synths, 808 and 606 electronic drum machine sounds and the Korg Polysix for bass.
Its basically a pop song written in house format. I intended it to be almost childlike in simplicity and feel.
Subtle Knife
Probably the closest thing to an actual house record on the album. The lyrical theme is taken from Phillip Pulman’s Dark Materials.
I altered the story line but borrowed the idea that we live in parallel with another world. in the song an opening is made between the two worlds and everyone escapes to the other planet leaving me alone on earth.
All Your Love Is Gone
No clues as to what this is about. I was going through a particularly difficult time in my personal life when making and writing the album. this indicates the sentiments felt in quite a few of the tracks on the album.
Sailing
This was the only track I produced entirely on my own. its more electronic than the other tracks on the album. I was really in to creating beats with their own independent motion to them at the time, like sailing I guess.
No Joke
This is another pop song – I guess like many of them – that I just enjoyed mimicking the chord structures and feel of old melodic house records. lyrically, I focussed on creating soundbites with the words being about more visceral subject matter. Writing about music itself and the way it makes you feel rather than personal experiences and relations.
Bug
When I was fifteen my class were given a lecture about the dangers of drugs. They showed projected images of the aftermath of an acid casualty’s hallucination in which an insect was crawling through a girls’ own body. She then used a pair of scissors to open her self up in an attempt to remove the insect. For some strange reason I related that set of images to the idea of being deeply in love to the point of pain and the occasional urge to rid yourself of something so affecting.
False Alarm
This was the first ever Boxed In track I wrote. again, using the same sine wave synth, roland drum machine beats and korg polysix, i intended to make a track in the style of french electronic producer ‘Isolee’. the original demo was quite close to his style, but the end result is very different. i’m proud of how the album has progressed in sound from the original demos.
Foot Of The Hill
This is the oldest song i wrote which was originally intended as a completely different project. it started out as a duet and it was almost half the speed.
Lo Life
I wrote a whole bunch of songs with Anita Blay a couple of years ago, and this was the only one which i also sang on. The lyrics ended up becoming quite autobiographical, by chance, so I thought it appropriate to have it on the album.
Run Quicker
One of the krautrock tunes from the record, it was written with guitars in mind and I worked the piano around the bass groove I wrote. It’s a really fun one to play live, and we often open the set with it.
Wild West
This song documents the break up of my relationship at the time. its still very taxing to sing this live, but also cathartic at the same time. I greatly value the process and results of songwriting as a way of understanding and organising feelings. it seems that some events would be too hard to handle without this tool i’ve come to rely heavily on.
