The New Citizen Kane’s 'TEMPLE.BEACH.DISCO.DADDY.’ is a bright, funky and downright danceable album that takes its listeners along for the ride. The album’s soundscape moves from bright groove to almost sentimental funk.
LITM interviews The New Citizen Kane about the album, what inspired it, his artistic and musical influences and more!
What inspired the album? Could you walk us through the process of making this record?
I originally had intentions to release a classic remix album of unreleased dance/house remixes of singles and album tracks , along with 4 or 5 new dance songs that maybe leaned into house & techno influences a bit too much to sit within the main albums, however it's a format that has been done so many times, albeit often thoughtless in it's compiling, and so I was going to scrap the idea completely, until I had been working on the version of Forget The World from this album to include on the F.T.W. single, and it kept conjuring images of a remote tropical beach in my mind: barefoot, crystalline waters, mid-afternoon, sat with friends singing these soft breezy songs together with just a guitar & bongos, drinking cocktails, laughing carefree.
So that image, and Forget The World (Temple Beach Version), became the blueprint for the album, a “remix” album by name only as I would recreate songs from The Tales Of Morpheus, but completely new from scratch, created with this intention in mind rather than just remixing the existing versions. This was important in order to convey the carefree mood I envisioned in the essence of the songs. The influences expanded a bit in order to also stay faithful to the intention of the song while encapsulating the core essence of the album... So there are elements of Psychedelic pop, disco and rock'n'roll from the late 60's and early 70's, wanting to capture that bright, enthusiastic naiveté of the era, like The Beach Boys and "Happy Days" TV show & theme song, while also incorporating the creative, rebellious mystery of the psychedelic hippy era, bands like Moon Birds, Human Egg, Venus Gang. A touch of calypso to mellow it all out, then right at the end introducing some late 70's and 80's disco-funk-synth elements so it's cohesive without being static. The album is almost like a mini sonic documentary through the evolving forms of disco over the 3 decades.
Each track feels bright, light and groovy while coming together as a cohesive whole. Could you tell us a bit more about your approach to creating and putting songs together?
The choice of songs itself came pretty naturally, I had already recorded a psychedelic rock version of Buy Me A Ticket, for fun really - it was quite trippy!, so I toned it down a little & softened the edges; Disco Love is a song I wanted to release as a single from “The Tales Of Morpheus” but ultimately scrapped it as the eagerness to start the rollout for my next album “Psychedelika” won over, also the singles are SO summer friendly I didn’t want to miss the window. The other “Temple Beach” reworks are the singles from Morpheus (except Stupid Blue & Gotta Secret, which I don’t think would have worked in the context of the album) and Ratbag Joy is actually a cheeky preview of single no.2 from “Psychedelika”, also reworked here, it fit the song selection really well.
I had wanted to release re-recordings of the original Endless Summer & Electric Nights from last summer’s EP as, while fan favourites, I have to admit that the quality of those versions sounds a bit demo-ish now - they were the first tracks I recorded after 8yrs of not recording any music; then Heartburn felt like a great closer, still disco but with that driving beat.. it’s setting up the next album.
Are there any tracks on ‘TEMPLE.BEACH.DISCO.DADDY.’ that stand out to you?
A Love Fool, of course!!
I think, as a producer, it’s kind of the apex of what I try to achieve when creating songs.. Juxtaposing what could be a heavy or melodramatic theme with this playful, charming tone. It’s a little self-deprecating, but in a humorous way, poking fun at my own introspection and self-awareness. I want to be authentic when I write, and human emotions are so complex, in life are things ever a clear cut as “me good, you bad.. you broke my heart and I’ll never live again”?! No, there are so many grey areas and opposing thoughts on the same situation, I try to represent my experiences in life with that kind of reflective honesty, not only in the lyrics but in the soundscapes I’m creating too.. The musical transition halfway through the song, when the orchestral strings swoop in, turning the playful humour into the emotion behind the humour, it just elevates the song and brings it back to reality. I was very proud of how it came out, but it didn’t really fit the “Psychedelika” album, so as T>B>D>D was coming to life it became clear that the song was born to be on this album. When it comes to creating, the best things come about when they are not planned.
I also really love the vibes of Disco Love & Alchemy, maybe more than the original versions.. I wrote an additional verse for Disco Love, the outro chant, which I feel fit that 60’s rock’n’roll-pop sound really authentically, and it’s now my favourite part of the song! While Alchemy just oozes this suave, seductive confidence, I think I must have been really feeling my oats the day I was recording those vocals haha, and it blends the retro & modern seamlessly, it’s just a total vibe!
Could you tell us about your start as an artist? Describe that journey for us in your own words.
I’ve always loved singing & performing, since as early as I can remember.. My great grandmother took me & my sister to see the nutcracker one Christmas when I was 4 and I was obsessed with the music! She bought me the cassette tape when we were leaving and I wore it out I listened to it so much, and I would save up my pocket money to buy the “NOW That’s What I Call Music!” compilations from the age of 6. Because I grew up in an artistic family I was never discouraged from music and as I got older, the passion for music grew too. I was especially drawn to melody, and started to write songs at age 11 and the piano was the instrument that appealed to me most as it made sense to me, it is easy to match vocal notes to piano keys when it came to writing songs, given I didn’t have formal training and play by ear – I always wrote lyrics and melody with a vocal first approach & then built the music around that.
I studied music production & sound engineering at university, and I was fascinated by the emotive power of music, how it could transmit certain feelings or moods so much better than words could, and so as I started learning I was particularly focused on how to make music that reflected emotional states. While in uni I got the opportunity to record & release my first EP, Now or Never, but as a fresh faced 19 year old with a definite POV I ultimately walked away from that contract to focus on songwriting & production, as I was constantly being forced into r&b-pop-boyband territory by industry folk, which is not where I wanted to be.
I moved to Milan in 2004 & a chance meeting with a producer at a nightclub led to me working with this Sony distributed indie dance label, Fuorifase, for 4 years as in-house songwriter, I did some guest vocals on a few club hits and eventually released a couple of songs under the DISCOKANE moniker, but I got tired of having to write these kind of formulaic dance songs... it was also 2008, the industry was spiralling into crisis with the advent of downloads etc, so I made my exit there and moved to London; The New Citizen Kane identity was born as a new uncompromising artistic alter ego.
What would you say are your artistic and musical influences?
I honestly listen to a huge array of music, I can appreciate the good & bad in every genre, and I think it’s very evident from “The Tales Of Morpheus” how elements from all these different genres creep into various songs. I try to come to the table with a fresh POV when I’m playing around with different genres in the same song – I think Stupid Blue or Alchemy are perfect examples of that genre blending. As I was growing up, the exciting part of album release day was getting the physical copy of the cassette or CD and reading the booklet, all the credits, who wrote that, who produced this.. so while there are many artists I could refer to, I was more inspired by certain producers who kind of did a lot of the genre blending & experimenting: Mirwaiz Ahmadzaï, Guy Sigsworth, Nelly Hooper, Camron McVey and artists like Imogen Heap, Bjork, Madonna. I think film & art in general inspire me a lot, I like to make my own music videos & artwork as well where I can draw on different inspirational sources to complement the music.
Is there a specific part of the creative process that moves or excites you?
Writing is therapeutic for me, it’s essential to be wellbeing honestly and it just comes very, very naturally & easily to me.. But the process of recording the song, bringing that idea to life – that is the part of the process that is a total dopamine rush for me.. when I’m in the zone I can fall down the vortex for days and create, create, create, and I get so much satisfaction from it, and hearing the finished piece at the end, something that started as a little spark, a suggestion in my subconscious.
Is there anything you’d like to share with your fans? Perhaps a teaser for your future plans?
It’s been an amazing year to reconnect with my creativity and to have found this new audience that has been so warm & open to what I’ve been putting out… What I can say is: The best is yet to come!! “The Tales Of Morpheus” was me reckoning with my past, and bridging that to my present self.. It was so cathartic for me. But I’ve got so much of me still to show; “Psychedelika” will probably be released early November time, with the first single, San Diego coming next Friday 06/06, and a string of monthly singles already planned leading up to the album release.. The music videos are bigger and better, you’ll be seeing more of me physically but also more of my unfiltered being. Next week I’m going to San Diego to film a short docu-film piece as part of this. Also, I am currently working on bringing to life some exciting experiential activations that cross over with different art mediums as part of the ongoing album rollout, more of which will be revealed soon, but basically creating a multisensorial experience with this album, so if that sparks your curiosity and you wanna know more, sing up on my website or follow me on Instagram (which is where I’m most active) to stay in the loop with information as it’s getting finalised.
Listen to 'TEMPLE.BEACH.DISCO.DADDY.’ here!
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