With their new album ready to hit the shelves next week, we got the opportunity to interview the lovely Robin Saville & Antony Ryan AKA Isan, about their forthcoming release and of course, dining tastes. Isan play a major role & influence on many other contemporary electronic artists.

'Meet Next Life' is released on Morr, 9th February 2004.

Hey guys, how are you both?

Antony: Good thanks - nice of you to ask

Robin: Similarly well.

On the new album there's a slight development of sound by the introduction of acoustic instruments. Was it an important decision to try & change direction? Does this mean 'Meet Next Life' sounds nothing like your older releases?

Antony: I don't think it was ever a concious "decision" to include other instruments like the glockenspiel or guitars. It's more that there was a gap in certain songs that needed to be filled, and those instruments came to hand. The effect is important though - it's kind of liberating to not be fixated on keeping everything within the electronic domain... but at the same time it's nice to find something that compliments our previous work.

Robin: And I don't think it's a change of direction as such, more a broadening of remit. We've always tried to humanise the electronic sounds we use, and this was just another way of signalling our presence in the music.

Are you pleased with how well 'Meet Next Life' turned out? I must admit it's one of your finest moments to date..

Antony: <blushes> Thanks. I am pleased at the way it's turned out: from the way our individual songs compliment each, to the lovely artwork by Jan Kruse... it feels like a more complete release than anything before. But for me it's always difficult to look at a release as a single body of work - I'd rather listen to Robin's songs than mine, just because they are always more fresh than the ones I fretted over in the studio.

Robin: You're very kind. We're both very happy with it. Although I kind of agree with Antony's point about listening to the other member of Isan's songs this time all the pieces do sit together very comfortably.

You have a pretty unique approach to recording, what are the benefits of working on tracks separately (or is it just because you actually hate each other)?

It must be pretty time-consuming too...

Antony: The big benefit of working separately is that we never have to compromise on input to any individual track - I never have Robin standing over my shoulder suggesting what to do next and vice versa. We have different approaches to composition - Robin seems to work inside out and I work outside in - we quickly learned that composing together didn't work for us. The big downside of working in isolation is that you can spend a lot of your time trying to polish a turd, for the other one to dismiss it... and usually rightly so.

Robin: It's not time consuming either - there's no time spent on discussing options (other than the inevitable internal dialogue) and imagine the time wasted in trying to get both of us in the same place, at the same time, in the mood to make music! What if I wanted to make some tunes and Antony wanted to play computer games? Time wasted. I can't imagine how a band with more than a couple of members ever gets anything done.

Any wishes to work with vocalists in the future?

Antony: Send us a tape and we'll call you :) sorry - I often think about it, it would be nice to try something, but then if it doesn't work out you'd feel bad for the singer. My fantasy vocalist would be Liz Fraser, I'd love some snippets of her singing to doodle with.

Robin: It never seems appropriate because that would necessitate writing lyrics as well, and they always seem so trite on paper, although I don't know if bass guitar seemed so appropriate a couple of years ago either..

Your much talked about live appearances are highly regarded, will you be touring this album at all? Do the shows offer anything new to the material?

Antony: That's nice to know - I don't think I've seen any reviews for our live set that aren't in spanish because of our home commitments, we don't really get to do "tours" - usually just one-off events. Having said that we are off to Japan in the spring, which I'm looking forward to enormously (I'll be taking a spare suitcase to fill with lucky cats). The songs we perform are a mix of old, new, and songs that are only for the live set - and they do sound different to the originals because we modded them to suit our gear (two keyboards, sequenced backing and effects)... the biggest difference is that now we've got the hang of playing our songs really loud

Robin: ..which is a dangerously addictive drug! We'll probably play a few other shows over the coming months, but a "promotional tour" is a bit too organised for us.

Robin, you've just started your own label (Arable), how did that come about?

Robin: Mostly because Antony and I have both been the lucky recipients of music from Flotel for the last year and a half, and it occured to me that someone really had to make this stuff available to the general public - I'm fortunate in that I know lots of people who are in a good position to advise and assist so it's not been too painful an endeavour.

Besides the forthcoming Psapp EP (out Feb), are there any other exciting releases planned? Also, do you think Isan will ever appear on the label?

The Flotel release (out now) obviously, a few other things in discussion, but i'm not going to rush into putting out anything that I don't think is 100% fantastic for the sake of a busy-looking schedule . There are no plans for Isan releases as such, although collaborations and remixes remain a possibility.

Say you're entertaining tonight...what would you cook and who would your guest be? (Dead or alive)

Antony: My current favourite would be something with pasta and potatoes - who would think you could have so much fun with carbohydrates? My guest would be Thomas Morr, because we don't get to see enough of him - and we always have a race to eat the most food.

Robin: I'd like to say will self, but I think I'd be too scared in reality. Although it's a bit of an obvious answer, Brian Eno. I think he'd be very inspiring company. I'd do a wild mushroom risotto - that's an easy meal to do well if you're prepared to put a bit of time in.

What music have you been listening to as of late? Most people get really pretentious at this point...

Antony: Robin bought me the 'National Forest' album for Christmas, and i've been listening to it over and over without really getting it. Then suddenly on Saturday afternoon it clicked - what a nice album!

Robin: That's a relief. As I write I'm listening to the Gavouna album (presumably coming out on Melodic later this year) and it's really excellent. Really, really excellent in fact. Is that pretentious? I know it's not out for ages but it's the truth perhaps I'm a naturally pretentious person?

No that's not pretentious and Gavouna has some quality tunes...it's usually obscure French names from the 60's that tend to get a bit boring.

Lastly...can you explain what the name is all about?!

Antony: Surely you jest - you'll be asking for our list of influences next

Thanks guys, cheers for your time!