Minotaur Shock marks his return this month with a new EP entitled Vigo Bay. Vigo Bay is the first new material taken from Shock's second album Maritime, which is set to be released on June 13th through the infuential 4AD label. Previously, David Edwards released his debut album Chiff Chaffs & Willow Warblers in 2001, as well as an EP compilation named Rinse - both available via Melodic.

As well as recording as a solo artist under the Minotaur Shock alias, Edwards is also part of the excellent Bronze Age Fox group who have recently completed their debut album. The band too released an EP compilation last year, compiling their series of limited edition shaped vinyl singles.

For more information, please visit the official Minotaur Shock site.

Or 4AD's mini Minotaur Shock section.

And if you're still hungry for info, the official Bronze Age Fox site

Hi David how are you?

Very well, thanks. Apart from hitting my thumb with a hammer. Which really hurts for a lot longer than it should.

You are about to release your second album 'Maritime' next month. Your debut album was well recieved, how do you think this one will be percieved?

I honestly have no idea. I would say I don't care, but obviously I do, that's natural. I don't think I did while I was making it though, I kind of threw caution to the wind and did whatever I felt like. Kinda liberating.

Maritime seems to have a much more "live" direction - was this intential to move away from your early material?

Not really intentional, I just did a lot of it in one or two takes without much editing. Some of the guitar tracks are sloppy but I deliberately left them that way. I also played a lot of the keyboard parts live rather than sequencing them. I wanted the performance element of the music to come through a bit more.

With such a "live" sound, do you think you will take the Minotaur Shock experience to the stage?

I've been working on that recently. At the moment the live show consists of me and Emily, who plays clarinet, flute and keyboards live. I prance about with a guitar trying to look important. There will be live drums in some form, but I haven't worked out exactly how yet. I enjoy playing live but don't like to rely too much on pre-recorded backing tracks, which is unavoidable given the kind of music I make. So its a case of making it as engaging as possible and trying to avoid hiding behind a laptop. I find that the easiest way to achieve this is to try and build a set with as many things as possible that can go wrong. And then fail spectacularly onstage.

How do you go about making your tunes and how long do you spend on each one?

Sometimes they form naturally from playing about on my computer for hours with no real direction, other times I try to combine different things to see what would happen, and other times I invent some daft idea of what I should write a song about and then try and reflect that instrumentally. Most of the songs I write are about something or other, but usually its only me who knows what. I work on them until I realise I'm not making the song any better anymore.

You released an EP compilation with Bronze Age Fox last year, how are things going with the band and can we expect any new releases soon?

We've got a full-length album in the bag and are currently looking for the right label to put it out. It's a proper pop album with guitar solos and horn sections.

Were you in any bands before Melodic signed you or was Minotaur Shock your first forray into the musical world?

I was in a band at school, we used to cover Ride, Teenage Fanclub, The Wedding Present and Pavement and stuff. In fact, this pioneering band directly inspired Bronze Age Fox to form - they were a few years below us at school, but they tell me they had a eureka moment when they saw us play Territorial Pissings by Nirvana in the gym. Then a couple of years later they recruited me as their drummer.

Do you think recording with your band Bronze Age Fox has influenced the new LP at all?

Definitely, I spent a good few months working on pop songs, and not listening to any modern electronic records. I got really bored with electronica and the like so immersed myself in stuff like Prefab Sprout, Todd Rundgren and Steely Dan. I realised that I wanted to make song-based instrumental music - on most of the tracks I tried to follow traditional song structures and have lead instruments (to replace the vocals) rather than build songs using loops and layers.

The b-side 'This Side of Vigo Bay' on your new single features vocals from your band mate Dominic Jones - are vocals something you'd like to incorporate more in the future? If so which vocalists would you like to work with?

I like having vocals, but I always worry that the actual lyrics will be rubbish. I will incorporate them in the future though, in some way or another. Who would I like to work with? hmmm I reckon Paddy McAloon, Neil Tennant, Norman Blake and Scott Walker for starters. I also really like some of Galia's vocals on the Psapp album, I like her backing vocals. And I find it easy working and writing with Dominic, so I'd use him again. I love Brandy's voice too.

Are there any artists / bands at the moment you think are really making groundbreaking music or have really blown you away, that you'd love to work with?

Max Tundra is one of the most inspiring musicians around at the moment I reckon. Although some of his stuff can come across as quite flippant unless you listen carefully, he manages to cram more ideas into one 2 minute song than most people do in a whole album. I would love to work with him on a straightforward pop album.

What have got planned for the next EP / albums?

The next album is going to be hot and dry and feature a lot of brass. That's as far as I've got with it.

You are credited as being one of the artists to establish the horribly titled "folktronica" scene - do you hate being pigeonholed and if you could describe your music as anything, what would you choose?

Yeah, the folktronica thing puzzled me because I don't really like folk music. It's never good being pigeonholed. The guy who came round to fix the washing machine today asked me what type of music I make, so I said 'instrumental stuff with computers'. He then said "what market is that aimed at then?". I was stumped.

There's a recurring 80's theme running through certain tracks on the new album, what were you listening to while you in the recording process?

Aaah, I guess I already answered this. But if you want a list of names, I guess it would include Thomas Dolby, The Art Of Noise, Andrew Poppy, Prefab Sprout, OMD, Pet Shop Boys, Mr Fingers, Aztec Camera, Evelyn King, Hall & Oates, John Carpenter, Kid Creole, The Wedding Present and stuff like that.

Who are the people that influenced you to start making music yourself in the beginning?

"Bytes" by Black Dog was the record that blew me away and made me want to make electronic music. To this day, I don't think it's been bettered. Most of the early Warp stuff and then Global Communication and then DJ Shadow and the whole Mo' Wax / Ninja Tune thing, that's what got me going.

Who designed your artwork it's gorgeous, and do you think a great sleeve is important in completing the whole package?

My long-time collaborator Warwick did all the illustrations. Warwick's brilliant, he lives by the sea and takes people out for trips in boats. I know that I can explain to him what I'm trying to get across in the music and he'll be able to turn my words and music into great pictures. Artwork and song titles are very important in instrumental music I reckon. It's all you can use to get across specific ideas about songs without resorting to vocals or vocal samples. I like to spend a lot of time ensuring that the artwork, titles and music all add up and complement each other to try and express the specific ideas that I'm aiming at.