Tricky moved to Paris a few years back, and says he enjoys it there. Does he enjoy the French capital more than Bristol, the southern English city where he grew up and began his career as a producer and performer? “Let’s just say I like visiting London,” he says, avoiding talk of his hometown. “There’s always fucked up shit going on here in London. There could be people down in the street giving flowers to each other, and it’s such a big city that around the corner someone’s getting mugged. Life just goes on here.
“London is the place I go to get food or buy books. I can’t read French, so I come here to stock up on books, and eat food I can’t get in France.” It’s also the place he’s been recording with Francesca Belmonte, one of the many guests who appears on the trip hop pioneer’s tenth album, False Idols. “We’re working on some pretty incredible stuff for her album,” Tricky says. “It’s pretty scary how good the album is sounding already. I reckon I might be supporting her next year.”
Other collaborators on False Idols include Igbo singer Nnenka, Fifi Rong and Peter Silberman from The Antlers. Silberman contributes vocals on the hypnotic lead single Parenthesis, and his involvement came about purely by chance.
“I met Antlers at a festival,” Tricky explains, “and the thing that impressed me was they weren’t playing the rock stars. They’re a band that is doing well, but they’re grounded. That’s enough to make me want to work with someone, much more than any talent they might have.”
Tricky is renowned for his exacting standards in the studio. Does he think he is too demanding? “Nine times out of ten if someone is going on my album, it’s because I know that they can bring something, but it has to be done my way. I want to hear things my way, because I know what I want, and I know what I need. I work very fast, and I don’t like waiting around,” he says.
The Brit might be exacting, but he admits it’s because he’s in a state of bliss when in the studio. “I love the recording process,” Tricky says. “If it becomes painful I walk away. When you start analysing too much it becomes a job. An older musician told me once that when you record something, remember the first feeling it gave you and play it like that. Otherwise you start questioning yourself, and that’s never going to help.”
His latest album is the first time to be released on his own label, also called False Idols. It follows a painful separation with Domino Records, who had backed his previous two albums. “When I was with them I couldn’t work quick enough. I’d record my demos, and then the CEO (Laurence Bell) of the label would have to come to Paris to tell me if I was ready to mix. He’s never made a record in his life: how can he tell me if I’m ready to mix? I like the guy personally, but that was really painful business. I could have done Knowle West four months quicker if it wasn’t for Laurence getting in the way, because that’s how I am and how I do things. Don’t get me wrong, Laurence is a great guy, but that was really painful.”
Creative hassles with Domino were added to by Tricky’s managerial strife. In November 2011 it was revealed that the artist’s former manager, Matt Willis, was suing him. Willis claimed that he was owed a share of the artist’s revenue since signing with Domino, which Tricky disputed. The battle is ongoing, and has clearly taken a toll on the musician.
“Right now everything is so busy for me,” Tricky says. “I’ve had the thing that’s been happening for the last few years, with my old manager. This old manger made a real mess of things for me, and it created all this stress. I’d never had stress like this before, and it gave me a pretty dark view of things. I know there’s a lot of fucked up shit going on in the business right now, and this just made all of that worse.”
False Idols is being released in collaboration with German imprint Studio !K7, who have licensing and distribution deals with a swag of influential labels including Frenchkiss Records (Les Savy Fav, Local Natives) and Lo Recordings (Aphex Twin, Four Tet). The Berlin group are providing artist and label services for the album, relieving some of the pressure on the Bristol-native, and allowed him to focus on the future.
“I’ve got another album coming out in January. I’m going to call it Hicks, and it’ll be very different to this one. There’ll be much more soulful tracks in places. I just love working, you know? I just love banging out the tracks,” Tricky laughs. “It’s funny: some artists might say being dropped is the worst, but I couldn’t be happier with where I’m at.”
BY BENJAMIN COOPER
