Primarily a solo project, Teeth & Tongue has grown steadily over the years with each release, and continued to bend genres, resulting in her unique take on modern pop. Having released her third album Grids earlier this year and just days out from a national headline tour, Cornelius talks openly about making final tour preparations, the joy of drum machines and what it takes to discover your own sound.
The creation of Grids didn’t come easy for Cornelius, and in actual fact, came at a time when the songwriter wasn’t even contemplating writing another record. “One of the reasons (for the long process) was that I actually didn’t have a full album written when I started recording because I’d never actually planned on starting it,” she says. “I wasn’t like, ‘I’m going to make a record’. I didn’t actually feel like I was quite ready to make another album. I had a handful of songs and I really wanted to get them down and demo them because I felt like they were a bit of a departure from what I’d done before and I was really excited about them.”
Grids is a truly 21st century album. Written and recorded by Cornelius in her home as well as in the studio, it was built layer by layer and is the result of new technologies which afford such DIY efforts, yet ones which produce polished results. It’s a diverse record, with no two songs sounding the same – Cornelius’ strong, soulful voice being the only constant. It’s experimental, quirky, and perhaps even a little weird. But it is most certainly unique.
When quizzed on the diversity of the record, talk quickly turns to modern technology and the way in which samples and virtual instruments allow access to an endless array of sounds and effects to experiment with.
“When you’re using drum samples, you can obviously use a lot of hip hop sounds and a lot of things you might not be able to get with a drummer which is why I really like using drum machines,” says Cornelius. “I’ve just always been fascinated with all those sounds that are within a little drum machine box, you know, all those ‘80s snares, like fully gated pop sounds. But you know, I also really like really messy noise guitar stuff.”
It’s this clash of musical influences that gives Grids its unique sound. However, it has also been the cause of some comments over the lack of cohesiveness on the record. Grids is simply the result of a songwriter who is unwilling to be pigeonholed into any one specific genre.
“I really did try to make a cohesive album,” she says almost apologetically. “But I have to admit, my influences are all over the shop so it can be a struggle to do that.”
For the upcoming Grids national tour, Cornelius will be armed with not only a growing list of songs to choose from but also a full live band. “Everything’s in real time now,” she says of the current live show. “There’s no backing track on a metronome or anything, which means we can really play with a lot of timing, we can change the time mapping to make things longer or shorter, and be a lot more adaptable and flexible.”
So has the release of Grids brought Teeth & Tongue closer to finding its true sound? “People talk about discovering your own sound and that kind of thing but I think it’s this ever-changing thing,” says Cornelius. “If I’d made this album in three months’ time it would probably be a really different album.”
BY JAMES NICOLI
