The Glasgow-based electro-pop band, fifth in the BBC's Sound Of 2013 new music list, get their hands on a string of musical inventions
Iain Cook, Martin Doherty and Lauren Mayberry have come to understand that new technology plays plural fundamental roles in a band like theirs. That said, there aren't all that many bands like Chvrches, whose three members quickly dispel the preconception that all songs begin with a thoughtful loner behind a pencil and a piano.
"Coming to practice with a song already written is banned," says Doherty. "The interesting thing about this band is that it's not one person's individual input that matters, it's what happens in the studio when everyone's together."
According to Cook, it is during this primary collaborative stage that technology plays its first part. "We're inspired by pieces of technology. If we get a new synthesiser or a new drum machine or a certain sound, it can trigger off the momentum for a whole stream of creative ideas that we might never have thought of if we were just sitting with an electric guitar. The more new stuff we have in the studio, the better, because we have a broader palette to start from."
Mayberry brings an open mind to the four potential additions to that palette: "Different things work for different people, and if this stuff helps more people to enjoy playing and writing music, that's great."
1 AlphaSphere
A spherical midi-controller covered with tensile, circular pads. Programmable to provide an infinite variety of loops, samples and software instruments in a single manual interface. alphasphere.com , from £678.90
Mayberry "It looks cool especially with the lights going, but it would be hard to find your way around it on stage because it looks and feels the same all the way round. It seems lovely but I'd rather use a keyboard."
Cook "The latex sensors remind me a bit of Videodrome , the scene where the face comes through the TV. There is a skinlike, organic feel to it which is oddly satisfying, but at the same time it looks really dated."
Doherty "I can see that, if I devoted the time to it, there could be some glory in the AlphaSphere; it could be useful as a control surface for clips, like a spherical Launchpad and the midi clock is pretty clever. Someone who spent the next two years mastering this could end up doing something really impressive. But it's not me. Having said that, give it six months and there'll be a band of four people who just play AlphaSpheres at the front of the stage."
Mayberry "And we'll be the old people who didn't understand."
Verdict Visually stimulating but possibly gimmicky.
2 Skoog
A spongy cube aimed at newcomers to music and those less able to play traditional instruments. Five coloured pads control numerous software instruments, while an accompanying app teaches songs. skoogmusic.com, £499.95
Cook "This seems to work like a different-looking Guitar Hero controller..."
Mayberry "Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've been trying to teach myself guitar for the longest time and I can't get beyond a certain level of crapness. But I'm really good at Guitar Hero, so if there was a way to get Guitar Hero to actually teach you the guitar I would absolutely do that. It reminds me of the Jibber Jabber, that toy from the 90s with a big plastic head and the long neck which you shook to make a noise. I understand the importance of toys that make sounds and are tactile things as well, and in that context, or as an educational or therapeutic tool, I would vote for it. A way of understanding music that's based on colours and visual markers is often more approachable to people than a treble clef and a bass clef. Having that kind of visual reinforcement is useful in an educational context. Notation is pretty impenetrable and we know lots of great musicians who can't read traditional notation."
Verdict Effective as a learning tool, less so as an instrument.
3 Seaboard
A full-sized stage piano whose rubbery, pliable keys respond to minute variations in the fingertips, allowing advanced dynamic expression. roli.com , £1,200
Cook "Oh wow! It circumvents one of the major problems of the keyboard really, which is that you're playing on a grid. With this, you can play in between the notes. It's all black, which would make it hard to play if it was dark on stage – you'd have to put Tipp-Ex on all the sharps and flats – but some really nice thought has gone into it. I think there's room in the marketplace for things that are slightly changing the established hardware and things that are completely revolutionary. Maybe the key to an instrument like this is not to think of it as a piano at all, but even so it's an evolutionary instrument that I can see having real impact."
Doherty "The aftertouch doesn't really blow me away – assignable aftertouch has been going on in synthesisers for a long time. But if there are infinite parameters that can be assigned to this controller, then we might be going somewhere much more interesting. This has by far the most real-world potential. It could be really amazing."
Verdict A possibly much-needed evolution of the traditional keyboard.
4 Deltar
A 12-stringed acoustic instrument in the shape of an irregular triangle-based pyramid. Supposed by its inventor to be acoustically superior to ordinary, pear-shaped stringed instruments. http://ift.tt/1jYnkaJ , £1,499
Mayberry "I'm not sure it would fit into a conventional band setting, but the resonance on it is really nice. The top end actually sounds less shrill than some guitars; it's quite warm. There's a Scottish guitar player guy who makes a lot of rhythm loops by banging on his guitar. Maybe he could use this, or Bon Iver on his next record? Or maybe it would be perfect for us, if only we understood it a bit more. Sound guys would hate us though."
Cook "The Deltar looks like the kind of thing you'd see in a Bill and Ted movie where they travel back in time but still have to play heavy metal. Maybe it's brilliant; there was a man called Harry Partch who built a whole suite of strange musical instruments. They didn't really catch on but he was a genius. It does sound nice, don't get me wrong. I just don't really see the market for it."
Martin "I really disagree with what Iain's saying. I mean, it looks terrible – worse than a keytar – but it gets really interesting when you let it ring out: it sustains way longer than a guitar. I think maybe it's a studio instrument, something you could use in a single context, maybe a folk album. Or Natasha Khan could get away with this. But I think if you used it on stage you'd have to hide it so you looked like less of a beamer.
Verdict Lute-meets- Flying V. Strangely ornamental, sounds good.
by Kit Buchan via Music: Electronic music | theguardian.com
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