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Pressure Drop Interview U.K.'s Pressure Drop took their sweet-ass time putting out its highly-anticipated third album, Elusive, and a much longer stretch bringing it to the U.S. "We spent quite a lot of time, and we did have quite a lot going on," says Pressure Drop's Justin Langlands. "We wrote and recorded it in our own studio, and invested money in the kind of equipment that would allow us to do it in an environment that suited us - in a place where we trusted the sound." The end-result is well worth the wait. With caring hands and the help of some friends, Pressure Drop made Elusive its most fine-tuned release to date. From club progressive to more mid-tempo, Leftfield-like tracks, Langlands and his partner Dave Henley have done it all in years past. An amalgam of understated influences, Elusive surpasses Pressure Drop's earlier club hits in its versatility. The mood remains dark and pensive, particularly on songs like "Let Me Be Me" and "Darkness." Downtempo beats carry these brooding epics, only to be rocked by arbitrary smatterings of wah-wah guitar, vibes and strings. "We always search for new ways of expressing ourselves, and we're interested in a wide range of music and influences, which I'm sure you can hear on the album," Langlands claims. "Also, a lot of personal things that were happening sort of came out in the album as well." While Pressure Drop recorded Elusive, one of their good friends and colleagues passed away. They re-wrote "My Friend" - a song which sets the album's sad and ruminating tone - to relate to the situation. "We're more interested in the stronger emotions, the darker side of it all... it was a very tragic time," he discloses. Stylistically, the most obvious influence to come across in Elusive is a pervading reggae rhythm. "It never goes away, it's really affected dance music, and hip-hop and rap," Langlands says of Jamaican reggae. In fact, the duo will be featured on an upcoming BBC Radio One documentary about reggae's influence on current forms of dance music. The documentary will also feature Roni Size, and some new remix projects. "For us, reggae holds a lot of the things that we try to portray in our music as well - it tends to tackle more serious problems. And the songs are generally more people-oriented." This time around, the duo also solicited plenty of vocal support from the likes of Constantine Weir (formerly of Galliano) and Anita Jarrett (of Yo Yo Honey). Weir contributes both spoken word poetry and some vocals on the album. The poet also co-wrote lyrics for the politically-fueled "Silently Bad-Minded" and the deeply personal "My Friend." Jarrett, who makes several appearances throughout the album, belts out soulful and sultry vocals which elicit obvious comparisons to Jhelisa. Jarrett rips into bluesy out-takes like "Got to Be For Real," and is tempered by the deep, brooding melody on "Darkness." "We had a big respect for Yo Yo Honey's album," Langlands professes. "When it came time for us to look for a female singer, we were lucky enough to track down Anita... as you can tell, she's very versatile." In their tinkering, Pressure Drop runs into some inexplicable pitfalls - like the cheesy rapping on "Writing On the Wall." They redeem themselves with keepers like "Silently Bad-Minded," the album's first single. "'Silently Bad-Minded' is about people who are in positions of power and quite aware of the disruption and disharmony they're causing, but try not to take any notice of it," says Langlands. "It happens in all of society, not necessarily just with politicians." Also remixed by Stereo MC's and Roni Size, the track approaches a spaghetti-western feel with acoustic guitar, a kicky drum break and eerie, poetic ramblings. As Pressure Drop continues to evolve, so does its audience. "The album was taken quite seriously here in the UK, because it is a serious album... and it's growing." Elusive as Langlands would agree, is not immediately accessible. "You have to listen to it quite a few times - which is difficult in a way because people don't usually give that much time to things - but hopefully it's a timeless piece you can listen to ten years from now, and it won't sound dated." So, open your ears. You might be surprised at what you find. |