Tim Burgess, singer and founding member of The Charlatans, looks back on a career spanning more than thirty years. The sum of successes, tragedies and doubts gave birth to the group's current form. More alive than ever, he is ready to sink his teeth into the future, without forgetting where it comes from, nor what has already been accomplished. Interview.
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Happy to be back in business with The Charlatans, eight years after the previous album?
Yes, it took us a long time. It took us at least two and a half years to write and record We Are Love. We wanted to come back when we had something to say. This does not mean that we are releasing a huge political manifesto, but we felt that we had a viable artistic proposition in the middle of all this musical proposition. When you're doing an artistic activity, it's difficult to determine the right time to release something.
When did you know yours had arrived?
We wrote between 15 and 20 songs and only eleven ended up on the record. So there was some skimming work. We continued to write, between us, in the most sincere and personal way possible, keeping our passion intact. We include our notions of love, romance, beauty, as well as the emotions that bother us, or traumatize us! (Laughs) We notice in particular a certain emphasis on melody throughout this record.
Are there any new inspirations within the group?
Quite. Unlike what I do in my solo career, we all need to be in the same room to create. One of us may bring something, but it has to remain in embryonic form, so that everyone can put their stamp on it. If it's a whole piece, the others get angry! (Laughs) For my part, I really appreciate American artists such as Philip Glass or Peter Gordon, who also plays the saxophone on “Glad You Grabbed Me”. I really like Air, Animal Collective, MGMT, or even The Beach Boys… The melody obsesses me. There are always new ways to create them, to take different paths while composing.
