Talk Talk-Men of Ideias(Amusing old micro interview)

The new album is just titled Mark Hollis.
Does that mean it's kind of an essence?

No. I just didn't feel there was a reason for a title.
The songs have titles, which makes sense.
But the album...if it was the second it would need a title to distinguish it from the first.


In two aspects there is a difference between Spirit and Laughing Stock.
We still worked with arranged improvisation but treated the musicians
as isolated cells living in separate timezones as if they were revolving in space
and communicating from time to time but being completely isolated otherwise.
What was the Off-Beat for one musician was the On-Beat for the other.


Are there any intentions to play live at the moment?

No, none at all. Firstly it would be totally impossible to play this music live
and besides I have no desire to reproduce music for a whole year that I've just recorded.
I'd rather be writing new songs.

It's not a problem of contact with the audience,
but the question of sound.

Yes, absolutely.

But what about locations for classical music?

Yes, sure, but look, even during a classical concert you have noise,
there is coughing during really soft parts.
That throws off my concentration.
With rock music the live aspect has a value of its own,
whereas silence is an extremely important aspect of classical music,
so with the latter I prefer listening to records.
It's the same with my music, everything is so incredibly soft
that any interference would be fatal.

(This is an English translation made by Stefan Weber of an interview with Mark Hollis from the German website Subaudio .)