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HV interviews Claire from YACHT, and gets rather more than we bargained for…
When we last saw Jona perform in 2006, he was dancing alone in front of a video projection in La Fleche D’Or, Paris, whilst supporting Junior Boys. What’s changed?
A great deal. Of course, there are the physical differences: the addition of one (Claire L. Evans), and then three more new members (the group now known as the Straight Gaze). The gradual movement from solo computer performance to multimedia, instrumental,Temporary Autonomous immersion; the evolution in the music's style and intent. We look different, too, than we did four, five years ago. But this is all external. The real difference is inside of us, and it's due to an experience we (Jona and Claire) shared in the Far West Texas desert. We experienced a paranormal optical phenomenon there called the "Marfa Mystery Lights;" it is an unexplained thing that happens in the desert, and it had a profound effect on us as people and as artists. From that point forward, YACHT changed forever.
[HV: This is what Wikipedia has to say about the Marfa Mystery Lights: ‘Reports often describe brightly glowing basketball sized spheres floating above the ground… usually described as white, yellow, orange or red… The balls are said to hover at about shoulder height, or to move laterally at low speeds, or sometimes to shoot around rapidly in any direction.]
Where did it all start?
YACHT began as a one-man project in 2002. It was, at the time, an experiment in how to use technology without falling into the same patterns that electronic musicians at the time seemed to be dependent on; early YACHT shows used the computer like a punk rock instrument, kicked around and not given any special reverence. It was an attempt to take electronic music performance beyond its particular limitations. This continued and evolved for several years, and a handful of YACHT albums were released during this period. Later, YACHT was irrevocably changed by the Marfa Mystery Lights experience and began using the performance ideas cultivated over the early years to develop, produce, and distribute the current YACHT message.
What’s your inspiration?
Our primary inspiration is, and has been, the Marfa Mystery Lights. We are traditionally net-native, self-navigating children of a digital generation which depends so much now on shorthand, quick answers, and quick readings of mass information; we had forgotten, by the time we saw the lights, how to have a truly unmediated experience. The lights, being genuinely without rationality, and without easy solutions for their existence, prompted in us a genuinely transcendent (or "spiritual") experience. We realized that there is still mystery in the world, and that mystery has a value that cannot be measured by our contemporary standards. It prompted for us a long period of thought, discussion, and eventually the development of our current philosophical system.
Explain your manifesto.
The manifesto is a bare-bones outline of some of our beliefs. We didn't always intend to make a manifesto, or to use the word "manifesto" (in fact, we prefer "mission statement"); however, it quickly became clear to us that it was necessary. We found that people were reluctant to accept that there is an ideological side to YACHT without the existence of some kind of outline of beliefs; otherwise, it appears to be simply an aesthetic gesture, or worse, a marketing scheme. The Mission Statement lays a framework for the kinds of ideas we are interested in discussing -- we put it there so people have some background, some context, and a series of points to begin with when they begin conversations with us. And those conversations are important. The Mission Statement, in fact, is something of a living document, changed and amended as a result of the discussions we have with people after YACHT shows on tour.
‘YACHT believes in reforming an adequate language by coining new words.’ Give us an example of a new word you have coined, and what it means.
The passage you have selected from our manifesto is very interesting, and we're glad you've chosen to question it. It may sound oblique, but it's actually quite simple. YACHT practice a dietary and political position known as veganism, which is the complete abstaining from consuming any animal products of any kind. However, we prefer not to discuss the subject very much in public because it is associated with a kind of extreme political gesture of "shock and awe," and often depicted in the mainstream media as being something typically "indie-rock," "emo," "Portland," or "bleeding-heart." We don't like being associated with an entire subjective preconceived genre of people based on something as simple as our food. It is, after all, the most personal thing there is. That said, we also believe strongly in veganism and would be happy to discuss if you're interested. Simply, the passage below refers to the callous daily act of changing the names of animals into the names of food once they have died: "pig" to "pork," "cow" to "beef," etc. Language plays a huge part in the way we all perceive the world around us, and the language we use to talk about food must be revised in order to depict more clearly its reality. Someone who regularly eats beef may think twice when their food is called "cow."
However, this belief extends beyond the borders of food. Our language defines us, shapes us, quite literally names our world. It is also a structure of power. Why do you think that teenagers and members of counter-cultures always invent new words, new slang? To take back that power from the institutions and authorities which raised them. Inventing words is a huge gesture of independence, and it can delineate the boundaries of a new subculture just as the language of a country delineates its separation from another. The Heaven's Gate cult, who passed away in a mass suicide in 1997, had an entirely separate language that they used only to communicate with one another: referring to money as "sticks," meals as "experiments," and so forth.
Your tour schedule looks pretty intense: how’s that going for you?
It is what it is. We have a responsibility to the world to present and represent our work. We can't sit back and think that YACHT will be understood by everyone that hears it: it's our job to defend it, to speak with people, to perform for people, to try to create immersive, anarchic environments for people to commune in and enjoy. For the time being, that's the only mission on our lives.
What’s next?
Honestly, we don't know. For the last year we have followed a path which our music has laid out for us; every footstep was a step forward into the darkness, and we don't know where, when, or how it will end - only that we hope one day to look down from the mountain and see it all behind us.
Yacht are supporting LCD Soundsystem on tour across Europe, with the Manchester date taking place on 1st May at the Academy. TAGS: Yacht, LCD Soundsystem, DFA Records Words by: Anne-Marie Pattenden
Links:
YACHT - Myspace
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