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Thu. January 07.1999 3:01 AM EST |
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Best Of '99: For $1,000, Momus Will Write A Song About YouUpcoming Stars Forever album intended to help pay legal bills of experimental singer/songwriter's U.S. label. by Contributing Editor Christopher O'Connor |
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Momus calls his current writing style "analog baroque." (Matt Melucci) |
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[Editor's note: Over the holiday season, SonicNet is looking back at 1999's top stories, chosen by our editors and writers. This story originally ran on Thursday, Jan. 7.] British pop-experimentalist Momus is taking commercial pop to a
Momus, whose real name is Nick Currie, announced the project on his website (www.demon.co.uk/momus) Jan. 1. As of Wednesday (Jan. 6), 14 of the 30 slots had been snapped up, according to the website. Among the buyers: Japanese modern rocker Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada); and Girlie Action, a New York publicity company that counts Momus as a client. During a telephone interview Wednesday, Momus, 38, said he wants "to show the fans that want to be patrons [that] they could have musical portraits of themselves." But there's another motive behind the album, which is to be called Stars Forever. Momus' U.S. record label, Le Grand Magistery, is facing massive legal bills because of a lawsuit regarding the content of one song on Momus' latest album, The Little Red Songbook (1998), according to Momus and Matthew Jacobson, owner of the Bloomfield Hills, Mich., label. Neither one would discuss details of the suit, but Jacobson said it has left the label on the verge of bankruptcy. He said the label plans to re-release The Little Red Songbook without the song, which he declined to identify. The Stars Forever project will raise money for the label, the roster of which also includes the modern-pop band Shoestrings. Fans or supporters who want to be immortalized on Stars Forever in return for their $1,000 can reserve a spot on the album by e-mailing Momus through the website. Momus will write two-minute songs based on a 1,000-word description provided by each subject, who in turn will have final approval over the lyrics. Momus said the idea is to evoke the Renaissance era of patronage, when suitors commissioned artists to paint their portraits. The name, Stars Forever, comes from the idea that his subjects will be immortalized by the work, he said. Momus, who took his performing name from the Greek god of criticism and mockery, said he'll compose the songs in the same style he used on The Little Red Songbook, which he calls "analog baroque" (that's also the name of Momus' own London-based label). Songbook, which includes such tracks as "Born to Be Adored" (RealAudio excerpt) and "Everyone I Have Ever Slept With" (RealAudio excerpt), features spare, synthesized arrangements that Momus said are influenced by his love of the complex chord structures of baroque-era classical music and his fascination with computers. "We're in this digital age now," he said. "I'm trying to make music from a computer's eye view." Jacobson said Momus will "be able to write the songs pretty quickly once the money comes in." In fact, Momus said, he's already started. "It's fantastic to play with the sound of someone's name," he said. "It's also very exciting. I'm writing about other people for a change. It'll be more objective." While the plan is to use only the first 30 people whose checks clear the bank, Jacobson said the project might expand if the interest is strong enough. "I was scared there would be no interest at all," Momus said. "Now I can make albums like this for the rest of my life if I wanted to." Momus said he's particularly excited that Cornelius has bought a space on the album. "I just admire his creativity," Momus said. "He's just an original fresh thinker." While Matador Records, Cornelius' U.S. label, confirmed his participation, another name listed on Momus' website as having reserved a spot is the New York independent record store Other Music, which actually hasn't committed any money, according to the store's owner. Other Music owner Josh Madell said he is interested in participating in some way, however. "Momus has been a friend of the store's for a while," Madell said. "We're big supporters of his music." He said Other Music, which stocks Momus' albums in a section dubbed "La Decadanse," might decide to help promote the album rather than buy a song on it. |
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