Atmospheric Disturbances

Brimming with beats, samples and deep, dark bass - Capac present electronica at its most haunted. Count us under its spell.

With more textures than a fabric remnant shop, Capac’s widescreen, glitchy electronica singlehandedly proves that Liverpool’s music scene is, indeed, healthier and more diverse than ever. Hey, who knew?

Championed by Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, Capac (Gaz Solomon, Stu Cook and Joshua Davenport) have released debut long-player, Pastels - a SevenStreets essential purchase - through On The Shelf records.

Shimmering with invention, warmth and brooding beats, Pastels is the perfect introduction to Capac’s thrilling sonic template. We caught up with them ahead of a mini tour starting this month.

Tell us about Capac - when did it begin?

Capac started as A Cup of Tea a few years ago; back then it was just the two of us (Stu and Gaz). Josh wasn’t living in Liverpool at the time but would frequently visit and help us out. Things got a little more serious, we started to develop our sound and Josh moved back up. Then about a year ago we changed our name, and things have been moving forward at a good pace since then.

Pastels is getting great reviews - is it an accurate reflection of the Capac manifesto?

We’re happy with the way Pastels has turned out, we see it as a focused collection of where we are right now; some of the songs on there started as little ideas almost two years ago, so it was good to get it together. It was recorded entirely in our house(s), and contrary to what you might think there are a lot of recorded sounds on there, most of the stuff that sounds like a lead synth or a pad is manipulated acoustic guitar. We have to give a shout out to the guys at On The Shelf Records for their constant support and advice; Chris, Matt and Lewis have have been incredibly helpful with all stages of the release.

Liverpool’s music scene is….

…a lot more varied than we used to give it credit for; sure there are hundreds of ‘cool’ indie bands, but for every 30 of those you’ve got a Sun Drums/Shadow Cabinet/DNA Orchestra/Direwolfe.

You’ve been described as many things - how would you describe yourselves?

A trio of musicians creating and performing electronic tunes with an organic core.

How did you get your stuff used on Channel 5?

Two words, Sentric Music. The guys are fantastic, we couldn’t really say a bad thing about them. Sign up if you’re an artist, you’ve literally nothing to lose. They haven’t only helped us land FiveTV and Hollyoaks syncs, but also claim a bunch of PRS loyalties.

Do you feel like outsiders in Liverpool?

Yes and no. Yes in a sense that we still see the scene as mostly dominated by indie bands. But on the No side of things there’s a lot of great stuff going on too, you’ve just got to dig a little to get it, and with the opening of The Shipping Forecast and regular Chibuku nights, big names who aren’t NME cover stars are starting to find their way here. So yeah, exciting.

What’s next?

“See The Young” which features the vocal talents of Kate Smith (DNA Orchestra) has just been released on Music Sounds Better With Huw Vol.2 (Wichita Recordings) which is a digital compilation put together by Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens, which is very exciting. Right now we’re focused on getting the live trio up and running (until recently we’ve operated as a two-piece live) for a spell of shows in October/November (capacmusic.co.uk/gigs for details) culminating in supporting Spokes at their single launch at Electrowerkz in London. We’ll also be performing a live horror soundpiece as part of the Liverpool Biennial at the Cooperative (Renshaw Street) at an event called HellFayre. We’ve produced and performed a few soundpieces before (including Klimt and Daniel Johnston) but this is to be the first with Rita involved on live visuals; it should be fun especially for horror movie fans.

What do you like in Liverpool right now?

Sun Drums, Tokyou, Hive Collective, Bido Lito Magazine, Shadow Cabinet, The Shipping Forecast, Elif (Turkish BBQ on Lark Lane), Bombed Out Church films and Power kiting at Otterspool Promenade

Who are you listening to?

James Blake, Sub Motion Orchestra, Synkro, Darkstar, Lethem, This Will Destroy You, Trentemøller, Bill Evans Trio, Burial

http://www.capacmusic.co.uk/