Psapp 'The Only Thing I Ever Wanted'
Encountering Psapp’s Galia Durant and Carim Clasmann at their clandestine King’s Cross HQ-cum-studio-playpen is less like meeting a band and more like stumbling into a funny, hazy, miraculous parallel universe. A kind of boho bolthole-meets-Narnia-scape, theirs is a cosy, dusty, otherworldly realm - a clutter of home-made toys, doll’s house ephemera, somnolent cats, glinting laptops, and incalculable bric-a-brac of mysterious provenance. And that’s not to mention the duo’s veritable junkshop heaven of arcane musical instruments and ‘sound emitters’ that range from gleaming pianos and pot-bellied ouds to children’s xylophones, farmyard noise-makers, mechanical ashtrays and squeaky rubber poultry; all of it holding equal sway in Psapp’s giddy, skittering sonic dominion. Curious, then, that such an apparently cloistered, hermetic environment should be the wellspring for music whose appeal already stretches around the globe.
In part thanks to its ubiquity on primetime US TV shows like Gray’s Anatomy, Nip/Tuck and The OC, Psapp’s agitated-yet-swooning electro-acoustic signature is already a familiar sound in millions of living rooms. Indeed, Psapp have made a unique, fully focused noise since their debut track appeared in spring 2003, ushering in what has been a quietly meteoric ascent - from homespun indie hopefuls to assured international contenders in little over two years. Their own ‘silly noises’ married to Galia’s sultry vocals and perspicacious lyrics produced recordings of shimmering originality and nascent charm - an opinion shared by the handful of labels to which Psapp sent demos toward the end of 2002. By 2003 several Psapp tracks found their way to US music consultants who were universally wowed by the band’s evocative charms. The duo’s music seemed to chime with the TV zeitgeist and started to seep into primetime dramas (not to mention a very high profile Volkswagen advert), culminating in the track ‘Cosy In The Rocket’ being chosen as the theme music to hit ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. At a stroke, burgeoning inquisitiveness about Psapp turned into an eager US fanbase.
Released in February 2005, ‘Tiger My Friend’ consolidated the burgeoning interest in all things Psapp. MOJO magazine’s four star review – “Arresting, childlike pop confections... effortlessly carved pop sophistication...” was typically hyperbolic. By autumn 2005 Psapp had spurned major label advances, preferring to ink a deal with Domino. After their initial touring forays were successfully completed, Psapp set about buffing their second album to lustrous perfection, pausing only to head down to the BMI Award for 2005’s Best TV Theme Tune for ‘Cosy In The Rocket’. The resulting album, ‘The Only Thing I Ever Wanted,’ marks a change of approach. “I think this new record’s got a bit more of an ‘in the house’ atmosphere, than the previous one”, Carim ventures. “A lot of the new songs are quite joyful but quite sad simultaneously,” Galia adds. “Songs can be pretty one-dimensional – ‘we’ve broken up’ or ‘I’m so in love’ - but life’s not really like that. When we were making the new album my cat, Puss Puss died, I came to live in King’s Cross, I fell in love, got engaged, got unengaged, had the landlord threatening to evict us at any moment and so on...” Emotional ambiguity and Damocles-like landlords notwithstanding, ‘The Only Thing I Ever Wanted’ is surely Psapp’s finest chapter to date. It’s brimful of undeniable pop hooks, gorgeous, mosaic-like arrangement details and looks set to transport Psapp to new, dizzying heights. What’s more, it’s surely the most poignant songwriting ever to be underscored by toy animals and kitchen utensils.
