Issue 88 / May 2018

“It’s hard to separate
technology from
the existence of
Superorganism”
SUPERORGANISM
Pop Art 2.0: meet the multilimbed, multinational collective dismantling our
conceptions of music-making and creativity in the digital age.
In 2013, Talking Heads’ powerhouse and musical pioneer
David Byrne stated, “the internet will suck all creative
content out of the world”. Though the statement was mainly
referring to the decreasing monetary value of music due to
the rise of digital piracy and increased popularity in streaming
platforms, there’s also an argument that the internet can make
us lazy, distracted, less likely to flex our own creative muscles
and more likely to replicate someone else’s creative work.
SUPERORGANISM, however, are a band who kick against the
grain, acting as a beacon of Technicolor hope and proving that the
internet can spur innovative creativity.
Without the internet, our conversation with Harry, one of the
group’s songwriters and producers, would have been a lot more
difficult, for one. Sat on a couch on a dreary Birkenhead evening,
I facetime Harry – who also plays guitar on live duties – half the
world away. “Technology is the central feature of this band getting
together in a lot of ways,” a faint New Zealand accent tells me,
from the midst of touring the States with a band who only released
their debut track online just under two years ago. “We wouldn’t
have met each other in the first place if it wasn’t for the internet,
we wouldn’t have learnt how to make records at home if it wasn’t
for the internet, we wouldn’t have been able to make records at
home if it weren’t for digital fuckin’ workstations.”
Flying the flag for a new breed of bands who formed on
the web alongside the likes of hip hop collective Brockhampton,
Superorganism are a band doing things differently. “None of this
could have ever come together 20 years ago, so, in that sense it’s
very of the moment. It’s in the way that we met. It’s in the way
that we make music and send it before opening it in programs like
Logic. It’s just so fundamental to the band that it’s hard to separate
technology from the existence of Superorganism in a lot of ways.”
Superorganism’s background certainly shows a change in
the way music is made and groups are formed. With little public
exposure, the group signed a record deal with independent
trendsetters Domino and, before long, were doing sessions with
Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and appearing on the BBC behemoth
Later…. “It’s been kinda crazy but kinda mundane at the same
time,” Harry admits. “It doesn’t really sink in in a way. It all seems
kind of normal and then you’ll have moments like playing on Jools
Holland and Noel Gallagher’s there and you’re kind of like ‘What?
Like, what’s going on?’ It’s this weird thing because we don’t feel
like we’ve changed as people very much but everything’s moving
so fast. It can be a little bewildering at times and it’s difficult to
keep up.”
Propelled through hyperspace at breakneck speed, they’ve
quickly become one of the blogosphere’s most hyped bands
and it’s easy to see why they are so loved: offering up crazy,
Technicolor electro-infused indie pop with a delicious psychedelic
edge. It’s obvious a plethora of influences gathered from across
the globe have made the music what it is. Much the opposite
of Byrne’s comment, the transcontinental collective are one
of the most interesting and revitalising bands in recent times,
taking advantage of services such as streaming and reaping the
benefits.
With the group hailing from all four corners of the globe, they
have educated each other on their own personal tastes. “Orono
[lead vocalist and songwriter] filled me in on quite a lot of J-Pop
stuff which there’s no way I would’ve come across independently
so that sinks in and starts to make you think differently in terms
how you write and think about music. Just as one of the guys
from New Zealand showing someone something that they know
from home which might be quite obscure. At the same time,
with the age thing, when I started working with Orono, I hadn’t
watched much in terms of YouTubers and that started to make us
think about how content is created and consumed.”
With the band ranging from their late teens to early thirties
and coming from the likes of North America, Australasia, Asia
and Europe, their wide range of influences seem to be the
creative melting pot which manifests itself as Superorganism.
Despite their collected differences, there is one thing that unites
the band. “Perhaps the thing that has had the biggest impact on
the band is being born in one country and raised in another. I’m
from Burnley originally but I lived in New Zealand about half of
my life and so that starts to have an effect on you. When I go to
Burnley I’m clearly not like the rest of the people in Burnley, but
when I’m in New Zealand I don’t feel as though I’m a true New
Zealander. Emily [songwriter, producer, and synth] moved from
Australia to New Zealand. Orono moved from Japan to America
when she was 14 and went to boarding school. We’ve all been
bounced around between Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the US
and Korea so I feel that’s what’s made the most impact. There’s
this feeling of not being culturally or geographically tied to one
place which I guess is the most important thing as none of us
connect to one strong cultural identity.” It’s this nomadic quality
which seems to allow the group to work separately, yet bring
together a final product so perfectly.
There is more to Superorganism than the music. “We see
ourselves as a pop art project with a band at the centre of it.
With the fear of sounding pretentious, we feel it’s a bit like Andy
Warhol’s Factory. There were filmmakers, artists… I mean, he had
The Velvet Underground for God’s sake, and that’s kind of what
we’re going for.” Operating from their London-based modern day
Factory, the band do resonate with one of the 20th Century’s
most iconic visionaries. With their social commentary on topics
such as fame, bold bright homages to pop culture and an inhouse
production unit, they are a self-facilitating force, unafraid
of hard work.
Delving beyond the music, everything about the collective
seems to flow effortlessly. From the music to the art to the
playable video game for Something For Your M.I.N.D., the
attention to detail seems effortless. Superorganism offer up
not only music but a whole ecosystem inhabited by stock
footage scenery, flying mammals and retro game references,
all punctuated by hazy vocals and joyous instrumentation and
it seems that as they release more songs, another biosphere is
revealed from behind an 8-bit curtain.
Now based in London in a shared house, the new
experience of living together hasn’t meddled with their process
too much. “It’s not really changed our workflow. We still mostly
work alone and send files to each other even though we live in
the same house because we didn’t want to break up the method
when we were halfway through an album. We knew that if we
all started jamming in one room it would be like having two
albums in one. So, we kind of wanted to stick to that method
– but it also just works for us. It gives you a lot of space and
time to think of your own ideas without the pressures of being
around other people.”
Wrapping up our conversation I wonder where we’ll find
such an ambitious group in the future. “We don’t wanna sit
stagnant on things and be a band who take four years to make a
new album. At the moment we are focusing on making the best
live show we can, and this is only gonna get better as we start to
play bigger and bigger venues.” Much like the likes of The Velvet
Underground and The Flaming Lips before them, it seems that
fame will only open new opportunities for their ambition, and we
can’t wait to see where that takes them. !
Words: Matthew Hogarth
Photography: Jordan Hughes
wearesuperorganism.com
Superorganism perform at Hangar 34 on Saturday 5th May.
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