Interviews - Time Off Magazine


Time Off Magazine interview.


From her first taste of fame with the Sneaker Pimps in the mid-90s, Kelli Ali has enjoyed a rollercoaster of a career. Dance fans probably know her best for her collaboration with Japanese house maestro Satoshi Tomeii (1999’s ‘Love In Traffic’), while her first solo album, Tigermoth, found her exploring a much more subdued, acoustic mood. Now, with the release of her second album, Psychic Cat, Ali has undergone another transformation into indie-rock chick.

“I’ve always really loved working with guitarists and guitars,” she says by way of explanation, “and I’m really interested in mixing electronic music with more organic sound, although obviously everybody’s doing that now! But Psychic Cat is definitely a lot more rocking than Tigermouth!”

The new direction has been influenced, in part at least, by some of the artists she’s been listening to (she cites Jet and Goldfrapp as recent favourites), and with a new band forming around her, she’s keen to take the new album into the live arena, even if she is a little apprehensive about it.

“I find myself constantly battling against what is good enough,” she admits. “Recently we did some very small gigs and I feel like there’s work to be done yet. Seeing a band like Goldfrapp and the great show they have, it’s really important to me that next time we go out we’ve got a really rocking show! It’s hard, because I’ve feel like I’ve been kind of going back to front – I’ve been doing the record, and then recreating it live. I’d like to get it back to a place where I’m doing it the right way around – playing it live, then making the record!”

At the same time, however, Ali is clearly enjoying a more hands-on approach in the studio. While in the past she’s worked with the likes of über-producer Marius De Vries, Psychic Cat apparently marks a new level of involvement for Ali.

“At this point it’s not really enough to just play a song and then leave it for someone else to say ‘Okay, this is the direction we’re going to go’,” she says. “I don’t really understand how people work like that!”

Having achieved that level of control, Ali is now focused on exploring even more musical frontiers.

“This is my second album and from the first one to this one it’s like a definite journey. I feel like I’ve grown and I’m really hoping that with the next one I’ll feel that as well. To be honest with you, it’s really important for me to get this next album more live and I feel like the more I listen to the people and music I love, the more abstract I can see myself going!”

Psychic Cat is out now through Shock.

CHRIS BUCKRIDGE