从那以后已经快20年了Sneaker Pimps上次发行专辑，发行了Bloodsport早在2002年，但后来有19年的演示，独奏项目和聚会的谣言，创立了二人组Chris Corner和Liam Howe再次彼此找到了彼此，并与新的歌手Simonne Jones登上了船上，他们准备发行他们的第四张专辑，他们的第四张专辑，平方圆本星期。
The road here has been far from smooth, as Howe and Corner’s long friendship was sorely tested when they headed in opposite life directions: Corner as an itinerant artist busy with his solo projects and soundtrack work, and Howe took time out to focus on raising his children, a commitment that clashed with constant making, touring and promoting new music.
There’s also the small matter of living on different continents, with Howe based in London, while Corner dials in to our chat from his home near Pioneertown – a small town a few hours south of LA which was originally conceived as a ‘living breathing Old West movie set’.
It’s a far cry from family life in Britain, but Corner is already in flux – he’s just sold his home to the founder of Coachella so his studio has moved from the guest house into his trailer, ready to move further across the desert toward San Diego. There, a huge plot of land awaits him and his three colleagues, stage manager Paul and UNFALL label staff Amy and Lily in their trailer vans, where he envisions their creative commune-style existence.
吉他星
Sneaker Pimps were one of the acts that crossed over into the UK mainstream in the wake of Massive Attack and Portishead bringing trip-hop to the public consciousness, and while they were always an electronic act, the guitar has always been a significant, if occasionally incongruous, component of that.
As if to emphasise that duality, Corner, seated in his trailer studio, is surrounded by a wall of hanging guitars on one side, and a wall of modular synths on the other. He is a self-confessed music nerd, and evidently delighted to discuss the tools of his art, but as he makes clear, discussing tools is only useful and relevant where the product is clear and impactful in its intention.
It was the simple, impactful beauty of classic, flamenco-style guitar that first introduced him to the instrument that would become his lifelong companion.
“I loved classical guitar when I was a kid,” he tells us. “I never went to music school, so it was very much [just me] being in my bedroom and trying to copy Spanish-style guitar or fingerpickingSimon＆Garfunkelmusic. I was obsessed with that kind of folk-edge, where there’s lots of arpeggios and lots of emphasis on the acoustic sound. I really gravitated towards the emotion of保罗·西蒙（Paul Simon）的歌曲创作和吉他的流畅性，这对我来说总是非常令人印象深刻，这就是我看到与古典吉他相似的地方。”
While not many listeners would pick Sneaker Pimps as a band influenced by classical folk, there is definitely the sound of raw, acoustic guitar on平方圆. The strummed folk-esque guitar intro on纸室通过数字爆发的声音，听起来像是千年现代现代的现代吉他和原声吉他Lifeline是阳光明媚，宽敞的心情的核心。
“我一直对复杂的技术和传统吉他作品着迷，” Corner解释说。“我对技术和生产感到迷恋，操纵吉他的声音几乎不再像吉他了。随着时间的流逝，运动鞋皮条客一直坚持这种混合动力，但有时更诚实，有时[吉他]被隐藏在混合物中，我使它听起来像样品或其他东西。
“I always tend to bring out the acoustic nylon-stringed guitar when I’m writing a melody with emotional weight. I think it’s because it has this kind of gentle softness, but it’s dark and broody at the same time.”
他的歌曲创作吉他是尼龙弦乐Takamine，尽管他刚刚被赠予了适合不断旅行的吉他 - OC660m的旅程 - 这已成为他的“吉他图书馆”中最新的吉他，以获得广泛的歌曲创作。
他补充说：“这是一把非常温暖的吉他，带有怪异的声音孔。”“因此，这听起来很独特，而且牢不可破，因此您实际上无法粉碎它。”
真正的音乐
There’s one guitar in his collection that stands out, and one that Corner describes as “most dear to me, my favourite” – a 1973里肯贝克481在他获得了带有运动鞋皮条客的“真正的音乐家”之后，他买了第一笔薪水。在1997年，借给吉他，这感觉像是很多钱，但事实证明，这在各种意义上都被证明是一项明智的投资。
“这很棒，”他说。“它保持了美丽和优雅。很轻，但是非常实木。这是一个阳光橙红色，非常平坦，带有白色的饰边和黑色的刮擦板，像过滤器一样大，坚固的旋钮Moogsynthesizer. Then it’s got a beautiful design feature on the bottom where the bridge is, a nicely carved ‘R’ for Rickenbacker. It’s gorgeous.”
Corner不是根据他的最爱，而是基于歌曲的要求选择吉他。这些要求是运动鞋皮条客和他的独奏项目IAMX之间的世界，这是一个更黑暗，更重的声音项目。
“If I use guitar in IAMX, it’s much heavier, more distorted, grimy and dirty,” he explains. “I’d use a combination of something like a桑桑普低音Distortion pedal which is a bit more interesting than the standard guitar pedal. The SansAmp Tri-AC Tech 21 has a fat, kind of fuzzy warm but grimy sound and I’d usually push that through a老板俯仰换档器将产生这种高音，吱吱作响的八度和谐。它给我带来了很大的范围，对我来说听起来更重。
“然后，我会猛烈地打扰[Strymon] Bigsky Reverb在顶部，这是一个美丽的混响踏板，可能是我的最爱。那种非常闪闪发光的闪闪发光，宽阔，梦幻般的混响使它变得巨大，因此这将是一种史诗般的，沉重的，肮脏但耗时的吉他声音。”
Sneaker Pimps on the other hand requires more of an organic, acoustic focus, with an ethereal sheen.
“如果我要现场直播，我将有一个老板AD-10的声学前置放大器，因为这真的很适合直接插入，这使其更自然，” Corner说。“然后，我会使用一个Bigsky，它可以与[strymon]时间表很好地配合使用，这是一个非常复杂的延迟踏板。我通常要做的是设置循环使用循环踏板，即Boss RC-50。如果我要在这方面发挥领先地位，我会踢另一个音高变速杆，这将使我在循环的声学角色上方范围和范围。
“在Bigsky之前，我会把和声分开，区分拾音器和铅旋律。大天空，时间轴和和声的结合是您可以真正创造出几乎不是吉他的不同声音。它仍然非常有机，因为您正在玩它，但是它给它带来了更多超凡脱俗的生活。它非常郁郁葱葱，有点脸颊和怪异。”
In the loop
运动鞋皮条客长期缺席中粉丝会错过的一件事是他们倾向于意外的倾向 - 无论是不寻常的时间签名，从左场上爆炸了失真，还是一种古怪的心情 - 这一切都在场和正确平方圆. Some of this is baked in from the start, but other times it comes out of pure experimentation and happenstance.
“A couple of things happened with my looping setup, which became part of the sound, and which I really liked in the end,” Corner confesses. “I was recording some acoustic picking… I was hitting the guitar, making some percussive hits to the body of the guitar, and I kept accidentally hitting the microphone instead. So, I ended up using the combination of hitting the microphone as a bass drum, then slapping the guitar as a snare drum. It became a beat, and I ended up using that as a loop on纸室. That’s a little mistake that made it onto the album. It’s not sexy, but it’s kind of cool. That’s what I like about that looping setup, you can do a lot of percussive rhythm and drum stuff.”
正如您可能从创作近二十年的专辑中所期望的那样，背后的计划平方圆涉及并详细介绍，但要注意一个重要的警告 - 您不会因这种准备而定义。
他谈到自己和豪的伙伴关系时说：“有细致的工作正在进行中，但是我们没有自我。”“这对我来说非常重要，曲目的整体意义，一切的结合，最终的含义。我制作，写，写歌词，做所有的事情。无论是一种吉他声音还是具有100个零件的全面作品，都必须参与其中的深度，但不要因为这样做的技术而失去自己。”
平方圆通过9月10日.