Noisettes for Fault Issue 12

FAULT: It’s been a long time since your last album. What have you guys been up to since then?
SHINGAI: [Our] last album came out in 2009, and we toured for it for just under two years, which was exciting. Towards the end of the tour, we started writing for this album. It’s taken us about a year-and-a-half to put this album together. I think it takes a long time to produce something that’s quality, because when you’re on the road a lot, your perspective [can] get a bit one-dimensional. We’ve also been doing a lot of bits and bobs for other people. It’s been really busy—we haven’t stopped.

As musicians, we’ve had quite an international upbringing, having toured a lot and spent a lot of time in Africa. I feel like music can be made anywhere. Our first album was recorded in L.A., and the second album was pretty much all recorded in our hometown. So, with the third one, we had some interesting sessions with some African musicians. We did something with Peter Gabriel, [we] went to Malawi and we played a lot of places that we’ve never played before— interesting little places outside of the usual touring circuit. So, after doing a lot of travelling around the world, it just felt like London might not be as stimulating to make the kind of record that we wanted to make.

Is London my true home? I feel like I’ve got lots of different sets of keys to lots of different places. We’ve met some really great people around [the world]. Working in L.A. and

N.Y. was amazing! It was thrilling to work in the legendary studio that Simon & Garfunkel recorded many of their hits in. Recording in Michael Jackson’s studio, West Lakes, doing stuff there with Ne-Yo … I really, really enjoyed that. It really has been a bit of a global experience; I’ve been a bit of a gypsy. I don’t know where my musical home is—I think it’s in my heart!