John Foxx and the Maths Interplay [LP]

LP version. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl. Presented in spot varnish sleeve. Interplay is a collaboration between John Foxx and electronic composer and synthesizer collector, Benge (Ben Edwards). Edwards is best known for his 2007 album Twenty Systems, which Brian Eno described as a brilliant contribution to the archaeology of electronic music. Moody and atmospheric, but also full of songs that are actually more pop than avant-garde, Interplay pulls various strands of electronic music together - from early-'80s electro to '70s Krautrock, with flashes of Cabaret Voltaire and John Foxx's first band, Ultravox! One track, Watching a Building on Fire features Mira Aroyo from Ladytron, who also came up with the original synth riff. Although Interplay sounds nothing like the ambient experiments of Twenty Systems, both albums are based around the waves, frequencies, and vibrations of analog synthesizers. Many of the songs on Interplay started with an electronic rhythm from a 1960s Moog system built into Benge's studio, with the pair then coming up with ideas live in the studio. As Benge says, the idea of Interplay is in the lyric from the title-track. 'We calculated everything, but not the interplay.' In the studio we left a lot of things to chance and let the various combinations of sounds and colors and connections trigger our imaginations.