The pop duo format has come a long way in the past few decades. From the pastoral harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel to the flamboyant teen pop of Wham! to the bluesy drones of the White Stripes, these musical pairings have continually proven that two’ s company when it comes to creating enduring tunes. Brooklyn’ s Telepathe is the next stage in the evolution of the pop duo – and pop music, for that matter. The female twosome, consisting of Busy Gangnes and Melissa Livaudais, crafts transcendent, synth-laden future-pop that envelopes listeners in its ethereal sounds. Their full-length debut Dance Mother, produced by TV on the Radio’ s David Sitek, is an otherworldly concoction made up of Gangnes and Livaudais’ ghostly, multi-layered harmonies, wildly syncopated drum machines, and heavy yet buoyant analog synths. Gangnes discusses her band’ s origins, inspirations, and creative processes with URB, offering a peek into the alternate aural dimension Telepathe exists in.
What were the first words exchanged between the two of you upon meeting? How did you decide to work together as a band?
Melissa and I first met at our friend Emily’s house. There was a party for her roommate’ s birthday who was a friend of mine, and I came over with a cake I had baked. We had both separately talked to her about playing music. We all decided to play together and formed the band Wikkid. I don’t know our exact words, but probably, ‘Hi, I’m Busy. Hi I’m Melissa.’
How did the two of you realize that you share some common musical ground?
Well, it’s funny because I was always better friends with Emily in the band and rarely talked closely with Melissa about music or life for the first couple months of us playing together. Then one night after practice, I remember we kinda bro’d down for the first time and listened to records in her room. I put on Sparks’ Kimono My House. Think this was our first real musical taste bonding experience. This, and also blasting hip-hop radio off of Hot 97.1.
How does the musical dynamic within the band work? How do you define your respective roles in the creative process?
Our music making process is very much about not defining roles. We came from a band in which I was the drummer and Melissa was a guitarist, and when we started making music as Telepathe, we decided that we both wanted to explore different aspects of the music-making process. We take turns writing melodies, beats, vocals, etc. We feed off of each other.
How are your songs usually conceived? Do they begin on the drum machine, or with a sheet of lyrics, or a keyboard lick?
We almost always start with a beat inspired from a specific song we like and then build up from there. Sometimes we’ll use a sample that we like and develop a song from it. Then we’ll add bass, then synth melodies, then vocals. We pretty much never start with vocals or lyrics; that element always comes last.
How has working with David Sitek influenced and informed the sound of the band? How did the band sound before his input?
Well, we already had a lot of material going into Dave’s studio. We wrote and arranged our songs using Logic Audio, mapped them out with midi. We then took them into his studio and replaced most of the software sounds with hardware synths. Dave loves to layer, so we kept adding overdubs and made the sound really dense. We already had a very specific sound as a band before going into his studio, but he had us fill up the tracks until we had about 100 per song and left the editing for later. He made it sound huge!
The vocals on Dance Mother contain a great deal of emphasis on rhythm, at times even more so than melody. What inspired this approach to singing?
The whole album’s emphasis was based upon rhythm. We were listening to a lot of rap, and we just started writing stuff that was like ‘8 bars’ or ‘16 bars’ over our beats. We are not rappers, and we were not trying to be. I think that the sensibility is there because we have so much love for hip-hop.
What are your favorite topics when it comes to writing lyrics? Who are your favorite lyricists?
I like for my lyrics to be really abstract almost to the point where it’s really hard to figure out a meaning, or really simple and obvious. I usually write about love and relationships or war. But in general, it’s hard to decipher a meaning from them at all, even for me. I like David Byrne’s lyrics; they’re poetry to me.
Your music has a grand, cinematic quality to it without diminishing its emotional poignancy and sense of intimacy. Do you think your music would be best enjoyed in an arena or through headphones?
I think both situations are what we intended for a listening experience. In an arena, you’ll feel the sub bass to the point of making you sick to your stomach. Through headphones, you’ll hear the panning and the more delicate touches. You’ll listen over and over again and hear something new each time.
Speaking of the band’s cinematic quality, what movie(s) would you liken your music to?
It’s hard to choose a particular one, but in general, horror movies, kung fu movies, movies starring Gene Kelly. Anything with a lot of drama, suspense, people moving around, dancing. Someone told me our music reminded them of a film called The Chocolate Room, but I haven’t watched it yet.
If you were to imagine an ultimate Telepathe cover band comprised of musicians alive or dead, from any period of history, who would be the band members? Which musicians would do a good job of capturing the aesthetic and spirit of the band?
Good question. John Carpenter – beats, Grace Jones- vocals, Bernard Sumner- Synthesizers, Kate Bush- production, arrangements, mastermind.
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