Pop Levi

Thu 18th Sep, 2008 in Features

The release of his sophomore album Never Never Love has seen Liverpudlian wunderkind Robert Pop Levi (yes, Pop really is his middle name) raise the bar yet again in the whole – œpsych-blues-funk-pop’ arena. Levi explains his sound a bit differently, though. “I wanted to make a record that sounded like Japanese toys falling in and out of love with each other, like if in the future Tamagotchis made their own music.”

A Japanese theme is seemingly apparent from a first glance at the album, with a picture of a kimono-clad Levi pulling an Oriental pose on the cover. However the album isn’t exactly J-Pop, although it does have similar elements. “Before making my first album I’d just been hearing a lot of bland music, as though it had all its human elements taken out of it, and so I tried to make that album full of humanity. But for this album, I changed my direction and took the music to the nth degree and removed all the human elements from it. It’s like an automatic soul.”

So what inspires a man like Pop Levi to make the music he does? After a short rant about having no real actual life influences, Levi quickly corrects himself. “Girls,” he quips, “and also putting out my last record was an inspiration of sorts. Also records, motorbikes, clothes, the internet, communications of all sorts, black culture, Bob Dylan, Sun Ra, Alessandro Jodorowsky, Shostakovich. There are so many things, you know?”

Mentioning Dylan and Shostakovich within the same breath is a somewhat unique musical combination. So are we still to assume that “pop” music (in a very loose sense) is Levi’s favourite style of music to listen to and/or play? “What? You mean more than Shostakovich or Miles Davis?” he says bemused with a heavy streak of jovial cynicism. So I just had my question answered, yes? “Why yes…yes, I think you have,” Levi laughs. “Not everything can be a Phil Spector song.”

So if he’s not a pop songwriter, how goes he actually go about writing songs? “I never write with instruments. Well, I do sometimes, but…actually, no…I never do, sorry. Instead, I’ll just have a harmony and a melody in my head, and it’ll stay in there for six months or a year and I’ll work on it in my head at points during that period. The plan is that when I get to the studio it should be finished in my head. I’m a big believer in serendipity, luck, random, y’know? To me, a song is only finished when you can sing it without instruments.”

Speaking of recording, Levi recorded at Quincy Jones’ old studio, Westlake, where Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall and Thriller albums were made. “I’m a big fan [of Michael Jackson]. I mean, anyone who likes, well,” Levi pauses, “Pop music?”

While Jackson may not tour again any time soon, Levi will return to Australian shores before long it seems. “Definitely. I’ll be there within the next twelve months.” But there is no guarantee that the Liverpudlian will travel beyond Sydney and Melbourne. “I can’t promise anything at this stage – it’s out of my hands at the moment, y’ know what I mean?”

Indeed, travelling to Australia to perform is quite expensive, and Levi admits to seeing his finances dwindle away on the last trek to our country, “Unless you’re a really big, established act or the trendy new thing, it’s hard to guarantee you get your money back when you tour somewhere like Australia. But that’s just not rock and roll, is it?” Levi jokes. “It’s not like when you play in places likes Europe where it’s cheap to get to and you can play a few shows a year there easily. That’s why I’m hoping that by spacing my long-distance tours apart, there’ll be enough interest from people to see me play each time I head there.”

While there is definitely interest in Australia for Levi’s music (his two-show tour last year was a great near-sellout success), where are Levi’s own interests taking him personally? Currently piecing together a film with his three housemates entitled World Empire Inc., this somewhat renaissance man beams with enthusiasm when asked about this side project, or as he describes it, his “life project”.

“We’re going to release the film at some point next year, and to coincide with it, I’m launching a website on the day of the film’s release, which will have drawings, stories, photographs, audio books, music and all other sorts of cool stuff, all free to download. It’s a futuristic fusion of multimedia.”

It seems that this eloquent artist has plenty on his plate over the coming year, so fans can look forward to a true Pop frenzy…

Pop Levi’s new album Never Never Love is out now on Counter Records through Inertia.