French interview 2

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French KT interview, PART TWO:

Y.B.: The impression your album leaves, ten minutes after
      listening to it, is this profusion of voices and percussion.
K.B.: That's very interesting. The voices are of capital
      importance for me. They allow me to express the story of
      the song in different degrees. I care very deeply about
      my lyrics. What bothers me is what you just said on the
      subject of percussion...
Y.B.: If I could use only one word to describe your music, it
      would be: psycho-analytic.
K.B.: There's another fascinating observation.
      I'm certain that everyone who writes, all artists, are
      very analytical. Often, that's what expresses their
      most destructive side. Tony Hancock {Goon Squad comedian
      very popular in the early 60s} is a perfect example: he
      was a remarkable actor, who ended up by examining himself,
      criticizing himself so much that he destroyed himself. It's
      something that exists in each one of us, but which one must
      succeed in mastering, otherwise one risks going mad. When
      writing, every time, one is really obliged to analyse the
      things one is talking about. That's the essence of the
      creative process.
Y.B.: Often you do not hesitate in crossing the limits of
      hysteria. "Running Up That Hill", and even more,
      "Hounds of Love", are two good examples.
K.B.: In "Hounds of Love" there's an energy of despair, yes.
      It's about someone terrified, who is searching for a way
      to escape something. My voice, and the entire production,
      are directed towards the expression of that terror.
Y.B.: Could you clarify "Running Up That Hill" a bit more than
      the lyrics do?
K.B.: A man and a woman love each other enormously, so much
      so that the power of their love is the source of their
      problems. Briefly, if they could make a pact with God
      to exchange their roles, the man becoming the woman and
      the woman the man, they would understand each other
      better and would resolve their differences.
Y.B.: From a first listening, one gets the idea that it's with
      God that want to switch roles...
K.B.: There are several people who have heard something of that
      sort. THERE's a good reason for doing this interview, if
      one needed one. Tell them that I would never dare imagine
      such an exchange.
Y.B.: "Cloudbursting" {sic}, the second English single, is also
      tricky, for those who haven't done the same reading as you.
K.B.: It's a song with a very American inspiration, which draws
      its subject from "A Book of Dreams" by Peter Reich. The
      book was written as if by a child who was telling of his
      strange and unique relationship with his father. They lived
      in a place called Organon, where the father, a respected
      psycho-analyst, had some very advanced theories on Vital
      Energy; furthermore, he owned a rain-making machine, the
      Cloudbuster. His son and he loved to use it to make it rain.
      Unfortunately, the father is imprisoned because of his
      ideas. In fact, in America, in that period, it was safer
      not to stick out. The drama: the father dies in prison. From
      that point on, his son becomes unable to put up with an
      orthodox lifestyle, to adapt himself. The song evokes the
      days of happiness when the little boy was making it rain
      with his father.
Y.B.: Dreams form an important part of your preoccupations, at
      first glance.
K.B.: It's that there exists only a very fine barrier between
      them and reality.
Y.B.: With this difference, that your dreams rarely make the
      headlines of newspapers!
K.B.: It doesn't go that far, you're right. But dreams are
      essential to humanity.
Y.B.: That's what the whole second side of Hounds of Love
      talks about?
K.B.: More the struggle brought about by the need to stay
      awake, when it would be so easy to fall asleep. It's
      the story of someone who is in the sea, at night, and
      the experiences through which they pass in order to
      emerge a better person by morning. I'm making a long
      story short.
END OF PART TWO