Sometimes it can take a very long time to get to where you want to go. And sometimes it can happen very, very quickly. And that’s just how it happened for Dublin electronic duo Hystereo.
Jack Byrne and Conor Murphy met, made some tracks and were promptly signed by Soma Records, the respected dance label that, in 1995, unleashed Daft Punk on the world.
“I think I’d known Conor a year before we hooked up with Soma. It was like, ‘How’s it going? Okay, now it’s time to sign this contract!’” says Byrne.
Murphy agrees that, so far, Hystereo have enjoyed a pretty smooth ride.
“We were lucky that way,” he explains. “It could have been a long slog but signing quickly probably gave us the kick we needed to really get cracking on stuff.”
Hystereo are part of what people are beginning to refer to as Ireland’s ‘second wave’ of dance producers. Both are in their early 20s and part of the generation that grew up with Orbital, Basement Jaxx, Chemical Brothers and, the duo’s personal favourites, Daft Punk.
“I wasn’t big into the ‘dance’ music you’d hear on the radio or in charts really,” says Byrne, “but I thought ‘Da Funk’ was interesting for not only the old hip-hop feel, but also the video.”
When his father brought home Daft Punk’s debut album, Homework, Byrne was hooked. “That’s where it really started for me, electronic music-wise. I wanted to hear more of that kind of thing but it was always hard to find!”
Byrne and Murphy are clearly not ones to hang about. Soon after beginning their collaboration, they dispatched a demo to Soma and, within a few months, had inked a deal. They’ve since released several acclaimed singles and, recently, their debut long player, Corporate Crimewave.
“We were working on the album for around four and a half years,” reveals Murphy. “Long enough I suppose, but it was a big learning curve. We didn’t really do much else while we were working on it and, towards, the end, we weren’t listening to any other music. That can be a good and a bad thing. I don’t know what influence that had on the album!”
The duo like to play it cool but admit to feeling some pressure when making the record.
“Soma liked the ideas and energy of our stuff but we had a long way to go when we signed,” Byrne resumes. “But we worked very hard with absolutely no money for the following year, to learn what we needed to learn. Luckily, it was only pressure from ourselves. Soma understood we were doing our best to get our sound together.”
It certainly has come together. Although Corporate Crimewave does not fit the current vogue for all things minimal, this may, in fact, serve to enhance its appeal. It’s a beast of an album, with a debt to, among others, Daft Punk, Vitalic and Jacques Le Cont. Do the constant comparisons with these groups annoy the pair?
“It would be more annoying if it was artists we didn’t like,” Murphy laughs. “We definitely like their production, but that’s a technical thing. I don’t think any track in particular sounds like one of theirs musically.”
If you search for comparisons, you will find them, they say.
“We happen to love a lot of disco, hip-hop, house, techno, film scores and our tracks are the natural result of our influences,” Byrne concludes.
Repeated listens to the album proves him right. Now, the challenge for Hystereo is to develop their sound and create something as interesting for their next record. We wait with interest.