JFC Talk Growth, Games
And Maximum Entropy With Electronic
Upcomers 'Man Without Country'
South Wales duo Tom Greenhalf and Ryan James come across as a bit of mysterious pairing.
Their collective moniker ‘Man Without Country’ is derived from a “sense of not belonging”, and their latest album Maximum Entropy is named after the rather perplexing scientific principle of the same name.
The sense of conjecture surrounding the group plays straight into their sound though, into the depth of their eerie brand of eclectic electronics.
When we catch up with Tom, he’s quickly able to unravel the obscurity behind the naming of Maximum Entropy.
“It was initially an idea from Ryan,” he says. “And once we had the title sorted, the songs came together pretty quickly.
Their collective moniker ‘Man Without Country’ is derived from a “sense of not belonging”, and their latest album Maximum Entropy is named after the rather perplexing scientific principle of the same name.
The sense of conjecture surrounding the group plays straight into their sound though, into the depth of their eerie brand of eclectic electronics.
When we catch up with Tom, he’s quickly able to unravel the obscurity behind the naming of Maximum Entropy.
“It was initially an idea from Ryan,” he says. “And once we had the title sorted, the songs came together pretty quickly.
“Everything is always just in motion, never standing still. That’s the meaning we took out of Maximum Entropy, and the same applies to music
“The idea is that everything is moving and deteriorating, and it can be applied to anything, and not just in a negative way. You can apply it to relationships with other people, or to where you live.
“Everything is always just in motion, never standing still. That’s the meaning we took out of it, and the same applies to music – there are elements of songs on the new record upcycled from old samples, old demos, old songs from the first album, and there are elements where we’ve re-imagined early songs and created something new.”
The eponymous principle will possibly create more questions than it will answer about the Welsh duo then, but after listening to the album, it seems to make perfect sense.
“Everything is always just in motion, never standing still. That’s the meaning we took out of it, and the same applies to music – there are elements of songs on the new record upcycled from old samples, old demos, old songs from the first album, and there are elements where we’ve re-imagined early songs and created something new.”
The eponymous principle will possibly create more questions than it will answer about the Welsh duo then, but after listening to the album, it seems to make perfect sense.
Their new record is deeply melancholic at times, as their past work has been, but with occasional outbursts of uplifting rhythms. Crucially, it all seems built around one central theme, with every song driven by electronic undertones and leading drones that guide you from one song to the next.
It’s strong enough to put you in a hypnotic trance of sorts and completely forget about the outside world.
Through single ‘Laws of Motion’ though, featuring M83’s Morgan Kibby, and through a cover of The Beloved’s 1992 hit ‘Sweet Harmony’, Man Without Country are able to bridge the gap from their mystic world to that of the mainstream better than they previously have been able to in the past.
Tom admits that in the crowded world of modern electronic music, this is the best way to draw the listeners in and lead them to more.
The artist continued: “Sweet Harmony is a song that I loved from my youth. I was always a pretty big fan of Ibiza Chill Out CDs, and it came on the radio last summer and reminded me of being a kid again.
“We didn’t want to revamp it, but more create a homage to the original. It was more for our own enjoyment than anything else, but it’s great that it’s out there now.
It’s strong enough to put you in a hypnotic trance of sorts and completely forget about the outside world.
Through single ‘Laws of Motion’ though, featuring M83’s Morgan Kibby, and through a cover of The Beloved’s 1992 hit ‘Sweet Harmony’, Man Without Country are able to bridge the gap from their mystic world to that of the mainstream better than they previously have been able to in the past.
Tom admits that in the crowded world of modern electronic music, this is the best way to draw the listeners in and lead them to more.
The artist continued: “Sweet Harmony is a song that I loved from my youth. I was always a pretty big fan of Ibiza Chill Out CDs, and it came on the radio last summer and reminded me of being a kid again.
“We didn’t want to revamp it, but more create a homage to the original. It was more for our own enjoyment than anything else, but it’s great that it’s out there now.
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