Interview: No False Lemmas
The intriguingly named group, No False Lemmas, have released their debut album 'Transition'. Louder Than The Music chatted with them to find out what the name means, the story behind their music, and what influences their sound.
For those who haven't heard of you before, can you tell us a bit about No False Lemmas, and how the group got its name?
We are a jazz electronica group with melodic trumpet, frenetic sax, soulful piano, burbling synths, grooving bass and angular electronics.
The name? What’s a lemma? It might sound like a small, furry animal or an exotic fruit but in philosophy a lemma is a statement that you accept as true in order to find out whether another statement is true. No false lemmas comes from thinking about knowledge and that knowledge shouldn’t be arrived at through something that isn’t true - a false lemma. We thought it sounded good as well.
Tell us about your new album 'Transition' and what the inspiration behind it was?
We wanted to explore attitudes to life and each track on the album is about a way that you could live your life and the choices you make.
Which is your favourite track on the album and why?
That’s a really difficult one and it changes every day. Today it’s our first single Escape but ask me tomorrow and I’ll give you a different answer!
What message would you like people to take from your music?
We’d like people to think about lifestyles explored on the album. It’s up to you to make up your mind but the track order from Vanity to Agape and ending with Grace gives an indication to where we might be coming from. We would also like them to enjoy the music.
How would you describe your style of music and what are your influences?
It’s a bit jazz, a bit ambient and a bit electronic. James is a big fan of Olivier Messiaen, the godfather of ambient music. In fact he has just played Messiaen's organ work 'La Nativité du Seigneur' at Wakefield Cathedral. We’ve been described as sounding like Miles Davis meets Air with a touch of Olafur Arnalds and they are all influences. The ambient guitar of Bill Vencil, who performs as Chords of Orion, is also an influence that you can perhaps hear on ‘Agape’ and ‘Grace’.
If you could work with any songwriter, who would it be and why?
It’s an obvious answer but, particularly with his I, II and III experimental albums, it would have to be Paul McCartney.
How would you define success in your career as an artist?
In the past I would have said being number one and touring the world. Now though, I think that connecting with other human beings is increasingly important, particularly so after the last couple of years. Music is all about communicating and telling stories. If we can connect with one other person with our music, then I think that’s success.
What is your favourite album of all time?
It would have to be ‘Kind of Blue’ by Miles Davies. Every time you listen to the album there is something new and it sounds so fresh that it could have been recorded yesterday.
You're stuck on an island, it's hot, you only have enough battery life left to listen to one song on your phone. What track is it?
Going back to Miles Davies and ‘Kind of Blues’ it would have to be ‘Blue in Green’, which has that lovely, chilled ambience that would help forget that you are stuck on island any you are running out of battery on your phone!
What does the next year hold for you?
Promoting the album and seeing where it takes us.
