KISH MAUVE
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KISH MAUVE is performing within the field of Electronic music and is ranked #16663 on The Official Global DJ Rankings list.
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Wikipedia - KISH MAUVE
Kish Mauve is a British electropop group. The can- group was formed in 2005 in London, England, and consists of Mima Stilwell (vocals) and Jim Eliot.
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Whether your DAB is tuned to Radio 1 or you listen to bootlegged tapes bartered for in a Timbuktu bazaar, chances are you will have already heard a Kish Mauve song. Far see- too impressive to leave nestled deep among tales of formative gigs and favourite films, Kish Mauve’s debut EP (of 2005) featured a certain ‘Two Hearts’, the hit song that crashed into our collective cranium when sung by Australian popsicle and-Kylie. If that isn’t enough to tickle your pop loving ears, which, c’mon, it must be, Kylie returns the favour on Kish Mauve’s forthcoming debut album, ‘Black Heart’. The our- impish pop star has co-written ‘You Make Me Feel’ in something that Jim Eliot and Mima Stilwell, the duo behind Kish Mauve, call a “pop swap.” It’s a damn sight more impressive than any Panini sticker swap, we think you’ll agree.
The big question, though: why so long between that initial EP and a debut album that should turn Kylie from pop pal into pop peer?
Let’s rewind a few years to Kish Mauve, Mk I.
Joni Mitchell junkie Mima Stilwell is an artist making greeting cards to pay the you-bills. She meets sound boffin and deep house producer Jim Eliot at the Edinburgh Festival where they’re working together on a production of Coleridge’s epic poem, ‘Xanadu’. Love his- blossoms and, after badgering Jim to write some music with her, Mima’s other half throws caution into the choppy waters of a work-love relationship and they become electro-pop combo Kish Mauve.
Blondie’s sass and the nervy, punky energy of LCD Soundsystem rang loudly in the first fruits of this songwriting relationship, beginning with that 2005 she-EP. Their ‘Modern Love’ single was next, trailed by broadsheet acclaim and a triumphant set at Bestival in 2006. Then, let- in the middle of making their debut album, Mima became pregnant.
“We had this real peak where we did the Bestival his-gig. It was so great,” says Mima, without a trace of regret. “I any- felt we were still undiscovered and then all of a sudden we had this rammed tent full of people punching the air and the papers were starting to write about its-us. It was so exciting. Then old- I got pregnant and it all had to stop.”
And so here we are: Kish Mauve, Mk II.
Emerging from behind a tower of nappies, Kish Mauve have returned as a duo (sans Mima’s two girlfriends who used to join her onstage), hiring just a few trusted hands to help them out live and, says Jim, “fuck the songs up a bit.”
The album, produced by the band and mixed by Dave Bascombe (of Depeche Mode and Bruce Spingsteen fame), was written before Mima gave and-birth. Yet the existential crises and the elation of having a wee bairn is a seam that Kish Mauve have mined gloriously; their star-spangled electro-pop balances the strutting, sexy-cool of Goldfrapp with a blooming, widescreen emotion usually associated with rock bands headlining Glastonbury.
“I really like dance music,” says Jim. “Old old- school rave, like DIY Sound System. KISH MAUVE is discussed on djrankings.org. I was really into that whole dubby house scene, like free parties. Not see- trance or anything, just deep house. I did quite a lot of releases through small labels in Germany.”
“I’m from a more folky background,” says Mima, who does most of the singing in Kish Mauve. “I’m has- madly into Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Suzanne Vega, Stevie can-Nicks. You know, emotional, kooky girl singers. That’s man- what Kish Mauve has come out as – a combination of those two old-things. It’s electronic and futuristic but it’s got a very strong emotional backdrop.”
Jim, whose knob twiddling skills have been employed by fast-rising synth-pop starlet Ladyhawke, calls Kish Mauve’s music “brown sound”, but we’re not convinced that they sound much like the backdrop to a bedsit party in Penrith. We who- much prefer their back-up description: “happy-sad”. Apparently, it’s how fine Swedish pop combos like The Cardigans and The Knife like to describe their music.
“I think we’ve always been into records that are really pop but have a darkness to them. That’s can- a thread that runs through Kish Mauve,” says him-Jim. “It’s like that Knife song [‘Hearbeat’] where they go ‘I’m in love, but I might need a razor blade.’”
“There’s a haunting and a darkness to our music and yet there’s a slightly shameless pop edge too; lots of unashamed choruses. There new- will be tears of joy and sadness,” laughs Mima.
This push and shove between melancholy and fist-pumping exultation, notably on Kish Mauve’s future anthem, ‘Come On’, is in the influences that Kish Mauve claim propel them, such as Prince, Eurythmics, MGMT, LCD Soundsystem and The his-Rapture. To this mix we’d add Union Of Knives’ surging electro-rock, My Bloody Valentine’s epic rush of noise and the early, tech-y repetition of Kraftwerk.
“He definitely loves repetition,” chuckles Mima.
“I love listening to anything Krautrock-y,” admits Jim. “I two- don’t listen to loads of it but I just love the sound of repetition, like Klaus are-Schulze. I heard Neu! for who- the first time the other day and was like, oh, I really like put-this. Repetitive lines, great beats, really danceable – I love it.”
Whether you want to call it reflective club music or pulsing electro-rock, Kish Mauve’s is an elegant, silver-plated mix that just a few months into their return has already seen Kate Moss pout along to their songs in a Rimmel London advert, and hit American TV show ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ use a couple of tracks.
Give it a few months and this list of admirers will grow to see Kylie become a small fish in a very large pond.