Read this revealing interview with Bates Belk about the making of his new album… “The Dark Spektrum“…that was written and produced in Berlin. “The Dark Spektrum” is out next week on Friday, March 6, 2020.
“Berlin has always had a dark and exotic flare that I love. I find Berlin to be quite inspiring with its open-minded artists, the moody low wattage street lamps and the often foggy atmosphere. It’s very noirish. It was the perfect city for me to covet easily in the dark shadows and write and record my first album. I wrote all the songs in Berlin. I collaborated with over 50 Berlin-based artists. I worked with the vast synthesizer communities all over Berlin. And I recorded all the songs in 7 or 8 Berlin recording studios. It doesn’t get any more Berlin than this album in my opinion.” …Bates Belk“For some reason I had been thinking of albums that have nighttime themes like Frank Sinatra’s “In the Wee Small Hours”, Miles Davis’ “‘Round About Midnight” and Chromatics’ “Night Drive” and I wrote my music to occur after the sun went down. I really spent a lot of time thinking through the sequencing of the songs on the album and how I was going to entertain the audience to bring them to eventual daylight. Writing songs for the darkness of night in Berlin allowed me to take advantage of those dark subjects that I feel allow people to feel more comfortable to accept and engage…with the lights off so to speak. I find that people’s perceptions are often more exaggerated at night. Something dangerous can seem catastrophic. Something wonderful can seem fantastical. I really tried to take advantage of those perceptions and exaggerations in the storyline of the album. It’s quite a trip.” …Bates Belk
“I haven’t owned a television since 2008. I do not allow television in my life. I see how hard TV news anchors, especially ones in the US and the UK try to get entertaining and extreme reactions from the people they are interviewing by the choice of their words and the tone of their voices to the point of bending the truth…just to get a reaction to help accomplish their agendas…much like actors on the stage. What is real anymore anyway? What is the truth anymore? Do we know? And in social media, it’s quite fascinating to see how hard people are desperately vying for attention for short-term personal satisfaction. People will put anything on social media to get a reaction… even if it is not who they are or not the truth. All for shock value and attention. Hard-core social media users seem quite lonely to me and they seem like they are all about to crash and burn.” …Bates Belk“I am going to be focused on getting the music out there for people to enjoy. There will be a few singles taken from the album. I also hope to have the music from the album performed in theatrical environments at some point in the future. I am also in the middle of producing a very dark techno EP in Berlin. And I just started writing my first contemporary dance ballet. I hope to be able to workshop one or two acts from my ballet with a choreographer in Berlin sometime in 2020.” …Bates Belk
“The Dark Spektrum” Album Track-listing…out on March 6, 2020
