London-born musician Hyper Lion plays avant-pop music. He formed a strong partnership with Kidd Wolff at university under the guidance of business veterans Keith Harris, Steve Beresford, Christopher Cundy, and Audrey Riley, beginning in 2001 with 4-track and vintage FX modules. In 2009, two years after tendinitis prevented him from playing live instruments, the ambient album “Submariner” was released. Pariis Opera House was established by Hyper Lion and Kidd Wolff in 2011. Island Records and Big Life Management were drawn to the early material. The pair remixed The Wanted’s “Chasing the Sun,” which was made available in Europe. This was followed in 2012 by TV appearances, additional remixes, and a new Hyper Lion EP called “Mt,” which included previously unreleased material from earlier years. Pariis Opera House debuted UNIIVERSE on BBC Introducing, where the band’s single DRAGNDROP, which was released at the end of 2013, was chosen by Lauren Laverne. Tom Robinson, Nemone, and Lauren herself all gave the song plays on BBC 6Music. The duo soundtracked Hollywood movies, commercials, video games, and TV shows in 2014 while also supporting Example, Zane Lowe, and Edith Bowman at UK festivals and clubs. The dystopian “Red7” EP from Hyper Lion was released in 2015, and POH signed with Sentric Music and released “Mirrors” in 2017. Three new EPs, Yo Miro, Lax, and Pander, along with the live-remix album DIN and the ambient follow-up “Submariner 2” in 2019 followed the band’s relocation to Los Angeles in 2018. Together with Lakes, NUUXS, and Jake Gosling, he co-produced.
The album’s lead single is called “B Ok.” It is the album’s central theme and was intended to be “the song the world needs right now.” Check out the song and the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
HYPER LION: I’m originally from the U.K., now based in L.A. I started playing guitar properly when I was about 10, then self-taught myself bass, drums, keys and everything else over the next few years. I started music production in 2001 using a 4-track tape recorder and a bunch of vintage instruments and FX I bought cheap off the internet. Everything progressed pretty organically. I was playing in bands, producing local artists and self-releasing my own material until I went to University where I met my Pariis Opera House band mate Kidd Wolff. I helped him out with his solo material for a while until we realised we worked best as a duo. We formed our band in 2011, and since then I’ve been steadily releasing stuff with Pariis Opera House, and solo as Hyper Lion. Unless I’ve misunderstood the question, in which case a) France circa 1000 AD, b) the Big Bang.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
HYPER LION: Largely self-taught. I am classically trained in guitar, piano and cello, but I was a very bad student as I don’t really like playing other peoples’ compositions. I prefer noodling.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘HYPER LION’?
HYPER LION: My influences are probably not what you’d expect considering what my music sounds like! Brian May made me want to pick up a guitar. Ben Folds showed me a single person could play all the instruments on a record. Radiohead opened my mind to different genres, techniques, and making music on a laptop. ABBA taught me the importance of arrangements and of making everything a hook. Daft Punk proved that intelligent simplicity is very powerful. As for the name, I tried a few different things, but Kidd Wolff gave me the advice that a name should be personal to me. I wanted something that was a little sci-fi and could be a superhero name. My music is kinda all over the place, plus I have my moments of childish insanity, so I chose “Hyper”, then I love cats, am quite hairy, and my star sign is Leo, so I went with “Lion”. I think the best names tend to be quite simple, with recognisable words, so I was pretty pleased with it. Now of course I regret it (don’t Google image search it), but it’s too late.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
HYPER LION: I focus a lot on evoking mood. That’s important because a lot of my stuff is instrumental, ambient and sound-collagey, so you have to find something a listener can grab onto without falling back on cheap tricks. A lyric can tell you a song is sad, but the music needs to as well. I think my tracks are very complex and layered, but there’s always something simple to latch on to initially, leaving room for discovery in subsequent listens. Much of it is just pretty. Some of it is funny. Some of it is cool. Some of it is depressing. I’d probably describe it as weird, mainly.
5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as avant-pop?
HYPER LION:
Playing specific instruments makes it tough. I feel like as a guitarist especially it’s very easy to just pick parts of other peoples’ playing styles and build your own, without being particularly original in the end result. You do naturally gravitate towards your favorite elements of each instrument, then create a Frankenstein’s monster of an arrangement. Over time you become comfortable with all these elements until they are second nature. When you’re inspired by something new the temptation is to just run off and copy it. The trick is to let everything stew in your brain for a while. My journey to avant-pop mainly came from the realisation that I love pop structures, I love pop melodies, but I want to find new ways of expressing them instead of using the same old sounds and tropes. The charts are famous for their diversity, of course.
6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
HYPER LION:
I’m more interested in the technical artistry aspect. I never feel the need to “express myself”. I’m always more interested in playing with sonics and structures and making something people haven’t heard before. That said, all my socio-political worries are always floating around my subconscious and I know they sculpt a lot of my decision making when it comes to aesthetics. Song lyrics can be a great mouthpiece for activism, but it’s not always the most efficient distribution platform. You’re probably better off standing on a milk crate on a street corner (if my steaming figures are anything to go by).
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
HYPER LION:
I’m fulfilled in that I make music that I want to listen to. If I finish a track and play it on repeat, I know somewhere there will be somebody else who will do the same. Liking my own stuff is an indicator I’m doing something right, as I’m my own worst critic. I definitely put in more than I get out of it, but I never expect anything from anyone. That’s what makes writing Christmas lists so hard.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
HYPER LION:
My new album “Koinkidink” is a special case. Every track started life from a place of randomness or chance. I’d use number generators assigned to chords, or even just smash my hand on a keyboard. I’d keep building up layers of improvisation before finally using my editorial skills to remove the stuff that didn’t work. Or if I knew I wanted a guitar part, I’d just hit record and do one take and use whatever I played without any prior plan. It was very freeing and strangely fun. My usual method, however, is kind of internal. Something will pop into my head, a melody or an arrangement I want to try, then I build it up from there. Lyrics are secondary to me. I always write words based on the mood the music is evoking, instead of writing music to words. Not that lyrics are an afterthought, I just like to ensure the music is solid before putting on a topline. Even though the topline is the most important bit for most listeners come to think of it. I’m an idiot.
9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
HYPER LION: Life-wise, everyone has problems. I’m not going to pretend mine are any worse. Music-wise I guess all those times you’re about to break through, then nothing happens. Or jobs you’re promised, or collaborations that are offered that then fizzle out. I think the kids call it “edging”. A few years ago Pariis Opera House were going to be played on BBC Radio 1, which was absolutely top of our wish list and would have opened a lot of doors. Then the DJ that was lined up to play us left the station, so it never happened. That’s one of my biggest what-ifs that haunts me to this day.
10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
HYPER LION: The first time Lauren Laverne played Pariis Opera House’s DRAGNDROP. I was in a different time zone. I woke up and looked at my phone which was just exploding with notifications. We’d been played on proper radio…and people liked it! Everyone was talking about the track, sharing it, and we were getting emails from managers and pluggers. It made me really confident that I could make commercially viable music that gained a wide audience. Now here I am promoting my experimental jazz album wondering why nobody cares. It’s a shit business.
KEEP IN TOUCH:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | SPOTIFY | BANDCAMP | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
