Insights into Photography
Gabe Lehner (left) and Eric Poline (photo by Melissa Vaughan)
Genre-mashing can be dangerous work. When done smartly, it demonstrates that good music is simply good music, regardless of style (think The Beastie Boys’ early fusion of classic-rock samples, tribal rhythms and live instruments). But mixing elements of urban music or jazz with rock and singer / songwriter fare can often blow up in the musical chemist’s face and create mutations that, well, just ain’t natural (see rap-metal, most modern country and that music they play on the Weather Channel).
The San Diego duo that calls itself Inspired Flight accomplishes a tasteful synthesis of sonic experimentation that falls into the former category. Composed of seasoned turntablist OpenOptics (aka Eric Poline) and Chavez (aka Gabe Lehner), a scene vet and mastermind behind projects like Jack the Original, Metrofique and Mechanical Cats, Inspired Flight use their respective abilities in the DJ and songwriter realms to craft a slick amalgamation of down-tempo, hip-hop and indie-pop with hints of dub, trip-hop and dance. It’s a lot to take in, but on their debut album, We All Want to Fly, the duo serves up this cornucopia of flavors in well-considered courses instead of just tossing them all into a random stew.
“We only combine things if it works. We’re never really trying to combine certain elements going in. It’s more like when we look back on what we made, we realize that we combined this genre or that genre,” Lehner says.
The pair also knew going into making Fly that they wanted to promote the release heavily and shoot for a wider audience. This meant (unfortunately for Poline, an accomplished DJ with an ear for sampling) that the record would need to be kept sample-free to protect themselves from a wave of copyright-infringement suits. So, they set about re-creating beats, vocals and even string sections using the original samples as more of an inspiration than a literal tool for the crafting of a particular sound. The result is original, built from the ground up but with an almost eerie sense of familiarity.
“I love sampling. I come from that background,” Poline says. “I think it would be dope to be able to clear samples, but I think it’s good that we played it safe on this record.”
“Live, we can still drop the samples,” Lehner adds. “But on the album, there is also a sense of pride because we did all of it. At the end of the day, though, it’s all about what makes the music sound the coolest. If you have a sample that just works perfectly then, yeah, it would be great to clear it.”
The spooky, lo-fi piano and trashcan drum beat intro of “Pull, Push, Let Go” recalls Massive Attack or Portishead, but the lull of Lehner’s sleepy voice and penchant for jangly, echo-laden guitar, lends a decidedly Brit-pop feel once the verse begins. Just when you settle in for some expected indie singer / songwriter tune, though, in comes an inspired guest vocal from Eligh of well-respected, underground hip-hop group Living Legends. This is followed by a lead-vocal breakdown and some syrupy George Harrison-esque lead guitar work from Lehner to close out the track. It all happens in four minutes and is a lot to process, but each change in texture does a pretty good job of moving the song along and acts as a building block instead of a distracting caveat.
“Some of these songs are born out of us practicing live stuff,” Lehner explains. “We’ll just kind of get on a tangent, and all of a sudden, a song starts happening. My background is mainly as a songwriter, so often what ends up happening is that we’ll have music and I can’t help but sing something catchy over it, and then all of a sudden, there’s a singer / songwriter element added to our instrumental / hip-hop / electronic stuff.”
But the song that makes best use of the duo’s varied aesthetic and mad-scientist spirit is “Jackie’s Song.” The tune is a product of the aforementioned sample re-creation, with what was meant to be a short string sample turning into a bed of melancholy cello and violin texture that floats underneath the entire song. Likewise, Mimi from F.U.Z.Z. sings the soulful hook with tact and style, reproducing the vibe of an old Nina Simone record but with a precision that renders the actual sample quite unnecessary.
“We’re both very open minded and come from varied backgrounds,” Poline says. “We’re very open to each other’s ideas, and I think you can tell that in the music. Every song is completely different.”
“Collaborating is weird,” Lehner adds. “When it works, you don’t necessarily know why. It just works.”
Inspired Flight plays its CD-release show with Jamuel Saxon and F.U.Z.Z. on Saturday, June 5, at The Casbah. inspiredflightmusic.com
