Phoenix Foundation's Luke Buda will happily admit to Vangelis and Queen as inspirations, but just don't say a word about Coldplay, writes Grant Smithies.
Luke Buda is gutted. The Wellington musician has just found out that Chris Martin from Coldplay and his missus Gwyneth Paltrow have named their new son Moses.
Buda and his partner called their own son Moses six months ago. "It's awful!" he splutters. "It's so embarrassing! What if people think we chose the name because they did? I feel I need to point out to the world that our son is six months older than Moses Martin." Yes, he is. But would it really be so bad if people thought that Buda, co-frontman of Wellington band Phoenix Foundation, was a huge Coldplay fan? Actually, it would. A man must think of his reputation. Coldplay represents the more conservative and sentimental end of the pop spectrum, whereas Phoenix Foundation peddles an adventurous mix of folk, country, indie rock and oddball synthesiser instrumentals.
Emotionally engaging, intimate and cerebral, it's a sound New Zealand has embraced. Both Phoenix Foundation albums - 2003's Horsepower and 2005's Pegasus - have been well received, and tours of the main centres have sold out. This week they hope to finish recording the soundtrack for Oscar-nominated (Two Cars, One Night) local director Taika Waititi's first feature film, then there's a tour to London, LA and New York in June. After that, work begins on the next Phoenix album. A rash of solo albums are on the horizon too, of which Buda's superb Special Surprise is the first.
"What will people think of it? I have no idea. I hope they enjoy it, obviously, but some of the reviews suggest that people think it's a novelty record."
I can see why. The first thing you notice about Special Surprise is the distressing cover photo. Is it Bjorn or is it Benny? No, that bearded gentleman in the white cable-knit jersey isn't a surgically rejuvenated ABBA veteran. It is Buda himself. Then there's the song titles, ones like "Sauerkraut Bossa" and "Slav To The Rhythm", that mock Buda's Polish heritage. Oh, and did I mention all those fruity Vangelis-on-a-budget synth tracks?
"The cover is preposterous, that's true, and so are tracks like `Cosmic Dance' and `Atomic Pash', but these things are intended to be a bit ambiguous," Buda says. "You're not sure if I'm sincere or not, but the truth is, I often am. People often overplay how much I'm going for novelty with my songs. The cheesy prog rock stuff I do is actually very close to my heart. I understand why people find it funny, but I'm not really doing it ironically."
I imagine people misjudge Buda all the time, immediately filing him into a mental box marked "clown". With his round bearded face, intense eyes and slightly chubby frame, he looks a bit like comic Jack Black. He's also very witty in person, swimming in irony like a fish in water, endlessly riffing on ideas and conversational snippets, turning them around to expose their ridiculousness. On stage, between songs, the 26-year-old reels off snappy one-liners like a seasoned pro who's been entertaining crowds for decades. But for all Buda's fooling around, he is serious about music. It's just that he finds inspiration in the kind of glossy and dramatic pomp-rock epics most local pop musicians abhor.
Smart, whimsical and gently psychedelic, Special Surprise shares many qualities with Buda's 2002 mini-album The C-Sides. Both are crammed with whistle-able melodies, quotable lines, pensionable synths and certifiable arrangements; both recall a pharmaceutically assisted jam session between Beck, Vangelis, 10CC, Wilco and Queen. The main difference, perhaps, is that the current album was written just before Moses was born, so the songs are full of new dad ponderings on safety, domesticity, growing up, and love.
How has being a new father changed Buda's life?
"Some things are exactly the same. I'm still broke, on the artists' dole scheme, because any money we've made with Phoenix is going into our overseas tour. But in other ways, things are completely different. Moses is a pretty full-on little guy, so I have hardly any time to make my solo music at home now. These days I'm either working on Phoenix music, looking after Moses, watching science fiction DVDs or cooking. That's it! Unless we're touring, of course. I know it doesn't sound very rock`n'roll, but these days I look at touring with the band as a chance to get a good night's sleep, rather than a chance to get drunk or shoot up and die in a spa pool."
Buda, his partner, artist Sarah Jane Parton, and baby Moses live in little 1930s cottage clinging to the hills overlooking Wellington's Aro Valley. It was here that most of Special Surprise was recorded, in a spare room now full of baby paraphernalia. Today Buda is minding a softly snoozing Moses while Parton works on the design for a new Phoenix Foundation T-shirt. "It's a robot in a leotard, with antlers, leading a horse-drawn cart full of computers and TVs with arms and legs attached," he says proudly. "I'll be sure to send you one."
I look forward to it. And with Special Surprise such a loopy delight, I'll look forward to future Buda solo offerings as well. "To me Special Surprise sounds like pop music the way it used to be, years ago, before songs started just going to the chorus 20 times to make sure you couldn't get them out of your head. And I don't think it sounds much like the Phoenix Foundation, apart from a shared love of old synths and 70s soft rock bands. I wanted a more direct record, without all those alternative indie rock mumbling vocals, but I also wanted to keep it really trippy for the stoners. After all, I used to be one myself, and I'm still a sucker for surprising arrangements and cool noises. In fact, you know what I love so much about music? The way it sounds."
Unless, of course, it sounds like Coldplay? "Hey, f–k you, buddy. And f–k Coldplay too. We did not, I repeat - did not - name our son after the Coldplay baby. And if we ever have a daughter, there's no way we'd call her Apple."
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