“There is no better feeling than this.”

Kurt Smith, half of the British duo, captivated BFMTV.com on the occasion of the release of their new album “The Tipping Point”.

Few artists can afford to give up the airwaves for 17 years. Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith among the few selected: Singer of British duo Tears For Fears returns on Friday with The turning pointthe seventh studio album, nearly two decades after the release of the previous album.

Perhaps the time pressure isn’t the same as when one counts among the musicians who defined pop music in the ’80s Sowing the seeds of love where Everyone wants to rule the world Passed through generations easily the great classics. Their first three albums – HarmAnd the Songs from the big chair And the love seedspublished between 1983 and 1989 – which have sold 30 million copies, according to guardian. Before the two singers chained up their breakup and reunion, they became more conservative with the arrival of the 21st century.

With The turning pointThe boys from Bath (southern England) are still loyal to their love of Synths. But their taste for rich orchestra rubs shoulders with greater sonic sensitivity, which is sometimes surprising. Their words between the lines evoke the political and health tremors that have rocked the Western world in recent years, mixing them with their personal struggles. The album’s title song, which was revealed as the first single last fall, tells of Roland Orzabal’s helplessness in the face of the illness of his wife Caroline, who died in 2017.

With their comeback looming, the two singers gave an interview to BFMTV.com. Due to a handicap from Roland Orzabal, it was Kurt Smith who answered our questions on his own, from the home in Los Angeles where he lives with his family. For half an hour, the 60-year-old musician helped us fill in the blanks: those of the years of absence and the hidden messages of this new composition, which in turn sparked the pandemic, the Trump presidency, the Black Lives Matter movement, Matter or Black Lives Matter, or “toxic manhood.” “. Meeting with a singer really no Boomer.

How did the idea of ​​the new album crystallize after 17 years of the previous album?

It happened gradually. We’ve toured every year since I last came out 17 years ago while raising our kids. The concerts were satisfying for us but we got to the point where we started, seven or eight years ago. You can change the display settings, and try different versions of the songs, but the number of tracks you have is still limited. So we started talking about creating a new album with our management, or at least recording some new songs. The goal was to update spirits.

How did you get back to writing?

After much discussion, we decided to work with contemporary composers, to see if we could put together a song of the day – if such a thing existed. And this part of the process took several years, because at the same time we were on tour and had a family life. We have taken too speed dating from configuration.

In the end, we ended up with 15 songs, most of which didn’t represent us. They looked like 15 attempts to write a modern hit, all very similar, all lacking in depth…

The album as it was at that point wasn’t streaming like an album, it didn’t have lulls, it was all on the same frequency. We were not satisfied and we gave up.

How did you get out of this predicament?

At the beginning of 2020, we agreed that we wanted to finish the project. Roland and I gathered in my living room here in LA with two acoustic guitars and wrote nothing small Which became the first track on the album. We told ourselves ‘there’s a trend, we’ve got something,’ and we realized that’s what we’ve been missing.

We kept five songs from the original project that were worth completing and started writing the other half of the album. strange time nothing small Arrived, the writing and recording process took six months.

It’s great to see that once you know what you’re doing, it’s not that hard. It’s all about finding the direction you want to follow.

You say No Small Thing is the song that allowed you to find the tone of the disc: it’s amazing, because with its sonic beginning, almost country, the track is undoubtedly the most deviant from what it’s produced before…

In a strange way, this song is all in one. After creating the original project that was all on the same frequency, we had this song that just keeps getting bigger. It had a dynamic, and we tried to give the album that genre flow Where you can have catchy songs that jump in your face and some very thoughtful songs, catch your breath. Instead of hearing us yell at you for 45 minutes — which was basically the original project (laughs).

You say you started writing with “modern composers”: was the idea inspired by what is currently going on on the pop scene, or did you want to stay true to what you did?

Until we find what we want to do, until we feel it, we don’t know what the project will look like. I think it’s best to let the music affect you subconsciously. I listen to modern music, some less so, which will inevitably make its mark at some point. But if you are consciously trying to fit into a modern world, you are on the wrong path. You have to look for something musical, not in your head. This is what we did.

The bleak side is so present in some songs, especially Rivers of Mercy, which sounds like a plea for serenity…

Between the time we started writing and the time we started recording again, in 2020, a lot has happened.

The epidemic began. The #MeToo movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, the rise of the right around the world…attempted a coup in the US, for heaven’s sake!

The food for thought was pretty deep by the time we got back to it, and we had a lot to write about. I think that was the other problem with the original: not all of the songs were on just one frequency in terms of recording, but the topics covered were more superficial.

Is the turning point has a political dimension? Is there a societal message you wanted to convey?

I think so. But as usual, we didn’t make it very clear in the records. rivers of mercy He talks about searching for serenity, but more specifically searching for serenity at a time when there is none. The noise we hear at the beginning of the song, comes from the riots on the sidelines of the Black Lives Matter movement demonstrations.

the address please be happy It is about Roland’s wife, who was dying at the time. broken man, which sounds like a song about a strong woman, revolves mostly around my contempt for patriarchy. Which was the result of four years of toxic masculinity in the United States with Donald Trump. And a desire to see more women in leadership, because they tend to be more empathetic. The messages are there, if you listen.

Back after 17 years, is that scary?

I think we’ve come to the point where the only thing that matters is whether we feel ready or not. For the rest, no one knows how the music will be received by the audience.

At the end of creating this album we listened to it after choosing the song arrangement and we were like, “Yeah, that’s really cool.” And there we finished. I was done. All I know is that I am very satisfied, and there is no better feeling than this.

Your music resonates across generations. How do you explain that?

When we give concerts, it’s great to see that our audience is between 16 and 60 years old. I think this is due to several things: new artists, they sampled us or prepared our songs, but they’re also streaming.

For all the negatives about live streaming, the main one being that artists don’t get paid reasonable at all, the plus side is that people discover your music very easily.

If you listen to Kanye West who sampled from us (on the track winter coldsample de Memories fade away From Tears for Fears, editor’s note), the platform will suggest Tears For Fears. The same if you are listening Lord, who took Everyone wants to rule the world for soundtrack hunger Games. And even if you listen to artists who consider us influential. Younger audiences discover us, and that’s cool.