The DNA of Fuck Buttons' 'Slow Focus'

Three albums in and Fuck Buttons are still producing some of the rawest, noisiest experimental music coming out of the UK. They've been working together for ten years and their new album, Slow Focus is arguably their most blistering yet. Released last week, it charted nicely within the top 40, sitting just below Ellie Goulding, making it their most successful album to date. We spoke to Benjamin John Power, who told us of the pair’s close working conditions, new studio set up, and hearing their songs played out at the Olympics.

Slow Focus is Fuck Buttons’ first self produced album and they didn't want to do things by halves.They got their own studio together (it’s called ‘Space Mountain’ and used to be a storage room) and laid down the tracks at their own pace. “Producing the album ourselves was a logical step. With the first two albums, we weren’t as technologically aware of the software you could use in a recording sense”. Slow Focus was their own work entirely until it was sent off to be mastered. Power assumes that a return to Space Mountain will be made for further recordings, as among other benefits, the hairdressers next door don’t complain about the noise.

The Unspoken Understanding

Photo: Kate Glicksberg

Power and Hung have been working together for almost ten years, and their relationship is now past the point of talking through their concerns. “We can almost communicate without the use of language, at least verbal language” says Power. “When we start to write a track we have a completely blank canvas, no preconceptions about what the finished results are going to be. It’s almost like extensive jamming, with whatever equipment we have in front of us. It can go on for 20 minutes or 3 hours.” When a track is coming into its own, both Ben and Andy seem to know. “You can get a sense of what the other person is thinking about, a particular phrase in a sense, just by how much effort is put into polishing that particular texture. You feed off each other.”

The Olympic Spirit

Fuck Buttons’ 2010 track "Olympians" was chosen, alongside "Surf Solar" to soundtrack Danny Boyle’s Opening Ceremony. The band were contacted by Rick Smith from 90s dance act Underworld, whose job it was to put the music together. “It was one of those kind of situations where you first get contacted and you’re like, well I’m not going to get too excited about this just now, because I’m sure they’ve asked about 700 other people if they’re interested in doing it” admits Power. Although watching their own music amplified to millions was "a head fuck", it didn’t pressure the guys to make more sporting anthems.

The Track Names

With track names like "The Red Wing" and "Prince’s Prize", I was curious as to what goes on the the creation process of a Fuck Buttons album. The answer is nothing, apparently. Power and Hung like to deliberately start on empty, choosing only to think up names of tracks once they’re well into production. “In the very initial stages, when the first person presses the first button, we have absolutely no idea what the finished product is going to be. Tracks are named at the very end when we sit down and we have a discussion about what mental images a particular track throws up for us.” The name Slow Focus is supposedly, “like the moment your eyes take to readjust when you’ve been in a vagrant sleep, perhaps cryogenically frozen. You awake to realise you’re in an unfamiliar and perhaps unforgiving environment”.

The Debrief

Working as a pair is a tasking and intense process, so breaks are a necessity. On return, a track can sound like something else completely. What do Fuck Buttons do on these mini vacations? “Andy plays Tetris and I smoke like a chimney.”

Fuck Buttons' Album is out now.

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