The Sirens of Titan are an unusual art-rock band helmed by John-Paul Pryor – former frontman of explosive noughties avant-rockers The Lancaster Bombers. A freewheeling creative spirit, novelist and arts editor, his return to music came back in 2017 with the first offering by The Sirens of Titan – Apocalypse Sessions – a series of live sessions intended as an analogue riposte to overproduction.
Later this year, comes the much more assured Age of Treason – a swaggering and heady Neve-desk-produced opus that has a rich, layered and uniquely bohemian psyche-blues sound that unashamedly taps into the rich heritage of rock and roll.
The first single from the album Dark Heart Beating is released this week on Thursday, April 27th on Atlantic Curve Records, along with a strange and melancholic short film (see above) by the equally multi-disciplinary photographer and filmmaker Katja Mayer, which contains an ambiguous melancholy that seems to fit perfectly with the almost Scott Walker-esque debut single from the much-anticipated album. FAD magazine brought the two creatives together to discuss the genesis of the film and their collaboration.
FAD magazine: What is the song Dark Heart Beating about, and what inspired the film?
John-Paul Pryor: We’ve known each other a long time and have worked together before, and I love all of Katja’s work. My songs are intended as kind of image-scapes, which are very much open to interpretation, so I am a bit reticent to narrow them down in terms of narrative, but I guess I would say it’s basically a poetic heartbeat about obsession, desire and the opportunity for elevated karmic return. At least that’s what it means to me. It’s got some real menace in there too, I guess. I sent it to Katja without any idea what she might turn into it visually.
Katja Mayer: Throughout our previous collaborations, JP and I have embraced a process that allows for a lot of creative input without being constrained by a rigid brief and our latest project was no different. I’ve always loved JP’s writing as well as his music. We really trust and align with each other’s creative vision and our mutual approach to work resonates; we share a sensibility that’s characterised by elements of melancholy/darkness and we both have a preference for non-linear narratives, so it’s easy for our work to become an extension of each other’s vision. When I heard the song, it made me think of the opening scene of ‘Paris,Texas’, so my initial starting point in terms of a setting was a desolate landscape and a person seemingly out of place.
It’s a very cinematic video, and it feels much more like a short art film than a classic music video
John-Paul Pryor: Katja has real vision as a filmmaker and image-maker, and it’s always the most interesting thing to me to invite someone to respond to the songs in a totally free way. I wasn’t aware that there would be this concept of a girl burying something, or somebody, in the desert. I love the ambiguity of the film because at first, you figure she is maybe digging her own grave, but then when she is refilling it with earth, you don’t know if she has changed her mind, or is burying something else, maybe an ex-lover, or some kind of metaphorical dark energy. It really suits the vibe of the song, which I also like to think has a bit of a desert feel.
Katja Mayer: Recently I’ve been reading a lot about ritualistic, human behaviour, its origins in religious practice, and how this inherent need for rituals persists in our predominantly secular contemporary society. JP is absolutely right. For the film, it was important to me to keep the protagonist’s actions ambiguous and open-ended. Is she running from or moving towards something/someone? I am suggesting a burial ceremony of some sort with her mapping out and digging a human-sized hole and lighting what looks like a funeral pyre… but rather than creating a definite narrative, I wanted it to be about the function of a repetitive action and the significance of the ritual itself.
Do you think of The Sirens of Titan as a conceptual band? It’s quite unusual for rock bands to make films that go beyond mere posturing …
John-Paul Pryor: I don’t know about high-concept. I just tend to think of the band as having its place in a lineage of rock’n’roll tradition, and hopefully being a bit in the vein of The Gun Club, Scott Walker or The Velvet Underground. We are quite open about our references in terms of the music we make, and people tend to hear lots of different things in there. I don’t know … I like the fact the approach we have is maybe a little different, and a little more analogue and based in the arts. I mean, it’s a bit of an impossible thing to talk about my own music, Katja, what do you think?
Katja Mayer: I can hear all the references JP mentions! Growing up, I listened to a lot of my older siblings’ music, which was a mix of rock’n’ roll, punk, blues and folk from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Velvet Underground, The Stooges, Violent Femmes…Sirens of Titan have the same genuine, authentic appeal, nothing is overproduced which makes it easy to connect with on an emotional level. There’s a sense of defiance yet a kind of yearning in the music and JP’s voice and lyrics, it’s this rawness that really resonates with me.
Can we expect more from the two of your working together?
John-Paul Pryor: I hope so! I always love working with Katja. I mean, we’ve spoken so many times about making a short narrative film, and there’s a few ideas kicking around we would really like to get off the ground. I have a feeling if we do ever make something more like a narrative film it will be highly stylized, and maybe a little bit Suspiria or Neon Demon. I mean, let’s see! I have no doubt at all that Katja has a movie in her that is dying to be made.
Katja Mayer: Every conversation with JP fuels so many visual ideas, there will be plenty more collaborations for sure! I can see us combining elements of science fiction with a pared-back, raw and dystopian feel, blurring lines between the virtual and the real – short form would be a great format to explore to play to both our strengths, so watch this space!
Find out more about the band at thesirensoftitanband.com and follow @thesirensoftitan
Dark Heart Beating is the first song I wrote for the album Age of Treason. On the whole, my songs are intended as kind of image-scapes, and I guess I would say it’s basically a poetic heartbeat about obsession, desire and the opportunity for elevated karmic return. It’s got some menace in there. The new album is a personal journey of the soul, and Dark Heart Beating is one part of that soul. I’m acutely aware that living is basically akin to being adrift on The Raft of The Medusa – we’re only here for a blink of an eye in a sea of darkness. Hope and despair battle it out in a lot of songs on the album, and that is probably apparent in the push-and-pull of Dark Heart Beating – and that tension between optimism and sadness in all of the music comes very much from my musical relationship with Jez Leather. There is light and dark in every single one of us.
I’ve had my struggles with depression and all sorts, but I’ve also experienced sublime joy. Hopefully, the songs reflect that eternal paradox a little bit, and I would love to think that some people will relate to that, and get something from them.
John-Paul Pryor
The Sirens of Titan are: John-Paul Pryor: Vocals, Jez Leather: Guitar/Backing Vocals, Simon Drowner: Bass, Dan Bali: Piano/Synths, Marco Testa-Ryan: Drums.
Find out more about the band at thesirensoftitanband.com and follow @thesirensoftitan
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