Ladytron participated at a Witching Hour Listening Party organized by Tim Burgess of The Charlatans on 14 June 2021. They shared on Twitter interesting memories, facts and pictures related to that great album. Below are the tweets from the band, Jim Abbiss, the WH main producer and Sam Wiehl. Ladytron also announced they are working on a new album!
Ok here we go: Ladytron’s Witching Hour on @LISTENING_PARTY Start your albums.
"High Rise is Ladytron pretending to be Neu! Touring evolved how we made new work. Layers, complex textures, distortion, and live energy. High Rise was an embodiment of that and it became the album and live opener." @Reuben_Wu
"I like how High Rise evolved. Lyrics were incomplete when recording so each of us went off to a corner and came up with thoughts and images that were pulled together to create this lyrically vivid track." @marnieofficial
"High Rise would have seemed like a massive jump, but the way the previous album Light & Magic ended, the final few minutes at least, already hinted at where we were going." @Daniel_IV_
"Wrote Destroy everything you touch in minutes after getting in a taxi to the airport on the way to Australia. It was almost instantaneous." @Daniel_IV_
"I love playing Destroy live. The connection with the crowd is always great and the energy they give back really makes me happy. If it's not about that then i don't know what it is." @marnieofficial
Adam Bartley’s video for Destroy has some history attached. The idea was originally based on garden of earthly delights but the treatment evolved into this kind of Hokusai landscape setting.
Destroy shoot was to be 7th July 2005 in London, but we woke up that morning to a flurry of messages and voicemails insisting we stay where we were, that there had been bomb attacks on the tube and not to leave the hotel.
"Destroy video felt like Lord of The Rings set. Huge models built for us to slot our faces into - a living ice mountain. My neck has never felt such pain since, hours static in an awkward position. Was worth it." @marnieofficial
"We received from permission from China to play a concert but on condition we did not play the song Destroy Everything You Touch, because of the word "destroy" We considered switching ‘destroy’ for ‘enjoy’ or ‘improve’." @Reuben_Wu
"If you listen in phones, the mix of Destroy sounds complicated. It is actually two mixes stuck together. We kept that secret for fifteen years." @Daniel_IV_
International dateline. They’re not guitars, they’re tears.
"Soft Power is the song that comes to mind for me when this album is mentioned. Its the centrepiece, and still a key part of the live shows." @Daniel_IV_
"Soft Power. I always enjoy the songs where Mira and i converge and sing together on a verse or chorus. When it works it's great." @marnieofficial
"CMYK. We used to do these interludes on our early albums. I kind of miss them." - @Reuben_Wu
Artwork: "We wanted to do two versions of the print - one with girls and one with boys on the cover. My partner Dave Hand and I came down to the photoshoot at Eltham Palace to to get the images to base the illustrations." @SamWiehl
"Riff for AMTV came about drunkenly messing around in my bedroom studio where I just had my MS 20 plugged into my laptop, a set of speakers and pretty much no furniture." Mira
"We were fortunate to be invited to China in 2004 and that's where we first played Sugar. In a country that couldn't buy our music we were unsure what to expect. But the kids there just wanted to party." @marnieofficial
"I remember it took two of us to play the MBV style guitar sound on Sugar in the studio, Danny on the whammy bar and me holding an e-bow on the strings." @Reuben_Wu
"FIBUA. I used to be (I still am) really into military surplus gear and the term Fighting in Built Up Areas seemed like an instant fit to a track I was working on. There is a musical nod to Eisbaer by Grauzone." @Reuben_Wu
"Last One Standing makes me think of Mexico City and the crazy reaction we got playing there. It was another level. Pure joy." @marnieofficial
"We got heavier, as bands tend to; harder and faster with each performance. This was reflected in the early tunes we had for Witching Hour, like Weekend" @Daniel_IV_
"Beauty*2. I remember being in a bar in London with Reuben and i told him i had a title for a song; Beauty number 2. Just the title, no music. Sometimes that's all you need. It just flows from there. My Chanel no.5." @marnieofficial
"Beauty*2. I love how stripped down the song sounds in the beginning and then builds fully to the end. My sister Semay played cello in those parts which always get me." @Reuben_Wu
"Whitelightgenerator was an artefact from my service in the shoegazing wars.
That delicate guitar part that comes in around half way had a name: ‘Heidi’." @Daniel_IV_
"All The Way. The images Danny presents here with the lyrics are just perfect. Makes me think of my time in Liverpool. It has a big nostalgic feel. All that talk of winter and Victorian England." @marnieofficial
Guess what. Witching hour was almost never made...
Jim Abbiss, producer: "We had the worst possible start to the session, finding out that the record label had folded on the morning of day one." (1/5)
Jim Abbiss: "Everything could have ended there & then, but we decided to carry on regardless, it may have galvanised us more. It also crucially meant that no-one interrupted or gave pointless opinions, we just did what felt right at the time." (2/5)
Jim Abbiss, producer: "What happened over the next few weeks was as near to what I’d dreamed making records would be like when I was a teenage music fan. (3/5)
Jim Abbiss, producer: "We worked really long hours but still found time to go out & experience Liverpool’s weird & wonderful late-night entertainment, the Russian members' club cabaret night a firm favourite." (4/5)
Jim Abbiss, producer: "We all became solid friends over the time & had the added bonus of Euro 2004 footy on the telly every day, absolutely priceless! It remains one of my favourite ever album experiences." (5/5)
*An unlisted 9 minute 3 seconds track of total silence* called 'Witching Hour'.
You must listen to that until the very end, or you haven’t experienced the album as it was intended.
That was Witching Hour. Thanks for tuning in.
Cheers to @Tim_Burgess @LISTENING_PARTY.
Lets do this again.
(p.s. don't tell anyone, but a new album is on its way...)