Outblinker cover by Frank McFadden.

Ourblinker is a quartet from Glasgow formed by David Warner (guitar, synth), Chris Cusack (guitar, synth, vocals), Luigi Pasquini (synth, bass), and Graham Costello (drums). The band navigates through krautrock and electronic sonorities with a psychedelic, mantric approach where the travel-ish character has the main role. In May 2024 they released the first, self-titled record, where we can find the influence of Can and Neu and at the same time the fervidly dynamic techno creativity that recalls the Venetian Snares writing. The above-mentioned record was released by Araki Records, GoldMold Records, and Bloody Sound, and it was produced by Benjamin Power (Blanck Mass, Fuck Buttons).

Below is the interview with Chris Cusack about any details from the past and the creative process behind the first Oublinker self-titled album.

The Hallogallo revisited version (originally by Neu!) is emotionally characterized by feelings that tap into the most lysergic post-punk sonic trip, where, in this case, the dynamic drumming recalls the most experimental and mathematical electronic music. This version develops ethereal drifts that partially remember the music ultra-terrain journey by Tangerine Dream, which are panoramically linked to the Teutonic Kosmische Music. Can you talk about how the idea to revisit this historical piece was born, which has taught so much to post-punk and new wave genres? 

“There were two main motivations for covering Hallogallo. Or perhaps three. The first reason is that it was constantly played in our van when we were touring and, in those situations, ideas begin to spring into your mind and then you start to mess around during soundchecks so we already had it in our heads often.

“The second reason was “fan service”. Many of our fans are big krautrock followers. They deeply respect the traditions and legends of that subgenre. I find there are always people like this in any niche field of art – zombie or folk-horror movies, fantasy literature – people who are protective of the legacy of that style and come together as a community to keep it alive. They are important  because for them it is more than just a passing enjoyment, they feel very invested. So we wanted  to pay some tribute to those fans by putting our hearts into a performance of a foundational text in that world. That is why we struck such a careful balance between trying to stay very true for the  first half of the song, then trying to develop our own interpretation in the second half. If you want to try that, you need to do it well, or risk offending those die-hard fans. I hope we managed not to offend them.

“The third reason was to test ourselves as a band. In the years since “Pink/Blue” we had developed some very complex moments of music and we needed to see if we could still reduce things down and simply groove. So for us, musically, it was closer to returning to our earlier music (for example “Pink” is a traditional krautrock song).”

The first, self-titled album, released this year for Araki Records (France), GoldMold Records (UK), nevertheless for the Italian label Bloody Sound, is linked to historical post-punk sonorities with an austere and dilated form. This lysergic ‘80 sound was reinterpreted in addition to electronic influences and in a fervidly original way. How was the associated creative process born? 

“Outblinker began with no mission. We simply gathered good musicians and decided to see where the music took us. Understandably it began more psychedelic and improvised, in a krautrock style. The early EP really shows that. We had many hours of material in that fashion that was never properly recorded or released.

“However we all instinctively felt there would be more reward in sculpting our music into more deliberate forms. The electronic and psychedelic components naturally drew us closer to the aesthetics of some classic post-punk. The fact we always insisted on performing everything, hard and loud and with energy, also maintained the feel of a punk band. We did not want to slide too far into the world of “electronica” with half a dozen Macbooks doing the work. We also did not want to lose the analogue, organic humanity of the music. Just because we used electronic instruments, we believed it could still sound human.

“Indeed, this is why we often used robotic voices, chopped and distorted. We wanted to play with that contradiction. It was a way to comment on the intrusion of technology into human communication. And music is primarily communication after all. At least I feel it should be. If I was to reduce my main concerns with so much music I dislike, it is that it’s role as a form of communication has been overcome by its status simply as a “product”.

“Outblinker intended to communicate and we felt punk energy and live instruments mixed with the many possibilities of electronic technology, would allow us to say the most.”

The first song, Walter Peck, is signed by a series of musical hooks with diverse reprises, suspending a music tension in a wavering way, with a historically hard and dark approach. So, how did this more historically classic approach happen in this track?

“The intention was to make the ending of Walter Peck (album version) as euphoric as possible. The original version of it (Walter Peck EP) never quite reached the level of orgasmic melody that we wanted.

“Luigi is a very skilful pianist and keyboard player, with experience in classical playing. But he also used to play a form of symphonic black metal and so had a lot of existing talent for grandiosity. The producer, Benjamin Power aka Blanck Mass, is obviously known for his huge arrangements and sonic saturation in other projects. However he also wanted us to keep the songs moving, not dwelling on one segment too long. He would regularly tell us “Enough! Cut the next 64 bars, on to the next part”.

“So the developments happened regularly and deliberately to give the listener a constant sense of  progress. We hoped they might even be sad to hear one bit end, so that it demands re-listens to the track.

“And in terms of the central writing, sweet melodic music is nice, but it only works for me when carefully balanced. Just like food. Too much sugar stops being pleasant quite quickly. So the recipe needed to challenge and shock to make the overall flavours come together. Much euphoric post-rock for me is far too saccharine. And by the same logic, I often hear a lot of dark techno or industrial rock that could be incredible if they added one moment of relief and reward. We wanted to master that recipe.”

Techno Viking is signed by a glossy dynamism, where the tight rhythmic parts are amalgamated with Middle-Eastern-like sonorities. This sound oscillates between techno and a vague house structure, by an attitudinal experimentation that deviates into clubbing. Did your intention consist of creating an iconic track based on a singular approach oriented to the rhythmic component? 

“First I should say, the Eastern scale melodies are entirely thanks to Luigi who (apart from also looking very Middle Eastern for an Italian man) has a terrific talent for playing that includes much more complex scales. One day during rehearsal he started to improvise this part and when we heard it (and saw how fast he could play it) the rest of us insisted that it should be included. The foundational idea for the track came from our enjoyment of music like “Poison Lips” by Vitalic or the work of older pop groups like Erasure. We felt there was no reason we could not make something so pulsating and pop work within our material as long as we added that level of  darkness again, to balance the sweetness.

“Using chopped rhythmic vocals was intended to satirize the “pop” nature of the song a bit. With a sung vocal it would have been horrible. But that approach made it feel post-modern and a bit cynical.

“Again the ending was simply about surrendering to euphoria and melody. We knew there was a big rewarding conclusion staring us in the face and eventually we just stopped fighting it. The ending would have been much longer, but again Benjamin Power took his axe to our excessive tendencies and told us less was more.”

An incisive and minimal rhythmic line characterizes the song DDDAvid. Here you take the lesson focused on motorik rhythm from krautrock poetics, and, if there are melodic changes with a fugal character, drumming draws periodic patterns with a strong impact, becoming a real reference point. So what was the intention behind these opposite elements that live simultaneously? 

“Strangely, I don’t think much of classic motorik etc when I hear it. The two most obvious influences in this song for me are Portishead and John Carpenter.

“I am a huge fan of “Third” by Portishead and the drum part (with a different production to much of the rest of the album) always makes me think more of that album. And in terms of the underlying bass arpeggiator, that lay directly in our collective love of John Carpenter and classic 80s film scoring. We wanted a brooding song.

“The evil of the choruses arrived later, when we decided that this song needed to have a horror quality to it, and the distorted orchestral stabs are acting as jump-scares.

“This is probably my personal favourite of the work we did and that comes down to the way we developed the sinister middle section and then the expansive ending.

“Benjamin’s production played a huge part too.

“The vocal approach in this was to avoid it seeming too self-important or egotistical. One of the things that made 80s horror so good was the humour and naivete. So bringing in this totally unexpected vocoder element was designed to offset the darkness. I originally styled that vocal on “California” by 2Pac. You can really hear that in the first lyrical line.”

In Cargo 200 there are reprises of abrasive sounds reproduced by guitars with a kraut fashion (filtered by a beat/electronic aesthetics from ‘90). Then, this piece evolves into a more lysergic and synthetical part, with a geometric, non-euclidean style. This can represent a sign of relevant organicity in your work, especially because of the extended playing time in this track; do you share what I said? 

“I see what you mean but some of the strangeness of this track also comes from how it was assembled. We had three different versions of that middle third. None of them were working for us. So this final version came from us cannibalising the others to produce something totally different. We knew the song needed to go somewhere new and really draw the listener closer. I feel it almost sounds like it travels underwater.

“The approach is definitely one of “noise-rock” funnelled through synthesizers. My biggest passion was bands like Jesus Lizard, Unsane, Melvins and even heavier. I felt we could replicate the sound of someone smashing concrete onto a bass guitar if we used the synthesizers like weapons  instead of tools. There are a lot of guitar and bass effects pedals involved in the synthesizer chain here.

“The length of the track was not deliberate, we simply let it take the journey it needed and gave up  trying to moderate the length. Where the other songs were very much controlled by us, this song  feels like it was in charge. It was driving. Not us.

“It is less refined and less pristine. More ugly and brutish and difficult. But so many albums finish with something very soft and controlled, we felt this record should go the other way.”

Beyond the music, the cover of your self-titled album reflects your creative, psychedelic, and distorted side incisively. Indeed the artwork shows a continuous collage of human faces, jointed with a horrific taste, or through a nihilistic surgery. How this work was created, and who is the author? Was AI used, and what were the indications or parameters in this case? 

“The cover art does not involve AI in any way. Indeed it is interesting to me that it seems like it could, since the big battle with AI artworks is how it damages the lives of working artists. The painter is Frank McFadden. He lives in Glasgow, very close to my home actually. Frank is a terrific guy.

“David and myself already knew his art and were big fans. I got to know him and we had coffee.  This was many years ago, before the recording even began, and we discussed the possibility of  using his artwork on our debut album when it eventually arrived and we were very happy when he  said no problem. It perhaps is not obvious but the original paintings are very large. He used a ladder to paint them.

“Frank has recently appeared on a BBC programme and is slowly receiving more of the public attention he deserves. His life story is very very interesting and his work channels so much chaos and empathy. He lives compeltely off the grid – no socials, no mobile phone even – but I see him in the street often and cannot compliment him enough, as an artist and a person. The artwork was a perfect accompaniment to our theme. Outblinker is instrumental and thus there  is not much wisdom or meaning contained in the “lyrics” (especially as many of them are chopped  up and played for rhythm instead of meaning. But we wanted to continue an idea from our “The Remains of Walter Peck EP”, which was to use the names of people (real and fictional) to highlight  a particularly interesting aspect of human nature.

“The album cannot teach any lessons lyrically, but it can direct people to human stories that  provoke introspection and perhaps personal growth. For example, “Farrokh Bulsara” from our previous EP was intended to highlight how Freddie Mercury came to obliterate his true identity. By the end of his life, Farrokh was already gone. There was just Freddie. Living in those identities must have been a strange experience. Maybe he even used the original identity to shed anxiety and fears – like a skin – and emerge as something new and wonderful, which “Freddie” unquestionably was.

“So each track here simply takes the huge morass of human life and existence (the fleshy chaos  depicted on the cover) and highlights six stories from that, if the listener can discover who they are. Each story we felt taught an interesting lesson. Walter Peck is the most obscure as it is very personal for me and Cerimor is personal for Luigi, but the others are discoverable with enough time.

“In fact I will leave with a clue… if your audience want to know the identity of “DDDavid” they need  to think about “dentist” and “Serbia”. Good luck.”