Defying Definition

04/19/1999 4:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Lily Moayeri

"If it wasn't for public transportation, I wouldn't have any lyrics," states Karl Hyde, singer/ guitarist for the electronic trio Underworld. "I live in Romford in Essex and I don't drive, so to get into London is a train journey, and the people on there--the East of London people--are real characters. They say the most remarkable things when they talk to each other. It fascinates me. I listen to people's conversations and things they make me think of staring out the window and it all goes down into these books. I just open up a page and start singing. It sounds like one conversation going on in a space that is yet undefined; that space is then defined by the listener."

These seemingly haphazard, usually indecipherable lyrics are perhaps Underworld's most defining characteristic. With most dance acts sticking to mainly instrumental music, Underworld exist in a sparsely occupied space in the techno world where they have both an identifiable frontman and song lyrics, however vague and random those lyrics may be. "It's apparently random, but it's not random to me," insists Hyde, who is joined in Underworld's current configuration by tech-head Rick Smith and DJ Darren Emerson. "I believe that all of us see the world as a series of fragments, we don't see the world as a photograph that contains everything in it. We see what we need to see, so consequently a journey is made up of these fragments, sounds, smells, sights. Once I realized that, putting it together with sample culture was plain sailing. If I was to draw the line from here to where we were going to go next and write things as they went into my senses, they would appear to be a random selection of items. But if I was to give that a title, say 'The Journey From Leeds To London,' you'd go, 'Oh yeah, that's the road, there's the shop...'"

All three of Underworld's albums to date have featured this singular vocal style, which seems to have more in common with spoken word than traditional pop singing. It started four years ago with Dubnobasswithmyheadman, a unique amalgamation of beats, rhythms, guitars, vocals, turntables and technology that boasted actual songs, as opposed to just structureless club tracks. Two years later, Underworld bested themselves with Second Toughest In The Infants, which followed the same formula of infectious grooves and hypnotic vocals. And in 1996, the group gained wider cult status with the release of the film Trainspotting, as our hero Renton agonizingly withdrew from heroin and later strutted off into the sunset with a bag of cash while Underworld's "Dark And Long" and "Born Slippy" bubbled in the background.

Underworld's latest release, Beaucoup Fish, is a amalgam of those first two albums. From the harsh and insistent beats of "King Of Snake/ Winjer," to the soothingly soft groove of "Push Downstairs," to the laid-back guitars and chilled-out vibes of "Cups" and "Jumbo," the disc strikes a tenuous balance between hyperspeed and serenity, incorporating calming elements into the high-BPM numbers and uptempo dynamics into the mellower ones.

When reflecting on Underworld's songwriting process over the years, Hyde says, "Nothing's ever the same, it's always evolving. There are a lot of things that are familiar, but they're always accompanied by stuff which is unfamiliar--stuff that is going to throw you, upset you, delight you, be difficult for you to get your head around today, but maybe tomorrow you'll be glad it's happened. It's a struggle being part of this group because it's continually challenging your idea of where you think you are, one's definition of what we do." As with their ambiguous lyrics, when it comes to Underworld's ever-slippy music, perhaps such definitions aren't necessary.