We love a concept album. Give us Barbra’s Wet anyday. A whole album about water. GROUNDBREAKING. Today we introduce SIRPAUL who has just released a concept album of his own – Intimate Science. According to SIRPAUL it’s all about ‘revealing those aspects of yourself that you would usually only share with someone in the bedroom.’ Sounds fun, right? Well guess what? It is! We spoke to him to find out more.

What is your favourite part of the recording process?
I love just being locked up in the studio by myself.  I want my music to be a completely immersive experience for the listener. Each project needs to have a unique concept and flavor. In order to do that I have to dive in head first and forget about everything superficial. Most of the time I’m in there in my underwear looking all disheveled. I don’t shave, I don’t eat. I just let myself go. I lock myself in the studio for days at a time sometimes. I completely lose sense of time and space when I’m making an album. When I’m out on the street I look for inspiration in the most unlikely places. I record audio samples from everyday situations on a wearable wristband audio device (called Kapture) and bring them back to the studio. Then I load them into my computer, tweak the shit out of them and turn them into loops and beats for my songs. I try stay within the framework of my storyboard but sometimes it’s good not to have to many rules and just experiment. My time in the studio is super intense and extremely satisfying for me.

Do you ever collaborate?
Yeah, I collaborate all the time. I loooove the music I’ve made with other artists & producers. I have a side project band called Simulover with Alex Lauterstein and I’m the featured vocalist on many tracks with Armand Deluxe. I have produced for other artists as well and I’ve enjoyed it very much… but honestly? I’m a control freak (in and out of the studio ) so I’m not really into letting anyone totally take over. I do think it’s important to experiment though. Working with other people has brought out aspects of me that I’m not sure I would have been explored had I not forced myself to be open to it.

Intimate Science is very conceptual. What are your own favourite concept albums?
Madonna has done some amazing conceptual albums. I loved Confessions On A Dancefloor. Start to finish it’s very cohesive, between the art direction, writing and production. I think that project was pretty flawlessly executed.

What story is being told throughout Intimate Science?
Intimate Science is about revealing those aspects of yourself that you would usually only share with someone in the bedroom or in a private conversation. Making music is a very intimate experience for me. It’s not only when I feel the most empowered and in control, but it’s one of the only times I allow myself to feel vulnerable. I believe that music and sexual energy come from the same source, so there’s really no way to separate the two for me. This album is honest and extremely suggestive but I think it also has a strong balance between emotionally revealing songs and plenty that are more sexually charged.

Which is your favourite song on the album?
I’d definitely kind of hard to pick just one but if I had to I’d say “Even Stars Fall”. It has a certain kind of 80’s goth quality that’s really appealing to me. The song is about how even though sometimes people put you on a pedestal, it doesn’t mean you’re perfect and it doesn’t mean you won’t totally fuck shit up sometimes.

What do you want to achieve with this album?
I am always trying to reach a wider audience and make my work more universally appealing without compromising my sexuality. There really aren’t that many pop singers that are out and have been out since day one, singing songs that make sense in the context of same sex relationships. I’m also unapologetic about the fact that I am gay but that doesn’t mean it’s what defines me as an artist. My songs explore all aspects of life and I refuse to water down the suggestive nature of my work in order to make it more palatable to the heterosexual community. One of my biggest pet peeves is when LGBT people in the entertainment industry artistically castrate themselves so that straight people will find them more appealing. I’m not into any of that shit. Sex is sex. Love is love. Pain is pain. We are all sexual human beings and I hope this album makes that point very clear.

Loverboy is named after the infamous Mariah Carey song. What is your favourite Mariah Carey song?
Hands down it has to be Dreamlover. That legendary David Morales (Def Club Remix) is soooooo sick! It’s part of the soundtrack to my early days as a fixture in the NYC club scene. When she re-recorded the vocals specifically for the remix it literally brought Mariah and the song to an entirely new level of dance floor royalty. All the other divas had to start following her lead, and frankly, many could not keep up. Whenever I listen to it it takes me right back to peak hour at Sound Factory and Twilo- two of the best muthafuckin clubs that have ever existed in the world.

SIRPAUL’s album Intimate Science is available to buy now.
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