May 14, 2012 10:53AM

Interview: Blouse

We speak with the dream-pop band about doughnuts floating through space and Snoop Dogg.
Blouse by Jeff Luker

The other day I had a really good day on the internet: I came across Blouse. They're a three-piece band based out of Portland, and they came together a few summers ago when Charlie Hilton, Patrick Adams and Jacob Portrait all started playing music together in a warehouse. Making deep and dark synth-led dream-pop, they released their self-titled album in September last year. We caught up with lead singer Charlie about doughnuts floating through space and Snoop Dogg.

Ingrid Kesa: How was Blouse born?

Charlie Hilton: It was a divine accident. I had gone back to university to study graphic design and met Patrick on the first day of class. We had a three-hour studio together with a really awful professor, so there was a lot of time to talk. Eventually, talking led to playing music. Of course, I had been writing for a long time and Patrick and Jake had a history of making music together, but Blouse was really born out of the three of us coming together and wanting very badly to make something new.

Blouse's debut album cover art (2011).
 
What inspired the early-internet time-travelling doughnut video for 'Ghost Dream'?
Gusti and Helmut of $andboxxx came up withe the concept for that video. They're a pair of fine-art students at l'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. To them, the ghost dream is all about memory, so all the objects in the video are signifiers to childhood. Their original treatment called for a plain chocolate doughnut, but they decided to add sprinkles in the final version. I'm glad they did.


Who is the most well-dressed band or musician of all time?
There's something very sleek about David Byrne. I love his suits, even that giant one he used to wear.

Is Portland anything like the TV show Portlandia makes it out to be?
Yeah, a little.

If you had to have a rap cameo in one of your songs, which hip hop artist would you choose and why?
Snoop Dogg, because he's Snoop Dogg.

Ingrid Kesa

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