“I’m not sure, but I think the perfect pop song is the one you hear and remember immediately. What makes you dance, enters your memory with lyrics that are unusual or that make you think, ”says Dan Smith (London, 1986), leader of the Bastille and current world pop authority, with some hesitation.

His songs, as regards the musical part, the strictly sound one, they are complacent little havens effective in an audience that sees music as an asset that accompanies its passing, and that does not necessarily perceive it as a cultural element capable of changing the world.

But when it comes to lyrics, Smith is clear: “While this is our loudest pop album, it’s the one with the weirdest lyrics, the ones that ask the most questions.”

With an interesting and refined musical taste, Smith will take his band to Buenos Aires to present, on 7 September at the Luna Park (with tickets via the Ticketportal system), their fourth album Give me the futurea collection of songs conceived before the pandemic that already revealed how crazy the relationship between man and technology was starting to be.

Thirteen songs that try to make the listener think and give him an optimistic outlook, just like Smith conceives what an ideal pop song would be.

References, collaborations and Argentina

And let’s hear what he has to say about his musical tastes: “I love Sigus Ros and the Kronos Quartet. I love the soundtracks, for example the soundtrack of Requiem for a dream by Clint Mansell. I’m also a big fan of people who play piano and sing with unusual voices like Anonhi, Regina Spektor and Sufjan Stevens “)

Collaborations with artists such as Lizzo, Yungblud and Haim Y the contribution of a song for the documentary From the devil’s breath by Leonardo Di Caprio They’ve grown the singer’s resume exponentially, although he maintains his gesture of humility and freshness and doesn’t even feel completely comfortable being the center of attention at the crowded Bastille shows.

From London, he responds enthusiastically and seems to be very proud of his new album, which he returns to whenever he can; no matter what question is asked. His way of interacting is also perfectly pop and it’s hard not to get attached to him.

-How do you feel about having your show with Bastille in Buenos Aires -a place you know well- after playing at Lollapalooza seven years ago?

-We are very excited to be returning to Argentina. We had a great time. Playing at that Festival was great and have the opportunity to stay in town also to registern. But it’s been a long time, we’ve made three more albums since then. But we are always excited to return to South America and hope to have a great evening introducing you Give me the future.

-What can you say about the Bastille then and today?

-Well, now we have a lot more music and we have a few more years (laughs). Now let’s explore more to make music.

When we were there, we were creating our second album Wild World, trying to see where our music would go and see how we react to the big changes that were starting in the world. And that this was before Brexit, for Trump, it was a different era, many things have changed politically, in terms of technology, It’s been a very long seven years..

We grew up as a band, we experimented with different creative ideas … we came back a little bigger, hopefully a little smarter.

-Returning to your experience in Buenos Aires where you recorded some songs during that visit, what was it like working here?

-It is spectacular to be able to spend more than a couple of days in a city when we are on tour. I love to travel, I love to be a tourist, so it was great to be in the studio in Buenos Aires, but part of me wanted to go out and be a tourist. We hope that this time there will be a little more time to go out to eat, see the different areas of the city.

With that album, which we shot around the world, I have some specific songs that when I listen to them somehow make me go back to the places we wrote them. It’s nice to have that music that will somehow work forever as a link with Buenos Aires.

I want to have some free time again so that I can backpack through different countries like I did before; many times for me to turn means to look at the places through a small window and leave at any time.

The importance of images

-In Give me the Future there are several references to films, how important are images for you when composing?

-Very important. When I started writing this record I was really influenced by the things I heard, saw, read, articles I heard on podcasts, movies, TV, books. This latest album is meant to be an escapist worklike bringing out a little bit of what we have in mind or what we do in real life.

There are several ways to get it: take a walk, run, play video games. As the creation process progressed, we saw how everything about the future and technology and how strange it is to live in an age where technology reigns. In many cases it is much more advanced than the science fiction classics.

I like that idea and that people who want to change the world by being inventors and activists can do it, because they have the ability to see what the world will look like in the times to come.

I think our relationship with technology can be extraordinary, unifying, educational, fun or very messed up, divisive, compelling, isolating. As in everything, there is no black or white, good or bad, everything is complicated, particular. Well, I tried to put all these things on a pop record (laughs).

Do you feel like you made it?

-Well, there are songs that will make you want to dance, others that will work as a distraction after a very strange couple of years.

For me making music is always an excuse to explore interesting ideasI think it’s funny to have a reason to go back to science fiction movies, because they tell you about the world we live in, but they also try to take you away from it, that’s what we tried to do with this record.

Not just conversing about how complex things are, but taking the listener back into a retro-futuristic space age a million miles from real life.

Despite the reflective parts, the album has a positive aura. How did you manage to make such an upbeat album in these turbulent times?

-It was our goal: to make an album that was optimistic about the future, but as you say, it’s very difficult. With political and social divisions, climate change, the cost of living, it sucks to be optimistic. That’s why I believe that people who are trying to change the world in a positive way exist and have inspiring energy.

I think so, we tried to make a positive record, but in the end we are in 2021, 2022 and it gets complicated, it doesn’t seem to be in the middle of a positive situation in many ways.

That darkness has crept into many of the songs, many of the lyrics, but if you look at the end of the first part of the album in the song The future holds I wanted to create a theme that would lead you to live in the moment. I know it’s cliché to talk about “being present”but it is not healthy to continually think about future situations or situations that cannot be controlled.

I love people who are able to enjoy the here and now: a good conversation, love, something stupidly funny. It seems trivial, but it is so. On the album there are moments like Turn off the lightsthat they are basically there to keep the listener and me out of worries about the future and give us some light.

-They are like anti-nostalgia moments …

-And this it is dangerous and unhealthy to always think that the past was better. That conversation gets brought to the album table, but I’m just a fucking idiot making music and I’m not trying to impose any convincing message on anyone, I just want to write songs that react to how we perceive things.

What is success?

-There is a letter on the album that caught my attention that says “Give me passion / Give me violence / Give me trust / Give me something new to try”. I don’t know if you talk about yourself in that topic, but it made me think about how good you think you are in your pursuit of happiness? Because even if you said that you are just an idiot who makes music, you are a very successful person, who makes music that a lot of people like.

-I think there is a great need for satisfaction in a person who makes music. For me the satisfaction comes from when I manage to make a song for which feelings of passion are born in me. I look for it in the studio when I work on any project, both for Bastille and for other people. Of course we have the privilege of doing shows, but I’m “relatively uncomfortable” on stage.

I love the moment when things start, I always prefer creativity. The next step is to finish the text, to have something good to say. As for the song, it’s about what people do on line to find someone in this world where practically anything is possible.

It makes me happy to see the world, to be with my friends, to have silly conversations, to laugh, to spend time with my grandchildren and my family.

I don’t know … I’m a terrible phone addict, I’m the worst, that’s why the album does not speak from a place of judgment, but about challenging myself.

WD