Mood Board is our column where artists share with us a few of the things that inspired their new record. This time, Elia Einhorn, the Brooklyn-based musician/producer/recording engineer/podcast host — and former host of the Talkhouse Podcast! — tells us how The Smiths’ Andy Rourke, Berghain, and Lee “Scratch” Perry, and more inspired his new EP as Fashion Brigade. Annie, I Wish You’d Quit Drinking is out now.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
1. Andy Rourke
The Smiths are my favorite band of all time, and for my money, the best to ever do it. Andy Rourke was a friend — we went from working together professionally to DJing and catching shows around New York.
One day when he came over to my studio, he noticed my Magnus Chord Organ, a plastic accordion-inspired keyboard with buttons that play chords on the left and a few-octave keyboard on the right. His eyes lit up. “We used to play these in class as school kids in Manchester!” he said before sitting down and rocking out for minutes on end. He completely lost himself in memory and creation! It was so beautiful to watch.
I play the chord organ regularly and use it to write, but hadn’t laid down any Magnus on a release since my old band The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir’s first LP. Andy inspired me to make that keyboard the sonic center of this new track.
Andy Rourke passed while I was working on the EP, and I dedicated it to him.
2. Berghain
I went to Berghain on Christmas a few years back. My wife Amy and I were on our babymoon in Berlin, staying in the wonderful Tyler Pope of LCD Soundsystem’s Kreuzberg recording studio and Interference Pattern record label office. Around midnight Amy crashed out, and I headed to the repurposed power station, hoping to be allowed in by the notoriously picky face-tattooed doorman. I was! I just LOVED that in this temple of sound and sex, music was so utterly sacred and so filthily profane all at the same time. It reminded me of growing up in Chicago, where House music held the same status. That night opened my eyes to the fact that I needed a dance version of “Annie…” on the EP, so I dropped a note to one of my favorite producers, The Range. The Range knows how to make you want to cry AND shake your ass at the same time — check the below track out for proof — and he brought that beautiful combo to his remix of “Annie….”
3. Lee “Scratch” Perry
Lee “Scratch” Perry was the legit fucking GENIUS producer who helped invent reggae and then dub. CAN YOU FUCKING IMAGINE?!?! Reggae AND dub!
Scratch was my gateway drug to understanding how to take parts of a song and repurpose them with other musicians, the practice that underpins this new EP.
I thought it was the longest shot, but found a contact for Scratch and asked my dear friend Reese Higgins, head of Gentle Reminder Records who released my first LP, if they could reach out. Scratch got back, listened to my song, and signed on to version it! I could hardly believe it.
A bit later, I had the idea to ask Scratch to paint the cover art. He absolutely rocked it, but getting the track title wrong and misspelling Fashion Brigade’s name. Utter perfection!
4. Addiction & Recovery
I was a teenage addict who was blessed to find recovery early and have now been sober for 28 years. I do a lot of work with recovering folks, and released Sober 21, a resource for musicians who need recovery that features folks like Nile Rogers, Moby, Maluca and more sharing about how they got — and stay — clean.
While I’m still completely bonkers and would literally never put myself forward as any kind of role model, I do credit recovery with giving me a full and beautiful life. It’s tough for me to see people I love — or even complete strangers, really — who are struggling with their own substance abuse, because I know that there is a sober community waiting to welcome them, and to give them a life beyond what they currently consider possible. So the addicts just keep trying to quit on their own, keep fucking up, keep feeling worse and worse, and the downward cycle locks in as the drain — jails, institutions, death — looms ever nearer.
The lyric to “Annie, I Wish You’d Quit Drinking” came out of watching this heartbreaking spectacle play out again and again and again and again and again and…
THERE IS HOPE AND COMMUNITY AND RECOVERY!!
5. “Hurry Up Harry” by Sham 69
I’ve got a kid, and many of her school friends’ parents are doctors and lawyers, or work in finance. I learned the term “fintech” at the Fort Greene playground. Me, I’ve been blessed with a professional life in music, and that looks a lot different than those professions. For me, that’s by design; I get to stay out all night and call it work, fly around the world to speak at music conferences and interview artists, and produce records I love, and that hopefully help someone out there feel less alone. So on the day I turn 46, I’m releasing the Annie… cassette and zine. A couple days later, I’m throwing a private bday/release party with friends from my favorite bands and record labels spinning. (DM me at @eliaeinhorn on Insta if you wanna come!) Comparing my life to people around my age's who are more of the white picket fence set, I often hear these brilliant lines from Sham 69’s single “Hurry Up Harry” in my head:
You're telling me to grow up
But Harry don't you see
If I tried to act my age
I wouldn't be me
