Hidden Cameras Headed In Dark Directions

The Hidden Cameras' Joel Gibb is sick of talking about his band's latest disc, Origin:Orphan. He doesn't say as much, but his disinterest is palpable.

Gibb's malaise may be the result of a growing distaste for journalists. It's also possible The Hidden Cameras frontman is ready to move on. A lengthy Origin:Orphan tour is approaching, but Gibb says he's already making plans to head to a studio to record a new dub album.

CHARTattack talked to Gibb about Origin:Orphan's genesis and The Hidden Cameras' gloomy new direction.

CHARTattack: Where does the title Origin:Orphan come from?
Joel Gibb: I just thought of it one day, gestalt style. I had been writing that song [the album's title track] and realized it needed a special title.

I also wanted to ask you about the title of the first single ["In The NA"] — what is The NA?
It's like a variable, like x, y, or z. So it's sort of playing with the idea of meaning.

Any particular reason you picked those two letters?
No, just [for] singing. Songwriting is not always an intellectual process. Writing lyrics and making words fit and mean something, that is. In the initial moments, when you have some sort of abandon... that's at least how I write a song — through abandon, through not even thinking. I guess that's what this song is about, in a way — that part of me which you could call NA, if you want to.

I really like everybody else's interpretation, actually. I love how everyone's all stumped and wants to know what it is... Not Applicable, Narcotics Anonymous, North America. My favourite is that a journalist said — because there's a lyric that says "free from any MA or BA" — that they thought it was a Masters and a Bachelor Of Arts and NA would be another degree.

You mentioned something in a press release that I was hoping you could expand upon — that with this album that you were "exploring genre as a theme in itself."
The record wasn't recorded in one place, with the same people, at the same time. These songs span years, studios and people, and I just let each song take its own course.

From what I've been reading in reviews so far, it seems everyone is quick to point out that sonically, this record is much more gloomy or mournful than your previous albums; had you always planned for it to sound that way?
I've been writing like that for years; it's just finally catching up on the recorded process. A record is not really representing that year — it's representing years past.

Had it always been the plan with these songs to incorporate more instruments than you did on [2006's] Awoo?
Yeah, I guess Awoo was more stripped away. The strings were still there on most of the songs but the horns weren't there. I think [Origin:Orphan] compliments the past records. I think there are classic Hidden Cameras moments on the record, but it's also moving in different directions with different sounds.

Were you worried that in venturing into new territory you might lose what people consider a signature Hidden Cameras sound?
No, but you're making me worry. Why bring it up? I don't think like that. Oddly enough, journalists keep asking me this and it's kind of bothering me. Why should I worry? Is that my main priority?

I was reading that you plan on turning this into some sort of theatrical production, yes?
I've been talking to a theatre in Berlin. I still need to write the proposal for funding, but yeah, it's very possible we could get this off the ground... I actually regret saying it because I don't like talking about things that aren't happening. I don't like going on about something I haven't finished.