Uniform Motion

UNIFORM MOTION - BIOGRAPHY

As with most biographies, this story begins with the utterances of hypnotic phrases being repeated over, and over, and over, again; ricocheting through a developing sensitive mind; with the whispering of bitter-sweet music before the age of reason. The words, the sounds and the looks that a young mind has processed cannot be erased. They can only be stored in different places. Under the influence of Steven Heller’s Monsters and Magical Sticks, the concept of Uniform Motion sees the light.
The principle is that we go through life in a continual straight line and that the trajectory we are on will never change unless something, or someone, hits us.

After years and years of selectively storing data and cruising down the highway of life (and a quick stint with Angle -We'll Pick Up the Pieces Next Time, 2006), Andrew Richards, the musical half of Uniform Motion picks up an old battered guitar. Two of the strings were missing, but that’s how that guitar was meant to me, so she would stay that way.
The 4-string guitar is the backbone of this album. Multiplied, duplicated, interlaced, and dissonant – as if there were different personalities trying to jump out of it. The vocals follow the same pattern - when strummed guitar strings become strings of words, or soft utterances that give substance to a subconscious idea. The beating of African percussion can be heard in the background, emanating from an urban soundscape, evoking a primitive nature, an imaginary journey, a calm floating sensation. The guitars hold this all together.

VISUALLY SPEAKING

The graphical half of the band, Renaud Forestier, does not play a musical instrument. He’s a graphic designer. His comic books have been published by the likes of CFSL, Warum and Chocolat Jeunesse and his website www.reuno.net is a popular destination in the illustration worild.
The collaboration started quite simply when Renaud was asked to work on the artwork for the comic strips. He then became a major part of the band when he started drawing illustrations on a laptop, which are projected on screen in realtime during the concerts.
He zig zags between impertinence and candour and brings a whole new dimension to a live musical performance. Recently, Renaud plucked up the courage to sing backing vocals and tells the odd joke between songs too.
Original is a theme that has definitely been a recurrent one throughout the project. From 1st June to 4th December 2008, the group published a series of episodes (every 2/3 weeks) on http://www.uniform- motion-pictures.com, each episode including a song, a video and an interactive comic strip illustrating the song with the lyrics.
In the beginning, the videos of the band playing alternate versions of the studio recordings were all supposed be shot in CDM Studio in Toulouse, where the album was being mixed.
But the project soon had to adapt to real live concerts when the band was invited to play at Apple Expo, and the Maroquinerie (w/ Islands) in Paris after winning a contest organised by the prestigious weekly cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles. Each new adventure became a new episode in the series. A national news channel in France got wind of the project and broadcast a two minute piece (i>TELE/Canal+)
The band put a final touch to the project with a cover of Talk Talk’s Such a shame, released just in time for Christmas. This time, instead of filming a live performance, a real video clip was made.

FROM VIRTUAL TO REAL LIFE
Early 2009, the band decided to release a physical package including the videos (DVD), the songs (CD) and 54 page comicbook.
The record was album of the week on Canal Extremadura in Spain and appeared on Myspace Uncovered on NME Radio, with airplay across the globe in the US, Italy, Germany resulting in Uniform Motion being signed by No-Source in the US and Aaahh Records in Germany just after their German tour in November 2009.

Uniform Motion's second opus, Life, was released 7th Feb 2010, as a digital download coupled with canvas paintings in the shape of vinyl records and posters.

Roll Over, the first single from the record has been included in a bunch of indie playlists was released on the computer game Rock Band.

Back Up Your Soul, track 2 from the Life, will be used in Episode 5 of the 7th Season of the documentary Roadtrip Nation, broadcast on PBS.

In September 2010, Uniform Motion was selected for the finals of the prestigious CQFD contest organised by French Rock magazine, les Inrockuptibles.