Volta being a commercial record

Volta begins in impressively immediate style, with ‘Earth Intruders’ (lead single, review here) – was it important to you to lead with a track that’s almost completely different to what was on your preceding album, Medúlla ? Do you hear Volta as a ‘pop’ record, at least more so than Medúlla and even Vespertine ? (Your label) One Little Indian has implied that it’s your most commercial record to date…

One Little Indian are so cute. They always feel that ‘my latest release is the most commercial to date’. It’s good to know they have hope in me. But you’re right – emotionally I wanted this album to start with urgency, the sort of ‘go to the top of a mountain with a flag and a trumpet’ demand for justice. I really don’t know what is pop and what is not. The meaning of the word comes from folk, or people, and therefore I felt at moments that Medúlla being only done with the human voice, which we all have, [was something] that everybody could join in. I feel materialism has really distorted that word, and it has changed its meaning into ‘sellable’, not ‘music of the people, working-class style’.

www.drownedinsound.com, April 24 2007