Eikon – Dave Hendra (left) and Dave Pilcher (right)
In the build up to their ‘Human EP‘ release, we caught up with Dave Hendra and Dave Pilcher of ‘Eikon‘ and asked them Five Questions…
1. It’s been a year since your last EP release (My Fortress), how do you think your sound has developed since then and what sounds can we expect to hear on this new EP?
Dave Pilcher: We’ve been developing our style a bit so the tracks reflect a more worshipful vibe. The focus now, is more on God and less on us, whilst also trying to achieve a more coherent style throughout a release. There’s a bit more house stuff, It is over-all a bit quicker, and some extra bleeps and bloops for free. We are stoked with the way our sound is coming together. But at the same time don’t want to hold onto it: We love experimenting to keep things fresh.
2. We’ve featured a few covers you’ve done this past year, such as ‘I Love Your Presence’ and ‘Take A Moment’, how do you find the process of working with a song that’s already written in a very different style to the music you create, and how does that compare to the songwriting process of your original work?
Dave Hendra: The challenge of taking a song that has a strong identity and restructuring it to our tastes is a lot of fun. In some ways you don’t have to think too much about the lyrics while at the same time you are playing with melody and phrasing to fit new rhythms and chords. When working on originals we start with a blank slate and could do anything, which is exciting. With covers the restrictions can work in our favour and actually speed up the process. Both are ultimately about problem-solving.
Dave Pilcher: I used to do a fair bit of remixing under my Naive Machine alias (before I become a Christian), so enjoy flipping another style into something new and original, with the aim to rework the track to sound almost like a completely new one. We in fact have a whole album ready of worship remixes (which will include the two tracks you mentioned!).
3. The title of this new EP is ‘Human’, how did you choose this name and what’s the theme behind it?
Dave Hendra: I was inspired by a recent talk, where the preacher said that Jesus ‘sucks out the poison and the pain’ – in other words God took the mess we had created and made it his own. I also love it that in Jesus we get a glimpse of what God wants for humanity, and the power to do something about it. We have thus attempted to weave a theme intended to link how Christ in the Spirit leads us to be more like Him, the ways in which this is done, and in doing so makes us more truly human.
4. As Eikon, you guys frequently lead worship in your local church, how does this style of music as congregational worship work and do you think we can hope to see the wider Church accept and integrate more unconventional worship styles like this?
Dave Pilcher: It is still early days for us but we have big hopes that the church can embrace this kind of music – and tweaked to make it easier for congregations to use! Some people love it, others don’t, but many are able to respond and worship God through the music, which is the most important thing. The leadership at St Mary’s Bryanston Square (London) are very supportive of us – they like trying new things – which we are grateful for. We think God is too big to be worshiped in just one way. We are aware that we are so blessed to be playing a tiny part in thousands of years of worship of all different types. On a purely selfish level it would be fantastic to see more churches pushing boundaries with electronic music (but that’s just because it is what we like!) We have lots to learn and try to work on the feedback we get when we lead worship live.
5. Lastly, what lies in the future for Eikon? Can we expect a full length record at some point? More covers? Live shows?
Dave Pilcher: We have so many tracks ready! There’s our covers album, an EP we are remixing for Darren and Jessie Clarke, and a full-length originals album! Plus we are planning a Christmas covers EP as well. This is all planned for release within the next 2 years! So watch this space, and please pray that God would continue to help us make music for His glory!
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