Morcheeba's fourth studio album, Charango (due July 9th), packs a surprise in the form of "Women Lose Weight," a song with lyrics that rival anything by Eminem.

"I'm gonna have to kill 'er," goes the nonchalant rap by guest MC Slick Rick. "Send that ass right to the morgue," echoes the background vocal. The track details the decision of a man to do away with his wife because she has gained weight after having two kids.

"I think Eminem has made it impossible for anyone to be really controversial now," says Morcheeba's guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Ross Godfrey. "I think some people might find it offensive, but it is kind of funny. The album is generally about degrading relationships and that is probably the ultimate final stage of the relationship."

Slick Rick, who served time from 1990 to 1996 for attempted murder, also wrote the lyric. "He's happily married," Ross says, "and his wife said she liked [the song] as well."

The British trip-hoppers -- which include Ross, his brother/beat programmer/lyricist Paul Godfrey and vocalist Skye Edwards -- specifically asked Slick Rick to write the rap about killing his wife after noticing how many New York cafes post flyers that read, "Women Lose Weight."

"There's so much in women's magazines and culture about that, that it's good that [Rick's] doing it in a lighthearted way," Ross says.

Another song on Charango -- "What New York Couples Fight About" -- was inspired by a headline in a women's magazine that the wife of Lambchop's Kurt Wagner was reading. Wagner, who wrote the lyric, duets with Edwards on the song.

"New York is a very strange place," says Ross. "You just phone someone up and somebody else will do you the things that you need done, whether it's laundry or cooking food. Because it takes the domestic nature out of living, what do they fight about? They fight about which place to have brunch, things like that."

Morcheeba co-produced Charango with Pete Norris at the band's London studio (except for "Women Lose Weight" which was recorded in New York), and took their sweet time to finish. Ross says his brother stayed home "like Brian Wilson" and came up with musical ideas, while he and Skye did some travelling. When they returned home, they spent eighteen months composing and piecing together the songs.

"We were working what we like to call a Bruce Willis week, which is only three days and having like a five-day weekend," Ross says. "That went on for quite a while because we just enjoyed being at home and not having to tour. The nearer it got to being completed, the quicker we wanted to do it to get it done, so we could release it in the summertime, rather than dragging it on to the next year."

Ross is happy with the results, as he considers Charango Morcheeba's best album to date. "The first record [1996's Who Can You Trust] had a really good mood, but it was very lo-fi and kind of miserable," he explains. "The second record [1998's Big Calm] had a lot of diverse influence musically and quite hopeful sentiment. Then the third record [2000's Fragments of Freedom] was very well produced, but didn't necessarily have the songs and the emotion. We kind of put all three together [on Charango], so we've got really good production, emotion and mood, which are the most important things for us."

KAREN BLISS
(June 24, 2002)