Leftfield Got Rhythm

Every child goes through a phase where they think their parents are unhip, and Georgia Barnes is no different. Only Georgia's father, Neil Barnes, does something a little different than most. He's one half of the dance music outfit Leftfield.

"I think she's embarrassed by it," says Barnes from his home in London. "I think she's more into Puff Daddy."

As the hype commences for the duo of Barnes and Paul Daley's second release, Rhythm and Stealth, Georgia would rather use her Sony PlayStation than watch her father be interviewed by various British television presenters or journalists from around the globe. Then again, she's only nine years old.

It's been nearly four years since Leftfield proffered the swarming urban rhythms of Leftism, and the British rock media have turned their absence into an epic drama, like the one they spun in '95 for the Stone Roses' second effort, Second Coming.

But Leftfield did not spend their time blowing a large record company advance on partying, as the Roses were rumored to have done. Instead, to hear Barnes tell it, Leftfield spent their time out of the limelight working on making a quality product -- both live and on record.

"The album took two years to make," Barnes says. "Apart from that, we had a tour in between the albums. We were working all the time. The first album took that long as well. It's quite a complicated sound."

Rhythm and Stealth, released on Sept. 20, is the product of time well spent. Highlights include the humid, twilight breakbeats of "Afrika Shox" and the undulating, gritty "Phat Planet," which blew up after Guinness used it in a beer commercial a few months ago. Before it was released in Britain, white label demo 12" versions of the track were selling for a little under $200, demonstrating that, at least in the U.K., using your art to sell products in no way strips you of your indie-champion status.

Fitting nicely in between the consumer-friendly Chemical Brothers and the often experimental Underworld, Leftfield's Rhythm covers a wide spectrum of dance genres. There's the soothing ambience of "El Cid," the fist-pumping, chemical house beats of "Double Flash" and the come-down bliss of "Swords." Like the duo's last effort, its intricacies slowly wind themselves around you like a vine on a lattice. But that was the intention.

"I wanted to make music that represents a new thing," Barnes says. "We're just interested in making music that stretches the imagination."

Remixes of their tracks have been done by the Jedi Knights, techno kingpin Dave Clarke and Leftfield themselves. And there could be a track shuffled around by Tom and Ed Chemical if the Brothers get some time off from their busy schedule to work it out. Leftfield is currently gearing up for a tour throughout November and possibly doing some music for films. However, when asked if that means a collaboration with the same team they worked with on the Trainspotting soundtrack, Barnes goes quiet.

"That's a good clue," he says, refusing to comment more for superstitions' sake. "We're always interested in working on film. We love film."

In the meantime the duo is looking forward to breaking the Leftfield sound in America.

"I think America's a fantastic market," Barnes says. "In America certain elements of [dance] music are being picked up, and I think the kids can see the rock connection -- Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Brothers. But soon I think you'll get more straight-ahead club music becoming popular."

JOLIE LASH
(September 24, 1999)