Mortechno? Not For Morcheeba

Upon dialing Skye Edwards' South London apartment, the first clear sound that emerges is an infantile gurgle.

"My newborn daughter KiKi is sitting right here, sucking away," cheerfully explains the Morcheeba vocalist. While on February 10th, Edwards gave birth to a new baby girl, the artful trio of which she comprises one third, gave rise to a new, unexpected resonance û- Morcheeba's second major label effort, Big Calm.

Putting thoughts of her child aside for a moment, Skye is eager to discuss the birth of Big Calm. "The new album is definitely not techno," begins Edwards. "This album makes it harder than ever to put us in one category, because there's really a bit of everything." While the calming grooves and balmy island rhythms of their first album had convinced everyone that Morcheeba were trip-hop specialists, their latest work is taking them in a new direction. Offering up more of guitarist Ross Godfrey's sitar-slides and brother Paul's mood-moogs then ever before, Morcheeba inches closer to American rock than most listeners could ever anticipate.

"When the first album was written, we really hadn't been anywhere. After spending three months touring the U.S., we sort of brought a lot of those influences back," comments Skye. The new, instrumental-minded Morcheeba has infused more reggae, country, blues and rock hybrids than ever before. "Ross has always been into blues and Paul into hip-hop - the best hip-hop artists are from America."

One of their latest discoveries is Beck's kaleidoscopic world of country-folk hip-hop. Songs on Big Calm like "Part of the Process," which contains an onslaught of slide guitar specialties, really echo the twang-rock of Beck's Odelay. "We all went to check out Beck, and we were blown away by his scratching." The tone of satisfaction in her sigh as she says this is one of a schoolgirl who had just seen the dreamiest guy in school.

While Skye, Ross and Paul sat marveling at Beck's hip-hop qualifications, one of America's quintessential pop icons was helplessly sinking under the weight of Morcheeba's dreamy spell.

"The following week, we appeared in London with David Byrne of Talking Heads. Later he sent us about twenty unfinished demos. I guess he wanted the guys to work some of that Morcheeba magic." Ross and Paul invited Byrne to the band's Dungeness Studio in South London, where they collectively laid foundations for three tracks off Byrne's forthcoming album. Skye sheepishly recounts the scenario, which she admits, left her in a bit of a whirlwind. "It was so weird working with this guy," she gushes. "He came over to our studio and the whole time I kept looking at him out the corner of me eye, like 'Oh My God.'"

The members of Morcheeba were mildly impressed with themselves. After all, the former leader of the Talking Heads had stopped talking long enough to give them a good listen. Working with American artists has made Skye and the Brothers Godfrey more excited than ever to jump the fence as they prepare for a U.S. tour, tentatively scheduled for spring.

The last time out, Morcheeba warmed crowds up for Live and Fiona Apple, an experience that gave them a crash course in American culture. Skye emphatically expresses just how much she and the Godfreys love America. "Everything is so fast. It reminds me of American television. We used to watch shows like Hill Street Blues and some others. When we finally reached San Francisco, we would drive really fast and pretend we were chasing bad guys."

With the release of Big Calm, playing cops and robbers isn't the closest they've come to getting a piece of American pie.

LANA FANELLI