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PIER NICOLA D’AMICO Enlarge Image

Blonde Redhead, from left: Simone Pace, Kazu Makino and Amedeo Pace

Since forming in 1993, pioneering New York noise rock/shoegaze/ dream pop act Blonde Redhead has been regarded as a bastion of cool.
   
There are the obvious reasons for this — see: exorbitant indie cred, NYC homebase, effortlessly chic Japanese frontwoman — but perhaps the coolest thing about Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace is how little they give a shit about being cool. Over 18 years and eight albums, Blonde Redhead has strived for innovation on every release with little regard to outside influences — and its latest, 2010’s Penny Sparkle, is no exception.
   
Released last September via 4AD, the album sees the trio move even further away from the dissonant Sonic Youth-like guitars that informed its early recordings in favour of the ethereal electronic textures it flirted with on its last outing, 2007’s 23. That wasn’t necessarily the plan, according to Makino; Blonde Redhead is a band that very much lets the music lead the way.
   
"I don’t think we ever have a clear idea," the soft-spoken Makino says over the phone from her home in New York City. "(Making a record) is a really long journey. If you have an immediate goal, you’ll never get there. I didn’t know what to expect — but I had a feeling it would go through big changes before it was completed.
   
"In the beginning, when you do something for the first time, you can satisfy yourself with the act of doing it," she adds, after one of her many thoughtful pauses. "In order for us to feel something new, it can take a really long time. I suppose you do it until you feel something new."
   
Or until your label starts getting antsy. "Deadline is something that’s part of life, it’s there, you respect it — but it’s often there to break," Makino says. "You’ll break the first deadline and you’ll maybe break the second deadline."
   
And the third deadline? "That deadline you want to keep," she says with a laugh. "You want to experience it with the public while it’s still fresh for you."
   
To achieve Penny Sparkle’s icy Nordic chill, Blonde Redhead enlisted Swedish duo Van Rivers and The Subliminal Kid (aka Henrik von Sivers and Peder Mannerfelt) to produce the album, which took over a year to complete. The band worked more closely in collaboration with the production team — which also included Drew Brown (Radiohead, Beck) — than it ever had before, a process that Makino wasn’t used to or entirely comfortable with. There were many long days and many back-and-forth trips between Sweden and New York.
   
"It was quite a shock," she says of the experience. "I had never worked with anyone else but the twins. I kept going back and forth, which was different. I felt like a sheepdog a bit, trying herd everyone." Still, she says, "it was completely fascinating. I’m very happy we did it. The new songs are great to play live."
   
That said, you owe it to yourself to listen to Penny Sparkle on headphones. Makino’s ghostly, wispy vocals perfectly match the album’s glacial, atmospheric soundscapes — and while the record does sound like it was made in the dead of a Scandinavian winter, it doesn’t sound cold or unfeeling.
   
Critical reaction to the album was predictably mixed; when a band is constantly charting new sonic territory, not everyone will be willing to join it for the journey. But for Blonde Redhead, pushing boundaries is what keeps music fresh.
   
"And it doesn’t have to be boundaries from other people — it has to be your boundaries," Makino says. "It’s possible that an artist can be out of sync with the rest of the world, and that’s OK. It also often happens that something that’s relevant to you isn’t relevant to the rest of the world and, by the time it’s relevant to the rest of the world, it’s not relevant to you."
   
As for Penny Sparkle, Blonde Redhead hasn’t outgrown it just yet. "These songs are still relevant to me," Makino says.
   
She might as well have added, "fuck whatever’s cool."
     
For complete schedule and lineup information, visit jazzwinnipeg.com.

BLONDE REDHEAD
June 20, 10 p.m., Pyramid Cabaret
w/ The Luyas