MNDR Interview

Two years ago Amanda Warner was a hot commodity with her techno-pop vehicle MNDR. She cameoed alongside Q-Tip on Mark Ronson‘s electro-soul Bang Bang Bang, charmingly singing snatches of Alouette, and joined his band (hitting 2011’s Future Music Festival). NME hailed the New York resident – instantly recognisable in her oversized, white-framed shades – in 2010’s Cool List.

Yet, after unleashing the clubby Caligula ahead of a much-touted “decay”-themed LP, MNDR all but vanished – until January, when Warner and her studio cohort Peter Wade aired #1 In Heaven, a neon-pop “tribute” to heiress-cum-“urban guerilla” Patty Hearst. Now MNDR (strictly speaking Warner’s alter-ego) has finally resurfaced with Feed Me Diamonds, the album title inspired by the words of performance artist Marina Abramovic.

“I actually had an album done at a proper time,” Warner says, happy to account for the wait. This is no tale of Ting Tings-ish perversity. Warner sought to set up things appropriately – with the right label. She had been buoyed by fans’ responses to MNDR’s 2010 debut EP, EPE.

“I really believed in what I was doing.” Warner sensed, too, that, as a credible female writer/producer, she was filling “a void”. And so she was apprehensive about industry types dictating changes.

“I went to our managers and I said ‘no’ to any label that wanted to A&R the record. I felt like I didn’t need to go through that process.”

MNDR eventually found refuge at, unexpectedly, the US Ultra Records, otherwise associated with EDM superstars like Deadmau5.

“It was a very hard road.” Meanwhile, Warner continued to compose material – and evolve.

“I’m glad we had more time, because I think we really got some songs that were album-defining.”

Warner knows all about artistic struggle. She grew up in Fargo, North Dakota. Here, Warner learnt recording techniques from her Dad, a blue-eyed soulster with a home studio. The young keyboardist, who majored in music at college in California, immersed herself in underground genres, playing everything from experimental to noise to indie.

“I was like Miss DIY America,” she quips. The “gutter punk” established networks.

“I lived in every major city west of Chicago – including Chicago.” Warner was especially captivated by (minimal) techno – in the past giving props to Drexciya – and this affinity with IDM, not EDM, is apparent on Feed…

“That music blew my mind,” Warner raves. “I was drawn to sound, and sound inspires me to write melody – and, in that area, it’s limitless to me. So I fell in love when I was a teenager and never stopped.”

Few realise that Warner has DJed “for years”. She throws parties in NY, pushing Detroit, Chicago and Berlin sounds. In fact, NY’s Paper magazine has just named the mid-Westerner ‘Best DJ’ – to her delight.
Warner moved to NY in 2008, intent on becoming a pop songwriter. Despite her love of the avant-garde, she was “always academically interested in modern dance-pop records” – and intrigued by the new monotone and minimalist productions invading the mainstream.

“I was like, ‘oh my God, would I love to get involved with that and fuck that world up – holy shit’!” She could subvert elitism itself.

The ‘gearhead’ linked up with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, configuring their synth rig. While “hustling”, she met Wade – today Will Gregory to her Alison Goldfrapp.

“He was the first producer who I worked with who really respected my abilities and wasn’t so interested in ‘oh, you’re the girl and you just sing and this and that.”

Warner rues the conservatism that lingers in music concerning gender roles. She subsequently befriended Ronson, an admirer of EPE and, fortunately, another progressive dude. She now considers him one of her closest friends, praising not only his talent, but also his kindness and generosity.

“He really would do anything for his friends.”

Warner has canvassed the post-feminist Feed… as both “political and personal”, being cut amid “upheaval” in her own life and globally. MNDR might be an edgier, deadlier Robyn.

“I really tried to write with zero irony or zero double entendre – for this album, I wanted to write straight from the heart.”

Feed Me Diamonds is out through Inertia