Modern dandy ALFRED DARLINGTON is half of oddball folk duo THE LONG LOST along with his wife, Laura, when he’s not DJing and producing hip hop as Daedelus. He tells JODY MACGREGOR how it feels to be in an actual band.

JODY MACGREGOR: What’s it like being in a band with your wife?

ALFRED DARLINGTON: We’ve been working on this music for a very long time and very happily been married now for almost three years, but there’s a point when you’re dating and you’re sharing something intimate like music – the way music can be – and it’s tough sometimes. It isn’t always high fives and happy times.

JM: There are some unusual instruments used on the album. Toy pianos, alto flute, bass clarinet...

AD: Laura played flute in high school orchestra and I played double bass, but also, in the high school marching band, embarrassingly I played bass clarinet and these are instruments we kept going throughout our lives. Also Laura, during some point in her college years, she started to collect toy pianos so all these things show up as they are around the house. Things you tinker with and play together. Alto is this beautiful instrument that I’m always amazed that Laura has enough air capacity to play. It’s an enormous instrument, takes a lot of air. And it blends really well with bass clarinet, so we’re kind of spoiled in that regard. It isn’t unusual for us, but I do suppose there isn’t that many records you hear now with alto flute or bass clarinet and that’s a shame. Maybe we can change that.

JM: Have you had many chances to play these songs live yet?

AD: As often as possible, we love to realise the music. For me it has a lot to do with the fact that I play solo a lot and I rarely get a chance to play real instruments, basically. Rarely do I get a chance to put my fingers on strings and click music pads and that kind of stuff. It’s quite a joy for me and I think Laura as well. We try to get out as often as possible and it’s a vastly different thing with live instruments and songs that have a beginning and end. I don’t usually perform that way personally so it’s really a pleasure.

JM: When you perform is it just the two of you or do you bring a band?

AD: We have done performances with the two of us and it’s been nice, it’s been fine. There’s some blend to our vocal and everything and all those kind of good things, but really it’s really, really nice to have more people in the group, where you have a live drummer instead of computer-backing drums, if that. We have a very, very talented vocalist/violinist friend who can do the harmonies much better than I can. There’s a lot of, if you’ve noticed on the record there will be a lot of times where Laura will be doubling or tripling her own vocal and coming up with choruses and harmonies. There’s this kitty song on the record that has a lot of meows and orchestra, like a chorus of meows. Laura did all that herself and live obviously it would be pretty impossible, but with this talented fellow it becomes slightly more possible. If not slightly embarrassing for him to be doing meows.

The self-titled debut for THE LONG LOST is available now on Ninja Tune/Inertia. www.myspace.com/findthelonglost

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