The Quietus’ Mat Colgate has written a thoughtful piece on Underworld’s Karl Hyde and his idiosyncratic method of writing, with specific focus on Hyde and his literary ancestors’ fascinations with cities. Colgate also supports the piece with remarks from Karl, who he interviewed after a recent Underworld gig.

Mat Colgate:

Using a mess of chance encounters, dumb lucky scrapes and snatched notes, front man Karl Hyde interrogates his surroundings before sifting through the debris and rearranging it into narratives – Walks, drinks, a night drive, the distance between your house and the cash point, that girl’s name – uncovering previously hidden levels of meaning and tactility, as well as presenting a soulful and affecting autobiography. The kind that only pop music can provide.

Karl Hyde:

Using ten quid cameras but shooting from the hip. Literally, like a drunk would – because I was a drunk – put the camera on flash and just wander the back streets of Soho night after night. And so these things started to work. They pulled together note books which were walks through cities. And then when Rick came up with a piece that inspired me I’d look through the books and start putting my fingers in the pages and flicking them back and forth. I’d improvise and head off on a journey with the music.

Click here to read the whole piece at The Quietus.