Trevor Horn is a very well known music producer, most well known for the work he did in the 1980’s, producing for artists such as Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Seal and Paul McCartney. Known for his dynamic and technically interesting tracks, he has always experimented with music production in fascinating and unexpected ways. He has been called ‘The Man Who Invented the Eighties’ for his prominent influence on electronic and pop music in the 1980’s (Price, Simon. 2012).
In 2002 Trevor Horn produced songs on the album ‘200 km/h in the Wrong Lane’ by Russian duo t.A.T.u. This was their first English language album and is in the pop rock genre with clear electronic, industrial and Europop elements, one of the lead singles from the album ‘All the Things She Said’ was produced by Horn and became one of the most successful songs of the 2000s. The album reached commercial and critical success, also causing controversy because of the lesbian undertones within the music and the relationship depicted in the music video for the lead single. The aesthetics of the album relied heavily on the supposed lesbian relationship between the duo, which was highly eroticised and framed through a sexy schoolgirl image to appeal to the general public; the production of the album was charged and full of energy, depicting themes such as teenage rebellion, love, and sexuality, tying directly into the carefully curated aesthetics of the record as a whole. Trevor Horn produced 3 tracks for this album as follows.
‘All the Things She Said’ was the most commercially successful song off of the album and I would say the most high energy of the songs; it has a chaotic and frenetic energy to it, with the crescendo of the chorus feeling like an explosion of emotion when contrasted with the more subdued verses. The track starts off with a trance gated synth, which continues throughout the song and is one of the most prominent instrumental features; this synth has a sweeping effect, giving the track a vaguely dizzying feeling as you approach more instruments being introduced. As the track continues the synth is accompanied by tormented female vocals, a distorted guitar lead and heavy industrial drums; the track becomes very busy and steers close to becoming overwhelming, a mesh of sound that crashes into the listener like a wave. The drums here are an integral part of the track and are trademark Trevor Horn. The vocals are quite obviously filtered as well, with reverb and a chorus effect appearing on them at certain intervals; the synth design here combined with the distorted guitar creates an interesting texture within the music, a fusion of a typically dance element with a typical rock element which creates a frenzied sound with a clear attitude. Jake Gould said of this track ‘the synths ripple and shine with a burst of dark flamboyance’ (2021) and in my opinion this is a perfect way to describe it.
The next track which Horn produced was ‘Not Gonna Get Us’ which was more techno influenced than any other track on the album, with a large focus being on the high energy dance style drums; this track sounds like a clubland 2000s dream with definite eurodance, dance and pop rock influences. At the beginning of the track a sample of a plane is used to build anticipation and throughout the track there is a large focus on the synth and the vocals; the vocals in this track are particularly interesting as they have sampled a single phrase and have it repeated and transposed to create a sense of rhythm in the track, essentially the voice is used as an instrument within the production. The vocals are also heavily filtered and an echo effect is used at times.
Lastly ‘Clowns’ is a synth pop and electronica track which makes use of a pounding synth bass and a drum machine; the drums within this track are interesting because they are mostly composed of hi-hats, and sound deliberately automated. The synth drop is bracing and gives a sense of importance and danger, to me it was reminiscent of the theme tune from ‘Halloween’ composed by John Carpenter, it has the same vaguely threatening feel through the sound design of the synth and the simple yet effective melody being repeated in short synth bursts. This is also combined with an airy, lifting synth and a sampled vocal which repeats a single note again and again before going into the full lyric.
Overall this album was one of the most sonically interesting of Horn’s works, accurately described as ‘a bouquet of iridescent, thunderous, noisy, mock rock anthems that bitch and twist and curl their lip and flick their hip’ (Merryweather, David. 2003).
Gould, Jake. WPGM Revisits: t.A.T.u-200 KM/H In The Wrong Lane (Album Review). 2021
Merryweather, David. Album Review: t.A.T.u. Drowned In Sound, 2003
Price, Simon. Interview: Trevor Horn. The Stool Pigeon, 2012.