Tiscali Showcase - Royworld

In the summer of 2007, things began to move quickly: one label came to see them at rehearsals and immediately made them an offer. Bleeding-edge indie label Fierce Panda - first home to everyone from Coldplay to Snow Patrol, iLiKETRAiNS and Art Brut - attended a gig and offered to put out a single, a rites of passage for the stars of tomorrow. Virgin Records and a stack of rivals came to see Royworld at the infamous Purple Turtle in Camden. By the Friday, the band had an offer on the table. It had taken nine days to go from unsigned band to band with a sparkling new record deal.

And now, on a dank and damp autumnal day in darkest Sussex, Royworld are ensconced in the legendary Helioscentric Studios, the rural epicentre of edgy-but-warm sonic innovation established by Elvis Costello and Squeeze front man Chris Difford. A few weeks into recording their debut album with producer Andy Green (Keane, KT Tunstall) they are, they think, '80 per cent of the way there'. Today's tasks: working on the synthesised string sweeps and the brilliant, Queen-like, multi-tracked vocals for the sublime 'Wish Ourselves Away', and completing 'Man In The Machine', which is a contender for the title of the album.

'It's about how much we have to compromise ourselves in life,' says Futrille of 'Man In The Machine'. The first line is 'Dave, is there something wrong?' Dave, he explains, is the name of the spaceman taunted by computer HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. 'And Dave is the bloke who's cut off his emotions just to get on with his life. Am I a man or am I part of the machinery? Have I lost all my sensitivity and sensibility in this corporate world?'

Rod Futrille is at the head of the band. He is the 'driving force' says Tim. But it is the song writing partnership of Rod and brother Crispin and their 'complicated' sibling relationship, that is the creative force behind Royworld. They grew up 'in the middle of nowhere', at the end of a country lane in Somerset. 'It meant there wasn't much to do, but we both love music so that's where it all started'.

The writing process is one of conflict and resolution. 'We're both quite highly strung,' says Futrille. 'That tends to get amplified when we're together. In some ways writing music is like therapy. We can both get really excited about a new song we're working on, sometimes to the exclusion of everything else in life. Its like Iiving in a temporary dream world where nothing else matters and anything is possible! That manic energy can also lead to clashes but ultimately it is at the core of the Royworld sound.

Hence, he explains, a song like 'Brakes', a slow-burning song that, propelled by acoustic guitar, soars from a whisper to a scream - 'it's about telling yourself to slow down when you're on the verge of panic... That feeling of, 'if I can just get through today'. Sometimes things can scalate in your mind out of all proportion., both good and bad'. For all the hooky melodies there is a sense of underlying tension to many of Royworld's songs.

They've been writing songs since their early teens. At first, messing around with an Akai sampler and Q-Base, experimenting with electronic sounds.

'It was very hard to develop stuff - you get one good sample but you're bound by the constraints of someone else's music. Then, he grins at Crispin, 'We ended up writing proper music.'

'Proper music' for the teenage brothers was a grab-bag of things including Fleetwood Mac, Tears for Fears, Kate Bush, Roxy Music and Talking Heads.

'I love micro-sections of songs - like, a killer three bars,' Rod says. 'I never listened to albums either, just songs. I listen to songs on a really micro scale.'

While acknowledging that, yes, this is a bit weird, there's method in Royworld's madness: when writing songs, this approach means that every single moment in the song matters, it means something, has its own bit of colour.

'I think that's where we've ended up,' admits Futrille, 'which is pretty scary because you're obsessing over every part of the song.'

While the brothers work together on melody, arrangement and lyrics it is Rod's obsession with every detail that then sees him focus on the production side of Royworld's sound. The demos that Rod produced at home were instrumental in clinching the deal with Virgin and have very much remained the blueprint for recording the album. 'Crispin is a bit more macro than me. He likes the bigger picture, the concepts and direction of our songs. He thinks too much.'

Once the brothers have created a new track the four tight-knit members of Royworld begin shaping it to work live. This is vitally important to Royworld. The band have spent months tweaking every ounce of life, colour and, at times, quirkiness, in these giddily exciting songs. In December 2007 Fierce Panda came good on their early enthusiasm and released 'Elasticity' and 'Tinman' as a limited edition double a-side seven-inch. XFM, Jo Whiley on Radio 1 and Dermot O'Leary on Radio 2 swung behind the songs immediately, and it's no wonder: 'Elasticity' sounds like classic Eighties pop rebooted by New Radicals' song writing guru Gregg Alexander, but all the time staying stoutly, defiantly Royworld-esque.

The 'rubber band boy' in 'Elasticity', explains Futrille, 'is the guy who's paranoid about getting older, everyone really, He's trying to hang on to his youth but can't, I think we are just saying, to ourselves and everyone else, not worry about it ...'

'Tinman', meanwhile, is a piano'n'synth mini-opera. The opening line was the starting point: 'Grew up in a house on the hill' - almost like a short story. 'We like to paint pictures with the words,' says Futrille. 'Tinman is reminiscent of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and the 'story' lyrics that Bernie Taupin wrote for Elton John.'

Royworld's lyrical inventiveness digs inwards too. 'Science' is a love song with a twist. Not just because it evokes the memory of (say it loud, say it proud) Tears For Fears, but because it's more like an anti-love song. 'In songs we're so often in the world of human emotion. But 'Science' is clinical and binary. It doesn't have any emotion - hence 'science won't lie, it won't laugh, it won't cry'. 'It's what everyone knows but we just wanted to sum up that total coldness. It maybe detached and dispassionate but at least you know where you stand with Science!'

Royworld's second single, due in 2008, will be 'Dust'. It's a glorious piece of piano'n'electronics pop, kicking off with a sonic sunburst. It is, Rod Futrille thinks, a good example of what Royworld are about: a reflective song that, instead of feeling bleak, is rich and accessible and encouraging. 'I'm radioing out, calling anyone, is there anyone around?' he sings, his voice shifting from angular to a rich, belting anthem-friendly holler.

'I think that feeling is in pretty much all of our songs - a feeling of detachment. Not overwhelming misery, but feeling a bit out of the loop - cut off' and 'Dust' has a sense of looking down on things from afar, maybe feeling a bit small. It's that every-man-is-an-island notion. It is about all the distance between people. Life is a lonely process in many ways.'

Four weeks later, Rod Futrille is on the phone, radioing in. He reports that Royworld have finished recording - ever-detailed, he had a big hand in the producing alongside Andy Green - and are now getting stuck into mixing. 'Our songs have so many meandering melodies and intricate details - that makes mixing quite a big job.'

They've been blowing away the studio cobwebs too by getting back out on the road. There, he says, Royworld and their music burst into life. 'I'm not the most confident guy in world, but the gigs aren't about me - it's about everything you'd like to be. They take you of yourself for 45 minutes, and they should do the same for the audience. There's nothing worse than being fake. The audience have to see the truth in you, and in your songs.'

Royworld release 'Man In The Machine' on 3rd March 2008, through Virgin Records.

The already anticipated album is due out in the Summer.

www.myspace.com/royworldtheband