English rapper and singer-songwriter Mike Skinner, AKA The Streets.
English rapper and singer-songwriter Mike Skinner, AKA The Streets.
When Mike Skinner, AKA The Streets, pops up on Zoom, he’s in a tropical paradise. Cool blue waters lap gently on to the golden sands of the beach, and a towering palm tree offers respite from the sun’s bright rays.
He does not seem relaxed. And the reason is soon apparent when he moves his head, causing the idyllic beach scene to momentarily tear, revealing a glimpse of a much more mundane wall behind him. Not a glitch in the Matrix or proof we’re living in a simulation, but instead the reality of Zoom backgrounds in 2023.
But if anyone deserves to be lazing on a beach with a cocktail or two, it’s Skinner. He’s just completed the most ambitious offering The Streets has ever undertaken. And this is the guy who followed up his Mercury Prize-winning, massively influential and game-changing debut album Original Pirate Material with the rap opera concept album A Grand Don’t Come for Free.
The Darker the Shadow the Brighter the Light eclipses that in scope, because as well as being the first full album by The Streets in 12 years, it’s also the title of Skinner’s debut feature film, which he wrote, produced, directed and starred in.
All up, the project took him a long seven years to complete.
“I’m looking forward to just going home and playing Call of Duty,” he laughs. “It was definitely really tough. Finishing the film off - that was a lot. Now, I’m mostly feeling relief that it’s all done and that there haven’t been any huge catastrophes.”
The movie’s a stylish noir-style murder mystery that follows a club DJ, played by Skinner, that’s set in the atmospheric and woozy land of London’s nightclubs. It’s also a spin on the traditional musical, with the songs from The Darker… acting as a voiceover for Skinner’s character throughout. It was this narrative concept that kickstarted the whole project.
“That was a big moment,” he says of the project’s inspiration. With the music playing such an integral part of the narration, that’s where he began.
“I did a basic story outline and then I started on the music. So this album is about seven years old. It’s as old as the project itself,” he smiles. “I’m really happy with it, more than any other album I’ve ever done, because it hasn’t really been about the album, it’s been about the film.
“There’s been no pressure on it. I’ve been coming back to it periodically as the stages of the film have gone on. It’s had a nice space within the whole project to really find itself.”
The album may be the soundtrack to the film, but - and this is the clever part - it also works as a fully stand-alone record as well. There’s trippy dub, club bangers, earworm pop and even a doo-wop jazz sample - as he subtly hinted at on his stonking post-Covid, one-off single Who’s Got the Bag (June 21).
The Darker the Shadow the Brighter the Light will be the first album The Streets has released in 12 years.
“That was the idea,” he says. “It genuinely wasn’t a nice feeling to be worrying about this film for so long. But within the nightmare of making the film, the music bit felt like a hobby, in a weird way. I’d come back to the music and I’d be like, ‘Actually, this is really good’. It honestly didn’t feel like there was any pressure on the music at all. And that was really nice. I think the music’s better for it.”
There’s such a legacy and expectation around anything Skinner does under The Streets moniker that the movie acted as a pressure valve for the album in a very tangible way. The flip side of that is by moving into a new artistic discipline, his debut film puts him back at the bottom of the mountain. He couldn’t be happier.
“I have to say, it’s the best,” he smiles. “Everything’s a bonus, you know? That’s how it was when I made my first album. Everything was a bonus back then. I didn’t expect anyone to like it, and then all of a sudden, I was, you know, talking to people in New Zealand. When I did my first album, there were lots of people who wondered whether what I was doing was a joke. Lots of people would say, ‘Oh, this is a load of sh**’. Whereas now, I think people say that what I’m doing is sh** a lot less. But at the same time, there’s just a general sense of slight boredom. With the film, it’s a novelty. It’s nice for it to feel like a novelty and for it to feel like a surprise.”
Having worked himself ragged for seven years on the project, learning every aspect of filmmaking (often by watching YouTube tutorials), he says he’ll probably make another movie.
“It’s something that’s been very difficult learning how to do, so I might as well carry on, really, because now I know how to do it,” he laughs. “Even if it’s just a vehicle for the music.”
“Looking back, it’s been like an obsession, really. Because I’m not sure the world really wanted me to do it, and certainly, it didn’t make my life easy. But looking back on it all, I can honestly say that doing difficult things is what life’s all about, really. Even though you wonder what the hell you’re doing, at the end of it, you really do feel incredibly alive.”
As he talks, the crystal blue waters behind him slightly glitch out, which causes the overhanging palm tree to stutter for a brief second. But Mike Skinner doesn’t notice, and as the tropical paradise resets itself, he says, “I think it was obvious that I was going to do something like this. I just didn’t realise how long it would take.”
