Two years later, the Scissor Sisters have released their fourth LP, the gloriously rambunctious Magic Hour – and are about to hit our shores for a tour (giving Australia another chance after their show at last year’s Pyramid Rock Festival, where they “got bottled by a bunch of Aussie rednecks.”). Chock-full of their trademark humour, gaudy disco beats, snappy indie guitars and impossibly catchy pop confectionery, Magic Hour is quite possibly the Sisters’ best album to date. Matronic cackles over the phone when I remind her of her epic outburst in Oakland. When I make mention that the magic of going out seems to be a running theme in the Sisters’ oeuvre, Matronic agrees wholeheartedly. “Well,” she explains, “in the scene I come from, which is the drag scene, dressing up is about personal transformation and it’s about letting the person you want to be out, even if it’s only for an evening, or a few minutes!
“So engaging in that transformation and becoming somebody else for a night is anything but shallow; it’s a really useful therapeutic tool and it’s a way of getting to know yourself that I think is better than paying somebody a hundred dollars to listen to you talk for an hour! So that’s really what I mean when I talk about the depth of a good time, and places like gay nightclubs have traditionally been the only place that a certain group of people can go to truly be themselves. They’re limited in their expression at their jobs and on the street, and in society and institutions. So a lot of people look at going out and dancing as something that is frivolous and shallow; and in my experience those times of the night are really good times for me and my friends where we can escape and truly be free!”
Magic Hour takes that concept of the freedom of the night and expands on it immensely. Classic tracks such as Only The Horses, San Luis Obispo and the gay anthem of the year Let’s Have A Kiki burn with a maniacal sense of fun and adventure. “Jake [Shears, lead vocalist and songwriter] was particularly inspired by people in his group of friends and going out with them until the sun comes up,” Matronic informs me when I ask her about the album’s inspiration. “You know, that great feeling of being tired – but exhilarated and loving the coming of the day that’s coming on the heels of having had a great night out. That was really the inspiration of Magic Hour; it’s the inspiration that comes differently for different songs: some of them could be inspired by a conversation, or something could be inspired by what’s happened in the news – but all of them are pretty personal. You know, you put a little bit of yourself in everything that you do!”
For the recording of Magic Hour, the Sisters brought on a whole slew of new collaborators, luminaries such as Calvin Harris, Diplo, Azealia Banks and Pharrell Williams. What did these folks bring to the proceedings? “Collaborating with people is always fun, and we live for it!” she exclaims. “We’ve done it on every album. We always try to work with different people and producers and what-have-you. It’s always great to work with somebody, and seeing them work – how they approach what you do in new and different ways! For instance, Azealia was an absolute force of nature, and – a lot like Jake – is a very instinctual songwriter, and it’s always great to be around that level of raw talent. Like on Shady Love – I absolutely love that song!”
It would have been remiss of me to not take the opportunity to ask Matronic her take on the seemingly never-ending struggle for marriage equality for gays and lesbians, so I ask her. “Well, I think it’s never easy and it never comes as soon as we want it to,” she says. “The tide is really turning, I believe, and I’m very hopeful now that [President Obama] has spoken out in favour of gay marriage that it will start the tide of popular opinion. I think history always gets there – progress will be made! – and these rights that are currently being held back will be achieved. Gay marriage has been passed in New York, and I think that it will eventually get to where we want it to be. And I think it’s great. Slowly but surely we’ll get there, but it’s going to take some time.”
She laughs, and her voice takes a mischievous edge. “And I know all about it; I’m a woman!”
BY THOMAS BAILEY
