With a new album called Why Make Sense? out next month, we should have expected that an interview with Hot Chip would be a slightly mind-boggling experience. Turns out we wouldn't have been disappointed. Ahead of the album release date on Friday May 15th, one part of the London-based quintet, Owen Clarke, answered a few of our burning questions – albeit with some creative licence at play.



Tell us a little about your new album, Why Make Sense? Our new album offers compressive musical cover between the brassica and the corvidae. So you get the mustards and the crows. Done. Broccoli. Nutcrackers. Sorted. Your cruciferous vegetables meet your jackdaws or what have you. We see to the finer points and then you get to hear the results. Bosh.

What are you fascinated by and why? I'm fascinated by the amount of precious time and energy a human being will spend selecting a mobile phone tarrif. I reckon that's four days I'm not getting back. I could've been the next Ed Ruscha but I blew it staring at inclusive minutes.

Have you ever had a life-changing musical experience? My commute to work was disrupted by music in 2005. I set out from Texas. South By South West. Austin to Dallas. Dallas to New York. New York to Reykjavik. Reykjavik to Gatwick. Gatwick to Kentish Town. It changed my life because I couldn't keep doing that and we got a record deal.

What's your favourite food-related movie? Dead Alive, AKA Braindead. Don't watch it whilst eating Haagen Daz strawberry cheesecake ice-cream as I did when I was 14.

What's your comfort food of choice? Comfort food. Baked beans. Toast. Brown sauce. Black Pepper. Add green tabasco if you smoke.

Which new acts out of London should we know about? Black Peaches – fresh picked out of London. Swampy fruity country prog funk, or something.

If you could pick anywhere in the world to live, where would it be? Antwerp is alright. I'll live there. In a Maersk freight container, and then ship my ass to L.A for the winter.

What makes the five of you guys work so well together? Hot Chip work well together because we are the promptest band in history.

Tell us something that nobody would know about Hot Chip? Not a lot of people know Hot Chip were Chaka Khan's backing band. Fact.

Why Make Sense? is available to buy on Friday May 15th from here.