Pascal Languirand

"The first synth I got was an old Farfisa Synthorchestra, which at least I could play chords on. I also played guitar, and had the Roland GR500 guitar synth system coupled with a Moog Taurus bass pedal unit."

"The first synth I got was an old Farfisa Synthorchestra, which at least I could play chords on. I also played guitar, and had the Roland GR500 guitar synth system coupled with a Moog Taurus bass pedal unit."

"The first synth I got was an old Farfisa Synthorchestra, which at least I could play chords on. I also played guitar, and had the Roland GR500 guitar synth system coupled with a Moog Taurus bass pedal unit."

"Luckily my family had good connections with the TV and film industries in Canada, and I was able to get some work recording a soundtrack for a TV series called Vivre Ici Maintenant. That was about very esoteric subjects, something different every week, so it needed this kind of 'cosmic' music. Then I recorded De Harmonia Universalia which allowed me to use more synthesisers and the Korg Vocoder.'"

In fact, 'Digital World', which formed the B-side of the single, is the album's outstanding track, in spite (because?) of the fact that its vocal content is sparse and its synthesiser work verging on the experimental. It was written with occasional synth player Steve Wyatt, and used some larger polysynths such as the Elka Synthex, which Languirand chanced upon in the studio while recording the album.

But the equipment list for 'Message' is quite formidable - Roland Jupiter 4, Jupiter 6, CSQ600 and TR808, Korg VC10 vocoder and Polysix, Oberheim OB8, DMX and DSX, Elka Synthex, guitars, Simmons kit and Mattel drums. And as you may have spotted during the Trans X single's recent heavy airplay, there's also a bit of Casio VL-Tone on 'Living On Video', and elsewhere. For his own part, Languirand is at pains to point out that this is really a Jupiter 4, but anyone who's suffered the VL1's built-in Austrian Folk Tune a few hundred times can usually spot one a mile off... I know I could.

But the equipment list for 'Message' is quite formidable - Roland Jupiter 4, Jupiter 6, CSQ600 and TR808, Korg VC10 vocoder and Polysix, Oberheim OB8, DMX and DSX, Elka Synthex, guitars, Simmons kit and Mattel drums. And as you may have spotted during the Trans X single's recent heavy airplay, there's also a bit of Casio VL-Tone on 'Living On Video', and elsewhere. For his own part, Languirand is at pains to point out that this is really a Jupiter 4, but anyone who's suffered the VL1's built-in Austrian Folk Tune a few hundred times can usually spot one a mile off... I know I could.

But the equipment list for 'Message' is quite formidable - Roland Jupiter 4, Jupiter 6, CSQ600 and TR808, Korg VC10 vocoder and Polysix, Oberheim OB8, DMX and DSX, Elka Synthex, guitars, Simmons kit and Mattel drums. And as you may have spotted during the Trans X single's recent heavy airplay, there's also a bit of Casio VL-Tone on 'Living On Video', and elsewhere. For his own part, Languirand is at pains to point out that this is really a Jupiter 4, but anyone who's suffered the VL1's built-in Austrian Folk Tune a few hundred times can usually spot one a mile off... I know I could.

But the equipment list for 'Message' is quite formidable - Roland Jupiter 4, Jupiter 6, CSQ600 and TR808, Korg VC10 vocoder and Polysix, Oberheim OB8, DMX and DSX, Elka Synthex, guitars, Simmons kit and Mattel drums. And as you may have spotted during the Trans X single's recent heavy airplay, there's also a bit of Casio VL-Tone on 'Living On Video', and elsewhere. For his own part, Languirand is at pains to point out that this is really a Jupiter 4, but anyone who's suffered the VL1's built-in Austrian Folk Tune a few hundred times can usually spot one a mile off... I know I could.

But the equipment list for 'Message' is quite formidable - Roland Jupiter 4, Jupiter 6, CSQ600 and TR808, Korg VC10 vocoder and Polysix, Oberheim OB8, DMX and DSX, Elka Synthex, guitars, Simmons kit and Mattel drums. And as you may have spotted during the Trans X single's recent heavy airplay, there's also a bit of Casio VL-Tone on 'Living On Video', and elsewhere. For his own part, Languirand is at pains to point out that this is really a Jupiter 4, but anyone who's suffered the VL1's built-in Austrian Folk Tune a few hundred times can usually spot one a mile off... I know I could.

But the equipment list for 'Message' is quite formidable - Roland Jupiter 4, Jupiter 6, CSQ600 and TR808, Korg VC10 vocoder and Polysix, Oberheim OB8, DMX and DSX, Elka Synthex, guitars, Simmons kit and Mattel drums. And as you may have spotted during the Trans X single's recent heavy airplay, there's also a bit of Casio VL-Tone on 'Living On Video', and elsewhere. For his own part, Languirand is at pains to point out that this is really a Jupiter 4, but anyone who's suffered the VL1's built-in Austrian Folk Tune a few hundred times can usually spot one a mile off... I know I could.

But the equipment list for 'Message' is quite formidable - Roland Jupiter 4, Jupiter 6, CSQ600 and TR808, Korg VC10 vocoder and Polysix, Oberheim OB8, DMX and DSX, Elka Synthex, guitars, Simmons kit and Mattel drums. And as you may have spotted during the Trans X single's recent heavy airplay, there's also a bit of Casio VL-Tone on 'Living On Video', and elsewhere. For his own part, Languirand is at pains to point out that this is really a Jupiter 4, but anyone who's suffered the VL1's built-in Austrian Folk Tune a few hundred times can usually spot one a mile off... I know I could.

But the equipment list for 'Message' is quite formidable - Roland Jupiter 4, Jupiter 6, CSQ600 and TR808, Korg VC10 vocoder and Polysix, Oberheim OB8, DMX and DSX, Elka Synthex, guitars, Simmons kit and Mattel drums. And as you may have spotted during the Trans X single's recent heavy airplay, there's also a bit of Casio VL-Tone on 'Living On Video', and elsewhere. For his own part, Languirand is at pains to point out that this is really a Jupiter 4, but anyone who's suffered the VL1's built-in Austrian Folk Tune a few hundred times can usually spot one a mile off... I know I could.

But the equipment list for 'Message' is quite formidable - Roland Jupiter 4, Jupiter 6, CSQ600 and TR808, Korg VC10 vocoder and Polysix, Oberheim OB8, DMX and DSX, Elka Synthex, guitars, Simmons kit and Mattel drums. And as you may have spotted during the Trans X single's recent heavy airplay, there's also a bit of Casio VL-Tone on 'Living On Video', and elsewhere. For his own part, Languirand is at pains to point out that this is really a Jupiter 4, but anyone who's suffered the VL1's built-in Austrian Folk Tune a few hundred times can usually spot one a mile off... I know I could.

"We only used the Oberheim a little, and the DSX sequencer hardly at all. I usually use the CSQ600 sequencer for bass lines, but recently I've been using the Roland MSQ700 as well, and of course that's much more versatile."

All the album's lead vocal credits go to Languirand, with Laura filling in with a few Continental-sounding interjections. And her voice is still on the single, despite the fact that she's left the band. 'I didn't make a lot of changes when I remixed 'Living On Video' earlier this year', explains Languirand. 'The main ones were to thicken up the lead vocals with a little bit of ADT, and to change the drum parts. Originally they were recorded with a TR808, but the studio has bought a LinnDrum since then, so I overdubbed some of the percussion.