In Conversation: Ishmael Ensemble and Ali Staton

Formed in 2017, Ishmael Ensemble’s their debut A State of Flow LP found favour with the like Gilles Peterson, with follow-up Visions of Light bringing wider recognition with an ambitious touring schedule. Rituals is something different: the result of their experience on the road, partly recorded in Mexico and polished back in the UK alongside producer Ali Staton of Madonna and Lamb fame.

Rituals to veer from dub-laden bass to more cinematic, reflective tracks, capturing the ebb and flow of Ishmael Ensemble’s live sound and a newly honed sense of experimentation. The album was made with the bigger stages in mind but retains a more grounded, spirit—a record that “feels less like a manifesto and more like an invitation to tune in, turn up, and see where it leads.”

In this chat, Pete Cunningham and Ali Staton discuss the making of Rituals, blending their influences, and navigating their growing profile with an eye on staying true to what got them here in the first place.

Pete Cunningham: How did your professional journey in music start?

Ali Staton: I’ve always loved music and its power to transport the listener, so when I visited a recording studio as a teen around the age of 14 and realised there was a job where you could work full-time with musicians and producers and experience that magic and be part of its creation it became a mission to get as close to that as possible. I worked as a tea boy in a couple of London studios and had a part-time job at a venue in West London called The Orange. I met some incredible people and was fortunate to have mentors who believed in me: Richard Mazda, Tim Hunt, and Pat Meagher, amongst others. Having worked my way up, I found myself working as the in-house engineer at The Fallout Shelter, which was Island Records Studio in St Peter’s Square. That’s where things really shifted a gear and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work with some incredible artists, improve my skills and contribute to some amazing recordings.

AS: Who inspired you to make music?

PC: I guess it was more a time & place than a specific person. I first started playing my dad’s acoustic guitars around the house as a kid and got my very own electric (a hand me down epiphone les paul) when i was about 7, I started jamming with some older kids from school (one of which, Jake, I still play with today in Ishmael Ensemble) – I loved the acceptance and social side of it, getting to hang out with kids much older than myself all through a love of music, they put me on to stuff like Radiohead & Placebo. When I started secondary school, I’d spend most afternoons in the music block forming bands & messing about with whatever instruments were lying around, there was an amazing venue in the local town called the Wunderbar that would have music 6 nights a week, you could literally start a band one week and get a gig at the bar the next. Hanging out there from age 14 really solidified this feeling of acceptance and encouragement I’d felt since the beginning. I owe a lot to that time and place.

PC What’s your favourite record you’ve played a part in creating? 

AS That’s a really hard question to answer. There are many and for lots of different reasons. So it’s difficult to pick just one. I’m going to list 3 that are all very important to me for different reasons.

1. Lewis Taylor – Debut 
2. ⁠Turin Brakes – Lost Property 
3. ⁠Ishmael Ensemble – Rituals

AS: How do you approach writing music? 

PC: The MO of Ishmael Ensemble has always been centred around the idea of sampling my mates. I used to make a lot of electronic music on my own, scouring the internet for sample packs and digging for weird dusty records and then doing it all “in the box”, I’d always played in bands on the side but never really thought to combine the two, it was a bit of a revelation, hold on I’m surrounded by all these amazing musicians, why am I staring at a screen on a fruitless quest for sounds when I could just record the people around me? So I now have endless “sample packs” of stuff I’ve recorded over the years, and I usually start there. Making a weird loop out of guitar drones or chopping up drum stems we’ve recorded at a live show. I’ll then start to build arrangements out of that, add melody ideas, I’ll then sometimes get people in to re-record parts to give something a more live feel, then start to think about vocalists etc, whether it’s a song for me or Holly to sing or something for someone else. 

PC: What’s your favourite studio you’ve worked in, any particular session?

AS: Again, difficult to single out just one.

Island’s Fallout Shelter has been so important to my career

Rockfield in Wales is second to none

And of course Real World

I have been fortunate to have worked at Abbey Road a few times and one session I particularly enjoyed was recording a 60 piece orchestra in Studio 2 (The Beatles room) it was the only time my mum came along to watch me at work and she loved it. So it remains a special memory.

AS Which artist or musician would be your dream collaborator?

PC That’s a hard one, I would love to spend a day in the Sun Ra Arkestra, back when Sun Ra was around, I imagine that would’ve been a pretty exhilarating time, bonkers but a hell of a lot of fun. Vocally I’ve always loved Elizabeth Fraser, her version of Song To The Siren with This Mortal Coil is one of my all time favourite performances, and the cocteau twins are one of my go to places for inspiration. I fear, however, that another Bristol band may have beat me to it in terms of collaborating with her.

PC: What record do you wish you’d been involved with?

AS: Talk Talk – Spirit of Eden

PC: Snap! Ah man what a record, what a band. 

AS: What is your favourite film or television soundtrack?

PC: I love Colin Stetson’s Heriditary soundtrack, he really plays the saxophone like no other, I take a lot of textural inspiration from him when playing and recording. I’m also a massive fan of Ryuichi Sakamoto, the theme to Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence never fails to bring a tear to my eye.

PC: Do you prefer being out on the road or in a studio? Why?

AS: I love both for different reasons.

They have their respective challenges and rewards and I value both experiences.

Studio for the creativity and process. Building a relationship with the artist and collaborating, and then seeing that find its place with that artists audience.

Live for the thrill of being part of a performance and working with team that helps artists deliver their vision

AS: What are your music aspirations/ambitions 5 years from now?

PC I would love to write a film score, I’ve done a lot of writing for podcasts & documentaries but doing something for fiction alongside a director would be really fun, it would also be a nice breakaway from standard song arranging. This new album focused a lot on the electronic side of things, I think I’d love to get back to writing for saxophone and acoustic instruments, I’ve been listening back to lots of minimalism and classic old jazz so maybe that’s where I’ll start off for the next record. I’d also love to do a solo album, I’d love to produce something for someone else. I guess in short, I just want to keep creating.

Album order link for Rituals

There are 4 European dates left, which are as follows:

14/11 – Hydrozagadka, Warsaw Poland
15/11 – Jazz Club Tonne, Dresden Germany
16/11 – Badehaus, Berlin Germany
17/11 – Lula Club, Madrid Spain