Psapp (pronounced sap) is an experimental electronica band from the United … Read Full Bio ↴Psapp (pronounced sap) is an experimental electronica band from the United Kingdom. The band, a duo consisting of members Carim Clasmann and Galia Durant, are sometimes credited with inventing a musical style known as toytronica.

Galia Durant’s story began in a household running amok with records, art and books. Galia’s mum collected protest songs while her dad is a professorial art historian with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Indian classical music. Galia “loved it all,” finding no real distinction between Woody Guthrie peacenik anthems, Sarangi etudes and her elder brother’s acid jazz albums. After struggling to learn violin and piano (she preferred her 1988 vintage Casio SK-8 sampling keyboard, which the band still use), at 8, Galia graduated from a more-ideas-than-action ‘band’, “GO”, formed with her brother.

Carim Clasmann’s musical youth was spent in German recording studios learning the alchemical business of faders, compressors and microphones. A self-professed failure at the school recorder and a frustrated guitarist, he dabbled in music-making while cutting demos for other people. Quickly rising through the Cologne studio ranks, Carim learned his chops recording bands like Einstürzende Neubauten and Die Toten Hosen and even worked at Can’s famous Inner Space studio, always dallying with music of his own on the side. He moved to London at the close of the ‘90s, working and then taking up residence at the King’s Cross studio/house he and Psapp currently call home.

Carim met Galia through mutual, musically-inclined friends who would often gather at the studio. For a year or so the duo experimented, united by an eclectic taste for Tom Waits, the Cure, Erik Satie, Duke Ellington and “anything that’s silly and uses stupid noises.” Their own ‘silly noises’ married to Galia’s sultry vocals and perspicacious lyrics produced recordings of shimmering originality and nascent charm - an opinion shared by the handful of labels to which Psapp, as they’d by now christened themselves, sent demos toward the end of 2002. A litany of recordings duly followed. Early 2003’s debut EP for Melodic called, instructively, Do Something Wrong was followed by a single, "Difficult Key", the following Autumn. After seeing a live show by Morr Music electronicists ISAN and befriending the band’s Robin Saville, Psapp’s next recordings would appear on Saville’s own Arable imprint, with Winter ‘04’s Buttons And War EP attracting rave notices.

Around this time several Psapp tracks found their way to US music consultants who were universally wowed by the band’s evocative charms. The duo’s music seemed to chime with the TV zeitgeist and their music started to seep into primetime dramas (not to mention a very high profile Volkswagen advert), culminating in the track Cosy In The Rocket being chosen as the theme music to hit ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, which premiered in March 2005. At a stroke, burgeoning inquisitiveness about Psapp turned into an eager US fanbase. Meanwhile, in King’s Cross, dust wasn’t being allowed to settle. A Japanese EP, Northdown appeared in March 2004, swiftly followed by a vinyl-only 4-track nugget, Rear Moth for the discreet Wiaiwya imprint – some tracks from which would appear on the band’s debut album for Arable (also licensed to Leaf for the US and Canada, Third Ear in Japan and Gronland for much of Europe). Released in February 2005, Tiger, My Friend consolidated the burgeoning interest in all things Psapp. MOJO magazine’s four star review – “Arresting, childlike pop confections… effortlessly carved pop sophistication…” was typically hyperbolic. With Psapp duly rising, the major labels soon came a-courting but by autumn 2005 Psapp had spurned their fevered advances, preferring to ink a deal with Domino.

Toward the close of ’05 Psapp embarked on their first live ventures. Translating their records’ layered complexity to the stage was never going to be easy, but with the multi-instrumental Galia and Carim joined by Gwen Cheeseman (violin, floatation toys), Eshan Khadaroo (drums, lumps of wood), and Jim Whelan (bass, keyboards, ashtrays etc), (joined in 2008 by Matt Jones (keyboardist, Ultrasound, Minuteman)), Psapp took to the road around the UK and Europe, eventually honing an exhilarating, ‘in the flesh’ version of their incomparable recorded sound. Initial touring forays successfully completed, Psapp set about buffing their second album to lustrous perfection, pausing only to head down to the Dorchester Hotel to pick up the BMI Award for 2005’s Best TV Theme Tune for ‘Cosy In The Rocket’.

Psapp are known for their humour on stage, throwing cats (hand-made by the band) into the audience and their highly eclectic music videos.

The Counter
Psapp Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Siphon off top layers
Leave an etching in the dirt
Tracing passed the history
To date back to the hurt

Fingers leave a trail on me
A map of what I've done
Each hair that grows precisely

Shows a timeline, and my sum

And you don't know the weight
The clicking of the counter
I won't show you the weight
And its worth

Walk into a new room
And your static lingers still
Trace of grease from un-socked feet
Is mine to smudge at will

Fingers leave a trail on me
A map of what I've done
Each hair that grows precisely
Shows a timeline, and my sum

And you don't know the weight
The clicking of the counter

I won't show you the weight
And its worth

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Psapp's song "The Counter" speak to the idea that every action we take leaves a mark on us, whether visible or not. The first stanza describes the process of sifting through the layers of dirt and history to find the root of our pain. The singer suggests that by leaving an etching in the dirt, we can trace back to the hurt that caused it. The second stanza continues this theme of leaving a mark, but this time it's on our own bodies. The fingers of others leave a trail on the singer, marking their past actions and leaving a map of what they have done. The growth of each hair represents a timeline of their life and their sum total of experience.

The refrain, "And you don't know the weight, the clicking of the counter, I won't show you the weight and its worth," refers to the idea that others may not fully understand or appreciate the weight of our experiences, and we may not be willing to share them or reveal their value. The "clicking of the counter" suggests a sense of measurement or keeping track, perhaps of the number of times we've been hurt or the struggles we've faced. The singer acknowledges that others may not know the full extent of their pain and therefore may not appreciate its worth or value.

Overall, the lyrics to "The Counter" provide a thought-provoking meditation on the idea that our experiences leave a mark on us, both internally and externally. It highlights the idea that our past actions and experiences shape who we are today, and that others may not always understand or fully appreciate the weight of our experiences.

Line by Line Meaning

Siphon off top layers
Taking off the outermost layers

Leave an etching in the dirt
Making a permanent impression on the ground

Tracing passed the history
Going beyond the known history

To date back to the hurt
To understand the origin of the pain

Fingers leave a trail on me
Leaving physical evidence on my body

A map of what I've done
A record of my actions

Each hair that grows precisely
Every strand of hair is a timeline

Shows a timeline, and my sum
Indicating the overall picture of my life

And you don't know the weight
You don't understand the burden

The clicking of the counter
The sounds of the tally being taken

I won't show you the weight
I won't reveal the heaviness of my pain