Sick Robot, aka Liam White, releases his new album ‘Globetrotting’ on the 1st August, a self-produced love letter to all things Europe, that finds him deep in Berlin School territory, with analogue-inspired sequencing and synth work. It’s another striking left turn for this artist, who seems to have made a habit of never quite repeating himself. Taking some strands of inspiration from Yello and Kraftwerk, from Zu Ehren von Florian (a tribute to Kraftwerk’s Florian Schneider) through to the album’s title track, tucked away is a bonus cut called ‘Neon Buildings’, a track that gave me the idea for this feature. So I asked Liam to pick out five European buildings that mean something to him, musically or otherwise. He plays a 25-minute support slot at Cobalt Studios in November.
Here, Liam tells me about his favourite European buildings, with a bunch of fives…
When NARC asked if I fancied doing a Bunch of Fives around Neon Buildings, it felt like the perfect excuse to talk about my love for some of the inspiration behind Globetrotting, my love letter to everything European, especially the music. I’ve spent a long time digging into how to compose in the style of the Berlin School, and it’s been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in over a decade of writing and producing. I’m self-taught and I do everything myself, mixing and mastering included, so a record like this is as much about the buildings, cities and music that inspired the sound as it is about the sound itself. Here are five that stuck with me.
LA SAGRADA FAMÍLIA, BARCELONA, SPAIN: Still unfinished after all these years, which is part of what makes it so special. The towering spires and the nature-inspired art nouveau details make it feel less like just a building. There’s an ambition to it that I find genuinely inspiring, and the fact it’s been a work in progress for over a century somehow only adds to the magic of it.
THE COLOSSEUM, ROME, ITALY: You can’t talk about European architecture without mentioning this one. The largest amphitheatre the ancient world ever built, and still an unmistakable iconic symbol of imperial Rome. It’s a proper feat of classical engineering and standing anywhere near it you get a real sense of scale and history all at once.
THE LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS, FRANCE: Originally a royal fortress, and now the largest art museum in the world, that’s some transformation. Everyone knows it for the glass pyramid entrance, but it’s the contrast that really gets to me; centuries-old stone against sleek modern glass. It’s a kind of old-meets-new tension that I can totally lean into.
NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLE, FÜSSEN, GERMANY: A genuinely stunning 19th-century Romanesque revival palace, perched up on a rugged hill in Bavaria like something out of a fairytale. Given how much of ‘Globetrotting’ leans into German influence, with Kraftwerk and the Berlin School sound, this one had to make the list.
THE SHARD, LONDON, UK: The tallest building in western Europe at 309 metres, designed by Renzo Piano, who basically reimagined what a modern glass-clad skyscraper could look like. It’s the perfect step away from tradition, with its sharp lines and reflected light, which is very much where my head was at with Neon Buildings.”
