Interviews – Page 64

Ecuadorian Nicola Cruz has built his reputation as one of the pioneers of cutting-edge electronic music in Latin America, notably by integrating fragments of local, Andean, indigenous, Afro-Latin, and tropicalist folk music into his creations with the most refined electronic aesthetics.

He is known for several recordings, including “Sentimientos Encotrados”(fall 2021) and the new EP “Self Oscillation” (July 2022). A regular at MUTEK, Nicola Cruz returns with new material the day after a partially rainy DJ set at the Esplanade tranquille. This too wet moment of the Experience series is now a thing of the past, let’s make way for the main course! Nicola Cruz performs this Wednesday at SAT, he is the central artist of this first program of the Nocturne series.

PAN M 360: We know that Nicola Cruz is close to her Latin American roots and has her eye on the future. Of course, this description is reductive and doesn’t tell us where you are at. How far have you come since your time at MUTEK in the summer of 2019?

NICOLA CRUZ: I’m always trying new concepts, trying to evolve my sound and my curiosities, and not always sticking to one thing. So exploring traditional instrumentation and other aspects of Ecuadorian culture is an earlier phase of my work. Today I think I’m moving towards a synthesis of what I’ve learned, towards exploring the sound at a deeper level, while keeping this idea of ritualizing my work in the studio and, therefore, ritualizing my composition.

PAN M 360: And how is this ritualization embodied?

NICOLA CRUZ: I’m trying to find a specific example, but Wednesday’s set will be a little more explanatory than the words coming out of my mouth right now. There are composed structures and there is also improvisation as there is always in my live sets.

PAN M 360: If we try to understand, you draw from your whole bank of sounds and you propose new ones among this collection, to suggest new ways to express your art.

NICOLA CRUZ: Exactly. When you make electronic music, it’s not like picking up a guitar, you have to draw from a whole bunch of stuff. That’s true. That’s the creative and interesting part of presenting electronic music, right? So of course I always leave room for improvisation, whether it’s with the modular, with a drum machine, with a synthesizer or other instrument. But there is also that part of the music that results from studio work and programming, about choosing the direction of a piece.

Right now, for example, I’m planning to start a new album that will be released next year. So I don’t present a certain concept and I don’t shoot the music for the album. In fact, I never tour to present the material of an album, because I am always transforming my show in real time.

PAN M 360: Yes indeed, you change your sound often and that’s what makes your music interesting and creative. We’ve heard your integrations of indigenous music from Central or South America, especially, but as you suggest, that’s not a goal in itself. Sometimes this component is present, sometimes it is not.

NICOLA CRUZ: Yes. Avoiding clichés about the cultural/stylistic elements of my music as an objective or concept is very important to me. You can’t overuse concepts, nothing should be obvious or redundant.

PAN M 360: Yes, only the result matters. Defining it on the basis of cultural origins and intellectualizing it too much can be a trap. You can look for roots where they are not…

NICOLA CRUZ: Exactly. You know, I think it’s also the fault of the Western media in search of exoticism, which too often seeks to illustrate this cliché of Latin roots in my work. That’s a colonialist approach as far as I’m concerned. Even though I have included a lot of traditional music and instruments in my music, I have never felt identified with this idea of consciously displaying my roots.

PAN M 360: It comes naturally, it often comes from the unconscious and you don’t have to make more of it, build up false theories.

NICOLA CRUZ: I totally agree. Personally, I’ve always done techno and house music before I even started composing and getting interested in breakbeats and really exploiting electronic music in its technological subtleties. So I feel like life is leading me somewhere along there, as I explore my music and its roots while leveraging the power of technology. Also, I’ve never been afraid to use melodies, my latest compositions are very melodic and I’m also interested in psychedelia to add a new flavor and go further.

PAN M 360: And this Wednesday?

NICOLA CRUZ: I’m performing with a video artist from New York. There is no specific concept, I’m here to present my new creative flow, I can’t say more than that. Of course there will be lots of new sounds, some of which will be created live. I think in terms of sounds, my work has become very detailed and expressive. I actually like who I am musically now. I feel like I’m conveying a lot, it’s quite emotional and also very danceable.

PAN M 360: Is the duty to make people dance a problem?

NICOLA CRUZ: It varies but it’s still voluntary when I do it. I still want to make dance music, I was a DJ and I still am. So what I’m doing now is danceable. It’s also a kind of reconnection with what I started with electronic music which was techno and house, which is still very interesting territory.

NICOLA CRUZ PERFORMS THIS WEDNESDAY AT SAT, NIGHT SERIES 1 / MUTEK MONTREAL.

After a barely noticed appearance at Casa Del Popolo a few years ago, Bodega is coming this time to perform a few songs from their latest album, Broken Equipment, as well as the brand new EP XTRA EQUIPMENT and several other songs from their repertoire. The Brooklyn-based art-(post)-punk band has also seen three of its members leave the ship since the start of the pandemic. This will be the occasion to discover the new version of Bodega and its groovier sound.

PAN M 360 caught up with one of the new members, bassist Adam See, who talked to us about all the personnel changes and what they entail, his job as a philosophy teacher… and Heidegger.

PAN M 360: There has been a pretty considerable change of musicians in the band since the previous album Endless Scroll, released in 2018. First percussionist Montana Simone, who left shortly after the record’s release and was replaced by Tai Lee, then guitarist Madison Velding-VanDam and bassist Heather Elle. What happened, and how were you recruited?

Adam See: About the time the pandemic started, Madison and Heather left the band to start another project, the band Wants. Madison is still very much involved in that project but Heather has since left and started her own band, Flossing. I’ve been friends with Ben (Hozie, aka Bodega Ben, guitar, vocals) and Nikki (Belfiglio, aka Nik E Iki, vocals, percussion) for a while, our bands have shared the same stage a few times since 2017. So, around that time, Ben, Tai Lee (percussion) and I had a book club and since I played bass, they quickly recruited me. As for Dan Ryan, he was already a guitarist for the band on tour, so he was the natural person to call on when Madison left. It all happened pretty much at the same time. And since the beginning of this tour, we have had a new percussionist. His name is Adam Shumski and he replaces Tai Lee who had to leave to pursue a musical project for Netflix. I don’t really know much about it but it sounds pretty cool.

PAN M 360: Would you say that this new version of Bodega has changed the sound and dynamics of the band?

Adam See: That’s a good question… I think if you asked other band members you’d get a different answer. As far as I’m concerned, my style of playing bass is quite different from Heather’s. For one thing, we don’t play on the same bass as Heather. First of all, we don’t play the same brand of bass and Heather is more subdued, her tones are softer than mine, less raging. I think I’m a funkier bass player than Heather, my previous band (Otro Lado) was more danceable. But there’s also the direction Ben and Nikki chose to take the band; no matter who played on our last album, the sound and style would still be what it is. But having said that, I’m quite happy with my bass sound on this record. Of course, the work of guitarist Dan Ryan must also be mentioned. His playing is quite different from Madison’s. Madison’s playing is quite incisive and angular. Dan is more technically proficient, and funkier, in my opinion. He’s more creative too.

PAN M 360: And on stage, compared to the old line-up, what has changed?

Adam See: Having seen Bodega live a few times, I would say that the band is more groovy. Ben, Nikki and Tai Lee were commenting on our recent European tour that the audience was dancing more at our shows. I’m not saying that people didn’t participate before, but with this new line-up, we’re stretching out the songs, giving them a little more of a driving feel. We are more rhythm oriented, it’s more aggressive and funky.

PAN M 360: Are you playing the new album mostly on this tour?

Adam See: No, not really. We’re playing a lot of everything, even songs from Bodega Bay, Ben and Nikki’s old band. We have about 50 songs and Ben always picks different ones for each show.

PAN M 360: How do you reconcile your job as a teacher and your life as a musician on the road?

Adam See: That’s another good question. I had to quit my job before going on this long tour in Europe… and I got it back anyway! But during this tour, I’m still teaching my Environmental Ethics class at the New Jersey Institute Of Technology when I’m on the road, and I have to say it’s pretty demanding. In the band, they call me “the teacher.”

PAN M 360: Tell us a little bit about this book club you created with part of the band. What is it about? Did it influence the lyrics to a certain extent?

Adam See: Ben is pretty insistent on this, and he’s not entirely wrong. The title of the record, Broken Equipment, comes from the early work of Martin Heidegger, which we, of course, read in our little book club. We started this club a little after I got my PhD in philosophy. I had lost the taste for philosophy after a decade of being immersed in it. Then it became a job for me and I no longer saw philosophy as a source of pleasure. Ben had also taken philosophy classes and we decided to start a philosophy reading club. So Ben and I got together with a rapper friend from Brooklyn, another friend who was an ancient Greek and Roman scholar, and Tai Lee. During the pandemic, our little get-togethers quickly became our favorite time of the week, and it was during this time that Ben began writing some of the songs that appear on Broken Equipment. One of these songs, “Art And Advertising,” didn’t make it onto the album, but was instead released on the XTRA EQUIPMENT EP (released on July 15th). This track includes the words ‘broken equipment,’ which became the title of the album. The song “Thrown,” which starts the Broken Equipment album, is a direct allusion to the work of Martin Heidegger. So yes, there’s a bit of philosophy in our recent albums.

The year 2020 was one of the hardest and most chaotic that DJ/producer, Liliane Chlela, had ever experienced. Beirut, Lebanon, where she was living, was constantly subject to anti-regime protests, eventually leading to a port explosion that has still not been investigated. “You were constantly thinking ‘Is this the day I’m going to die,” Chlela says over a computer screen.

Liliane Chlela eventually moved to Montreal and released her Safala album last year. This dark and dystopian piece of industrial, droney, and experimental electronic work has all the passion and chaos that was heard and felt through the streets of Lebanon from 2019 until now and takes the listener on an unforgettable ride.

Chlela is now performing at MUTEK on Aug 27, during the PLAY 3, at the SAT, and had a bit of time to talk about “Safala”, the differences between making music in Montreal and Lebanon, and adapting her album to be an A/Visual experience.

PAN M 360: How important is the context of an album for you as a musician? For example, the first time I heard Safala, I didn’t know it was directly inspired by the Lebanon protests and now I do.

Liliane Chlela: I guess context is definitely big, and has a big role in it. I mean, to me and the way I’m presenting it, of course, especially with the live performance, because I have assigned a bunch of friends from a studio in Beirut to create accompanying visual, digital art. But yes, it’s very important. Especially you know, given the story of the tracks and where the album comes from and the names of the tracks and all of that.

PAN M 360: So going off of that, where does the name “Safala” come from?

Liliane Chlela: In Arabic … actually it has two meanings. The noun with a different autograph can mean “you bastards” or like you’re insulting someone. And safala as a verb can also mean, “you’re failing.” The names of the tracks, individually, all come from an incantation my grandma used to say to us as a prayer to ward off the evil eye.

PAN M 360: Oh so she would say this prayer whenever you were feeling anxious or something?

Liliane Chlela: Yes 100 %. It was that kind of bond where, you know you’re feeling helpless, and there’s absolutely nothing for you to do. So, it was just a little morale booster.

PAN M 360: It’s funny you say warding off the evil eye because many of the tracks on Safala seem very angry and coming from a place of frustration but then there are moments of tranquility. Was this your goal? Blending the evil with the good?

Liliane Chlela: Well when I work on the productions, I don’t have an actual plan and, the concept sort of shapes itself after. Sometimes I look back at a track or passage and realize ‘Oh shit this is where this is coming from.’ Because back then, I had just moved here. So the production part was done in Beirut right before I ran off to here, and you know, things were and still are still going incredibly…

PAN M 360: Bleak?

Liliane Chlela: Yeah that’s a good word to describe it. So yes, in retrospect, it basically has, it’s an illustration of, good versus evil, and you in the middle, knowing that sometimes good has to become evil in order to try to figure out a way around all of that turmoil.

PAN M 360: Is playing MUTEK a big deal for you as an electronic producer/DJ?

Liliane Chlela: Playing MUTEK has always been in the back of my head. Especially when you don’t have many opportunities to play big festivals when you’re coming from my region. I’m also an independent artist. So I don’t have an agent. I don’t have a manager, booking agent, and all of that. So it’s always been this great thing to be a part of. but now since moving here, it’s no longer this unattainable festival, and I realize how significant it is that I’m able to play it. And playing this specific album, from a specific context, for this specific context, because we don’t have much representation in a normal MUTEK lineup, I think it’s pretty cool.

PAN M 360: So when you say not much opportunity, is that just being an artist in Beirut or being a woman artist in Beirut within the electronic music scene?

Liliane Chlela: Beirut is pretty OK compared to the rest. It’s not like women are banned. It’s pretty open, but of course, you have an imbalance of representation in lineups. Since moving here, I’ve formed a little collective in Beirut, for female gender minorities and members of the LGBTQ2S+ society. It’s for musicians, producers, performers, and newcomers, and people a bit more established. So what we do is advocate for these people to be better represented in club shows and lineups and we have our own shows and parties.

PAN M 360: Do you ever go back to your old work to maybe get inspired or reflect on your trajectory as an artist? I only ask because I know many electronic artists don’t and it’s kind of on to the next project.

Liliane Chlela: I do go back to them occasionally just to see where my head was at during that particular time. And since moving here, I literally have the time and resources to do that. In Beirut, you’re always in troubleshoot mode and don’t really have time for personal reflection.

PAN M 360: Because the scene is so small and constantly have to be on to the next thing?

Liliane Chlela: It’s not so much that, but it’s just that the living conditions are terrible and have been degrading since 2019. So you have like one hour of electricity per day or and you’re like ‘What the fuck’ and you’re relying on generators that every block has installed. So you have to wait for when the power comes back on and then burn through what you have to do. Then you have to worry if you’re gonna die today because there’s going to be an explosion. I mean, I got injured on the first day of the big revolution during a protest, but I mean, OK, we get that over with. But yeah, you’re literally not … The last thing on your mind is worrying about your music and who’s gonna listen to it. Your priorities are elsewhere.

PAN M 360: So it’s the exact opposite of working here.

Liliane Chlela: Exactly. Now you’re worrying about where the next PC club will be (Laughs). I’m in better spirits.

PAN M 360: Has this given you time to work on new material or are you still in presenting Safala live mode?

Liliane Chlela: I’m waiting for the vinyl of “Safala” to be released which should be soon. I have some dates after MUTEK. Like I’m playing Piknic Electronik and some European dates. I have some other new stuff in mind, but I think I have to finish this chapter and move on.

Liliane Chlela plays MUTEK on Aug 27, during the PLAY 3, at the SAT – Tickets HERE

Since 2000, MUTEK has presented its audience with electronic music and audiovisual productions in real time. The rapid and dizzying evolution of the arts based on digital technologies has never ceased to inspire creators from all over the world, as we will see once again with a huge cohort of artists from all over the world.

Catarina Barbieri (Italy), Nicola Cruz (Ecuador), Luke Slater (United Kingdom), Marina Herlop (Catalonia/Spain), Korea Town Acid (South Korea) or Gabber Modus Operandi (Indonesia) are among the many foreigners who will be performing in Montreal from Tuesday, August 23 to Sunday, August 28.

MUTEK remains one of the main showcases of technological arts in North America, in Montreal and Mexico. Other festivals under the MUTEK banner are also presented around the world, notably in Tokyo. The pandemic having slowed down MUTEK’s activities for the past two years, we are finally back in full swing in Montreal.

PAN M 360: For this 2022 presentation, has MUTEK chosen a particular axis or a general theme?

ALAIN MONGEAU: There is no specific theme except, I would say, a general reset and a return to our normal programming. Last January and February, we were still in lockdown, it took quite a leap of faith to invite artists to a festival that would take place in August. This year, we’re finally back to the full formula. In the previous two years, we were missing pieces. We were mostly focused on local programming, including stopping the A/Visions series at Théâtre Maisonneuve. This time we’ve put all the pieces back, so we can present a much wider range of music. That’s what we’re trying to do, to go in different styles and directions to offer a kind of eclecticism. The way the programs are put together for the more nocturnal series is to build around an artist who is an anchor.

PAN M 360: It’s impossible to present MUTEK Montreal 2022 in its entirety, so let’s take examples each day.

ALAIN MONGEAU: On the first night of the festival, Tuesday the 23rd, a special event was added, with the Englishman Max Cooper, who we have presented in the past. The material of his Ether installation was being stored in Montreal. He wanted to relaunch it in the context of an augmented version where he could interact in real-time with his object. So we introduce Max Cooper to the M Telus and his relationship with this installation is placed halfway between the stage and the audience. A very MUTEK concept.

PAN M 360: What to choose on Wednesday?

ALAIN MONGEAU: Nicola Cruz, who likes Mutek, contacted us to say he wanted to come with new material. We had a dialogue with him and he introduced us to Machina, a South Korean artist who lives in Japan. It became a coherent program presented at the SAT.

PAN M 360: Thursday?

ALAIN MONGEAU: The Thursday night Nocturne program at MTELUS, in my own jargon, is built like an electronic cabaret. Most of the time, our programs are aimed at a continuous flow, but in this case they are more shows with an important scenic angle. Several artists are anchors, among them the Italian Catarina Barbieri, who I love and who I’ve seen in different MUTEK abroad and who I wanted to bring back to Montreal but it was never the right time until this time because she has a new show to offer. It’s sublime, it’s airy… I just listened to her new album on my bike and… it’s perfect! In the same context, we have the Catalan artist Marina Herlop, who suggests a kind of Mediterranean folklore with choir in an electronic context. We also welcome back Norwegian saxophonist Bendik Giske, who makes use of circular breathing, and whose stage presence is very strong. Again, this kind of program is close to performance art.

PAN M 360: Friday…

ALAIN MONGEAU: We have a typical techno night at MTELUS, built around the presence of Planetary Assault Systems, led by the British pioneer Luke Slater, who we have known for nearly thirty years. Here is a sure value around which we have embroidered. We have for example the very good Canadian artist Aquarian, who lives in Berlin and has presented his music in the context of other MUTEKs abroad.

PAN M 360: Saturday…

ALAIN MONGEAU: It’s our biggest night that ends in the wee hours of the morning, but this time MTELUS couldn’t get the exemption, so it ends at 3 am. The evening is centered around the British, Koreless, whose music reminds a bit of Oneohtrix Point Never, but more orchestral and choral I would say. Last year, his album was one of the best of the genre. In the same program, we also have Loraine James from the UK, we also have Afriqua from the US, an artist we like but who doesn’t usually present live productions.

PAN M 360: More intimate, Sunday night is at the SAT and there are obviously important series beyond those listed.

ALAIN MONGEAU: On Thursday and Friday, indeed, we present contrasts. On Thursday, while we are in electronic cabaret mode at MTELUS, we are in arty techno at the SAT, with Nik Colk Void who is half of the duo Factory Floor, who once worked with Chris & Cosey, so electro with a post-industrial angle, a performance of modular synths. So it’s a techno program but more artistic, closer to contemporary art, an evening requiring more listening, more attention. The next day, Friday, we are also in contrast with the MTELUS, this time with the duo Tarta Relena, who are the backup singers of Marina Herlop and who also offer a kind of Catalan folk in a technological context. On Saturday at the SAT, there is my secret pleasure, Gabber Modus Operandi, from Indonesia, a kind of neopunk electronic hardcore, with Indonesian sounds. I saw these artists in Poland in 2019, it blew me away. It doesn’t sound like anything!

PAN M 360: It’s also the return of the A/Visions series, dedicated to audio.

ALAIN MONGEAU: Yes, and we have some super interesting nights in this signature series where artists create specific tools for their performances. I’m thinking of Frenchmen Cyril Méroni and Olivier Vasseur who present Advienne in A/Visions 2 on Saturday, a project including laser, video projection, and percussion. The day before, we were treated to ScanAudience by SCHNITT & Gianluca Sibaldi who use sensor technology to capture data from the audience in real-time and reinject it into their performance in front of the same audience.

PAN M 360: And let’s not forget the important free component of MUTEK Montreal.

ALAIN MONGEAU: The Experience series is presented for the first time on the quiet Esplanade. It’s essentially local and national programming, but we also invite international indoor artists to come and do a DJ set. I’m thinking of Luke Slater and Machina, among others, who are presented as DJs. Anyone who doesn’t have a concert budget or doesn’t want to take the risk of buying indoor seats can attend this free, outdoor series. The Experience series is even more important because it is a focal point, starting at 5 pm.

Mack MacKenzie was known to have Mi’kmaq roots when he was an emerging artist… four decades earlier. However, his Aboriginal identity was not then a crucial vehicle for his expression, the singer, musician and lyricist was then the frontman of the Anglo-Montreal band Three O’Clock Train, then in the country-folk-rock-americana stream of that time, from Kris Kristofferson to John Mellencamp. As the decades passed, Three O’Clock Train fell off the Montreal radar, while Mack MacKenzie continued on his way. In this period of cultural renaissance for Canada’s indigenous peoples, our intervirue is making a comeback in the public space, starting with the Présence autochtone Montreal Festival where he will perform three times, including this Monday at Quai des Brumes and Thursday at Place Émilie-Gamelin.

PAN M 360 : Hello Mack! I think the last time I talked with you was like 3 decades ago. So you’re still around!

MACK MACKENZIE : Yeah! So how have you been ?

PAN M 360 : Good ! About yourself ? So what did you do ? So since the the end of the 90s, for example, you pursued or do you have some other jobs? How did you make your living ?

MACK MACKENZIE : I’m good too ! Well, after releasing a solo record in the 90’s, I started working for the Cirque du Soleil for 10 years.

PAN M 360 : As a musician ?

MACK MACKENZIE : I started as a musician and then I switched to administration, as a tour coordinator. And then, when I finished around 2000, I pulled my licenses from for all the releases of Three O’Clock Train and my solo recordings, and remastered them all. Then I started my own label when the Internet destroyed the music industry. So it was more of a do it yourself world, of course, which I was already used to. So I did a new album, “Ride for Glory” And then I started touring again, which I’m still doing now. Also Three O’Clock Train released an album called “Moon” in 2013.

PAN M 360 : Are you touring through the First Nations circuit?

MACK MACKENZIE : Not really. I’m in the indie rock/ punk rock circuit which embraced me since the beginning of my career. So I was sill touring through that circuit when I came back after the Cirque, until the pandemic started. In 2020, I ended up canceling more than 80 show, it’s been tough until recently. But I’ve done some recording and writing. So I’m recording a new album with Howard Bilerman.

PAN M 360 : Howard Bilerman of hotel2tango ?!!That’s very cool. This producer is very gifted!

MACK MACKENZIE : Yeah, he’s a lot. He’s a great friend and we have a great time working together. After those shows at Presence Autochtone, I’m going back to finish the whole album.

PAN M 360 : How exactly Howard Bilerman is involved in the production aspect?

MACK MACKENZIE : It’s pretty much coproduction, I’m also doing production and mixing. We record with guitars, bass and drums. We work with experienced musicians, some played with great bands as Smashing Pumpkins.

PAN M 360 : That’s so cool. So you are on a good path!

MACK MACKENZIE : Yeah, we have a few more projects, we have another one on the horizon for early next year as well. Howard had a crazy idea : a Museum in Calgary bought the Rolling Stones mobile studio a few years back, and instead of upgrading it, they restored it with the 1968 gear. So we want to use it!

PAN M 360 : Great idea ! So are you going to release your next album on your own label ?

MACK MACKENZIE : We’re talking to some other labels for licence deals. But I can always release it on my own.

PAN M 360 : Fine. So you’re going to release that this year or at the beginning of next year?

MACK MACKENZIE : That’s a good question. You know, it’s always a matter of timing… And I don’t want to release it when we’re going to hit the road. I’m thinking it’s going to be toward the end of this year. So I got to keep things on schedule!

PAN M 360 : Are you still based in Montreal ?

MACK MACKENZIE : I never left since I came in the 70’s. Before that time, I’ve never seen buses, subways and high rises. I didn’t know hockey either! I used to live in Milton park then I got married and we bought a house in Ahuntsic. Montreal is my adopted hometown. Yeah I love it here. I love the people, I love Quebec. I toured almost everywhere and Montreal is still my favorite city.

PAN M 360 : You have a Mi’kmaq background if I remember

MACK MACKENZIE : Correct. I grew up on a chicken farm in the area of Lewiston, Maine.

PAN M 360 : Was your family close to the Mi’kmaq community at that time?

MACK MACKENZIE : Not at all. My parents weren’t, I was the only Mi’kmaq on the farm haha!

PAN M 360 : So you are the first in your the family to relate to the First Nations.

MACK MACKENZIE : Pretty much.

PAN M 360 : You you must be very happy about all this renaissance of aboriginal culture through music.

MACK MACKENZIE : Yeah, it’s very encouraging for a lot of younger musicians, for sure. And it’s nice for me coming into it. It’s nice to have a voice.

Mack Mackenzie performs on Monday night at Quai des Brumes and on Thursday night at Place Émilie-Gamelin.

From the poetic orality of the Aboriginal culture to the written music of our Western era, two worlds attempt an intercultural practice, a sharing of practices and knowledge in the world of creations of the spirit.

Aboriginal poetry and contemporary music are thus brought together. This program is presented Sunday, 7pm, at the Auditorium of the Grande Bibliothèque.

This program is presented by Land InSights, Forestare and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM), in the context of the First Peoples’ Festival, in partnership with the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, and with the collaboration of the OSM’s Virée classique.

The main course for this program is composed by Montrealer Tim Brady, and world premiered : “Uiesh” (2019), for voice and 14 instruments, based on poems in Innu-aimun by the poet Joséphine Bacon, taken from the collection Uiesh – somewhere (Mémoire d’encrier, 2018). With soprano Deantha Edmunds, musicians of the NEM.

PAN M 360 : Josephine Bacon’s Innu poems were the starting point. What did this reading inspire you to do?

TIM BRADY : I loved the directness of the language, but the sophistication and resonance of the images. The poems also use references to music a lot – “I sing,” “a melodic air” – so it just seemed so natural to set the poems to music.

PAN M 360 :”From orality to written music; from gesture to sonority; from movement to musical line; it’s all about discovering the other, opening up to each other’s sensibilities and sharing their riches.” What do you think of this official presentation?

TIM BRADY : Yeah – as Zappa or Monk is reputed to have said: “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture”! It is difficult to articulate precisely what music is and how it works (aside from the technical jargon we musicians use…but that only goes so far). Initially, this project was just about me working with Josephine’s poem. Artist to artist. But it obviously touches on larger social issues, I think this is what they were trying to get at in the official presentation.

PAN M 360 : What else is there to say? What is the preliminary idea here of a dialogue between Aboriginal poetic expression and your music?

TIM BRADY : I love writing for voice, and Josephine’s poems are really well suited to music, at least to me. Working in a non-European language was also an intriguing challenge, it really forced me to listen to the sound of the language, as I have no access to the direct meaning. As well, I, like many Canadians, am increasing aware of the need to build bridges to the Indigenous peoples of the country and if this collaboration can be part of that process, great.

PAN M 360 : What were the conscious or unconscious stages of the creative process?

TIM BRADY : At its very core, writing music is very instinctive. I just sit in my music studio and “listen” for music to appear in my head. I’ve been doing this for 42 years, so I have lots of experience and many strategies to push things forward, to help the unconscious process along. But essentially – you just have to hear the music somehow, somewhere. At its best, it almost feels more like transcribing music that already exists.

PAN M 360 : What was the general shape you wanted to give to this work in the beginning?

TIM BRADY : I knew I wanted to do several poems, but that the piece would be played continuously. I wanted the piece to be head as one unified gesture not 7 short songs. There is a certain intensity in performance and listening that comes with continuous forms that I like. But hey – that being said – I’ve written lots of song cycles as well. I try to let the material tell me what to do and Josephine’s poems just felt better suited to this more continuous approach.

PAN M 360 : How did it develop?

TIM BRADY : The composing of the piece went pretty much according to plan. Sometimes this happens, you can never tell.

PAN M 360 : How does the Aboriginal musical imagination play out in the piece? What is the role of Aboriginal soloist Deantha Edmunds in this?

TIM BRADY : I make no reference to Indigenous music at all in this work. I write from my personal experience and I hear what I hear. This is how I hear Josephine’s words, set to music. It’s that simple. Deantha’s role is to sing the notes, and to bring the words to life. The fact that she in Inuit artist herself adds another element to the collaboration, and also contributes to a healthy cultural dialogue.

PAN M 360 : How did the choice of the NEM and Lorraine Vaillancourt of the musicians of Forestare and Deantha Edmunds come about?

TIM BRADY : This whole project just kind of naturally fell together, and (for once!), I had almost nothing to doing with programming or production. I’ve worked with NEM before, and know Forestare (the world of multiple-guitar orchestras is very small! – ie: Instruments of Happiness), so it feels like a natural fit. My piece only uses NEM, so the collaboration with Forestare is about the larger programme. Lorraine is conducting my piece with NEM and Deantha.

PAN M 360 : Is this composition recorded ?

It would be great to get a recording of the piece out to the public, but let’s do the premiere first before we plan the world tour….!!!

2019 OSM Competition winner Bryan Cheng and OSM Concertmaster Andrew Wan team up for an unusual program: a dialogue between the violin and the cello, complete with the pièce de résistance, Ravel’s Sonata, written in 1921 in homage to Claude Debussy and exuding an abundance of lyricism and virtuosity. Leading up to it, audiences will be regaled with their discovery of music by Rebecca Clarke and by works for solo cello by Mark O’Connor and Mark Summer, the latter exploiting the instrument’s potential in an entirely original way!

PAN M 360: For this violin-cello dialogue, how was Bryan Cheng chosen?

ANDREW WAN: I was mentioned, you know, a few different proposals of musicians that I could work with. And when he mentioned the possibility of working with Bryan Cheng, I jumped at the chance, because I really like the way Bryan plays. Ravel’s Sonata is a piece I’ve played quite often. And I know he’s played it too. And he’s a great cellist. So for me it was an obvious choice. And then the rest of the program fell into place quite easily. I had never played Rebecca Clarke’s piece and Philip Glass’ piece, so I was happy to learn them. But the most important thing is to find people that I like to play with and you know, I first heard of Bryan when he did a solo with the MSO. And that was outstanding. And I just realized that I wanted to play with someone like him, so generous and genuine, a great Canadian cellist. And, on top of that, he seems to be a very good person. So I am very excited about that !

PAN M 360: Let’s talk about the main piece, which is Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello in A minor, M. 73.

ANDREW WAN: Before the period of Debussy and Ravel, French composers were trying to sound very Germanic. And then they started to develop distinct identities by drawing on music from everywhere, from Asia, North Africa and of course America. So they didn’t necessarily want to sound, quote, French. So this duet piece is actually, the more I think about it, similar to Ravel’s piano trio in terms of scope. And what amazes me is that the composer was able to create so much tension and virtuosity, but with only two instruments. So every time I play this piece, I am amazed at my own sense of being with a much larger ensemble. I know, by the way, that it is extremely difficult for the cello, even more so than for the violin, but the result is still very delicate to achieve.

PAN M 360: So we have three duet pieces and two solo pieces for cello on the program.

ANDREW WAN: Yes, the program works that way. Besides the fact that Bryan is the guest and we have to hear him in two solo pieces, I also had to prepare a huge amount of scores for the Classical Spree, not to mention the other festivals I’ll be attending after the Spree. It’s crazy! These are the Olympics! So I keep practicing with my iPad, I can’t even tell how much time I spent. You think you’ve tackled the stack of scores correctly and there’s more and more. And I also want to enjoy Bryan’s playing without the stress of playing the whole concert with him. And, you know, I haven’t played a single note with him before. So I don’t want to rush into anything. Like Ravel, the more you dig, the more it pays off. Just a kind of exciting, not very thoughtful interpretation doesn’t seem to me to be for the kind of player that Bryan is. That’s why I want to dig deep into this piece with him. So I’m thankful that we’re not going crazy and trying to chose too many pieces.

AT THEATRE MAISONNEUVE, SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2022 – 1:30 P.M.

ARTISTS AND PROGRAMME

Bryan Cheng, cello

Andrew Wan, violin

Glass, Duets for Violin and Cello, from the Double Concerto (5 min)

Rebecca Clarke, Two Pieces for Violin and Cello (6 min)

Mark O’Connor, Appalachia Waltz, for solo cello (4 min)

Mark Summer, Julie-O, for solo cello (5 min)

Ravel, Sonata for Violin and Cello in A minor, M. 73 (20 min)

Beatrice Deer is a self-proclaimed, award-winning “Inuindie” artist hailing from a small town in Northern Quebec called Quaqtaq. She has been based in Montreal for the past 16 years and sings in English, French, and Inuktitut, to share themes of hope, personal growth, and mystical folklore from her childhood. Her latest album SHIFTING dropped last December and features members of Land of Talk, Stars, Bell Orchestre, the Besnard Lakes, and Suuns.

PAN M 360 quickly spoke to Beatrice Deer as she was performing at the 32nd Presence Autochtone (The Montreal First Peoples’ Festival).

PAN M 360: I know the 2018 album, My All To You, was the first time you actually wrote all of the music (as well the lyrics of course). Have you been continuing this way of working with SHIFTING and the newest single “MOTHER“?

Beatrice Deer: Yes, I wrote SHIFTING the same way as I did My All to You. I asked my friend Kathia Rock to write the French version of MOTHER as I wrote it originally in Inuktitut. The songs were arranged by Christopher McCarron and Mark Wheaton.

PAN M 360: You’ve been in Montreal for quite some time, but you’re from Quaqtaq originally. Does Montreal always feel like your true home nowadays?

Beatrice Deer: It now feels like home finally after 16 years, since my boyfriend and I bought a house for our family.

PAN M 360: You sing in Inuktitut which is classified as an endangered language, but I’ve seen in the last 10 years kind of a rebirth of the language in music from The Jerry Cans, PIQSIQ, Tanya Tagaq, you, and other artists. Could you speak about that act of preserving the language through music?

Beatrice Deer: I write and sing in Inuktitut because it’s my mother tongue and I’m most comfortable expressing myself. It’s a way of preserving the language and storytelling.

PAN M 360: Going off of that, how do you decide which lyrics will be in English, French, or Inuktitut? Are they written in one language first or is it always a hybrid from the beginning?

Beatrice Deer: I write the music first and then feel it out and the language that comes forth is the language I use for the song.

PAN M 360: Are these Inuit folk tales that you use as inspiration ones you remember from growing up or do you still actively seek them out now as an adult?

Beatrice Deer: The folk tales are from my childhood that I further research as an adult.

PAN M 360: Your music is very trance-like, spiritual, and I’d say “healing.” Do you believe it’s kind of an artist’s responsibility to have a message within their music and platform?

Beatrice Deer: Yes. An artist chooses what message they want to relay with their art form. I chose to speak healing and hope.

PAN M 360: Is “MOTHER” about your mother or rather, the strong resilience of Indigenous women?

Beatrice Deer: The Inuktitut version is very personal to my mother but the French version is for our Indigenous matriarchs in general.

Leave it to Toronto to be home to one of the best ’60s psych revival bands right now. They’re called The John Denver Airport Conspiracy, no doubt influenced by the little green men or portals that lead to nowhere. There’s a whole Reddit page dedicated to the batshit conspiracy theories that surround the Kubrickian nature of the Denver International Airport and the members of JDAC decided to add a “John” before it, with a nice portmanteau, sort of like The Brian Jonestown Massacre, who they list as a major influence.

The name alone should get you to the show, but the tight musicianship is why you’ll stay. We spoke with bassist and vocalist, Richie Gibson, before JDAC’s show at L’escogriffe this Saturday.

PAN M 360: Can you introduce the band, its members, and how you formed? Where did the name come from?

Richie Gibson: Band members are: Cameron (guitar and vocals) Jordan (drums and backing vocals) Savanna (violin, percussion, backing vocals) Andrew (organ/keys, slide guitar, harmonica) Charles (guitar/flute), and me, Richie (bass, vocals). The John Denver Airport Conspiracy came from Cameron and Jordan when first forming the band … a bit of a joke on the Brian Jonestown Massacre (we love you) at first I think, but it stuck and we’re taking it to the top, and ain’t no one can stop us! (other than the estate of John Denver perhaps)….

PAN M 360: Was their any central theme on your debut album Something’s Gotta Give ! ?

Richie Gibson: The central theme to Something’s Gotta Give was good ol’ fashioned 60s throwback rock and roll. That might sound a bit cliche but we wanted to have fun with it and keep it loose. We recorded 16 songs in 2 days, pretty much live.

Pan M 360: What is the conspiracy you’re named after?

Richie Gibson: You can look up the Denver Airport Conspiracy online. Weird symbolism of UFOs and secret passageways and artwork in the underground of the Denver airport…look it up!

PAN M 360: Seems like this is a huge jam band live? Kind of Grateful Dead-esque?

Richie Gibson: Yes we do a bit of improvised jamming in our sets but not too much…depends on how it’s going I suppose! But yeah, we’re down with the Dead.

PAN M 360: Am I hearing a sitar for the drone? Who is playing it and is it easy to incorporate into the music?

Richie Gibson: There is a bit of sitar occasionally but the drone often comes from Andrew’s organ or Savanna’s Violin.

PAN M 360: Who are some influences on the band?

Richie Gibson: Our influences are pretty wide as we all collect records and listen to all kinds of music. As for our sound specifically, I would say The Byrds, The Velvet Underground, Stereolab, The Kinks…all those 60’s psychedelic bands…13th Floor elevators, Love, Incredible String Band, The Pretty Things etc.

PAN M 360: Hallucinogens are always synonymous with psych rock and garage, does JDAC use them for inspiration?

Richie Gibson: Yeah we do sometimes. Make mushrooms legal!

PAN M 360: There seems to have been a huge psych revival in the last 15-20 years with bands like Black Angels, Allah Las, etc. Why do you think that is?

Richie Gibson: As for the “psych revival” I would say that everything just eventually comes around again. I also think that that term is a huge umbrella, lots of bands under that title are like more electronic or just “indie” or “alternative” …I guess it’s just like “non pop music with a trippy light show” haha

PAN M 360: Got new music on the way? And future plans for JDAC?

Richie Gibson: And yes we have a lot of demos recorded now and hope to be getting into the studio to make another album very soon. We have a couple of Toronto shows coming up and a trip to Wolfe Island for Oscillation fest I believe. Thanks for reaching out to us! Can’t wait to play in Montreal. Peace R. The JDAC.

Founded in 2014 in Tokyo around the figure of Kyotaro Miula, the name Minami Deutsch evokes the image of a fantastical Germany that potentially existed in the past but that we would especially like to see grow in the future. While Germany was divided between East and West during the krautrock era of the 1970s, the term Minami Deutsch, which means “South Germany,” perhaps represents the timeless Kosmische utopia of those off-the-ground musicians who sought to shatter the walls.

From one legacy to another, Minami Deutsch succeeds in resurrecting, fifty years later, the original essence and liberating spirit of this music. The well-kept secret of the German flying sauerkraut seems to be alive and well, and even more relevant and needed than ever. During the Roadburn festival in 2018, Minami Deutsch notably performed a recorded live set with the legendary Damo Suzuki, known for his inimitable freeing improvisation, which overflows like a delirious and incomprehensible stream of consciousness. Kosmische musik is thus not only a musical genre, but above all an avant-garde, surrealist and universal state of mind.

In addition to his interest in the famous motorik rhythm, Kyotaro Miula also likes to draw on the repetitive electronic rhythms of minimal wave and minimal techno for his remixes and his solo project Fagus Fluvialis, creating a kind of minimal motorik that is well worth a listen. Just before the notable opening act of French duo Le goût acide des conservateurs, who seeks to rouse a gas-sleeping France from its deep sleep, PAN M 360 caught up with guitarists Kyotaro Miula and Taku Idemoto when they played at the Supersonic in Paris for their European tour. Even if the language barrier may have been felt during the interview, the cosmic language, both quiet and spontaneous, transcends artificial walls and cerebral borders.

PAN M 360: The band Minami Deutsch started in 2014. Where did you guys meet each other ?

Kyotaro Miula: We met in Tokyo at a party organized by Kikagaku Moyo. They hold those parties once a month. So, Taku and I went there once and the collective started like this. We practice every week now together.

PAN M 360: You call yourself “repetition freaks”. What do you mean by that ?

Kyotaro Miula: I like minimal techno a lot, from the Chilean-german DJ Ricardo Villalobos for example. I actually like going to clubs and dancing. When there are a lot of different rhythms and cadences in a song, I find it hard to concentrate on dancing. I have a lot of trouble with sentimental songs, like love songs or ballads. In minimal techno, it can be about one simple bass line. I like repetition and constancy.

PAN M 360: Your first two albums are specifically centered around the motorik rhythm. What made you like this beat and krautrock in general?

Kyotaro Miula: Because of the kosmische ! You can focus on yourself with this kind of music. Psychedelic rock from the UK and USA feels more pop to me. This special German psychedelic rock can be darker or more experimental.

Taku Idemoto: It helps to go inside (he points to his heart with both hands).

PAN M 360: “Everyone has their own imagination about outer space”. What do you mean by that?

Taku Idemoto: Music can help you have inner vision. You can focus on the light here when you play music or during meditation (he points the middle of his forehead). Or when you take psychedelic drugs (laugh).

Kyotaro Miula: The inner vision is actually like outer space. Inner and outer are the same.

PAN M 360: Have you ever seen a UFO ?

Kyotaro Miula : Yes !

Taku Idemoto : It was full of colors, like a rainbow.

PAN M 360 : Kyotaro, you went to live in Berlin before recording the new album Fortune Goodies. Why did you decide to live there ? What was the purpose ?

Kyotaro Miula : I wanted to have an experience of this city because of my interest in German rock. I made contacts with some artists and musicians there. I don’t really like living in Japan as psychedelic rock is not very popular. There are too many businessmen, it’s so busy there. I don’t know what they are doing (laugh). There is no time to take it slow. Berlin feels more relaxed. I was in Neukölln district, which is more like a lower-class district. I wanted to avoid the posh areas and the suits men. I wanted to experience German life and the culture. I also like German movies, from the directors Michael Haneke and Rainer Werner Faussbinder. I saw the old movie Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari and I would like to watch Metropolis from Fritz Lang.

PAN M 360 : The artwork of this album was created by Noguchi Shimura. He’s going to have his solo exhibition “ありがto” (“thank you to”) presented at the Yorocobito Galery in Tokyo next month. What can you tell us about this artist ?

Kyotaro Miula : He’s very interesting. I simply found him on Instagram. As I was in Tokyo at the time, I contacted him and I managed to meet him. He’s older than me but at the same time, I feel we are the same age. He started his professional career when he was 30 years old. Before that, he never showed his artwork to anyone. He’s very talented but he’s also quite a strange guy, he spent nearly ten years on a particular drawing. In his art, I really like the symetrie, the motifs and the drawing structure. He usually put squares, circles and triangles. I like his collages.

Taku Idemoto : His work looks like religious paintings to me.

PAN M 360 : “I have never called the beat the Motorik myself. That sounds more like a machine and it was very much a human beat. It’s a feeling, like a picture, like driving down a long road or lane. It is essentially about life, how you have to keep moving, get on and stay in motion. To be driven by the drive, breaking on through”. This is a quote from the drummer Klaus Dinger, from the krautrock band NEU!. What’s your take on it ?

Kyotaro Miula : (he speaks japanese with the rest of the band for some time) We like what Klaus Dinger says. If you want the right rhythm, you can use the computer and do laptop music or something. A human drummer thinks about keeping the same rhythm but it’s clearly impossible. When you have slight variations, it’s a good feeling, we like it. It’s like being between a robot and a human. I like the motorik repetition but the slight changes make it more human.

If there was a chart of Canada’s biggest indie rock bands in the last decade, Hamilton’s Arkells would be closer to the top. Since their debut in 2007 with the Deadlines EP, and the 2008 Jackson Square album, Arkells have been consistently riding the indie music radio charts. During the pandemic, they released an acoustic album of old songs and a brand new album in 2021 called Blink Once.

This September they are dropping part two, entitled Blink Twice. Lead singer Max Kerman assures us that both Blink albums are meant to be listened to as one piece of work, a double LP if you will. We spoke with Max ahead of Arkells’ performance at Osheaga about the upcoming album, keeping the Arkells’ sound fresh, and collaborating more in alternative rock music.

PAN M 360: Your Hamilton show in June looked like one of your biggest and it was postponed a few times right?

Max Kerman: Yeah it’s been a lot of stopping and starting. We did some shows last summer in Toronto, on the Budweiser stage to kind of kick off live music again. And then, you know, things got ground to a halt again in the winter. And then we did some American tours in the spring and some Ontario dates. And our big Hamilton show happened at the end of June, and we did some Canada Day stuff out in British Columbia, but Yeah, feels like we’re, we’re back on solid ground. You know, we’re obviously coming to Montreal at the end of the month for Osheaga and have some European Touring after that. So it feels good to be working again.

PAN M 360: And what’s it like to tour again with that level of uncertainty as the pandemic rises and plateaus?

Max Kerman: Yeah, it’s hard to think too hard about it. You might drive yourself crazy. On a certain level, you sort of have to trust the experts and listen to their good advice. And sort of hope for the best that you can, you know, do your job which is going out and entertaining people.

PAN M 360: You guys have the Blink Once album out and Blink Twice coming out in September. Where did this idea of co-albums come from?

Max Kerman: Hmmm good question. I mean, I think we intended to kind of roll out Blink Once back in 2020. And then the pandemic happened, we looked around, and we noticed, that so many of our favorite artists and friend’s bands were putting up the music and without touring, it felt like all their efforts into it. It sort of like evaporated right, because touring is such an important part of expressing music. So we put Blink Once on hold and we made an acoustic record. And we continued to write new songs. So when we put up Blink Once in 2021, we always knew in the back of our minds that there’d be more music coming. And it would also help kind of like, seed the album cycle, and make the music feel like it’s fresh and new and exciting. And we actually did sort of like a Taylor Swift-style tease where the last song on Blink Once is an outerlude and it’s actually a bit of the first song from Blink Twice.

PAN M 360: So is the idea to kind of play them front to back as a double album?

Max Kerman: That’s the goal. I think it’ll feel like one body of work. There’s a lot of music being put out these days. And I think we’re of the mind that if you’re excited about the songs you don’t have to wait two and a half years between record cycles and if you got something you’re pumped on you can put it out.

PAN M 360: And you have many guest artists on the upcoming Blink Twice album; The Cold War Kids, Tegan and Sara, Lights, Aly & AJ, and Cœur de pirate. Was it the pandemic that kind of gave you the time to work with so many?

Max Kerman: I think the pandemic allowed a lot of time to sort of reflecting and think about what we wanted to do moving forward and how we wanted to evolve and try new things. And I think when we look around at other genres, whether it’s hip hop or electronic music or pop music, there’s so much more collaboration. It feels like rock music doesn’t get to do that as much, right? So why can’t we do it? So we started reaching out to friends. And we had certain songs in mind that we thought could fit certain voices. And yeah, it was really fun. And I think for us, it’s like being able to like to make music, which is not just my voice singing on it. At least for us, it’s amazing to listen back to the music that we’ve made and, and hear another voice on it. Like I was tired of my voice. I was just singing everything.

PAN M 360: We obviously love Cœur de pirate here, what was it like working with her on “Dance With You”? And also, singing in French?

Max Kerman: Yeah, well, I’d say that my French accent is not great and I worked really hard on trying to make it passable. People in Quebec and France can tell me if I did it or not. And yeah that one was quite different from most of our other material. And I think it’s, to me, that’s why it’s really exciting. And we wanted some female vocals that sound good together for the course. And then having some sisters sing on it, Aly & AJ, did the trick. I listened to a lot of French music during the pandemic. It was kind of fun in the morning to listen to like old French folk music while I was reading the paper. And I was like, ‘Well, why don’t we try to do something where it’s, you know, one verse in French one verse in English. And we reached out to Béatrice [Cœur de pirate] with the idea. And she came up with some amazing lyrics in short order, and we got her to sing with us. And again, it’s all about a sort of personal discovery, evolving and not doing the same thing you did before.

PAN M 360: And you guys went like full Motown funk for that song. The first time I listened to it I wasn’t even sure it was Arkells.

Max Kerman: That was the goal! We wanted people to listen to it and go ‘Oh this is Arkells? This is crazy.’ That was truly what we were going for. And yeah, we wanted some kind of disco vibes, you know, something that kind of felt electronic and dancey as well. You know, we were referencing, Daft Punk or Justice, you know, in some of the production moves. But also, yeah, that sort of ’60s, ’70s Like, dance vibe as well.

PAN M 360: There’s one lyric I picked out where you sing about meeting someone in an airport I think? It’s “you were working in Japan.” Was that just random or an actual encounter you had?

Max Kerman: I would say that was a random thing. The idea was like meeting people out and about, especially, you know, from different places. I’ve never been to Paris. But I was like, you know, what, if you’re in Paris and met someone who’s traveling in Japan, there’s sort of a bit of a fantasy world.

PAN M 360: I guess that is something people are reaching toward during this pandemic.

Max Kerman: Exactly. I think there’s a bit of fantasy happening in our lives as we dream about not being stuck.

King Hannah is a relatively new duo project from Liverpool, UK that formed a bit before the pandemic reared its ugly head. A bit ’90s shoegaze ala Mazzy Star and Lush, mixed with some Bruce Springsteen and The War on Drugs, King Hannah have a spectral way of pulling you into the heart of their songs.

Led by Hannah Merrick’s alluring and vulnerable lyrics about everyday situations and stories and Craig Whittle’s layered guitar soundscapes, King Hannah’s latest album I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me could be considered a sleeper hit of 2022. With humble beginnings, the duo is gaining more and more recognition across the pond, since being discovered and endorsed by the likes of Sharon Van Etten way back in 2019.

Before their performance at Osheaga, we spoke with Merrick and Whittle about their beginnings and putting honest sentimentality into everything they do.

PAN M 360: How did King Hannah form and where did the name come from?

Craig Whittle: We met when I started working in a bar that Hannah was already working in, and I recognized her from seeing her perform at a university band night a few years earlier when she blew me away with her voice. From there we just became really good friends and started making music together.

Hannah Merrick: I had the name in my head long before I met Craig. And he loved it and thought it fitted so well, so we kept it. I love the idea of being this strong female presence but with a male status, I just think it’s quite memorable, possibly controversial and a good conversation starter, like now.

PAN M 360: The lyrics in many of the songs on I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me are so vivid and personal. Like “Go-Kart Kid (Hell No)” and “A Well-Made Woman,” I feel like I’m watching fragmented clips of a person’s life. Actually, Go-Kart Kid (Hell No) really reminded me of the South London band, Dry Cleaning. Have you got that comparison before?

Hannah Merrick: Oooh no we haven’t, that’s a first for us!

PAN M 360: Hannah are you ever afraid of being too personal in your songwriting?

Hannah Merrick: No, not at all. I’ve been doing it too long to care what others think, plus writing real stories is where the love and drive comes from. I wouldn’t do it otherwise.

PAN M 360: It’s really a fantastic album, a perfect blend of 90s shoegaze and moody Americana. Did you guys talk about what mix of genre or feelings you wanted?

Hannah Merrick: Thank you so much. No, not really. We made the album song-by-song, so while we were recording and mixing one song, I’d be writing the next at home in my bedroom. So we never discussed feelings or genre or what the songs should be about. Thankfully, we knew exactly how we wanted the album to sound, simply from listening to our favourite bands, so we drew ideas from them. Life’s a million times easier making an album when you want the same outcome.

Craig Whittle: I think we are naturally very sentimental and emotional people so I think that warmth really came through in the album, which I love. As Hannah said, we both know we are striving for the same sound and emotion in music, so that makes it a lot simpler when making big decisions.

PAN M 360: I’m a huge listener of instrumental shoegaze or post-rock, so the fuzz guitar freakouts really do it for me. Do you believe they have just as much power to convey a feeling as say, lyrics?

Hannah Merrick: Absolutely!

Craig Whittle: Yeah definitely. I hate the idea of doing a ‘guitar solo’ because that seems so self-indulgent and I’m not like kind of person at all. But I love long instrumentals and try to think of the guitar parts as little moments that help to bring out certain emotions and tensions in the music, almost providing a location or a setting for Hannah’s lyrics to exist in.

PAN M 360: “The Moods That I Get In,” has so many layers to it, do you ever experiment with them live for some improv or with any song?

Hannah Merrick & Craig Whittle: We don’t improvise as such, we generally stick to the same thing, but we definitely lengthen ends when we want to. We’ve completely mixed up the “Big Big Baby” arrangement, it’s completely different live to what it is on the album.

Hannah Merrick: I love playing around with a vocal melody too, mainly in “Moods” and “Go-Kart Kid” as there’s so much space to do so in those songs.

Craig Whittle: Sometimes we will drag songs on longer if we’re really feeling them, and I definitely try to mix the lead guitar parts up live to keep a feeling of wildness or spontaneity in the set, because that’s what I like to see when I watch live music

PAN M 360: There is no direct theme on the album, but there are quite a few references to nostalgia for an older time. Do you guys still get nostalgic for older times?

Hannah Merrick & Craig Whittle: Of course, definitely. We can’t wait to see you all and play at Osheaga.