Today I bring you the translation of the interview with 𝑫𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝟐𝟏 + 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 that the Spanish independent music magazine 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒐 published a few days ago, where they talked about their new album "𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒙" as well as many details of their joint projects and if they will collaborate with 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 on a song one day. 👀 Enjoy reading. 😉
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| Photo credit: Javier Alonso & Marina Sanz |
💫⭐ "𝙒𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨" ⭐💫
𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘋𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 21 & 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘖𝘭𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 '𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹' (𝘈𝘞𝘈𝘓, 21), 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘣𝘶𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘻𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦-𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯.
🎙️𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐛𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐀𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮?
🔸𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟏: Phew! What it is to know each other, we easily met fourteen years ago. Through mutual friends in Madrid at an exhibition, but I don't know the exact year. Well, not fourteen... more! It would be 2002 or 2003. And the group started in 2012. It came naturally: we talked a lot, we did a lot of things, we remixed each other... And in the end we had this idea, it was nice to do it and we did it.
🎙️𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬?
🔹𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: We are in two different places in the world, so the band works a bit like that. Miguel is in Madrid and I'm in London. And with technology now you can get a lot of work done. We almost only get together for the gigs.
🔸𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟏: We also work a lot with chats like this one. We do Skype, we are a little further back, we are older (laughs). Fortunately we both have our studios. In fact, now I'm talking from mine and he's talking from his. That makes everything much easier. But it must be said that in both albums we have had stages of working together, both in my studio and in his. Whenever strings have been recorded, for example, I've gone to London and we've gone to RAK studios to record them. We have been in his studio recording a lot of things. Then when we do concerts he comes to my studio and we do rehearsals with the string players and so on. Because age also asks us for a more old-fashioned kind of work.
🔹𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: Especially for recording the strings, as Miguel says, which is quite an important aspect on both albums.
🎙️𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 '𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱' (𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐋, 𝟐𝟏) 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 '𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞' (𝐊𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐭, 𝟏𝟕) 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 '𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱' 𝐚𝐧𝐝 '𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞'?
🔸𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟏: Well, more solid I think so: individually the songs have more things in common, but in the overall computation of the album 'Complex' is more powerful, more solid, more forceful. Above all, adding up all the assets. But looking at it more individually I see many links between the songs. Perhaps it's more solid because it's made after many concerts, and it already has that live energy in all the songs.
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| Photo credit: Javier Alonso & Marina Sanz |
🔸𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟏: It happens in many different ways, depending on the song. There are songs where we started with the string arrangement and ended up in the music; And others where it's just the opposite. There are also arrangements that had to be recorded at RAK, with a lot of strings, and others that could be done at Stefan's studio, where he has his contacts. Sometimes we have recorded strings in the same studio where Stefan is right now.
🎙️𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝?
🔹𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: No, I don't think so. The process leads to inspiration. Music is like our gasoline. The process gives you opportunities and it's the one that leads you along the way. Sometimes the path starts as an instrumental track, but ends up as a vocal or string track. You have to leave everything open in order to have more possibilities. That's what being a musician is all about (laughs).
🎙️𝐈𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 - 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜, 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚 - 𝐈𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮?
🔸𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟏: That's a difficult question, because every song has a different motivation. For example, on "The Fire" Stefan and I were in his studio doing a lot of work on all the arrangements before recording the strings with the musicians at RAK. That song absorbed a lot of energy from both of us, when we were working on it, composing and producing that song. It seemed to both of us that it was too dark.
But then Katrina Mogensen appeared and we were surprised ourselves because, after she sang it, the vision of the song was very different. So each song has a little bit of its own story. I don't know if it's as much science fiction as present continuous, which I say.
🎧 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒆 - 𝑫𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝟐𝟏 + 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕. 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒂 𝑴𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒏 🎶
https://youtu.be/TtjxhNBy7m0
🎙️𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 '𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱' 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚, 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐡𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐫𝐡𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠? 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬.
🔹𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: It's difficult to analyze the process, really (laughs). Miguel has been making music for a long time, more than twenty-five years, and traveling through different paths and different kinds of music. And we both love music and different kinds of music. So when we get together there are many things we like, many possibilities, many emotions, tempos and atmospheres that come up. Maybe the first album is more varied, and this album is a bit more club, but it still has some more sensitive tracks, as you said. But I don't know if I can answer your question, really, because sometimes we don't even know. Emotions drive us, and if it fits with our feelings and makes us both feel something, then it's already a track, something that works for the band. It's important not to limit yourself and, as Miguel said, sometimes a song starts out very dark but then, by adding another element like a singer or a (string) quartet, it goes another way. You have to let the music be free and not lock it in.
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| Photo credit: Javier Alonso & Marina Sanz |
🔸𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟏: It really happens naturally. It's true that when we started, at the beginning of the band, for 'Inside' there was a long time in which we were listening to voices that we liked. It was clear to us that they had to be female, because for male voices we both were already singing. That's when we spent time, while we were recording 'Inside', listening to singers. We passed each other names to see what the other thought about them. But once 'Inside' was finished, we had a number of singers who had said yes but didn't get into that album, so that work was already done for 'Complex'. In fact, there are more songs that in the end have not gone into 'Complex'. There are collaborations of 'Complex' that come from 'Inside' because they were already talked about. That's what happened, for example, with Katrina: we both wanted to work together. So, in the case of 'Complex', we can say that everything came together.
🎙️𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 (𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨) 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠?
🔸𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟏: That's for Stefan (laughs).
🔹𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: (Smiles). Yes, you never know. Not so far, but you never know.
🎙️𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐨. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝?
🔸𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟏: There has been a little bit of everything: pandemic, health problems... a little bit of everything. Life. But the biggest delay was due to the pandemic. We wanted to accompany the release of the album with concerts. By delaying it, this has given this album a different life.
I think it's not better or worse, because for the people who follow us it's been like some songs came out twice, right? Maybe "High In The Sky" or "Together" are songs that have had a double life. The more intimate ones are coming out now and they are a bit of a novelty. But well, life takes you along and when you reach certain ages like ours (we are approaching fifty) then sometimes you have to stop, gather strength and then continue.
🎥 𝑯𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒌𝒚 - 𝑫𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝟐𝟏 + 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 - 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒐𝒔 𝒅𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝟑 (𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏) 🎶
https://youtu.be/2eRu0QPEE1k
🎙️𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞?
🔹𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: It's hard to answer. In the beginning of the band we wanted to see what we were able to do mixing electronics with the (string) quartet. That was very basic. But within that there are many worlds to discover: different kinds of songs, with singers, instrumental songs... It's like creating a world that we feel is our world. It's like creating a world that we feel is our world. In which all sounds that we like fit... excuse me, sometimes my Spanish…
🎙️𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧, 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦….
🔹𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: (𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩) I think we're just trying to create a world of our own where all sounds and kinds of emotions respond to the music. Even the worlds of strings and electronics, where there are guitars, electronic basses, etc. It's hard to focus on just one thing.
🔸𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟏: When you say that you see a sound in the two albums and that it has a connection... I think that more than looking for it (even though as Stefan said we wanted to mix the world of strings with the world of electronics), it happens that they interconnect in some way. Maybe in 'Inside' we didn't have it so clear yet, because we hadn't given many concerts yet, but in 'Complex' everything happens naturally. We make the songs and when the strings come in, they just blend together and that's our sound. And even beyond the album, it also happens live.
It is difficult to find a live project in which you get your own sound, based on having an instrumentation that is more difficult to take live, as happens with a string quartet, or as when we go with another set and there is viola or cello or Stefan who also plays strings or keyboard creating another kind of atmosphere. But in the end everything unifies, both live and on the albums. We are not too obsessed with it because we are lucky that it is unified with the instruments.
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| Photo credit: Javier Alonso & Marina Sanz |
🔹𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: It came about because we were locked up and couldn't see each other. We had a lot of plans to release the album 'Complex' and do a couple of gigs. But everything was lost with the pandemic, so we did this project to have something together and to be able to travel with the music. Made For Humans emerged a bit like this, and also to differentiate it a bit from the other band, Digital 21 + Stefan Olsdal, it was something without a lot of hype. It's the moods that the music suggested to us at the time, during all the chaos that was outside the house.
🔸𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟏: It's something that felt really good at the time and that we've continued to do. We are composing and recording songs for a second Made For Humans album. Hopefully without another pandemic and, in fact, hopefully with the pandemic over.
🎙️𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬?
🔸𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟏: Touring is very difficult, because now practically when we release the album will also be released Stefan's album with Placebo and they have planned a very big tour. What we will do is play at some festivals, and we are very happy and looking forward to it. It will be at Sonorama here in Spain, at a festival in Russia in Moscow, another one in Ukraine... Well, the formula is very different in each concert. In each place we have been adapting different formations, different ways of doing the live shows, different ways of approaching the songs.
Fortunately, we have invested a lot of preparation time to make both the first album and the second one. Live there are electronic bands that are often very restricted, with songs with a beginning and an end, but this is something that doesn't happen in our case. There are some concerts in which you don't have a time clock and there is a lot of improvisation, while in other concerts you have to have everything timed. Like recently, we played in Los Conciertos de Radio 3 on La 2 and it's a problem because when that moment of improvisation comes you are looking at the clock at the same time you are playing. But we have reached a point where, fortunately, we can do concerts with a very different line-up and a very different approach. We have even played totally acoustic concerts: string and acoustic guitar and Stefan playing piano and vocals in addition to the quartet. Also with the formation of eight, with guitar, bass, synths, drums, three voices; Or formation of four. We really do at each festival or concert what we want or what suits us best. That's one of the things we like most about our band, that versatility and being able to approach the concert almost as if it were a Lego. For example, at La Riviera with Jon Hopkins we did a line-up that we have never done again: bass, viola, drums and the two of us. Or a concert without any electronics that we did at a film festival in Germany, in a gothic church. It depends a lot on each concert, that's good for us, I don't know if so much for the audience: there are people who want to see what they expect, but we as musicians are at that point of doing at every moment what we want.
🎙️𝐓𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬, "𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬" 𝐚𝐧𝐝 "𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐬", 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 "𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐆𝐨"?
🔹𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: Thank you very much. Yes, the two singles we have released are kind of the yin and yang of the album. It comes out in March, and we've been working on it for a long time, but it's done and I'm very happy. I'm really looking forward to it. I think the pandemic has given us a lot of time to focus on the music, and now it's time to get back to giving audiences and fans new music and also to do concerts again. It's time.✪
▪️𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚌𝚎: https://bit.ly/3dYLrct
🖋️𝙾𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚃𝚎𝚡𝚝: 𝑅𝑎𝑢́𝑙 𝐽𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑎́𝑛, 15.12.2021
▪️𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗: 𝑅𝑖𝑡𝑎 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜 𝑑𝑒 𝐿. 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝐴𝑛𝑦𝑤𝑎𝑦
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