It’s always comforting to meet an artist who can unravel the mystery of what he’s doing and laugh at some of his quirks, no matter how sublime. Marina Herlop It is one of the rare examples. Catalan, a genre of music electronic pop abstract, where he barely pronounces words, rather the sounds are apt to be easily placed in the corner of the rarity. Maybe that’s why he spends most of his conversation with this newspaper belittling what he’s done, explaining that many of the elements that make up his songs are there “by chance”, and answering without false statements like “I don’t know how.” to explain without sounding cheesy”, when asked deep questions about his creative process.
Anyone who listens to his speech will know that Herlop is today One of the most distinguished names of the Spanish music avant-gardewins internationally, at least if we look at its relevance. latest album, PripyatReleased by the Berlin label PAN, which looks something like this: inner sanctuary from experimental sounds. pitchfork, This summer, the bible of musical modernity, has dedicated one of those comprehensive reports that have risen to the top. And it was even recommended by the concerts of his last US tour, which culminated at the Primavera Sound Los Angeles festival just five days ago. New Yorker.
Herlop will take the stage tonight. LEV, Visual Electronics and Extended Facts Festival returns to host another year Slaughterhouse Madrid, with its ruins jet lag still in the body. And it will do to interpret Pripyat It is the most electronic and complex of their albums. The definitive landing of an artist who studied pianism at the conservatory and took part in his first two albums, into music with the computer. nanook (2016) and daddy (2018) continued to send sounds close to contemporary classical music, while his proposal focused on his voice, piano and little else.
ELECTRONIC RETURN
Of course, this change took place before the pandemic. In 2019, Herlop locked himself in a family home in an Aragonese town to work on new songs. He did what he always does: sit at his piano, turn on the iPhone recorder to store his ideas, and start playing. But that didn’t work. “He listened to me and I hated myself -says the artist-. Same voice, same harmonies…”. Either he changed course or he couldn’t continue, he thought. Although he wasn’t very clear about making electronic music, he felt an urge to “make my music more up-to-date.” He needed to participate in something more similar to what his generation was doing. as self worthy tick tock but in the end it ends up installing it.
He then learned to use the necessary programs and equipment to compose in a digital universe and control the production from start to finish. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as difficult as he expected. “The manufacturing world has always seemed like black magic to me, I thought it was only done by super-professional people who had been trained for many years and were some kind of scientist. hackers. But then you see there are four wires and that’s it,” he explains, amused. But the complicated part came later, when he realized all that technology had allowed him. “Manufacturing with computers offers countless possibilities, you can record thousands of things without memorizing them, you can add all the instruments you want… Suddenly you are God, eternity is at your fingertips. But with great power comes great responsibility. If you didn’t think well, but you have all the resources at your fingertips, you start adding and adding, and you overlap infinity with infinity”.
In this chaotic process, what he described as “nonsense”building a house with unplanned stones” also included perhaps the most representative element of his music: the use of sound. Since her debut album, Herlop has been singing sounds, not words. There are few meaningful words in his songs because he has always used his voice as an instrument. But while recording Pripyat it was one step further. He decided to add a vocal technique from South India to the album. konnakolWhat he learned in a course at ESMUC in Barcelona. The technique consists in using syllables like percussion. The result is a very specific form of singing that leads to a kind of hypnotic abstraction.
The artist explains this use of voice by saying that he is not only interested in the lyrics and does not feel the need to use them. She doesn’t want to say anything with her music, she. “The ideas that run through my mind while composing are just crutches or springboards for getting to what’s important to me. sound object. I have a lot of respect for descriptive music, pop songs, but I didn’t feel any call to do it. We live saturated with images, clips, lights, visuals… Music is always protected by other arts, as if it didn’t have enough of it. And I want to do purer things. Just music, period.”
“I think this thing about lyrics is more about my freakiness and the laziness of writing them than anything else. But I also have to tell a story with a little need.”
Once again, the revealing Herlop is on the alert and seems to have lifted the weight of the situation quickly when a sentence similar to the previous one comes in that might have sounded serious. Even the hallmark that makes his music so recognizable isn’t something the artist is willing to defend tooth and nail. Just the opposite. He admits that he put it in a garden that is not easy to get out of. “When you’re out there by yourself, composing in your room, you’re doing the things you said later… Why did I do that? Then they ask you about it and you have to explain. That’s when you think: Now I have to take responsibility for what this crazy woman has done…!” [risas]. “The thing about those words—continued—… I don’t know, I guess it has more to do with my eccentricity and the laziness of writing them. But at the same time I have to tell a story with the respect and little need that the language world gives me”. Finally, he admits that he has lyrics for new songs he’s composed recently, to see if he can get out of this mess.
If the creative process Pripyatan album named after the ghost town next to the nuclear power plant Chernobyl, it was complicated, even though it finally led to a good port after long struggles, what happened next was even worse. In the midst of a pandemic, a record label had to seek a slow and cumbersome process, after which they agreed on dates and conditions for its release. Almost three years have passed with all this, and he even had to visit a witch, a Reiki practitioner who, despite her rationality and skepticism, was quite helpful. “I don’t even read Burc,” he defends himself.
Without hiding the irony, the artist says, “This isn’t the first time he has encountered the wonderful world of the music industry and all the surprises it has in store for you.” Since releasing her first album with the famous pianist’s record label in 2016 james rhodesI already knew that posting in conditions was more of an obstacle course than anything else. These last few years have been a kind of definitive mastery of this, she says, “you have to train your assertiveness, the way you communicate, make yourself respected without being too sweet or too rude… And if you’re a woman.” In an age where you can record from start to finish, with all the platforms at your fingertips, without getting out of the duvet, I thought it shouldn’t be that hard. Good luck…”
Other aesthetics
In any case, Marina Herlop has already come where she wanted to go, with a lot of effort. The artist, who received enthusiastic criticism for his work and started international tours, will tour Europe in October and November to make his opening. Animal Collective– and you don’t want to stay awake knocking on your door for collaborations with artists.
He comes to Matadero tonight, with the album already shot, more calmly than his debut at Primavera Sound in Barcelona in June, his first contact with major venues. “Today will be more like playing and having fun with the public,” he explains. As always lately, she will appear in one of the whimsical outfits that have dominated the scene: intergalactic corsages and futuristic gothic dresses, her hair usually tied in two buns like Princess Leia’s. Star wars. georgiela Y Manuel Bolano, two designers with studios in Barcelona are accomplices in this mission. She considers herself a flirtatious person and says she still enjoys dressing “a little odd” even though it’s one of the yards she’s been in.
Theirs will be the first one-night concert of minimalist electronic music. Alva NotoFamous German composer and sound artist who signed with Bryce Desner Y Ryuchi Sakamoto movie soundtrack rebornY Sinjin Hawke Y Zora-JonesAn artistic duo that uses technology to transform their movements into sound and image in real time. Even though electronic music dominates the programme, it won’t be much of a night to dance, but rather shake up something else: the boundaries of the music being made today. And Marina Herlop is the guide for one of the ways out of the way.