De:Bug Interview with SoiSong

From SoiSong's blog,

"NEW SOISONG INTERVIEW
Current mood: busy
Category: Music
Ivan Pavlov & Peter Christopherson interviewed by Tim Caspar Boehme for an article in De:Bug [September 2009 issue]– How did your collaboration as Soisong come about?

We have known each other since 1997 and established an increasingly close friendship in the years since then, especially as Coil were glad to have COH and Ivan as part of their forays into Russia, which turned out to be both exciting and fruitful.

During that time we also did some collaborative work - on COH's Vox Tinnitus and Love Uncut releases - which probably reflects certain mutual interest in other's work. But the idea of forming a proper band together didn't come up until some 3 years ago, when we were on the same bill for a few shows in Japan. The music Peter has been recording in Thailand felt as a properly charged contrast to what Ivan was doing at the time, at the same time the emotional intensity, even if of dramatically different type, was very close.. So we decided to give it a try. As a matter of fact, the first work we did together in the Bangkok studio was the material that will serve as a basis for our next album. That very first joint work is, just like xAj3z, based on voice and language. We believe language can be a trap than detains the mind within the conscious world - so by fragmenting and re-assembling music sung in languages neither of us are fluent in, a different perception is possible. Some people find it absurd and threatening to listen to, others accept the emotion and passion without requiring complete conscious understanding.


– Do you meet for working together or do you exchange files most of the time?

Both, we use every chance of being at the same place. Peter comes to Stockholm when he is in Europe and Ivan flies to Bangkok at least twice a year. Working in the studio together is incomparably more effective and exciting, and that's how we make the essential part of the work, the first sketches.. In between these visits to each other we also do some file exchange, but that's only when developing the already conceived pieces and polishing their production..

We never had a chance to work in the same space for more than a few weeks in a row, in fact we don't even know what would happen if we could - it would certainly be dangerous for the equipment, most likely the building, and probably everyone in the neighborhood as well!


– The atmosphere of the album struck me as mildly disturbing. Is it something you intended as the direction of Soisong?
We do not have much of a specific musical intention, Soisong to us is more about enjoying variuos kinds of freedom. That goes for ideas and concepts related to music, but also for what reaches beyond the now common forms of music perception. We try to communicate these freedoms to our audience. Generally, we both feel quite playful about what we do in the band, however that playfullness is very sincere - so perhaps the "mildly disturbing" part comes as a natural outcome of the past we both have, in musical and personal terms.

Also, any creative endeavor should attempt to engage the viewer or listener, deeply enough to cause new feelings, emotions in, or experiences for them. It seems a pity to us that we live in a world where people find any new things disturbing, per se. In fact we believe an undercurrent of fear of the new has been encouraged by controlling institutions, who are too lazy or dishonest to want the status quo to change, but it has to, if we are to progress as a species.


– What is the purpose of the computer voices and their "arbitrary transient appearance"? Will they be part of the Soisong sound?
Toying with advanced technology is part of the play. xAj3z might sound somewhat natural and classical, but it has all been made in computers and most of the technology on the album has been used with the purpose of disguising that technology itself. That's what the "Pentium Jazz Processing" is about - making the high-tech inaudible. As for the artificial vocalists we have created and used, they have not only been an amusing technical experiment, but it felt interesting to develop a certain half-human character of the "singer". Again, these are the freedoms one can not possibly have with a real singer - singing in front of an audience is an intensely personal and exposing activity, which almost invariably takes its toll on the psychology and personality of the singer. Neither of us are willing to expose ourself to that risk at the moment, nevertheless we both love the sonic qualities of the voice [human or otherwise], especially at its most vulnerable. Therefore we invented a machine or operating technique, rather as bomb disposal experts have invented robots to operate in life-threatening situations, to sing for us, without regard for its own safety. Only in this way were we able to achieve the sonic results we were looking for.


– What was the idea behind the "strange object" design concept of the CD? Is it a purely "(anti-) aesthetic" decision or also an answer to the crisis of the music industry due to dwindling sales?
Soisong design concepts reflect our interest in transcending the general conventions of music consumption. Both the first EP and xAj3z CD are quite radical in their packaging. The first release was following the "disposable design" concept, where one has to destroy the package in order to hear the music. xAj3z packaging is PIANO STEALTH [tm] technology - this reflect what we have been doing with the sound - that "disguising of high-tech in classical forms". Further, PIANO STEALTH will be expanding into other lines of products we plan to make in connection with the album..

At a different level, one can also notice that in recent years the desirability of an album, particularly in the cd format, has shifted more and more from its audio content, to its nature as an object. We try to make albums with an emotional effect on the listener that begins the first moment they are faced with opening the package.

How much richer is the experience of a child who has been gazing at an intriguingly-wrapped present sitting under the Tree for days when they finally get to open it on Christmas Day, compared with the spoiled brat, who just sees something in the toy store, screams for it on a whim, forcing his mother to buy it for him with One-Click, and hand it to him instantly at the checkout?

This second "spoiled brat" experience [devaluing of everybody, and everything] is how the conventional music industry [apple and i-tunes included] would have us receive the most artistic and creative works currently available. Is it any wonder that few people care about albums any more? SoiSong packages aim to reverse this process.


– Are there plans for future releases yet?
Yes, we are still working on the release of our first live recording in Japan, which should hopefully be ready by the end of the year.. As said, we already have the base material for another studio album, but before that we plan to develop xAj3z further.. so there should be at least another xAj3z related release in the future which should take some shape after we finish the Soisong Reunion Tour in October/November.


– In an earlier statement you rejected the majority of the current music as "banal and meaningless". What would be required of music to regain meaning?
We would like to see more artists and musicians being independently imaginative, more playful in their work as opposed to being preoccupied with expectations from trends, from the media, from their record labels, from their fans.. and most of all, from their own desire for the trappings of celebrity and success, which are endlessly promoted as the single and only thing we should all aspire to.

The idea that it could be worthwhile spending your entire life, just making beautiful, or mysterious, or thoughtful music that in some way improves, or makes more bearable, the lives of those who hear it, never even occurs to most people.

We understand it might not be easy for young musicians to realize what matters, and what not - today's music is almost entirely driven by market and its interests - however this is the utopia we try to pursue with Soisong.

[July 24th, 2009]

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