Alexandr Vatagin - Beyond the boundaries of post-rock

A multi-instrumentalist, producer, and collaborator with Genoa's Port-Royal, Alexandr Vatagin is among the most brilliant musicians on the European underground scene of recent years. The release of his new album, "Serza", is the occasion to meet him.

In Italy we mostly know you for your work with Port-Royal: when did you first meet?

It was quite a while ago, thanks to Myspace. In 2006 (I was playing with Tupolev at the time) I started writing to Attilio of Port-Royal, exchanging opinions about our music. Out of this virtual friendship came the idea of doing a tour together (in the spring of 2007). It was the first experience touring outside our own countries for both bands: we played in Austria, Slovenia and Italy and became very close friends. After that tour together, Port-Royal played a few shows in Belgium, and since I had some free time, I offered to be their driver and sell their t-shirts at the shows. Luckily I had my laptop with me, because during the last show, in a small town called Westmalle, they invited me on stage for two songs (if I remember correctly, "Anya: Sehnsucht" and the main theme from the explosive "Afraid To Dance"): that was the start of a great collaboration, but above all of a strong friendship.

How much have you influenced each other?

There's definitely a mutual influence, but perhaps more from Port-Royal on my "Serza" project than the other way around. Basically I'd say there are two important projects that have significantly shaped my musical world: first of all Tupolev, thanks to whom I learned a lot about rhythm, tonality, and making music in general; and the second major influence was of course Port-Royal, who taught me a lot about melody, synthesizers and electronic music. Not long ago, a good friend told me that "Serza" sounds to him like a mix between Tupolev and Port-Royal, and I basically agree.

Your new album, "Serza", is full of guests: from Martin Siewert (on the wonderful "Mantova") to Peter Holy, and, naturally, Port-Royal. Did you write and record these tracks around Europe?

Every track on the album has at least one guest, except for "Insomnia With Port-Royal", which, contrary to what a lot of people think, is actually the only song without guests. It's my tribute to the long tours with Port-Royal: we spent so many sleepless nights because of flights leaving too early in the morning or too late at night, or because we had fun after the shows until the small hours. Once we traveled for 21 hours by taxi from Riga to Milan almost without stopping, because all the flights had been cancelled due to that Icelandic volcano… This and thousands of other memories inspired "Insomnia With Port-Royal", which is also the only track I wrote outside of Austria, if I remember correctly on the train from Milan to Modena in 2007.

It might seem like there are far too many collaborators, but the album came together very naturally: I'd call up a friend whenever I didn't know how to move forward with a song and thought another musician could lend a hand. In the end there were a lot of guests involved, and I'm really grateful to all of them.

How long did it take you to record the album?

It took me almost five years just for the music. The idea for the second track on the album, "Bows And Airplanes", came to me a couple of years earlier, which is pretty funny, because at the time I'd only been making music for a little over three years. It took so long partly because in the early years I didn't finish much: I'd record one, maybe two ideas each summer, and when two years ago I finally listened to all the songs together for the first time, the whole thing sounded fairly incoherent. I realized there was a lot of work to do, and for a year, a year and a half, I worked really hard to get the album's sound to where it is now. It seems to have been worth it, because all the feedback I've received mentions the very detailed work on the sounds as one of the special things about the album, which obviously makes me very happy.

What instruments did you play on the album?

A whole lot of stuff: besides cello, bass and synths, which are my go-to instruments, I also played vibraphone, guitar, organ, piano and mandolin. I usually like to play whatever instrument I get my hands on, and I'm genuinely addicted to analog synths — for "Serza" alone I used at least 4-5 different ones. I'd like to start working on a new album soon, using even more instruments: I've just bought a copy of the legendary Roland 909, and since I share a studio flat with a friend of mine, I also have access to a lot of guitars and a Fender Rhodes, so expect something really nice and special for the next record!

"Serza" is a surname in Italy: what does it mean to you?

"Serza" is actually the Russian word for heart, but with a slightly wrong spelling. The correct version would be "serzo", but with an "a" instead of an "o" it sounds and looks better. During the long gestation period of "Serza" a lot of things changed in my life — relationships, habits, and even my musical tastes — and like the symbol of the human organ, "Serza" holds all these differences together and, at the same time, is synonymous with warmth and intimacy, so I found it very fitting. Maybe the cover suggests something different, but I don't mind, I immediately fell in love with that image. I didn't know it was also an Italian surname, and that can only make me happy, given my love and close relationship with Italy.

The album came out on your own label, Valeot: how many people work there?

Basically just two people, me and Peter Holy (of Tupolev). I handle organization, distribution and promotion, Peter is responsible for the online shop and the website, but the most important thing is that we evaluate new names for the label together. It's really great and important to have someone with very similar musical ideas. We usually agree on 90% of musical matters. I think this connection also comes from almost 20 years of friendship.

Anyway, running a record label is hard work, especially these days, when it's become really difficult to sell records. We'll see what happens in the future. In the meantime I've started another label, more geared towards song-form and poppier material — the first release will be the surprising album by an Austrian artist, Mimu, who was responsible for the photos on the "Serza" album.

Tell us a bit about yourself: where were you born? When did you move to Vienna, and why?

I was born in 1982 in Yalta, Crimea, in the former Soviet Union (now Ukraine). When I was 8 my parents and I moved to Austria for their work. Honestly, I don't remember much from that time, there are more scattered fragments of memory than clear images. We toured quite often with Port-Royal in Russia and Ukraine, we did seven tours in those countries alone (alongside all the shows across the rest of Eastern Europe). Life today is more European than it was 20 years ago, but it still has something different about it, it's perhaps more chaotic and wild (in a positive sense, but also in a negative one) than in Europe, and that's also part of what makes it so interesting to our European eyes.

Do you plan to play the songs from "Serza" live?

Yes, and I already have: last April I presented "Serza" in Vienna. For the occasion I played live with Martin Siewert (Radiant/Trapist) on guitar and David Schweighart (Tupolev) on drums. It was wonderful: a very intense show, with an enthusiastic response. The basic idea was to have an almost classic rock trio reproduce ambient tracks, and it worked so well that there will probably be more shows with this lineup, maybe at some festivals over the course of this year. And of course there will be solo shows of mine too, with cello and laptop. I should be touring Europe in the fall and I hope to stop by Italy as well.

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