Anteloper - Improvisation, electronics and jazz

Ahead of their arrival in Italy – next Sunday they'll be at Jazz Is Dead in Turin – we caught up with jaimie branch for an interview centered on the creative process behind Anteloper, the electro-impro-jazz project she runs with Brooklyn-based drummer Jason Nazary. Branch, a leading figure on the contemporary avant-jazz scene, and Nazary use the duo to explore the more molecular, psychedelic side of jazz's mutations and hybridizations with electronics. On June 17th a new album, "Pink Dolphins", will be released, produced by Jeff Parker (Tortoise, Isotope 217, Chicago Underground Quartet, Exploding Star Orchestra) and once again put out by International Anthem.

Let's start with the origins of your creative process: how does a new Anteloper album come together? Conceptually too… do you start from an idea, a sound, a mood?

Anteloper always starts from the sound. We're improvising musicians, so we open our ears wide and follow the sound wherever it might lead, playing a lot of different genres and moods. And it's different every time, depending on where we're situated physically, sonically and spiritually. On the new record we worked with Jeff Parker as producer, and he took our raw material and added a layer of "songitude" (song-form traits, ed.) to the music. "Pink Dolphins" actually has an Anteloper "pop tune"! "Earthlings" is a four-bar loop pulled from one of our improvisation sessions that Jeff sampled, and over it I sing an actual melody… it's a real song! It was a lot of fun rehearsing the track, and on this tour we'll be playing it live for the first time!

Could you describe your composing and production process? Do you do improvisation sessions in the studio? Do you build a track starting from live recordings you've made together? Do you also work separately, each in your own studio?

Yes, we do all of these things. We both have our own personal space where we work, but generally we improvise together live in the studio. Sometimes one of us comes up with an idea for a song, a melody or a rhythm, but mostly it's all improvisation — in fact all our records up through "Tour Beats vol. 1" (International Anthem, 2020) come from editing long improvisation sessions with very little post-production. "Pink Dolphins" is different, since we worked with Parker, so there's a lot more post-production involved. When I compose for the "FLY or DIE" ensemble my creative process is different because I give the musicians written parts, even though the starting point is still improvisation. When I'm getting ready to compose, I record ideas on my phone and computer, both music and voice, then I work on them and record at the same time, because you never know when you're going to play "the thing"! (the piece you'll know is the right one, ed.).

jaimie, you generally create the artwork for your records. Does the visual component play a specific role in your musical creative process? Are you influenced by images (abstract, real, etc.) and/or by the act of generating images when you conceive and play your music?

Colors in particular inspire me a lot, so when I play I feel the same way I do when I'm making my paintings. I usually start with water and raw ink moving across the page and then, just like in music, I follow the color wherever it might take me. I love looking at art. My favorite painter is Mark Rothko, and I find the color in Ellsworth Kelly's work insane… Recently I saw the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden and it blew my mind. Her use of color and proportion is stunning, and it becomes a really clear ecology within the context of the Botanical Garden. It's a whole ecosystem. The resonance between art and nature was so natural it felt like the works were breathing… and I wasn't even high! Maybe a little…

Let's go back to one of the new elements on your new album, Parker's production. Why did you decide to bring him in? How did he actually contribute to your work?

Parker's musical fingerprint is obvious on "Pink Dolphins". He did a lot of work in post-production, even adding guitar, bass and synth (lines). He also brought in Chad Taylor to add some mbira parts… Jeff is a musician who's inspired me a lot and he's a wonderful person, so I jumped at the chance to collaborate with him. Tortoise were one of my favorite bands in high school, and sometimes I still think it's amazing that we get to work together.

How are you approaching live shows in relation to the material on the new album?

The main thing that's different from before is that with "Pink Dolphins" we actually have songs we need to learn. We'll keep playing one continuous set, without breaks, but we'll play "Earthlings" and move in and out of other scenarios that show up on the record… Anteloper-style!

What sets Anteloper apart and defines it compared to your other artistic projects?

Anteloper is a true duo. Jason and I each bring our musical personalities to the table and meet exactly where we are. One clear distinguishing feature for me, compared to my other projects, is the extensive use of electronics. In my solo practice I use a similar set-up to the one I use with Anteloper, but in almost all my other projects I play things that are more acoustic or use minimal electronics, whereas in the duo electronics are an integral part of everything I do — even when I'm playing trumpet, it's rare that there isn't some loop or some kind of electronic chaos underneath… You'll rarely hear a fully acoustic moment from me with Anteloper. It's been incredible growing alongside Jason, because the way we play has changed over the years, but we're still making music that represents us and authentically represents our project… I feel it! On a personal level, I'm happy to be sharing this musical experience together.

(Photo by Tim Saccenti)

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