SaffronKeira - Ambient-glitch made in Italy

The undergrowth of the experimental electronic scene is a constantly shifting, ever-renewing humus: countless musicians throw themselves into it, trying to ride a breach carved out of sweat and creativity. Few, however, manage to prove they possess both qualities in the measure needed to keep going. Germany's Denovali has long specialised in this mission: sifting through the many proposals that come its way, then betting on a select group of young talents to stand alongside its established names. This year's winner is an all-Italian project pairing a classically trained composer with a former techno disc jockey, capable of delivering one of the most convincing electronic records around. Eugenio Caria, the male half and founder of SaffronKeira, spoke to us about his story and that of his acclaimed project.

How and where did the SaffronKeira project come about?

The SaffronKeira project was born in the winter of 2008. At the time I was mainly producing techno music and was rather annoyed by the mainstream: every time I sent out demos I'd hear the same things over and over, and I never felt free enough to do what I wanted. So the need arose right away to freely express my true musical style, tied to how I viewed the things around me and to certain events that had marked my life. That's when I started producing under the name SaffronKeira, where everything I made was abstract, with no precise meaning or particular style.

Before embarking on this project you worked a lot in techno. How much did that background influence your artistic "new life"?

Well, quite a lot! Having had the luck to travel abroad and work as a DJ in various clubs, I learned and carried forward my ideas of techno and the dancefloor, which surface in some of the tracks on "A New Life". So that background is very much an integral part of my present too.

How would you define your current sound?

Honestly, I don't think I could define it - I'm not particularly good at giving definitions.

“A New Life” is a decidedly “dark” album. What feelings does it reflect, and what connections are there between the music and the titles of the tracks and the album itself?

Dark is indeed a side of my personality that captivates me in many moments: I love the obscure, the unknown, the infinite, but at the same time I try to keep my distance from it. My music largely mirrors the darkness inside me, which I live out every day through the events that belong to my life, including the troubles of this world. The track titles themselves carry a deeply personal, sentimental connection.

The SaffronKeira adventure represents a rather bold, and in some ways “extreme”, turn compared to your previous work. Tell us where the ideas for this project and this album came from.

Yes, it's a fairly bold turn, even though it all happened spontaneously and naturally: SaffronKeira was born as a second project to let me escape from the other things I was producing. As I mentioned earlier, I was pretty fed up with what I was recording under other aliases, also because the works I genuinely considered worthwhile were never taken into consideration by labels. Some always found something to nitpick, others had a tight circle of artists they weren't willing to move beyond. So I kept being forced to work on techno projects, but whenever I felt inspired and my personality shifted, SaffronKeira would come to life. It was a kind of “transformation” that helped me paint the canvases imprinted in my mind, turning my emotional states into music: almost a form of release. To be honest, it took me a while to grasp the potential of what was emerging and to recognize the intensity of my music.

How did you come to produce your first work for a major, selective label like Denovali?

Finding a label to release the record was probably the hardest part, if I'm honest. Plenty of labels listened to my album, many were interested, but none of them truly understood it all the way through. “A New Life” was an album I had poured years of my life into, one I was and still am bound to by a priceless emotional attachment. So I wasn't interested in handing it over to just any label that would release it in digital format alone: in my mind, I pictured and dreamed of it pressed on vinyl, with proper artwork done right, so that it would reflect the value it held for me. And Denovali was the only one to meet all those requirements: we agreed on everything, it was love at first sight!

Your album was received very positively almost everywhere. Did you expect such critical success?

Yes, it's true! Reviews of the album are still coming in today, and they're all positive, by the way! I also get a huge number of compliments... I can swear I wouldn't have bet a single euro on it, I really didn't expect it at all!

What are your musical points of reference? Who inspires you the most?

Well, there are various artists who have influenced me a great deal: Murcof, Brian Eno, Arvo Pärt, John Cage, Alva Noto, Sakamoto, just to name a few. But my main points of reference are the concepts and emotions that surround me in everyday life: death, birth, anger, pain, white, black, joys, and so on.

Within today's avant-garde scene, is there any artist whose work fascinates you in a particular way?

There are several. Every now and then I discover new ones, and every time I'm stunned. I always think I've found something unsurpassable, and yet, without fail, I stumble upon some new artist, fall in love with their work, and realize it's even better than the last. Right now, for instance, I've been closely following the French multimedia artist Herman Kolgen.

What plans do you have for the immediate future?

On January 25th, again on Denovali, my new album titled “Tourette” will be released, and I also hope to start working on my third full-length. I'll be starting a tour in 2013, and I'm also trying to put together some collaborations with my fellow Sardinian colleagues Claudio Prc, Svart1 and Waves On Canvas. Also, a few weeks ago “...And Darkness Came” came out, a compilation whose proceeds will go to charity, supporting the American association Headphone Commute, to help the populations affected by the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, which struck the Caribbean and the US last October. There's also a track of mine on it, alongside artists such as Clint Mansell, Simon Scott, Pleq, Machinefabriek, Hammock, Lawrence English, Loscil, Peter Broderick, Ólafur Arnalds, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter and Scanner. I'm truly proud to have shared a space with artists of that caliber, especially knowing that in just a few days more than $10,000 was raised, all of which will go to charity!

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