So Beast - Music to Shine By

I doubt there'll be a gem shining brighter this year under the sun of the Belpaese than “SHINE“: the Bologna-based duo have produced an explosive miracle of imagination and personality, a snapshot of the world we live in that wouldn't look out of place on the biggest international stages. I invited Katarina Poklepovic (Kat) and Michele Quadri (Sly) to the newly opened Hack Audio Lab, an offshoot of the Sonic Belligeranza Megastore on Via Mascarella, for a public interview interspersed with a track-by-track listen through the record and rounded off with an intriguing mini-set from the duo.

I'd like to start right from the title of your latest album, a play on words that shines a light on your art: between shining and being tipsy lives a hunger for life, a sense of urgency, the need to express yourself but also to let go, which comes through clearly in the songs.

Sly: We could start from the cover, the work of a designer who collaborates with BlauBlau, one of the labels that co-produced the album: a sun with a particular expression…

Kat: Anxious and determined at the same time. It draws on an ancient symbol…

Sly: It brings to mind those medieval books full of illustrations. A sun with sharp rays and a worried face. In a world full of problems, our advice is exactly that: shine.

Kat: Initially the idea was to call it “SHINE”. It all started from a reflection on the sun, which gives life but which right now is also burning us. The album was born at a time when the paranoia of the pandemic had given way to a kind of total euphoria, but also an awareness that the disasters aren't over. It's not the only theme, but it's the starting point. Talking with Damiano (Miceli, Panico Concerts/Needn't, ed.), though, I realized that title didn't really work and that “SHINE” would be perfect, sonically too. It's an invitation: “Hey you, shine!”.

I'm thinking especially of “Screenlight”, with that hypnotic line that voices a sense of disorientation, a presence-absence, a mix of panic and euphoria…

Kat: Panic and euphoria, I couldn't have put it better myself.

Sly: Panic and storm…

An emotional storm that comes through in full. But at this point I have to ask: is “SHINE” an apocalyptic or a hopeful record? I hear a lot of darkness in it, but also great energy.

Kat: It's a hopeful record: shining in spite of everything. Accepting reality, but not letting yourself be buried by it.

Sly: Recognizing it, becoming aware of the things around you, and forging your own path.

Kat: Doing your best starting from yourself. The revolution has to start with the things you do in the morning when you wake up.

"Revolutions begin in front of the mirror," someone once said… Sticking with the title and the lyrics, I was really struck by this nonchalant polyglossia, both stylistic and linguistic: if I'm not mistaken, you can hear at least four different languages, some of them even within the same song…

Kat: That's partly because I was born in Croatia, and when I moved to Italy at 19 I only knew English, and that was the language I wrote in. It feels natural for me to express myself that way, also because I've always mostly listened to English-language music. Little by little, though, I started letting go and realized I love mixing up the languages I know, not caring whether anyone else understands, using words for what they are in themselves. That's where this blend comes from, but it's also down to bringing in other people, like Traashboo, a no-gender artist who sang a verse in German.

A verse in German on a reggae track, quite a punch in the ear…

Kat: Exactly, but there are other games we play too. For instance, I wrote a lyric in Croatian and had Sly rap it to get a strange flow — pronounced well enough, but with an accent that makes it sound almost Russian…

It reminds me of those analog photo-retouching processes where an image is treated, then printed, then rephotographed, building up layers of effects… Something similar happens in the music too, beyond the lyrics: the hybrid of post-punk, psychedelia and hip-hop of your early work has now landed on an even more complex formula, somewhere between art-rock, trap and hyper-pop.

Kat: At the start we were following a kind of free impro idea, having instruments and machines interact to give the electronics some organic quality. It was intuitive, unschooled playing, meant to leave as much room as possible for expressive freedom.

With a lot of force, almost violence, especially in your stage presence. You seem like you want to sink your teeth into whoever's listening…

Kat: Yes, there's this somewhat bestial, fauvist element to it…

Punk…

Kat: Our background is definitely punk. I barely listen to it anymore, but it's what gave me a push out into the world, not just musically. Our training ground was rehearsing in squats and social centers, places where we could play from morning till night, record ourselves and listen back: that was fundamental in getting us to where we are now. It's not something you can figure out on the spot, it has to be built up gradually. It should also be said that we really listen to everything, from mainstream pop to grindcore. With "SHINE" we tried to make a more structured record, shutting ourselves away in the studio, whereas before we mostly thought about the live shows, and the records grew out of free experimentation.

A more composed record, then.

Kat: Yes, it's the first record that was born in the studio rather than on stage.

Sly: Before, we'd put together a set to play live and then record the album, which gathered up what we'd been doing on stage, even though in reality the two things never quite matched up exactly. This time, though, we didn't worry about how these songs would sound live — we put together the ideas we had specifically to write an album.

Kat: Getting Fight Pausa involved was also really important…

The producer of the record.

Kat: Let's say we recorded and pre-produced it in our own studio, while with him we put the chaos in order. Working alongside him we learned an enormous amount. He understood us, he's a fan of ours just as we are of his work, it was a very empathetic, open and respectful approach. It's the first time I've been truly happy with one of our records.

This album was quite a team effort, with several featuring artists popping up.

Sly: They were all remote collaborations, mostly from Germany, while Fra Zedde recorded the percussion in the Netherlands.

Kat: The only one we were actually in the studio with was Luca Rocco of Storm{O}.

Sly: His part on "DARK" is one of the coolest things on the record.

On one of the coolest tracks on the record...

Sly: Yes, it's also one of my favourites.

Do you write together?

Sly: Basically, yes. Sometimes it starts from an individual idea, other times it's born out of playing together. After all, we live and work together, the studio where we create is inside our home.

I find this hippie, rural-commune dimension really fascinating, a bit like Embryo...

Sly: "Living the dream" style! We showed up at Carlo's with these ideas, he knows us and knows that sometimes we go overboard, like me playing guitar while also playing percussion, and her programming loops while playing synth at the same time...

You can feel that frenzy...

Sly: He had no qualms about telling us "Maybe let's cut these eight minutes of outro"...

Kat: What we do comes straight from the heart and we often end up falling in love with it. For instance, on "Eyes Of The Satellite" there was this psychedelic freak-out at the end with a guitar solo of mine, total delirium... We cut it, and we were right to!

Your approach to psychedelia is extremely interesting: it seems to build a bridge between the kraut Berlin of Ash Ra Tempel and Tangerine Dream and the arty Brooklyn of Tv On The Radio, Oneida, Fiery Furnaces and above all Animal Collective.

Sly: I've always been a huge fan of psychedelia, music that when you listen to it takes you into another world. It's great to have those possibilities.

Kat: Psychedelia not necessarily meant as a genre.

Sly: It's an approach.

Kat: For example, when I go to a concert, I realize it's been amazing if by the end I can't make sense of anything anymore. Usually, out of professional distortion, I tend to notice everything happening on stage, but when the music carries me somewhere else and switches my brain off, that means we're talking about a hell of a show. And obviously the same goes for records. I don't do drugs, so if that happens it's something natural, and it's what I'd like to achieve with my own music too. You have to convey what you have inside to others in a spontaneous way, but at the same time you have to be present and on point, both technically and "physically".

Having a producer who sets boundaries is useful so you don't ramble on endlessly.

Kat: Generally speaking, I'd say that with this record we finally got across what we wanted to say.

Clearly you did a good job. I'd sum it up in three key words: intensity, internationality, contemporaneity. You speak in the present tense about the present.

Kat: I'm glad to hear you say that. Those are three very important things, and that's exactly the effect we want to achieve.

Sly: Those are three spot-on observations. Intensity in particular is a parameter we're working hard on, especially live. We can't wait to bring these tracks to the stage to prove it to you.

And I can't wait to see for myself.

Kat: It should also be said that it would take at least three or four more musicians on stage to reproduce them exactly as they are, but we like the duo format.

I like it too, it's very Suicide...

Kat: We tried to keep the essential points of the songs, but rearranging them to make them feel more played live, with as few backing tracks as possible.

There's a strong performative element in what you do.

Kat: Absolutely, gesture and dynamics are very important on stage, in terms of volume and speed. We want to drag you from psychedelia to rave.

A fundamentally more human approach: our way of feeling tends toward the undulating rather than the flat…

Kat: It's an aspect that shouldn't be forced, though, or it doesn't work anymore. It has to appeal to both us and you.

Ride the wave of great music

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