In
Conversation with
A
little background:
On their myspace.com page they simply describe themselves
As "lo-fi piano music made with love." – and which
it
Is certainly as what is says it is – the full mood off it
is
Very, very different as it doesn’t contain any real
elements
Of classical music a fact perhaps best summed by a review
I read about them on their myspace.com page which said ‘
Piano
Is only half the story, of course. . The various found sounds and
Effects, add to the atmosphere. These manipulations enhance
The feeling that this is a lo-fi recording affected by incidental
Noise. The real success of "Litotes" is that it draws the
Listener into this simulated space with its sonic quirks.
It is extremely easy to become lost in thought listening
To this album, placing yourself inside the sound and
Remembering your own versions of the personal moments
Reflected in the music.
There is a lot I could add here but from a personal angle
There is certainly that has a un-settling affect that goes
Well beyond classical music and is a natural signing for
Make Music Mine in the sense of it explores life through
A reality that is unsettling but strangely cheerful.
For more information on ‘Xeltrei’ – please go to
Their page on myspace.com which can be found at
http://www.myspace.com/xeltrei
Thanks to David and Eva for the interview.
I will certainly be checking out the album shortly.
I recommend you do too.
Regards
Andrew N
Setting Sun:
How are things and what’s happening at the moment?
Xeltrei: (david)
Not much is happening with xeltrei at the moment.
We did release the album a couple of months
ago and we're both really busy with other things right
now. erica has a lot of school work and I'm
busy with other musical projects, mainly
Library tapes.
Setting Sun:
Firstly anyhow, is a little bit of background for
people who don’t know you. . Can you tell
us a little bit about the history of ‘Xeltrei’ for
example
what started you off or as I like to say sometimes
who fired the starting pistol?
Xeltrei: (david)
It was all really spontaneous. we just recorded a bunch of
stuff for fun and i really liked how it sounded and we
had
enough stuff to actually do an album with so i sent it to
kentaro
at symbolic interaction and he loved it.
Setting Sun:
Music wise, what are your influences and what are
you listening to at the moment?
Xeltrei: (Erica)
I've been listening to Marissa Nadler a lot recently.
(David)
Lately i've been listening to Efterklang, Colleen and
various stuff with Peter Broderick.
Setting Sun:
Do you play gigs? If so, how do they compare to
your recordings? Is their one you prefer or if you
don’t – do you have any idea how you would
approach it?
Xeltrei: (David)
We don't play live with Xeltrei yet. maybe in the
future though.
It would most likely be the two of us at the piano
and also using a laptop.
Setting Sun:
I have being really enjoying your songs on
myspace.com, but I think my favourite so far
has being ‘Litotes’ – can you tell us a little bit
more about this song?
Xeltrei: (David)
I'm happy you like it. i'm going to sound boring,
but there's not too much to tell really as i like to
leave it up to the listeners to interpret the songs
in any ways they like.
Setting Sun:
What’s the inspiration behind your name
‘Xeltrei’ out of interest too?
Xeltrei: (David)
Xeltrei is really just a word we made up that we
thought sounded good.
Setting Sun:
I know you currently have an album out on
Make Music Mine at the moment
(One of my favourite labels certainly) , but
do you have any more music plans besides
that lined up? Perhaps a gig or two or
another release?
Xeltrei: (David)
I will release a mini-album with library tapes on
Make mine music on the 12th of November.
There will also be a library tapes ep on the Swedish
label kning disk,
and hopefully that will be out
before the end of the year. besides that, i have an album
out with a project called forestflies on
a label called vu-us that's based in belgium.
As for gigs, i will tour from mid- November to
early December with library tapes in Belgium,
France, Spain and Portugal
Setting Sun:
Where are you both from? What’s the music
Scene like where you are from? Have you being
to any good
concerts recently?
Xeltrei: (David)
We're both born in gävle, sweden. a pretty small
town 2 hours north of stockholm. there's a couple of
interesting bands around here but it's not too much
stuff
going on sadly.
We're going to stockholm in a couple of days to see
efterklang and peter broderick so that should
be great.
Setting Sun:
What would you be your dream job if you were
not a musician?
Xeltrei: (Erica)
I'm not sure, i'm still trying really hard to figure out what
my dreams are. but it would be pretty sweet if i could be
a photographer or a writer, or maybe a doctor. i'm also
really
interested in computers programming and animation...
David:
Maybe a photographer or a painter.
Setting Sun:
What would you like to be doing when you are 60?
Xeltrei: (Erica)
Well since i don't really know what I want to be doing
right now, i really don't know what I'd want to
be doing
when I'm 60.
David:
Be alive and happy.
Setting Sun:
Lastly, what will you be doing when you
are 60?
Xeltrei: (Erica)
60 isn't that old, if i ever get a career i'd probably
still be working on that.
David:
Working with something I'm interested in. it's too long
away to actually be able to say what that is
at the moment. but something creative for sure.