Ashinoa | Interview | New Album, ‘L’Orée’
The second album by Ashinoa is at times percussive and dancey, at others hypnotic and cinematic, the largely synthesiser-driven soundscapes of ‘L’Orée’ feel both of the past and the future.
It’s the sound of two different worlds – a record capable of being as primal and ritualistic as it is synthesised and digitally manipulated. Where the band’s prior minimal “krautrock” might have brought to mind cold, dark post-industrial cities, ‘L’Orée’s kosmische experimentalism takes you instead on an instrumental journey through the natural wilderness via the medium of shape-shifting psychedelic electronics.
Tell us about the beginning of Ashinoa and how did you get the name for the band?
Ashinoa begins with the reunion of Chris Poincelot (first guitarist of Ashinoa) and Jérémy. We were asked both by our friend Anthony for an original song for a new clip that he made for a clothing company. So we got into the work with Chris and finished the job. But Anthony didn’t use the track so it became the first track of our first EP, ‘Géoïde’. Then we rapidly include Matteo and Paul into the band to compose the rest of the EP.
The name of Ashinoa comes from a lamp that you can find on Asian markets. It’s a circle lamp with a Buddah on it that makes a beautiful circling light! At the back you have a knob with a speaker next to it and when you turn it up, you can hear a song singing: “Ashinoa, Ashinoa, Ashinoa…” We knew later (thanks to a tattooist friend from Taiwan) that it was a prayer to help the dead people find their way close to Buddah.
You’re currently promoting your second album, ‘L’Orèe’ which is out March 25th via Fuzz Club Records. You worked in a tucked-away house in the French countryside. What was the creative process for it?
We started by writing ‘Vermillion’ during the destructive Siberian fires of Summer 2019. We then took advantage of the first lockdown in March 2020 to record at home (in a tucked-away house in the French countryside). Once the lockdown was over, we were able to invite friends so they could put their touch on the songs, including Lucien Chatin and Paul Renard on drums and Céline Bulteau on flute. The B side of the album was composed and recorded a second time in Matteo’s new house in the heart of Beaujolais.
Was it difficult to get all the material together? Where did you record it?
We wouldn’t say it was difficult but just long, with breaks of several months between the different recording sessions. Most of the ideas had been collected during the period of the first lockdown, but it was necessary to dodge the various lockdowns in order to be able to organize sessions long enough to finalize the songs. It was recorded in our home studio in Ratignier, lost in the woods and surrounded by calm. In this house have also recorded several groups from the Lyonnaise rock scene or elsewhere in France.
“The groove of trip hop mixed with the dynamic richness of highbrow music and the repetitive trance of krautrock”
The album itself is a departure from your debut release, ‘Sinie Sinie’ which was more into minimal territories. How would you compare it to your latest release?
Let’s say that instinctively we don’t compare the different projects we’re working on too much. Surely there were two completely different situations during the composition phase. ‘Sinie Sinie’ was composed as a group, live, perfecting the tracks on stage. On this album, we therefore had a live approach and we did not dwell too much on the production. ‘L’Orée’ was composed as a couple, during a period when the concert halls were closed. So we arranged almost all of the pieces with different musical desires compared to the first album.
We wanted to create micro universes that were different from each other and, in their own way, autonomous. One method of composition/arrangement that we wanted to explore was surely orchestration. Orchestration of synthesizers or percussion. We wanted to transmit, in a less learned way of course! The groove of trip hop mixed with the dynamic richness of highbrow music and the repetitive trance of krautrock. So often the piece ended up, following an initial idea, in its skeletal form and from there we started to superimpose different textures until we found a balance. Even if this desire led us to a rather “produced” album, most of the tracks have such a nature to be played live in a more essential form.
As a very active band, how are you coping with the pandemic? Are you staying optimistic for 2022?
We try to remain optimistic (of course!), to play as many concerts as possible and to continue to play together to explore our musical desires.
Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?
Our most recent discovery for both of us is :
MATTEO : Juana Molina – Halo
JEREMY : Nate Mercereau – Joy Techniques
Thank you.
Ashinoa Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube
Fuzz Club Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp / YouTube
