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Slow - The Ambient Project of Sergei Suokas
Интервью · 12.04.2009
By Булат Шарипов
On the eve of a performance at one of Moscow's clubs, the young musician from Karelia Sergei Suokas tells 44100Hz about how his musical career came together, how his projects Slow and Suokas differ, what role Scandinavia plays in his work, and why there are so many suicides in Sweden...
44100Hz: Lately the name of one of your projects, Suokas, can often be seen on the posters of major techno festivals and on the labels of records by well-known imprints, such as Multivitamins. Did you hope for such a turn of events a couple of years ago?
Сергей:
I didn't think it would all turn out this way. I just wanted to write music. And then circumstances happened to align.
44100Hz: Which ones?
Сергей:
They concerned not only my work but life in general. For example, I quit my job with the firm intention of doing only music, though before that I hadn't had a single performance. And suddenly I started getting invited to clubs. In parallel, a lot of other things were happening in my personal life that constantly kept me from relaxing.
44100Hz: So right now you do nothing but music?
Сергей:
Yes, music and simply pleasant things.
44100Hz: How do you divide your time between your projects - Suokas and Slow?
Сергей:
It happens spontaneously. Sometimes you want to pour your energy into music, and then it's techno, Suokas. When you want to calm down, to look at life more broadly, outside of time, then it's Slow.
44100Hz: Is Slow meditation?
Сергей:
Both projects are meditative in a certain sense. But Slow, of course, is deeper. And more sincere.
44100Hz: Sincere in the sense that this is exactly the kind of music you want to make?
Сергей:
I try to put sincerity into both projects. In Suokas there's more force, more of a shamanic dance. This music suits the dancefloor, when people are unwinding together. Mass meditation, in other words. Whereas Slow is solitary. So here you have to dig deeper.
44100Hz: If Suokas is music for large events, then what kind of setting suits Slow?
Сергей:
We played ambient in a cinema with the guys from Norway, it was great. It was a soundtrack to the 1926 silent film "Mother" by Vsevolod Pudovkin. In winter, Mental Overdrive, his wife Aggie and I worked for a week in a studio in Tromsø in the north of the country. This coming autumn we plan to perform a few more times in Norway, and next year - in Russia.
44100Hz: You've developed a special relationship with Scandinavia. For example, many tracks are named after Scandinavian cities. Why?
Сергей:
Honestly, I don't know... It's some kind of secret bond. Probably the Scandinavians perceive Karelia as part of Scandinavia and seek out people who are close to them in spirit.
44100Hz: Listening to Finns like Vladislav Delay, or Swedes like Fever Ray, you might think that the cold and the dark polar nights have a corresponding effect on the mental state of the people who live there. On the other hand, there's nu-disco and Balearic, in which the Swedes excel. Perhaps the reason for that is a longing for resort warmth?
Сергей:
It seems to me it's all very individual. The Swedes are masters at copying, they know how to make things beautiful, fashionable, but there's little individuality in their music.
44100Hz: Nevertheless, right now Sweden can lay claim to the status of the main musical country, judging by the number of projects that become successful in an instant.
Сергей:
Yes, they've always been ahead.
44100Hz: Thanks to plagiarism?
Сергей:
Rather thanks to the state, which takes care of its people. From childhood the Swedes have a great many opportunities to develop in different directions.
44100Hz: Then why do they have the highest number of suicides?
Сергей:
Because there's no fire, it's boring. And the Finns are simply a very frozen people.
44100Hz: Do you think suicide and the desire to create music share the same roots? Besides boredom?
Сергей:
I know that in a state of despair very good and powerful music comes out, deep emotions hidden inside come to the surface. You're angry, say, or hurt, or very sad. In creative work you can let all of it out. Especially in techno. Aggression goes into the percussion. Meditation happens in the psychedelia and the events in the background. And in the very principle of constant repetition lies something divine.
44100Hz: For the people who listen, does this principle work in the same direction or the opposite? Do they discharge or charge up?
Сергей:
On the dancefloor it's an exchange of energy, while in the process of creating a track it's an emotional release. Music is perceived as a language. People meditate in dance together with me, and the exchange happens between our aggressions, which are released in the dance.
44100Hz: The Slow project - what emotions drive it?
Сергей:
The emotions are varied: love, sorrow, fear. But they don't play the main role, serving as a filter. The better I manage to convey infinity, wisdom, the more satisfied I am with a track. The most important thing is inner harmony and purity, openness, sincerity, intuition. Often most problems, especially in creative work, arise from thinking too much. Whereas intuition helps you tune in correctly and take the right steps. You intuitively feel the music, and because of that it becomes music all the more. Because the language of feeling dominates in music.
44100Hz: Tell us about the next steps of the Slow project. What will we hear at "Shanti" during your performance?
Сергей:
Something immersive and, maybe, a little bit screaming. What will come out in April as the album "Sealand." It's my first official album. I'd gladly post my music for free on a website. But someone does that better than me. With their help more people will hear it.
Shanti, 22 April
2/1 Myasnitsky Proezd
Start: 20:00
Live: Slow
DJ: Anrilov,
VJ: Khz
Admission: free