Monday, April 18, 2016

Chelidon Frame Interview


1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?
Hello everybody! Chelidon Frame is a solo project born by the end of 2014 as a point of convergence of different prior experiences, mainly experimentations with concrete music, drone and noise (such as the project "here.now.where" for the fifth Marrakech Biennale). In 2014 I've published the first album, "Framework", a collection of previously released songs and 2016 is the year of "Imago", my second studio album.

2.Recently you have released a new album,how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
"Imago" is a dark album, darker than the first one. It describes a story of progressive loneliness and desperation in a big modern city and this gradual approach to isolation is marked by a wider use of drones, harsh noises and dissonances. Having an implied storyline, the album is sound wise more coherent than "Framework", which was a collection of different pieces composed in different times.

3.What are some of the concepts and images you bring out with your musical style?
I'm completely fascinated by pure sounds, how they can connect together and how they can be arranged to recreate certain situations. I'm always curious how sound and sound design is used in cinema as a counterpoint to the visual language, and I'm interested in expand this way of organize "noises" to reach a particular purpose. In addition to that I try to be aware to all the school of thoughts that revolve around the use of recorded stuff (field recording, acoustic ecology, concréte music...) and I'm incline to include them as an extension of my personal musical-alphabet.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Chelidon Frame'?
No way! I'll never reveal the deep meaning behind that name. But i can assure you that is a fully meaningful name. And I'm always curious to hear the various interpretations given to it!

5.With this musical project you record everything by yourself, are you open to working with other musicians or do you prefer the solo route?
I like to think Chelidon Frame as my personal space of expression, a small room where I can escape to pursue my personal interests in music: I've started it all as a solo project and in this way I'm able to maximize the freedom I can give to my production. So, generally speaking, I prefer the solo route, but I'm interested also in collaborations: those are "good" limits that can improve a specific way of making things or thinking about music. Recently I've participated to this huge collaborative project named "Waywords and Meansigns" that aimed to set all Finnegans Wake to music and to narration: here I had to limit myself to be a counterpart to the narration. And that experience was really great!

6.Have you done any live shows or is this strictly a studio project?
At present, no live shows are planned. Since in studio I want not to limit myself, I end up layering diverse sets of instruments and noises that I'm not able to recreate in a live set. Who knows for the future? Maybe I'll find a way to organize a live set, maybe re-arranging the songs in a more playable way!

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
I'm not actually looking for a label, but if someone is interested in promoting my work I'll sure think about it. I have to understand if I can be as independent as I am now.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of experimental, ambient and drone?
Building all the project from scratch (and being a folk, jazz and rock guitarist as a main musical activity) I've thought that would have been rough to be acknowledge in that world, but I've found a interested community in that field, very open to new projects and new ideas. Likewise, all those who followed my more traditional projects showed an unexpected interest in that new route I was exploring.

9.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?
Who knows?! I hope that someday I'll be able to be a full time musician, still passionate about music and about making it, or at least to be able to merge a "standard life" as you can call it, and a life as a musician.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Pierre Schaffers was the first figure who made me interested in concrete music and experimentation with sounds. After him I've followed the giants of sound manipulation, spanning my interest from ambient music (Brian Eno) to drone (Sunn O))), Bass Communion), from field recordings to free jazz (Ornette, Coltrane...). John Carpenter is also a guru to me, both in a musical and in a visual way. Nowadays I'm a lot into contaminated jazz, electronics and glitch music. I'm also exploring the world of minimalism (Nik Bartch and Philip Glass are running mostly on my player) which always fascinated me.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
I love reading and writing (horror stories, sci-fi) and being graduated in math I love to be up-to date with scientific and mathematical discoveries. I'm also keen on films and tv series.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
First of all, thank you for the space given to talk about Chelidon Frame.
Have a listen to "Imago" and let me know what you've experienced. Send an email, leave a message on my page: I'll be really interested in knowing your thoughts about it.
And do not be afraid of so-called "experimental music": free your mind and enjoy your voyage! It's worth it!

https://www.facebook.com/ChelidonFrame/

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