Vague Terrain: How did your project come about? Debashis Sinha: Robert came to Toronto in 2007 for a concert performance, and gave a talk @ the Goethe Institut Toronto about To Rococo Rot and their forays into making music for projects outside of the concert stage – music for buildings (what was that project again R?) and a sound installation for a museum of design. His talk focused on industrial sound design – the sounds of pouring beer or a car door slamming are not haphazard but deeply researched and designed to give the consumer a deeper experience of the product. In any case, we met at this talk, and I think it safe to say that we got along very well right away. I knew of TRR and had heard of Robert but was not too familiar with the music he had been involved in. This was around the time "Robot" came out, I think. That night I went to the concert and was totally enthralled by his music – somehow romantic and precise at the same time. From then I hoped that some day we would collaborate. One of the projects Robert does is facilitating a workshop to create a radio play, a performance of sound and text. The next year, the Goethe Institut Toronto invited him back to Toronto to do this workshop, and Robert brought Jeff Koons by Rainald Goetz We had a great week – 3 actors and me reading parts of the text directed by Robert. Before he came, we spoke a lot via internet about doing a concert together, and that came to pass during that week, thanks to The Music Gallery, Yatra Arts, and the Goethe Institut. Many of the things we talked about revolved around rehearsal and possible approaches to playing together. We covered a lot of ground if I remember right – we talked about different tools and software we might use, pre-writing songs for the concert, all sorts of things. But once he came, we realized quickly that the best rehearsal we could do is to get to know each other. Honestly, that is all we did. We spent time drinking wine, talking about how we make music, funny stories – really just enjoying each other's company. When the time came to do the concert, we felt totally prepared, even though neither of us really knew what was going to happen. VT: How do you keep the collaboration going? DS: We have done one other live concert so far, a show in Montreal when Robert came through as part of the world tour promoting the Tenori On. Again, the music for this show turned out to be really based on our mutual friendship (and a great soundcheck). I wasn't aware of what Robert was doing on the tour, and Robert didn't know what I would bring in the way of gear. We did refine our approach somewhat to make the rhythmic element more my domain, and we had a long soundcheck thanks to the organizers of the event from Yamaha and MUTEK. But in the end I am not sure what happened at the concert – we started playing and then the set was finished and everyone was happy. Robert Lippok: Deb and I are interested in the same things. Field recordings, rhythms, a more abstract approach to composition. He has no fear about throwing himself in unknown situations. Which makes playing live with him a fantastic adventure. I have the feeling that I could call him in the evening to say “let’s do a show together” and show up at the concert that night. No preparation and Im sure id would be a good one. DS: To me, this expression of friendship in our music and ongoing collaboration is really the most important thing. Of course the more we play together the more we refine our approach and get to know each other in the moment of playing music. But knowing each other on a personal level goes a very long way in defining our sound. Trusting the other person's ability to react, both creatively and technically, is built on this. VT: What are the projects that you work together on? DS: For various reasons, most of them scheduling, we haven't had a very intense roster of gigs and recording. To me, this is fine – I like that we go away from the duo and have new experiences, and tell each other interesting stories about what we're doing. Recording came about because of a happy coincidence of travel and free time – this duo is a labour of love, which is what makes it so special. The internet is a big presence in the energy of the duo. We email each other quite a bit, and we have been mixing the new CD via internet. It has really been a boon to have this kind of immediate access to the other in almost real time, and because of this even when we have long stretches of time without playing music our connection remains strong. RL: Usually I work with the musicians in the studio together. Before I met Deb I couldn’t imagine working over the internet. But with this duo it was different. All the material he mixed was fantastic and I had not at all the feeling that it would have been better to sit with him at the mixing desk. I guess it has alot to do with trust, which for me is not always easy to find. But in this case it was very easy. I´m looking forward to work again on our material. It feels like walking a small path to a magic, dark and dangerous wood. |
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