Since you moved on from analog synths to Logic Pro plugins, was it hard to work entirely in digital?
I have become very minimalistic when it comes to creating music. The entire project was drafted using Logic Pro X on my laptop ― no mouse, no charger, no synths. I was writing music until the battery would die, then I would refresh my thoughts while charging. After completing those drafts, we used analog tracks with proper preamps, microphone placement, etc. Overall, there is no difference between plugins and real synths ― right now, they’re indistinguishable.
Compared to Europe, you didn’t have that many concerts in Belarus and Russia. Since you’re now living in Berlin, are you planning on traveling to the CIS countries at all?
We sure are. We enjoy performing in Kyiv, Minsk, Moscow. We might be doing some gigs in Saint Petersburg [a Northwestern city in Russia]; it’s been a while since we played there. It would be cool to visit Kazakhstan, too.
Your prior albums were recorded during jam sessions. However, the entirety of your last project was recorded remotely. Are there any changes in your sound that resulted from those circumstances rather than from your artistic vision?
I moved to Berlin three years ago, and it significantly affected how we create our music. On the one hand, we had enough jams to record two albums, and so our next one was supposed to reflect a different sound and different approach. On the other hand, there’s still a lot of work to do ― it has its pros and cons. Overall, I’ll say that this decision coincided with larger circumstances.
Speaking of your new sound — for your older albums, you often mentioned [a Russian band] Zvuki Mu and The Drums as your inspirations. There are some similarities, lyrical, as with the former, and musical with the latter. I imagine that you have different influences now. What did you listen to during the recording of the last project?
When we were a trio, The Drums sound was brought by Pasha Mikhalyuk; he’s not playing with us now. Since then, we were into different genres; now we’re into electronic music, which clearly influenced the new album. I can’t name anybody in particular, there’s been tons of music. It’s not even albums or artists; mostly, it goes down to specific songs.