It would seem kind of unorthodox to quote oneself, but I honestly couldn’t find a better one for today’s guests. Marva Von Theo is a band that’s all around us, even though up until we received their e-mail, I could swear I didn’t know them. And it’s probably my fault.
For the Greek version click here
Fortunately, that e-mail came and, after thoroughly hearing their first album and Afterglow as well, I was taken aback. At the same time, I had so many questions for them. Before the band "takes the stage" though, let’s set up a nice "who’s who" about them as described in their own bio.
«Marva Von Theo are passionate, restless, brave, noisy, dangerous, sophisticated, fragile, blue, a kind of dark romantics, sentimental.
In Afterglow, Marva Von Theo, have concocted a dance/electronic sound with shades of noir, gloomy sound palettes, an unconventional space that flows between Electronica/Art Pop/Dark Pop/Neo-Synthpop/Darkwave/Post-Punk/Contemporary and Jazz».
► Watching you as your band merges elements from different music genres and if I say, different worldviews, can you distinguish which elements come from Marva and which from Theo? And, where do the two meet?
During the recording of Afterglow we didn’t ponder about our style. We feel free to express each different aspect of ourselves and our music personalities, combining seemingly various elements to achieve that. In my opinion, art is a Whole. It doesn’t have strict limitations and only commercial reasons can impose clearer boundaries and self-limitation.
As for the intentions of the album, not its genre, I would say Theo usually leads the composition into more internal, dark paths, but -contrary to what the listener might suspect- it gives a more romantic light to it. Myself, I am driven by sentiment and give space to my psychological swings, that sometimes lead to unexpected bursts. Experimentation is the key that binds our partnership and satisfies us artistically, we have an open attitude of letting one another into new ways of inspiration.
There is hard work behind the curtain of Afterglow, in order for our ideas and every little detail to match and co-exist harmonically. When we come to the final cuts of the songs, we feel that the footprint of the initial idea is fading gradually, it is no longer clear who started what and where one’s ideas end. Each music genre, each disposition, colour and feeling is becoming one piece. This is where we try to decode, condense the substance of the album, so that the listener might have a first clue about what he will experience.
► Listening to the album, I really identified all those music spectrums that you "promise" us and even a few more. I would like to know your artistic careers before Marva Von Theo and how did you two come to this musical "agreement"?
I completed a cycle of conservatory classical studies on piano, theory, harmony, etc. and continued studying jazz song while participating in various jazz, blues, funk projects. My hearings have always been varied. Fortunately, our times and the internet offer musical outlets in an infinity of artistic proposals and so I came close to electronic music. I started recording my first tracks and a few years later I found myself discussing them with Theo, taking online lessons, to finally end up with Marva Von Theo.
But we dare to speak our own truth, inviting those who can actually feel it
Theo is a classical and jazz pianist and has been active in the music scene of Thessaloniki for several years. Along with the conservatory, from his school years he played constantly in various bands, which shaped him as a musician not to cling to a dry academy and not to dogmatically choose a specific style. This is very evident in his music. Theo has an innate, almost compulsive need for evolution, improvement and renewal, he never stays the same. This "calling" also led him to a composition master in Vienna where he lived for about 15 years. In 2018 he found him returning to Greece where we completed our first album and started live performances.
► Let's go back to Afterglow now. Listening to the album, I had a hard time finding the perfect way to listen to it. I do not know if a live show could render the images of the studio. To be more specific, I cannot imagine "Embrace This Madness" being played in classic live performance terms. If things were not as they are today and you could choose any form of promotion, which one would you choose and why?
When orchestrating Afterglow, Theo had in mind that the tracks could potentially be played by a full band. The album sounds are not purely electronic, instead they are based on acoustic gaming features. The orchestration is also aimed so that a full and compact sound will be produced with a few and properly placed materials, so even in a live performance it would not be difficult to adapt. But we still consciously choose to perform as a duo. Certainly the flexibility and freedom that this choice makes us feel is of key importance.
But we now aim for our live performances to be accompanied by interactive visuals. It is an idea that we have been working on for the last year in order to offer a more complete experience in our concerts. Our music has many alternations and cinematic structures and we believe that the visualization of some of its elements will help the listener to immerse himself more easily in it and to follow the stories we have to tell.
► I would love to know the background of such compositions though
This is partially answered in my first (extensive) answer. At a more technical level, however, the composition of all our pieces begins with a piano and a voice. When this musical core acquires a clear form and dynamics, the orchestration comes to sculpt it, and to illuminate it accordingly. We are not of those musicians who keep a lot of ideas in the drawer and leave some there. On the contrary, I would say that when we have an idea, we work to bring it to fruition.
Images and experiences shape our personal aesthetics
It is also the way Theo works, having the final result in mind from the beginning and even in the roughest demos one piece could be very close to its final form. In some more complex pieces, such as "Room of Doubt" and "My Moon", we may have had to redefine things in terms of voice interpretation and vocal production, sometimes instrumental touches had to be added to emphasize the melodic lines, until all the elements that tie them up together get perfectly blended. Apart from the vocals, that have been recorded at Artracks Studio, the mixing and production has been done in our Home Studio, with the absolutely necessary and basic means, but having to a very large extent the control of our sound. The Mastering was done by G. Priniotakis at Artracks Studio with whom we have a very good collaboration since our first album.
► In my review for your album, I stated that "it has its own personality and it seems like it doesn’t care if every listener will see its inner shine, it’s only interested in expressing its own artistic view". I would really like to know whether you agree with this statement and any other expectation that you personally have for this album.
During the composition of our songs, it is certain that our main goal is not the listener or the current trends in pop music. Artistic creativity is something extremely personal, thus it doesn’t follow any rules, other than the ones we put ourselves upon our own creations. However, after the completion of our album, I believe that, just like every artist, we hope our music finds some people that will be deeply touched and make them find a part of them inside the stories in our lyrics. We do of course acknowledge the fact that we live in an era during which music is consumed with extreme speed and superficiality, making it hard for some alternative releases to really "shine". We are daring enough though to speak our own truth, inviting those who can understand it.
► I listened to your first album, Dream Within A Dream, and I found some obvious differences between the two releases. First of all, Afterglow seems darker, closer to electro sounds and of course, more experimental. Does this differentiation regarding your sound come as a natural development of two musicians who matured during these four years among the releases, or is experimentation a basic element of Marva Von Theo’s music? Or maybe is it a little bit of both (it might be a little bit out of context, but isn’t Cream a great song)?
Dream Within a Dream consists of the spontaneity and young lust of two very different creators, who are getting together for the first time, exploring a brand new musical area for them. The albums have a lot of common points, however in Afterglow you can find a natural maturity in our sound, but you can also find a lot of experimentation, especially in production, upon things that we believe have been conquered during our first album (there was also some censorship on Theo’s extremely long intros 😊 ). I can say with certainty though that our third album, since we are working on some new songs, will be something completely different. This is the nature of Marva Von Theo after all!
(Behind the Scene information about Cream: The main influence for its lyrics was the chocolate dance scene from the film Sweet Movie)
► While I’m listening to your music and watching your videos, I’m lead to believe that music is not the only way that you artistically express yourselves.
We are moved by painting, poetry, photography, dance, theater, cinema, architecture and design on the same level as we are by music. All these images and experiences form a personal aesthetic which we try to support and therefore share in the videos that accompany our music. The only forbidding and –sadly- important factors that make the process of realizing an idea unapproachable is the economic cost, the technical equipment and the time needed. However, even with the most basic means, we try to make these ideas come to life.
Despite music, I have studied architecture and, even though I don’t practice this profession anymore, it has surely and greatly formed my fantasy in a subliminal way. I have the general supervision of all the things that involve our visual part (cover art, teasers, website etc) and in “Love” I tried for the first time, in a DIY manner to conjoin visuals with some real footage and to create a somewhat spacey, surreal world that I thought would match the atmosphere of our music.
Theo’s approach to the visual world is a more experimental one and he practices on generative, abstract forms of art. I hope he gets to be in command of the visuals of our live shows as soon as possible.
► Afterglow has many different moods going on at its runtime. Reading the lyrics and the titles of the songs, it becomes apparent that the lyrical themes follow the musical fluctuation. As we are already past a full year of lockdown, I cannot but connect the two. Is Afterglow an escape from the things going on during this terrible year?
Afterglow had been completed long before the lockdown started but the circumstances were such that we could not release it beforehand. The lyrics represent a trip towards our inner world, our deepest feelings and the search of the Self. Surely they are quite dark which has to do with our personal anguish and inner changes. These days there are some people that may need to hear some optimistic messages while others may benefit from this introspection in order to expel their inner demons.
► Your music has a soundtrack-like vibe to it. If you could write a score for a particular movie, which would that be?
Blade Runner.-
► Last question: once all this is over, what are your musical plans?
Lives, Lives, Lives!
► Close this interview however you see fit. With one of your lyrics, maybe.
I searched our lyrics to find a dim ray of light and I have to share this: "Embrace this Madness, drink this moment till the last drop". Maybe the world that we see is not so beautiful but maybe our way of seeing it is the one at fault.
Translation:
Myrto Rammopoulou
Eirini Tatsi
Foivos Krommydas
Kostas Handrinos
Photo Credits:
Cover Photo - Mariza Kapsampeli
Rest Photos - Giannis Kritikos
