ECHO COLLECTIVE

The See Within

Brussels-based Echo Collective is an impressive instrumental ensemble working in the neo-classical/ambient realm. Their rich textures and musical arrangements have elevated and augmented  everything from film soundtracks to live  dance performances and studio albums. “All sounds are acoustic, and produced in real  time,” explain co-founders Margaret Hermant  (violin, harp) and Neil Leiter (viola). “No processing  or post-production other than reverb. The acoustic  element is Echo Collective’s identity. A natural  sound.” 

It’s there in the name Echo Collective. “We’re a  collective, with our roots in classical music and  structure, but we are, in a sense, a shadow of that  world, or an echo, whilst projecting a future  sound,” says Leiter.

Greatest Inspirations?

We are definitely influenced by our past collaborations.  Having the chance to work directly with amazing artists like Adam Wiltze, Dustin O’Halloran, or Johann Johannsson for example, has really been an education in communication and expression.  Working in the creative process with these artists really gave us the courage and baggage necessary to launch ourselves into creating our own works.  The path we have been fortunate enough to follow with its wide and varied challenges has really given the inspiration for our present composition and desire to create.

What are the biggest challenges of the music industry today?

The instability.  Six months ago we would have answered the question completely differently.  And that is exactly the problem.  Norms and regulations are changing daily.  From our perspective, before our income was largely based on live international shows and for the moment the international has become local.  For that we are fortunate to have such a wonderful support system of promoters and venues in Belgium.  We really do not expect things to go back to how they where before and are focused on staying active in the present conditions.  Shifting and changing with the industry as we all even if it is a little like working in quicksand.  

 Tell us about your compositional style?

We definitely compose in a non-traditional way from a classical perspective.  Along with Gary De Cart, our pianist, we set out to compose a complete album as a team.  Each of us has a slightly different approach.  For example, Margaret is very intuitive and has a lot of experience improvising.  Gary being a pianist, has a vision that is much more vertical and harmony based.  And Neil is fascinated by structure and form.  But that is basically a complicated way of saying we function more as a band.  We each bring in ideas and then work off each others input.  When we get together to compose, often a composition will start in one way, and the end product will be completely different.  We are lucky that the alchemy between us is easy and symbiotic.  The key is physically being in the same space together and collaborating collectively.

 How important are visuals for your performance?

 We learned over the years through collaborations the importance of visuals in a performance.  Most classical performances are presented with neutral and static lighting so we definitely went in another direction.  We try to set up a light show that are complimentary to the sound, that together lift to show to a higher emotional plane.  When done right, it is really a total sensory experience.  We are very lucky to work with great visual artists like Stuart Bailes, Eric Collignon, and Florian Guibert.  They understand the fine line that we are searching to create.  Just as our sound engineer Tom Lezaire is really another musician on stage, we try to approach the visual aspect with the same care and precision.

What would be a dream project for you? 

That is a hard question, because frankly we are already living a dream scenario.  The artists we have been able to work with is quite humbling, and we feel very comfortable as creators.  We are trying to follow this path and continue to create in as many aspects of our musical life as possible.  Hopefully that will open up doors to writing film score, or working in collaboration with dance or theatre.  Being able to create full time is definitely at the top of the list.