CINEMATIC ELECTRONICA MEET EGOPUSHER
This is Swiss musical duo Egopusher. Alessandro and Tobias, their sound is a mixture of elegant, analog electronica, with a combination of drum x violin making sweeping classic electronica soundtracks,. The album's second single Blue Moon, is an amazing track.
You might have noticed by now, all these years’ we have a think for musical fusion of all kinds, and here one again we’ve been introduced to a duo that I can describe as a mix between cinematic and electronic, with an excellent balance of drum and violin perfect music to be listening to as we enter this new season in a world changing very quickly before our eyes. Thank you Egopusher.
Tell us about your musical style…..
Alessandro: We got to know each other when we were both playing together in Dieter Meier's band "Out of Chaos". Dietert Meier, is of course, one half of the legendary Yello. We always drove together to the shows in Tobias' old BMW, and had so much time talk. We were at a turning point in our musical careers. We both wanted to try something new, and to finish old things. We decided to meet for a session. It’s unusual to create a band with just a drummer and a violinist, but it was exactly this challenge that pushed us to find a new musical voice.
Tobias: That was a nice time! For months, we jammed and tried different things in Alessandro's rehearsal space located in a bunker below the banking headquarter of Zurich. Whenever we had the feeling that something was missing, we tried to create it ourselves. First of all, of course, the bass was the most obvious missing element. But we didn't want to ask a bassist, so I started to play bass with my feet on the legendary Moog Taurus. And Alessandro used his father’s old Roland Juno 60 to play some melodies, in addition to him playing the drums the whole time. So we managed to create a big sound, just two people! We fooled around until we felt comfortable and played our first concert in November 2013 at the legendary off space “Perla Mode”, in Zurich. The concert and our energy had something magical, and we couldn't help but continue with Egopusher.
Alessandro: Before making a record, we wanted to experience as much live playing as possible. We decided to play 100 concerts before going to the studio, so that our music could grow organically. In the beginning our songs consisted of a lot of improvisation and interactions. In the last years, Egopusher transformed from a duo to a “proper band”. Both of us take different roles, sometimes rhythmic, sometimes melodic. The music became more and more electronic, danceable and with a strong cinematic feel. On October 9th, our second album "Beyond" will be out on Quiet Love Records. We are really looking forward to this release and the upcoming concerts.
Greatest inspirations or influences?
Alessandro: We both have very different musical backgrounds and that is partly what makes our music so unique. Already way back, during our long car journeys together, we would share a common playlist on Spotify, where we would add musical pearls that we collected. Stylistically, totally open. The only criteria we had was that it has to move you or has a super specific vibe. By now, the playlist contains more than 300 songs! It covers everything from modern classical composer Arvo Pärt to Patrick Watson to noise music from the Berlin Atonal scene to Autechre. There is also a lot of Soundtrack music on there, Mica Levi and Ennio Morricone.
Tobias: A place that was very important to our new album is an old guesthouse in the Swiss mountains. It was converted into a cultural venue, and the rooms were designed by artists. Since the house is very remote, you can play music 24 hours a day at full volume. There, we worked on our tracks and also prepared the live show. Zurich and Berlin also played an important role for the band. We got to know each other in Zurich, but I live in Berlin now – so we work alternately in both places.
What is the band's creative process like?
Tobias: Even during intense touring, we make the time to experiment at the studio. We setup, don’t talk about the music we would like to make, we just press the record button and improvise. We dive into a zone together, where everything around us slowly disappears. We never judge what we just did, in the moment. After one of these musical arches, that can go from 15 minutes to two hours, we mostly come to a common end, look up and go grab a beer at the “Späti” (corner-store).
Afterwards, we talk about completely different things, not related to the music we just played. Then we go back to the studio and just continue improvising. This is how we find new inspirations, how we can push ourselves to come up with new ideas. It’s very important not to judge what we did in the moment. Judging would hold us back from continuing the exploration and might snuff out a great idea, even before it could fully manifest itself. Throughout the year, we go back to these sessions, individually, and listen back to them.Whenever a moment strikes us emotionally, we dig in and try to create a song out of it. This is where the judging part slowly becomes useful. And we will shape these ideas to get this Egopusher sound, this feeling, our personal vibe.
Impact of the Pandemic?
Alessandro: As we live in different cities we are used to working long-distance. Of course, the Covid situation forced us to optimise this way of working. We even did these improvisational sessions via Zoom. It was weird, at first, but we slowly managed to get into the zone, even like this. We had no live shows coming up and so we could use the lockdown to finish mixes and mastering, and just set up the release, for the singles and the upcoming album.
Anything else?
Tobias: It’s easier to find your own musical language, if you don’t follow the stereotypical path. Just get together with someone with whom you like exchanging ideas and start making music together. The rest will happen on its own.
