ӔLMĀ Interview

 

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?

Ælmā are Marco Valenti and Elena M. RosaLavita. Ælmā is a two-faced Janus: two heads and a Soul. ”The Beings of Mind are not of Clay,” is a short story in two chapters, two parts, about dualism and duality: Being and Essence, Body and Soul, Life and Death. It is an Athanor in which echoes of Golem, creatures molded from clay, of Homunculus evoked in the ether, of alchemical processes and surgical scalpels, seethe and sublimate. Of Beings of mind, of Bodies without a Soul and Souls without a Body. Of dismembered limbs and torn souls. Of black souls. Madly black. By choice. The bass' infrasounds rest like mist above the obsessive noise textures of field recordings and samples of cold procedures between life and death. Black feathers lying on icy steel.

 

2.A few months back you had released a new album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?

Bass parts are the result of a new way (for E) of playing the instrument, with another touch, but as always for the most part improvised things that E felted in those moments. a result of her worst and dark feelings.

About the other sounds, most of them are samples of every day’s nightmare we're living. We've tried to make real our black view of the present. M did it at his own home with all the new shit that technology give us today. You can read it an archetype of industrial society's oppression.

 

3.The song themes are inspired by the writings of Lord Byron and John Milton, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in their writings?

We are both literature addicted. We stumbled by chance upon those two quotes during the creation of this work: it seemed like a sign! The main concept was about the dualism of body/soul. So the clay of body’s creation (Adam/Golem) and the ethereal material of the soul. But, there's something more. Byron really lived in M hometown in 1822, close to the sea, where some months before lived Percy and Mary Shelley. So we can think that Lord Byron's influence was already into M mind since his birth.

 

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'ÆLMĀ'?

Alma means soul, that underlies the EP’s concept. “EL” and “MA” are simply the first letters of our names. There's nothing else hidden. Just a simple name, easy to remember, in a world where the most difficult and strange name you choose, the baddest you think you are. We've choosen a soviet font, because we're strictly connected to the old "iron courtain" and to the "cold war" with which we grow up. As you can see in the package of the EP, we've attached a sticker with the "lovely" flag of DDR (ex East Germany).

 

5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?

Artwork’s first step was a big (about100x70 cm) acrylic on canvas painting, that it was cut in “cards” to put inside the packaging. Every single numbered tape has a different card, so it’s a unique piece. On the external wrap we put the negative version of the whole photographed painting. We've choosen to use E's painting because it's intimately connected with her world, you can find the same feelings in both aspects of her art: painting and music. So we think it matches the sensations induced by sound.

 

6.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you open to expanding the line up or do you prefer to remain a duo?

Less is more, so two thinking heads in the same place are too many for our view. Just for the record we had to tell that the mastering of the EP was made by our friend Petrolio, one of the most influent artist into industrial electronic Italian scene.

 

7.Are there any plans for the musical project to do any live shows?

We’re both not fans of playing live, so we guess not. 

 

8.The new album was released on 'Toten Schwan Records', how did you get in contact with this label?

Toten Schwan is M own label, so we think that releasing a record with it was the best choice for us. No one else could gave us the same freedom for the sound, the artwork, the meaning inside the project, the format, the number of the copies, and all other little shit. We think that having the control of anything is the better and the only way to create our albums. There are so many cool labels all around here in Italy, but M thought that a coolest EP like that would have been perfect for Toten Schwan roster. And so, it was.

 

9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your album by fans of experimental music?

We've gained many good results in musical magazines papered and online version. Telling you the truth we've never thought to receive a good response as we had. We're two chronical depressed peoples that usually think the worst thing about each thing we do. So, also in this case, we've started it with the lowest ambitions, but now, after the EP sold out, and all the good words all around we're (moderately) happy.

 

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

It's not easy to tell. We really don't know yet. The rational part of us should gave us the strength to move on with another EP, maybe on tape again. Making a full-length album it's a hard stuff, we think that a shorter release can give us the best feelings for the future improvisations and for all the experiments that we'd like to put on. Surely it won't be ready before the new year. Toten Schwan next releases are already planned from here to the end of 2022.

 

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

The funny thing is that each one of us has opposite and different musical tastes and musical backgrounds. It surely let us totally free. For “TBoMaNoC” sound E thanks MMMD duo, and her love for the cello (that she has never played yet), M is still searching for a passion that can help to keeping himself alive. He burned so many musical projects in the past upon the altar of the hypocrisy, the only one that survived his purifying fire is Diamanda Galas (a shared passion).

 

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

We’d just like to thank you for interesting in ÆLMĀ’s work and for your truly support to the musical deepest world we're living in. You'll be into the inner circle of the ones who we'll let know something when the new Ep will be ready.

 

https://totenschwan.bandcamp.com/album/tsr-130-the-beings-of-mind-are-not-of-clay