TECHNOIR On the Making Of ‘AFTER MATH’
Can you share any interesting or unique musical elements or production techniques used in this 'AFTER MATH?'
We produced the whole album in our home studio, and we wanted it to sound really organic and warm like it was recorded on tape.
Alex treated all the recorded guitars, drums, keyboards and vocals to make them sound like they were sampled from old records, like you can hear in "Polluted Core" and “Fresh Air”. This is also why we’re releasing the album in vinyl format.
In "A Taste of Dystopia” we experimented with Jennifer’s vocals using them to create a synth-like cinematic texture.
Could you discuss the lyrical themes or messages conveyed in this 'AFTER MATH?'
Our lyrics tend to be very abstract as usually we focus more on the sound of the words we use. However we can definitely say that we write from a diary-like perspective, drawing inspiration from what is going on around us and in our lives.
The title “AFTER MATH” is intended to symbolize the consequences of a shattering event, like the past three years for all of us but also deals with the period of time we’re living in, which is after the advent of hyper-advanced technology and the concept of artificial intelligence, mere abstract concepts just a handful of years ago, now a tangible reality which forces us to entirely rethink who we are as human beings and as a society.
Which song do you like the best and why?
Alex: At the moment my favorite track is “Dune/Cercami”.
I like juxtaposing elements from different musical worlds and I’ve been trying for a long time to write a pop song based on a two hand tapping guitar part, which is a technique you would normally associate with 80’s Hard Rock or Djent, and I think this track achieves that.
Jenny: My favorite track is also “Dune/Cercami” because, just listening to it, you wouldn’t notice the complexity of Alex’s idea but you focus on the simplicity of its four chords and melancholic melody. Lyrically we were really inspired by the writing style of one of the best Italian songwriters of all time Ivano Fossati.
Can you share a bit about your musical background and the journey that led you to where you are today?
We met some years ago in our hometown Genova playing in some of the same local bands and what united us was a shared love for the music of artists like Prince, Erykah Badu and Hiatus Kaiyote.
In 2016 we decided to move to Milan together and we started the Technoir project transforming our living room into a home studio.
In the first years, we heavily focused on touring, thanks to this we played all over Europe, opening for artists like Cory Henry and Moses Sumney, and we collaborated with Stuart Zender of Jamiroquai and Clap! Clap!.
To this day we keep producing all of our records and we also started working as soundtrack composers.
With ‘AFTER MATH’ we widened the spectrum of our influences, that range from Flying Lotus, Gnarls Barkley and Massive Attack to more unexpected ones like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and even Nine Inch Nails and Ròsalia.
What role do you feel emotions play in your music, and how do you channel them into your performances?
As musicians sometimes it’s hard to not concentrate only on technique and to keep the focus on what’s most important, the emotional part of the music.
With this new album we think we managed to create our most personal work and we really worked on ourselves focusing entirely on songwriting and conveying emotions.
We treated the songs like stories we were scoring rather than “our” songs taking our ego away as much as we could.
