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| Artist Statistics |
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Artistopia Rank : 2,005
Member Since : 11/2005
Last Login : 9/11/2008
Views : 9,683
Songs : 0
Events : 0
Alliances : 14
Releases : 4
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Artistopia URL :
http://www.artistopia.com/deleted |
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News Article |
Artist News Home |
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Iuno interviewed by Sasha Soren for Arte Six |
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| Published on 11/6/2005 |
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| By Sasha Soren, Arte Six |
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MUSIC
Disc series: Iuno
We originally fell in love with each other's creativity, then with each other. After a year or so, we started writing songs together.
Our first album, “Everyone's Gone,” is the result of that. Later we started working with other artists on our live shows. These are different artists from show to show. We've worked with authors (on the Crossing Borders festival), string players, video artists and moviemakers. Anyone that can contribute something that fits the music is welcome to join the Iuno Laboratory.
Iuno (Juno) is the Roman queen of the gods, wife and sister of Jupiter. We liked her name, and decided that if we ever had children, this would be the name if it were a girl. Since we've been way too busy to have any children, we decided to give the name to our band.
We both do a little bit of everything. Stella's main part is the lyrics and the melodies, Steven's main thing is the music.
We're each others' critic and in that way we both shape what the other has come up with. For us this is a very fruitful way of working that can get very passionate. Passionate in this context means: fighting and making up. Aah...making up.
MUSING
What most inspires us to write: Anything... everything... nothing.
We mostly write at night. The atmosphere of night is more inspiring than that of daytime.
In the daytime there's too much distraction; everything's realtime and serious, people calling, neighbors stopping by, while at night everyone sleeps, everyone's gone, and time is less of an issue.
A little intoxication, be it a smoke or a drink, can also help while writing a song. It helps to see things in a more forgiving light.
It sedates the superego and gives creativity a chance. Being critical is a good thing when producing and perfecting a song, but it can be a bad thing when creating it.
The song itself, the basic idea, is done within an evening. The finishing up usually takes a little less than a year. The actual writing of the song is the most fun part, because it's very direct, you're still working at the source.
The completing is the most difficult part. We are both quite perfectionist, so we often listen to a song over and over again and alter it until we're satisfied with it.
When you've heard a song a thousand times, it can be quite hard to still maintain an objective view of it. Luckily we are each others' most severe critics.
STRANGE ATTRACTORS
Born/Created
Steven, on whether singers/composers are born or created: Born and created, I would guess. There was only one Mozart, but if his father hadn't pushed him to be a composer since he was old enough to hold a violin, we might never have heard of him at all.
I think some occurrence in your life has to be pushing you to be an artist. Beyond that, I think the way creativity really works, or where it comes from, is way too complex for us to understand.
Stella: Nature or nurture. Chicken or egg. You can't really tell. And frankly, I don't really care, as long as good music is being made.
Life/Art
Steven: Most of our songs are based on feelings, convictions and philosophies, rather than actual incidents. The less specific lyrics are, the more you can put into them.
Stella: That's true, but sometimes an incident is the inspiration for a song. “The Park” is based upon a panic attack I had in a park, and “Sculpture” is based on a very simple moment of happiness: We were sitting on our couch, looking out of our window. Outside there was a thunderstorm, on our stereo Mahler's third symphony. The moment was pure beauty.
On what comes first, words or music: It depends. Sometimes Steven has already made music that almost naturally seems to fit to lyrics I wrote. Or the way the music sounds inspires me to write new lyrics. It's almost organic sometimes. It's hard to point out who does what and where what begins.
Title/Work
Steven, on which comes first, the title or the work: Usually the song suggests a title. We don't know up front what we will be writing. When we write a song, it's a very intuitive process. Having a title in advance would only limit what the song could become.
Stella: Coming up with the title is one of the best parts. It's like naming a child.
I especially like it, and this happens a lot, when Steven makes up the title to a song I wrote the lyrics for. I feel like he really understands me, then.
Personal/Universal
Stella: Since I wrote all the lyrics to the second album, I would say all the songs are equally personal.
On the first album it would be the song “star,” a really short song at the end of the album. It's about my father, who died seven years ago.
Steven: Ah, the agony…! I cannot choose. I feel I would betray other songs if I chose one. That's how personal they are.
Personal/Universal P.O.V: [We write from our experience of] our own personal universe.
Clarity/Resonance
Steven, on what is more important, philosophical clarity or emotional resonance: Both [are important]. I feel very strongly about philosophical clarity. My philosophy, on the other hand, is quite emotional.
Stella: Or it could just be emotional clarity and philosophical resonance.
Fiction/Real life
Steven: For me there is no difference. Fiction is the version of reality we create ourselves. But so is real life.
The difference is a matter of belief, which is a matter of blind choice. I hate blind choices.
Stella: Real life is always stranger.
CLOSER
Stella, on the most insightful thing anyone ever said to her: When I cried out: “Life makes no sense,” a wise man replied: “Indeed, it doesn't. Don't you find that extremely comforting?”
After my initial shock I realized that he was right, and since then I always find comfort in the fact that life makes no sense. Because it gave me the answer I was always looking for. Now nothing has to have a meaning anymore. It can just be. I can just be.
Steven, on the most scary thing anyone ever said to him: “Stop smoking. It will kill you. It took me a heart attack to quit. Quit now.” That is what a man at the cigarette counter in the supermarket said to me, when I was buying cigarettes, one day.
I got paranoid, thinking this was my future-me, coming back to warn me. I almost quit.
THEMES: BASIC
Love and fear. Everything is about love and fear.
THEMES: “EVERYONE GONE”
How we chose the title: The image appealed to us. An empty room, after a party, all the people are gone, smoke is hanging in the air, the person that threw the party is sitting there, staring.
Film Noir. It's how it feels when we're making music. It's when we're in a vacuum, where there are no other people.
It's also a line from a song on the album. It's the feeling you have when you are awake at night and everything is quiet. It's like you are the only one there. The only one awake in the whole wide world.
THEMES: “EVERYTHING NOTHING”
We are both amazed by the fact that we are here, that we are Something instead of Nothing. That fact means everything. Hence “Everything Nothing.”
Or as Blaise Pascal said it:
"What is man in nature? Nothing in relation to the infinite, all in relation to nothing, a mean between nothing and everything." ("Pensées").
MUSICAL INTENT
Stella: It would be nice if people took the time to really listen, because our music is not the easiest kind. We try to create atmosphere.
We said to each other when we first started out, that we wanted to make music as if it was the soundtrack to a thriller. And that is what we are still trying to do.
Maybe people will understand us better if they know that. I remember one time someone said to me: “I don't really like your music. When I liste |
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| Article Credits and References |
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Interview by Sasha Soren for Arte Six
http://www.sashasoren.com |
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