LAMA REI - GHOSTMOTHER

 

I meet Lama Rei in a small barn on the edge of the forest in Zurich, where the two boys are her
recorded their first album 'Ghostmother'. When I come into the barn, there is already a
warm tea ready for me and we sat around the small tiled open in the middle of the
Space.

Ghostmother is your first work; how did it come about? How did the album come about?

Nico: That is a mystery to us.

both laugh
Simon: It was a roller coaster ride.
Nico: We are both extremely careful to create our own world. Music plays a very central role in this. We both like to play different instruments, Simon a lot
better than me, but a little more unorthodox. So it was only a matter of time for us
to dive into one of our worlds together.
Simon: The first 3/4 of this trip were really exciting and adventurous.
Nico: Then came the 4/4.
both laugh
Simon; It's correct. After the album was in the can, we produced everything ourselves, we got down to business. As far as mixing and mastering are concerned, we are still absolutely green behind the ears. Still, we tried our luck on our own. We then worked on mixing with two good friends for almost half a year and made good progress. At this point, a big thank you to Leroy and Igor. And even though we got good results, we wanted to take the sound quality a few steps further. Hence the decision to work with Peak Studios.
Nico: Exactly. At this point I was really very skeptical.
With a third companion on our little ark, I was a bit overwhelmed. It has
But then it soon showed that Chris (Peak Studios) was just the right person to put our music there
Bringing them where we wanted them. At this point, a huge compliment to Chris. working with him was really smooth and super intuitive. He was always at our side with words and deeds.

Your music is more on the more complex side of the music spectrum: who is for what
responsible and how do you develop a track?

Simon: We are both primarily responsible for everything. With us, that goes hand in hand.
Nico: We work a lot in an interdisciplinary manner. With us, a track can be created from a text that was inspired by a drawing or vice versa. We paint z. B. also from a lot of specific scenarios like with Alchemilla. We imagined a little girl who is on an expedition in our hair. Looking for answers. Then we ask ourselves the question again: How does that sound?
Simon: We also like to play with the idea of ​​how an alien might sound like music. What does an alien touch musically? With our very own answers to all these questions, our music is created.
Nico: among other things.
both smile

In your creative work you also play with cultural, social and sexual appropriation:
Provocation or Awareness?

Nico: This is a very good question. I think there is a bit of both in our work. But we always only want to bring light into the dark. We like candles. But it is primarily very important to us that we want to unite with our work and our ideology. We preach universal love which for us should take precedence over cultural, sexual and social questions and answers or interpretations of these. In the sense of: Let's reunite, rejoice to be alive.

I am a bit confused!?
Simon: we all are.

There are many elements of different styles of music and influences of diverse
Cultures in your music: how would you describe your music? Is there a suitable one
Genre for you guys?

Simon: Hmm. We call our music shamanic hip hop. But that's not quite true. We only work very little with classic hip hop elements. It's more of a playground for all kinds of music and influences that are ready to play with us. Most likely, however, very beat-heavy folk would apply to our music, electro folk would also fit. I would even describe it as trendy now and then. But we don't want to commit or limit ourselves and take the music as it comes. I would like UFO Pop in itself too.

What's up with your lyrics? At first glance, they seem childishly naive, but then overwhelm you with disturbing topics.

Nico: I love to write. For me, the lyrics are mostly created with the aim of wrapping difficult things in nursery rhymes. The formality of the texts can vary greatly. Sometimes I write in German, sometimes in Spanish, then again in English. Translating from one language into the other creates completely new, unpredictable expressions. There are moments when I write texts and only afterwards decipher what the meaning is. I also like to let Simon's visions
Drawings inspire.

Simon: Google Translate.
both laugh

What about the future? Any plans, projects ahead?

Simon: At the moment we are already working on an EP with four new songs belonging to the Ghostmother era. Our second album is also as good as it can be. We're also working on getting Ghostmother on stage. This includes both writing the music for the stage and creating a visual concept. It's all very new and exciting to us. To a new adventure!

LINK TO ALBUM:

https://lamarei.bandcamp.com/releases

https://open.spotify.com/album/5s5HDJwJN8VpP5Gqf4CPx8?si=cLw080FESlaEVxKC4_-hZQ

Interview by Lea Farbstein, January 2020.

Chris Jones

Chris Jones

CEO - Mixing and mastering engineer. Has been running Peak Studios since 2006 and is the first online service provider for audio services. More about Chris

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