In balance between pop and unpredictability, Marina Herlop tells us about “Pripyat”

Freshly published proof which brought her to the always excellent Berlin label PAN, Marina Herlop he is on the third job of a never banal musical career in cataloging and which still seems to have a lot to say.

After a debut, Nanook (2016) which had put her under the radar of the specialized press with a set of songs for voice and piano to work on the boundaries of song form and a second disc – Babasha (2018) – confirmation, the last job Pripyat it represents a fair step forward both in terms of production and composition. It is precisely by deepening this test that we had the opportunity to contact her – via zoom – in her home in Barcelona.

Pripyat is a record in which you approach a more electronic compositional and production method than in the past: did this help you to add complexity or to express in a different way what in the first records was instead articulated through more elaborate melodies?

On the first two records the only instruments I used were the piano and my voice: and yes, the possibilities were endless. Now, with the computer – and this means synths, pads, midi and so on – it is as if there were infinity multiplied. It is no longer just a matter of melodies and harmonizations or rhythms, but there are textures, percussion, percussion with (in turn) different textures. I can decide whether to leave certain colors, certain tools or not … Of course, at the beginning it was a bit overwhelming, but, taken the hand, a lot of fun

How did you come to this new method, to this dimension?

It was actually quite natural: during the recordings of the previous album (Babasha, ndA) I collaborated with a producer and, simply, standing next to him and seeing what he was doing on the computer, I realized that it wasn’t really that complicated. At least, the basics aren’t that hard. I had this idea that it was something like “black magic” … but no. So almost without realizing it I learned the rudiments. Having already learned to layer more instruments, in addition to the voice, has allowed me to create new landscapes, new sounds

Well I bet that the “academic” preparation also gave you a hand. I have read that you are very meticulous …

Yes, I think this perfectionism is one of my best qualities as a musician – and at the same time one of the worst. Because it can really become a weapon and make you do great things but, at the same time, it can limit you and ruin the creative process. Something that threatens to sink you, to make you stop looking at things indefinitely. When I started making music, I didn’t have a clear idea of ​​what I was doing, yet it didn’t seem to work to my ears. Why, unlike what happens at school [Marina è laureata al conservatorio di Badalona, ndA], where they teach you something, you learn it and then repeat it in the exams, now I was learning in another way. I had problems and had to solve them: and in this way I find that what I learn remains more in my head.

Marina Herlop, press photo (2022)

This is a somewhat bizarre question: it seems to me that in your music you try, yes, not to be banal and to surprise the listener; but also not to fall into a stereotypical image of yourself. How difficult is it to reconcile the two?

Okay, wait, so it’s one thing not to be predictable, and the other…?

Not be too unpredictable!

Yes, therefore, I see it as if it were a river, indeed, a road that is narrow on the one hand from being too pop, or too obvious – and I don’t like this, because I find it uninteresting – and on the other hand exasperating dissonance, experimentalism just for the sake of it… I don’t like that too. So the space between these two, let’s call them that, is quite narrow and it’s not always easy for me to find a balance. I don’t always succeed, but that is my goal. There must also be a spontaneity of course, and it can’t be all planned, it doesn’t even depend on your desires at times …

It also depends on the problems you have to face, as you said before …

Exactly! For example, while I was composing this record, on the computer, every now and then some errors, glitches or smudges occurred, and listening to them every now and then I happened to say “damn, beautiful! This is there, I’ll leave it! “. And I would never have thought of it! It is something that came out randomly, the result of chance …

We were talking about contrasts, in a sense. And I think that even from an imaginary point of view, in the cover of this record, there are familiar elements along with strange, bizarre details. I think this is pretty much in line with your music. What about this cover?

So, there is actually no particular story. It was an image that I liked, I saw it somewhere on the internet and I said: let’s use this! We bought the rights and voila. Actually, I still have to get used to having to deal with this “aesthetic” side of my profession… Maybe it’s because I think more about music on my own. But then when you have to choose a cover I become super meticulous and nothing suits me! And the same happens with outfits and with everything that is not purely music.

And where does the title, Pripyat, come from?

I chose it a long time ago, I heard a friend of mine who was watching a TV series about this city and I found it a very beautiful, fascinating name. And so he has nothing to do with historical or political issues. Then I discovered something more about the city and at that point I found it even more interesting, mysterious

In the end, maybe it’s similar to the process you told me about to choose the cover; you find “things” around and then these find themselves vibrating and resonating with what you do …

Yes, with the cover it also happened that with this snail-woman I realized that I was very similar also because it was a very long and slow process; but at the same time it has its own majesty, its own certainty in which, only once the record is finished, I reflected myself

Do you think your music has something to do with spirituality? Whatever it means to you

Yes, I really think so. At least for me as a musician. I realized that through music I can somehow see or testify that there is something beyond, more, that is invisible … I think that anyone who is creating something, concentrates and focuses on a work of genius, a at some point you are estranged from the world. It’s like walking through a door, and what’s behind it is something “bigger”. Sometimes I think about why I make music, also because it can be very frustrating, and I really feel a kind of duty: for me this feeling has a lot to do with a kind of spirituality. When I write and produce a record I feel a bit like a hermit or a sensei, let’s say: I push myself out of the world, as if there was something that leads me to create, even if in terms of usefulness the music seems to have nothing.

Marina Herlop will be on stage at the Lost Music Festival on June 18, before a short break from touring during which he plans to go home briefly and “turn on the air conditioner to finish producing new songs and new music”. We are waiting for it live and, at this point, also in a recorded version.

In balance between pop and unpredictability, Marina Herlop tells us about “Pripyat” – Articles – HEARLISTEN