Pia Isa's latest album, Dissolve, delves into themes of disintegration and reconstruction, both on a personal level and in the broader context of global issues. The album is a testament to Isa's ability to channel complex emotions and experiences into her music. In this interview, Isa shares her journey, the evolution of her sound, and the collaborative efforts that shaped Dissolve.
"The songs were written at a time in my life where I experienced a lot of major changes and it kinda felt like everything seemed to fall apart or dissolve. In addition to that, the ongoing climate crisis which is just out of control, war breaking out in Europe, and fascism increasing all around also made me feel like things were falling apart on a bigger scale. I was also becoming more aware of the stressful way of life, on so many levels, so many of us are living and how more and more people seem to break down when they can’t handle it any longer. The words and melodies that came out of me at the time were definitely affected by a need to deal with all of this. Writing music and lyrics is very often venting for me and a way to figure things out and look for answers. I thought a lot about falling apart and what is left when you, or things, do, and how you can put things back together in a new way. Most if not all of the songs on the album are dealing with this in one way or another."
How does Dissolve differ from your debut solo album Distorted Chants and your EP Burning Time? In my perception, it seems a lot darker and more sorrowful than your previous efforts. Can you elaborate on this evolution in your sound and themes?
"I am not sure I feel the same way, but the songs are definitely carrying sadness surrounding loss, pain, confusion, and frustration. But I always want to and try to add hope and light in there. Or some kind of solution I guess, abstract as the solution might be. For me personally, just being able to think that 'Ok, I am falling apart. It is scary. But the pieces of me are still here. I can put them back together' is helpful and hopeful. I do think that adding my old dark sounding nylon guitar in the mix with the heavy and distorted guitars definitely gave the sound a darker feeling. I wanted the heaviness and darkness to represent the dissolvement and the brighter sounding guitars and vocal harmonies to represent hope, light, and dreams."
You collaborated again with Gary Arce, known for his work with Yawning Man and Fatso Jetson among others, and Ole Teigen of Superlynx and Dødheimsgard fame on this album. How did their contributions shape the sound of Dissolve?
"Like on the first album, me and Ole worked on the sound together and developed it further on this one. After working layer by layer with my guitar recordings, bass, and vocals, he played and recorded the drums without much instruction from me but knowing I wanted them heavy and simple. He had a good understanding of the sound I was after and was able to bring out the heaviness and fullness of the sound. I sent Gary the raw mixes and listening to the recordings he sent back felt like he had added exactly what was missing on the album. It really felt like the last piece of the puzzle, and everything came together so well. He has such a unique style and creates these amazingly beautiful melodies and harmonies like no one else. His playing and his sounds just lift each song and the entire album in such a beautiful way."
The title track "Dissolve" captures a mix of heavy sadness and hopefulness, ending with the line "Rethinking everything." Can you walk us through your creative process for this song and explain what message you hope listeners take away from it?
"Dissolve was the first song I wrote for the album, and it was one of those songs that just came out fast. It was like it opened a creative faucet or something for the rest of the songs to follow which they did pretty intensely. Like with most of my songs, I just sit and play and mess with ideas and when a song is starting to form, I record it super roughly on my phone or laptop. And then I start making a demo where I might record a few layers of guitar and work more on vocals, arrangements, and the kind of sound I want for the actual recording. Musically I wanted the song to catch a heavy sad feeling but also a lot of hopefulness. And I guess I hope listeners take a very universal but very true message from it, which is to not give up even though things are falling apart. It is going to be ok. If you fall apart, you still have the pieces and you can put them back together with time. It can be scary as hell and it won’t be the same, but you will get out on the other side of it and there is actually a good chance that things will be even better than they were before. Change can also bring opportunities and make you see things differently."
Your solo music blends heavy drones with dreamy, hopeful elements, whereas Superlynx explores a more psychedelic and stoner rock sound. How do you navigate these contrasting styles when creating songs for your different projects, and how do they influence each other?
"I guess I have just always been attracted to heavy,
patient, dreamy music and I guess that comes through in my own writing and
playing and what I bring to each project. I think the biggest difference in how
these two projects sound is that my solo project is just me creating and making
decisions and it sounds 100% like me, but in Superlynx I have been one of three
people with quite different musical influences writing and developing the
songs. For the last album, we jammed out all the songs together as opposed to
writing in a more traditional way. Superlynx is more a mix of different styles
and of three people that have to agree or compromise. I don’t think much about
what style a song is going to be when I write, I just write. And I guess I just
know it when a song is a solo project song."
"Next up for me is to focus on SoftSun, and we are
going to release our first album on Ripple Music later this year. We made an
album we really love and I am very excited about it. We also hope to play live
around the release and possibly do a little bit of touring."
No comments:
Post a Comment