Incirrina ist eine Band aus Griechenland, die sich 2017 gegründet hat. Mit ihrem 80er-Sound, der durch ihre von Hall durchtränkten Stimmen begleitet wird, erschaffen Irini und George mysteriöse und dunkle Klanglandschaften mit stimmungsvoller Elektronik und hypnotische Rhythmen. Das neue Album Lip led scream wird am 19. August über Cold Transmission veröffentlicht. Die aktuelle Single „Careworn face“ und das dazugehörige Video geben einen Vorgeschmack auf das neue Material – wir sind sehr gespannt!

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Hallo Schwarzes Bayern people, thank you very much for having us in your webzine!

How did the project come into being? What made you decide to start Incirrina?
We had always been in love with synthesizers and had a dream to form a band based on them. We had been playing with many bands before meeting each other. After we met, we realized that it was the right time to make our dream come true. We shared the same passion for music and playing together was really a pleasure, so we decided to start Incirrina.

How did your band name come about, and what does it mean to you?
Names in general have to do with the sense/meaning – they are therefore very important for the essence and the imagery of what they represent. “Incirrina” is a kind of octopus. We are very fond of marine life and of strange creatures. We liked the sound of this name and also the symbolism of it – the octopus is a strong symbol of intelligence, grace, flexibility and moving agility, which is something a musician always needs.

Can you tell us a few things about the connection between you two and your journey into the music?
We are partners in life and in music. Shortly after we first met, we started living together and playing music together. We are both professional musicians and music teachers, we are dealing with various genres and aspects of music every day, but Incirrina for us is something very special. It represents the freedom to be really “ourselves”, to express our deepest emotions and musical ideas and to evolve our big passion for synthesizers and electronic instruments.

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If you had to describe your music in terms of not music … what would you say?
We feel that our music is like a movie made of sounds, where emotions are sometimes romantic and poetic, sometimes aggressive and angry, mostly dark and melancholic, but always trying to be true and deep.

What are you looking for in music?
Through music we wish to express our inner selves and share emotions and energy with other people. We really feel immense happiness when a person can be touched by our songs, and this is the most important thing in making music – creating a sound world and sharing it with other people. Metaphorically speaking, we aim to tune in with each other through music.

What are your first musical memories? When did you first fall in love with sound?
As far as George is concerned, at the age of four, he used to play drums with his mother’s kettles in the kitchen, then he heard a lady playing the piano at a Christmas party and he fell in love with the instrument and asked his parents for a keyboard. Irini also at the same age had neighbors who had a teenager son who was playing the piano, and she used to visit them and play. Then she was given as a present a little Casio keyboard – can still remember the red/green lights above the keys. We were both very fond of playing tunes by ear on our beloved keyboards – songs and melodies we would listen to on radio or on our parents’ vinyls, also we loved improvising and making our own little tunes.

Which person, artist or incident inspired you when you first started making music?
It is strange, when we first met, as we were discussing about music, we found out that we had exactly the same influences and beloved artists. The very first loves for both of us were Jean-Michel Jarre’s “Oxygene” & “The concerts in China” and Pink Floyd’s “The wall”. Later we were deeply inspired by bands such as B52, The Cure, Joy Division, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Siouxsie and the Banshees … to name just a few.

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What impact do your surroundings have on your art? Which sort of mood produces the best song?
We are much affected by what is happening around us, social and political issues, personal relationships, connection and contact with other people and the dynamics that occur – all these have a great impact on our thoughts and feelings and respectively on our music. However, we do not compose music trying to “depict” what we feel. This is something that happens unconsciously – and once it happens, we can recognize it. There is no special mood that brings out a good song, sometimes a tune we play when we are tired and almost ready to go to sleep can turn out to be super, also a riff made in a state of anger/agony can be very effective. In general, the best musical ideas occur when we are not “trying” or struggling for them.

Your second album „Lip led scream“ will be out in August. Can you tell us some things about the process of the creation of it? How does the birth of a new composition happen for you?
This album is really very important for us for two reasons; first because we collaborated with Konstantinos Londos, a very special person and poet, who wrote the lyrics and with whom we have the chance to be close friends. We chose to use his poems because he expresses with words exactly what we wanted to express with music. Then, because the ten songs featured in this album were created in a very hard period – not only due to the pandemic and the lockdowns, but also due to serious personal problems we encountered at that time. This album is very different in sound and emotions from our 1st album “8.15” – every single song was made with much passion, in very peculiar and hard circumstances. Yet in a state of rapture … hours of playing, and hours of conversations about the songs with Konstantinos, dozens of tears, and countless moments of ecstasy. The creation of this album was really a strong experience for us, and we are very happy that it will soon be out on Cold Transmission, a magnificent label run by two very special people, Suzy and Andy Hermann.

How does the visual aspect relate to and reflect your music?
The visual aspect has turned to be an important part of music. For our music videos we collaborate with people whose aesthetic we like and admire, like Gwgw Galanopoulou and Nikos Chantzis (“Press eject and give me the tape”). We love black and white, vague filming or “strange” stories where reality muddles with dream and fantasy. For the visual aspect of live shows we use some particular lamps which we also use in our home studio, because their light is inspiring and we love the atmosphere they create. We also feel the need to enrich our live shows, so we are now working on visuals/video to be used during them.

How would you describe the world you are trying to create during your performances?
We feel that each performance is like a journey in an invisible world with a fantastic airship among clouds of sounds and light/music rays. We would like to manage to share this feeling with the people who attend our performances. This is maybe hard, still we are doing our best to achive it …!

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What’s next for you? What are you most looking forward to?
We really can’t wait for our next live show in Cologne at Cold Transmission Festival 19th-20th August at the “Blue Shell”, where we will perform for the first time the songs of the album “Lip led scream”. We will share the stage with many great bands of the label, such as IAMTHESHADOW, Ultra Sunn, Iamnoone, MARK E MOON, The Ending Nights, and our dear friends, the Greek darkwave duo Grey Gallows. We are also looking forward to traveling and playing gigs, sharing music and vibrations. These years of pandemic and isolation made so clear to all of us that all we need apart from love and peace, is music – and art in general – being together and sharing – nothing more or less.

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