Second Amendment… Constitutes a darn good listenin’

Interview: Pinkunoizu

Published on May 29th, 2013 | Jonny Abrams

Rocksucker was left quite spellbound by Second Amendment”, the new EP from Copenhagen experimentalists Pinkunoizu, so we fired some questions over to them to find out if this release is indicative of a second full-length album on the horizon…

Do Pinkunoizu tracks tend to result more from improvisation or more from actually sitting down and working it all out? Or is it a bit of both?

We tend to mix both ways of composing. Usually we have a brief idea of a skeleton consisting of lyrics, a sound, a way of thinking a form, a rhythmical pattern etc.; we work around this via improvisation, filling in all the meat needed until we have a proper body, suitable for wandering out into the world.

The main idea is to create something adaptable to changes and new interpretations. Mostly there is some sort of essence in there that can be clad with different colours and motives. Record-wise, there is also a great deal of composing in the digital production on the computer.

There are many strange sounds floating in and out of your music. Do you use field recordings/found sounds? If so, what kind of things feature on the new EP that we might not be able to guess?

Many of the sounds on the EP are actually sounds we produced ourselves. It’s fun for us to manipulate and sample our own instruments and voices. That said we played back some cassette tapes from Morocco and Syria via different effects and put them back together again. Actually those are only featured on “Gospel Of John”.

We had been using dictaphone field recordings earlier on, which is also a nice way of bringing something from the outside world into the studio environment.

Will the tracks on Second Amendment feature on the new album? When do you think the new album might be released, and what can you tell us about it at this stage?

“Moped” and “Tin Can Valley” have actually snuck their way onto the next full-length album. We just finished it the other day and it is due to come out on August 5th. We mixed it ourselves and Noel Summerville, who mastered My Bloody Valentine’s new album, also did this one, and we’re really pleased with the sound of it. It’s all been a really quick process with this next full-length, so we’re still trying to grasp what we have actually done.

It’ll be nice for us to be able to sit down and listen to it once it has been released, not knowing every inch of the record; to be able to listen to it as if it’s actual music existing on a record that you can put on and listen to, instead of being comfortable and dead tired of all the elements. It’s going to be called The Drop and it can be perceived as one long fall through different plateaus that interconnect with each other in various ways.

You guys supporting Tunng should make for a great night of live music. Are you fans of theirs?

We have just recently been introduced to Tunng’s music, so it’s still a bit new for us. But what we heard sounds great and we are looking forward to playing with them and getting to know their music better.

Are you all still involved in other projects? If so, is there much activity to report, or are you all focused on Pinkunoizu for now?

All four of us play with other groups and projects. And for us it’s a great way of gathering inspiration and nurturing our various musical urges. A lot of what we encounter in those projects we benefit from in Pinkunoizu together. In Copenhagen there is an interesting tendency to collaborate across constellations these years. This gives birth to a lot of energetic, temporary music.

This summer you will play at the two largest festivals in Europe: Glastonbury and Roskilde. Will you have time to enjoy the festivals and watch other acts? If so, which acts are you looking forward to seeing?

Hopefully we’ll be able to stick around at those festivals. If so, we’re keen on hearing these acts play:

Glastonbury: Rokia Traoré, Public Image Ltd., Sergio Mendes, Public Enemy, Goat, Dinosaur Jr., The Child of Lov, Fuck Buttons and Nas.

Roskilde: Kraftwerk, Chealsy Light Moving, Meher & Sher Ali, El-P, Bombino, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Killer Mike, Synd og Skam and Laurel Halo.

Have you heard the new Os Mutantes album yet?

No!! Really looking forward to that. They have been highly inspiring to listen to for us.

Has there been any other music from this year that you’ve particularly enjoyed, or is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to?

Loads of both, really. Don’t feel like highlighting anything in particular.

Pinkunoizu, thank you.

The Second Amendment EP is out now on Full Time Hobby.

You can buy the Second Amendment EP on iTunes or on Amazon.

For more information, please visit the official Pinkunoizu website.

Artists: pinkunoizu

About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.