The Ivonne Van Cleef Orquesta (new release + interview)

After several collaborations with the Collectif, Ivonne Van Cleef comes back with an "Orchestra" version of four heads. Always captivating, the Argentinian project carries on with its musical experiments, in a vision of its own.

Ivonne Van Cleef, a rather enigmatic project, can you tell us more about it ?

IVC was born as an intimate, ultra-personal project with the only purpose of generating a log or collection of sounds, ideas, songs that otherwise would have ended up in the trash. As I have already done this before (and sometimes regretted it), one day I decided to start compiling it on a Bandcamp page and publish the productions of some period. The main idea was not only to make backups, but also to generate a routine that allows me to use real instruments, really improvise, record in one take and enjoy the contact with the instruments, effects and tools, a definitly analogical, concrete, tangible process, this is one of the main engines of the IVC production.

How to define the universe of IVC ?

IVC is located in a small town far from the urban center, almost in the countryside, in the middle of marshlands, rivers, gauchos and fishermen (the alluvial valley of the Paraná River). I think that all this culture influences the universe in which IVC is involved and could be summarized as rural psychedelia and all these related tags: dusty, outdoors, old tapes, cassettes, marshes, analog gear, simple drones, hypnotic, broken down, desert, western, folk, americana. After this first step of publications, we receive an invitation to co-organize a musical meeting and this is how IVC presents itself live for the first time, in a duo format, with an ambient set list, and without even being announced on the event's posters.
So different meetings and gigs took place and later on, a third member (a drummer) joined us, with whom we performed different gigs and published 2 live albums. Now we are 4, an orchestra : guitar, synths, drums, bass, studio rack and trumpet. Everyone has a defined role and instrument, that can be possibly changed, depending on tracks. At this point, we find ourselves with several realities, in principle IVC has the ability to present itself as a solo, duo, trio, orchestra and why not, one day a big band. The initial project, more personal and focused primarily on recording, is still alive and in constant production on a par with the work in orchestra format.

 

How was born and what was the process for this new album ?

This story is the starting point of the creation of this new album. It corresponds to recordings made by the orchestra in a live format : recorded live and mixed through an old Portastudio Tascam 424 cassette. For some tracks it was necessary to capture some overdub to reinforce some instruments lost in the recording of only 4 tracks, this was also done with a Portastudio (digital this time, tascam dp008ex) in an attempt to sustain the method and freshness of the recording in one take and without editing. The final mixdown was mastered at Woodbox Estudio in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina.

About the more creative than technical side, how did you proceed for the composition of this album (who brings what, how each one of you is involved, how did the ideas come...) ?

This album has a little bit of everything, some of the tracks were composed, improvised and recorded in the rehearsal room, with absolute freedom, while other ones were born from the individual project and were adapted, declined in different versions and interpreted freely by the orchestra. There is an original guiding idea which is formed from the free interpretation of the members and the use of the available instruments. In general the ideas are based on the solo project and worked on freely by the members to achieve a live performance and for each one to spontaneously contribute to this new composition.
I think there is a first idea, an initial thought, something like a path to follow which is transformed as the track is produced and even more when it is reinterpreted live. The technique is not alien to this process but rather an inseparable part of the creative process, by imposing limitations you necessarily have to adapt the idea so that it can be performed in a single shot, you cannot edit, etc... Those limits are sometimes the modeler of the idea, it seems to be restrictive but it actually also works as inspiration.

With the current health crisis, how things are going on in Argentina, and how do you organize yourselves with the members of the orchestra to continue making music ?

What is happening in my country is not different from other parts of the world. In particular the region where I live is at its highest point of contagion and continues on the path of growth. As I am writing this, a new record of deaths and infections is being announced in the country and especially in my region. This is really insane because a strict quarantine is already impossible due to the emotional wear and tear of people and that's why practically all activities continue their normal course with the unfortunate exception of artistic activities : bars, gyms, etc, are open while museums or theaters are closed. At the beginning of this year, the rehearsals were suspended because all movement of people was prohibited. Soon after this, the recording and rehearsal rooms were authorized to operate again and as our rehearsal room is located almost in the middle of a field it was possible to continue with our activity in a wide and semi-covered space, almost outside (the climate also allows it at this time of year) with a lot of respect for security measures such as distance, ventilated spaces, masks...

What are the main artists and albums that have inspired IVC's music ?

In front of this question you have to think that the path followed has to do with absolutely all the music that has accompanied me as long as I can remember. However, I think I can name a few: Morphine and Mark Sandman, El hazmereir (Laughing Stock) by Talk Talk, the works of Warren Ellis both in the Bad Seeds as in Dirty Three or as soloist, also the works of Friends Of Dean Martinez to which I could add psychedelic bands like Ramases, Love, Ultimate Spinach ... all this mixed with Argentine classics such as Atahualpa Yupanqui, Eduardo Falu or Los Fronterizos. Still I keep thinking of bands or projects like the instrumental albums of "Los Iracundos" and many others like that.

 What are your musical projetcs for the future, especially for 2021 ?

Today it is difficult or impossible for us to plan and imagine a future, the new pattern, which will be the outcome of this world history. The orchestra was talking about this topic the last time we rehearsed and the question we asked ourselves was: do we work for a live set considering that here (in South America) the summer season is about to start and cultural activities in the open air can be allowed or do we forget about this and start with new compositions? We chose the second option: working on new compositions, searching for sounds and improvisations that can be performed by the orchestra and making a live recording of this material although this time (perhaps to my regret) we would involve computer tools for the recording. I think this is a project already underway with a view to 2021. This path taken by the orchestra is parallel to the soloist work which will surely go on, because it is a constant personal need. We also got a reel-to-reel audio tape recorder (for free) that was saved from the trash. I still don't know how but I would like to include it in some future project. In our plans there's always travelling to play in different places of our country, it was our plan in 2020, it will still be in 2021 (although quite improbable) and maybe we will have to plan it thinking of 2022.

Link : https://eaglestone.bandcamp.com/album/listen-to-the-hiss-talk-to-the-dust