what is your name?
Magdalena Solis.
how would you describe what you do?
We make music for people who allow their minds to travel to places it has never been. For ourselves, the experience should be the same. We do lots of jam sessions and record them and then let them sleep for a couple of weeks. When we listen again and think ‘did WE make this? stunning!’, then we know it’s alright. Full details on how we create our sounds can be found on www.reverbworship.com/first.html by the way.
what are you currently working on?
We have just released our first EP ‘Lady of the Wild Things’ on Reverb Worship. So we’re still a bit busy with that. Meanwhile we are thinking of ways to make our project survive and find gigs, which is not easy at the moment. Later this year we hope to finish the raw material we have for our first full album release. We are also working on a new videoclip.
what has had the greatest influence on your work?
The sixties + pre-Christian cultures.
what is the greatest misconception about you or your work?
Sometimes people describe our music as ‘dark’. We don’t agree. We mean to express light and liberation. Some freakin’ madness and mayhem too must admit, but in a positive way. Depress or annoy people is really the last thing we wanna do. We don’t believe in negative provocation or the odd endless complaining and whining about everything that is wrong in this world. We want to provoke in a way that makes people feel free. Jean Paul Sartre said: ‘L’enfer c’est les autres.’ The guy was wrong. It is when you ALLOW that ‘evil old world’ to condition your mind. We hope we can make people feel like they can create their own reality, and care as less as possible about ‘the real world’.
what do you see as the main strengths and weaknesses of the medium you work in?
Medium we work in….music in general you mean? I see only strength in music. I can’t possible imagine any weaknesses. It has an amazing revolutionary power, if well used. Well, the only weakness is that many bands make music that puts people to sleep. They do not trigger anything in people’s minds. Bands that make such music will be more and more ignored in the years to come, I believe. Strange seeds have been sown.
how has technology impacted upon the work you do?
Technology itself has no actual impact on our work. It’s the other way around. I like to see technology as a harem of slaves who do whatever you want haha! We use it, that’s all. The mac makes it possible to work with sounds and instruments that normally would cost you thousands of euros. But that’s about it. It simply makes music more democratic. But technology can never be more than just a helping hand. Creativity is what counts. Without that you’re lost.
what’s the greatest piece of advice you would like to pass on?
Whenever we try to ‘do things right’ it goes awfully wrong. Just let loose, that’s the only thing we can say. But everyone has to find his own way and there is no such thing as ‘good advice’ when it comes to art. I can’t remember the last time I actually listened to people who gave me advice.
where can we find you online?
Music on www.myspace.com/magdalenasolis. Videoclips on www.youtube.com/magdalenasolis. Our EP ‘Lady of the Wild Things’ is available for purchase on Reverb Worship (www.reverbworship.com).
what are you reading at the moment?
Last book I read was ‘Into the Bermuda Triangle’ by Gian Quasar. Full of fascinating and mindblowing stuff. Now I ordered a copy of ‘The Cosmic Serpent’ by Jeremy Narby and very much looking forward to that one.
what are you listening to at the moment?
‘Dreamways of the Mystic’ by Bobby BeauSoleil. ‘Time Like Lakes’ by Living Room. Oh and Amon Duül’s ‘Yeti’ is an album we practically put every day. Our favourite contemporary band are The Gruntled (www.myspace.com/the_gruntled). They have invented a new kind of psychedelic music in my opinion.
anything else we should know?
It all started as a movie project. We were creating sounds for a screenplay I’d written and Magdalena Solis was just a ‘happy accident’ really. But we haven’t given up our movie plans and hope to turn the screenplay into a 90min psychedelic movie one day.