Kurl an indie pop trio from Ukraine released their EP this summer and spoke to Melody about all things music, how they started and so much more.
Hey guys! Thank you for answering my questions, how are you?
Arsenii: Very fine, thanks for talking to us! How are you?
Langusta: Actually we are pretty much depressed, but thank you for your interest!
Olena: Hey!
How did you guys become a band?
Arsenii: All three of us are close friends outside of being in a band together (me and Langusta knew each other since teenage years, and me and Olena are married), which kind of logically leads to doing some creative project together, although that has its ups and downs. Downside is, it’s mixing professional with personal, and in theory, I’m always for being friends with one group of people and doing something serious together with another. Upside, from where I’m looking at is, it’s always fun being together for us, and even in the long hiatus period between our first EP and the second we constantly continued our Kurl group chat conversation, just talking about random stuff, sharing jokes and, in Langusta’s case, new improvised beats and musical ideas.
Langusta: To make it clear — for years we live in different cities, so we are no band in general, more like a studio project. I mean, we never had rehearsals or jams or anything like that. It was just that idea that every one of us is to make one thing he or she is interested in — so I am just twisting knobs and faders on vintage boxes, Arsenii is composing vocals, Olena is writing lyrics and singing it. This works sometimes, sometimes it does not.
What got you guys involved with music in the first place?
Olena: Arsenii and Langusta had this teenage punk band Cat Inside, which I knew even before meeting them, so they were involved with music long before we got to know each other. I guess Langusta heard me singing at one of the home karaoke parties we used to throw and asked me to sing to some of the beats he was making at that time. Then Arsenii, who has a real fine ear for melody and composition, stepped up, and that’s how Kurl started.
Langusta: Yea, I was always a big fan of Olena’s voice cause it’s so mellow and jazzy even when she just talks, and it reminded me of Stereolab, which we both love. So my initial idea of Kurl was to combine her vocals with my loops and grooves and see what happens. By that time I was all about guitar pedals and was just starting to dive deeper into sampling and hip hop production.
How would you describe your sound?
Langusta: I prefer working on 90s–00s samplers and grooveboxes. That was the time when electronic music was taking over everything, so big companies like Korg and Roland were challenging to achieve better sound or fx or interface — even in their cheapest units. I just love (sometimes weird!) gear concepts of that epoch. And — yeah, I embrace the imperfections and artifacts that the old machines give to the sound. I understand it is kind of a trendy thing, this lo-fi tape hiss nostalgia and everything, but I clearly see the point in that hype: computers by default are just too sterile sounding... And they give you endless editing possibilities, it is just too overwhelming for a non-professional musician. Sorry, I forgot what the question was... Oh, about our sound: Kurl is crunchy and dusty, and you can hear bits of field recordings sometimes. Lots of sampling, of course: old school breakbeats, cinema, 30s jazz, bossa, some Sly Stone, even Soviet pop. And I sampled my own instruments as well: piano, guitars, synths, percussion. I like the audio being overcompressed, so it has no “air” and feels creepy close to the listener.
You’ve just released your newest EP Fickle which is incredible! What was the inspiration behind it?
Olena: In our press release, I wrote that it’s about small events that life is made of, day to day chores and little epiphanies, something like that. But I think this can be said about pretty much any record: the whole life behind it is an inspiration.
The funniest and the least life-connected song on it is Minute Creatures which was inspired by some crazy marketing text on insects I edited (I work as an editor). I don’t even remember what type of insect that was, but they were called ‘pesky devils’ and ‘vampires’, and things like that. I read it to Arsenii, and he wrote the whole story about some mystic creatures that live in the bed of the protagonist’s grandmother and drive her crazy.
Langusta: Thanks, glad you like it! For me, Fickle is kind of a dark record. It is more “pop” sounding than the first one and the cover is funny, but deep inside these 6 tracks are about trying to find joy and kindness in a sort of a grim environment. That is just the way I see it and I may be wrong. I was trying to mix it properly for too long to see any fun in it, haha!
The lyrics are either in Russian, Ukrainian, or English. How do you determine what language you’ll sing the song in?
Olena: As I am the least musical person in the band, for me the whole songwriting process starts with lyrics. I often write down words I like, catchy phrases from books, something I hear in the street, etc. They can be in any of these languages, and they often give the first impulse to the song.
Many people in Ukraine listen to American and British music and, being inspired by it, start to write songs in broken English. At the same time, Ukrainian for many people is this sacred traditional language used for folk songs only, so it’s sort of a challenge for Ukrainian musicians to tell about today’s life and their personal feelings in Ukrainian. I don't know if it’s heard on Fickle, but Ukrainian is very melodic as it is. And Russian is much more stiff and concrete, which I think can make a beautiful contrast if you sing softly (I do that on Ледники, which is Russian for ‘Glaciers’).
Arsenii: Being younger and very inspired by the Western culture, me and Langusta were writing lyrics for our band Cat Inside in English only (to be precise, some kind of Pijin English, no pun intended). After becoming more mature (hopefully), it came as a revelation that singing words in the same language we use in everyday life — and for us now it’s Ukrainian and Russian in similar proportion — actually makes more sense. But we are still stuck with listening to lots of American and British music and, therefore, sometimes “thinking” in English. I think, unlike in our earlier projects, we got closer to actually translating our thoughts and feelings and not doing impressions of someone else’s lyrics on Fickle, and I’m really proud of our music lyric-wise.
What was the writing and creative process like when creating the EP?
Arsenii: As I mentioned before, in our endless messenger conversation for three there are tons and tons of beats Langusta improvised and shared with us. One day, me and Olena just started re-listening to them and singing over them, and this is how Fickle was born.
What bands/artists inspired you guys during this process the most?
Langusta: My main influences on this project are 90s hip hop, neo-soul, all things Stones Throw and Brainfeeder are doing all these years. Lately I am more into African and Jamaican stuff, Brazil is also amazingly rich in terms of beautiful grooves! Also I listen to every trip hop record I find, cause I treat it like “my culture”. From childhood to where I am now all these things meant a lot to me: graffiti, skateboarding, tape records, CDs, punk rock, video games, hanging out in some stupid place in the street, you know? All of this I try to incorporate into the grooves I make.
Do you follow a type of formula when creating/writing songs?
Arsenii: With songwriting, it’s all very intuitive. We probably follow some formulas unconsciously, from the music that we listen to, but it’s very hard for me to deduct that.
Langusta: Usually I make some loop that I like, kind of a basic beat, and I send it to the guys, and they write some vocal melodies over it (complaining about not having enough chord changes). They record a demo and then I develop some structure and maybe add some pieces, something like that. I am not sure this system is perfect (I feel we dumped lots of great songs and beats because of it), but we have what we have.
When writing do you guys write lyrics first, or do you start with the music first?
Olena: It’s a kind of a parallel process. Langusta makes new beats from time to time, and I usually have something written down. Arsenii is our driving force, I guess, as he often took some loops from Langusta, asked me if I had some lyrics and came up with the vocal melody. He also writes lyrics, Minute Creatures and Тихо are mostly his songs from start to finish.
When writing songs, are you more inspired by day to day life, or interpersonal relationships?
Olena: Both, I guess, although I think the day to day part prevails, as my meditation on relationships is often a part of it.
Was creating Fickle any different from your previous work?
Arsenii: I think that is already answered above, we matured as musicians (at least I hope so). I know I’m better now as a lyricist, and Olena’s singing certainly reached new heights. As for Langusta, he’s so consistently good throughout all his musical career it’s scary.
Does being from Ukraine inspire you guys as musicians at all?
Arsenii: I think it does, in a weird way. We face millions of problems daily, living in a poor country, at war with its aggressive neighbour etc., yet our society is very dynamic and our culture is blooming precisely because there’s a lot of protest energy or strong inspiration from everyday struggles. I wouldn’t want to change that for a quiet bourgeois life in a “first world country”; what would I do there, eat and watch TV every evening? No, thanks!
With your guys music it’s all about beats, and composing rather than guitar etc. How do you go about creating a song?
Arsenii: I compose with an acoustic guitar actually, but then Langusta throws my chords out of the mix and leaves only things he deems worthy. I don’t mind. I got my minute of fame with finger-picking and murmuring a melody at the beginning of Про повітря; that’s what our songs look like at embryonic stage.
What’s your favorite song you’ve written on Fickle?
Olena: Тихо is probably my favourite, although it’s the song I took the least part in creating. It’s about these serene moments that happen as little stops in-between everyday humdrums, and reading the news, and feeling helpless and emotionally drained.
Arsenii: My favourite is Minute Creatures, which I consider to be our (poor man’s) A Day in the Life: pessimistic choruses from me, hooky bridge (“When you leave the city…”) written by Olena, some deep rhythms from Langusta to hold together, and some climactic samples as a kind of a crescendo.
Who would you say inspires you guys the most?
Langusta: Let’s see... Lon Chaney, John Lurie, Mike Mignola.
Olena: Marcel Proust and medieval saints, and monks of all kinds, and no, this is not a joke.
In music, you don’t hear much about Ukrainian bands etc much. For people who want to take a listen, which bands/artists would you recommend?
Olena: Oh yes, that’s true. Being a musician in Ukraine is tough: there aren’t too many people interested in music, and those who are, usually are content with some second-rate Imagine Dragons wannabes aggressively promoted by the media. Still, there are many great acts in the Ukrainian indie scene. To name a few, Mandarinaduck and Milktuth make guitar-driven jangly dream pop, Shadazz are a post-industrial glitchy pop act, Chillera make one of a kind mix of dub and surf and krautrock, and Bad News From Cosmos are the adepts of elegant indietronica.
Last year, I made a list of my favorite Ukrainian releases, which soon has grown into a blog, and will probably make one this year again so you’re welcome to check it out. The blog is in Ukrainian only, so I’m not going to share it. And there’s also my Soundcloud page with monthly Ukrainian playlists.
Arsenii: It never hurts to check our the classics, so copy-paste the name “Шедеври Української Естради” to listen to some glorious Ukrainian Soviet-era folk-pop-rock — it’s on Spotify and all.
Words by Melody
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