Music

Brainlove Festival: Väljasõit Rohelisse

Luke Morgan Britton | Saturday 26 May, 2012 10:31

Last of the featured band interviews from this weekend’s Brainlove Festival is Estonia’s Väljasõit Rohelisse. Make sure you head down to The Windmill in Brixton today, with music starting from 2pm, to catch the band, soak up the sun, have a bit of free BBQ and generally have a drink and listen to some fine, fine music.

To get you warmed up, this is what Väljasõit Rohelisse had to say about themselves.

Could you introduce yourselves?
We are an amateur affair. One-chord ceremony with swamp blues, surf and krautrock tinges and Estonian echoes. Named after the sci-fi novel “Roadside Picnic” by Soviet writers, Strugatsky brothers. Picture an echo-chamber filled with smoke. An off-duty shaman having a mushroom salad and a glass of absinthe. Cheap crystal carafes, inverted glances, glittering tambourines and oscillating tremolos spread the infinite drone all around the town.

For people who haven’t seen you live before, what can they expect?
Thick veils of smoke, green lights, white shirts, black shirts, white dress or black dress, tons of echoes and reverbs, glittering tambourines and shamanic beats, some awkward dance moves (if you’re lucky), five different personalities playing a mind ping-pong with each-other.

Are you familiar with the Brainlove Festival?
We haven’t played nor been there before. But we’re really looking forward to it.

What are you looking forward to most about it?
Old windmill and barking dogs; lazy atmosphere; nice chats about weird music, books, food, sailing, films, alcoholic beverages, art, computer games; latest gossip; people’s reaction to Estonian language; a lot of great sounds to nod your head to.

Looking at the line-up, who are you excited about seeing live?
We played with Mat Riviere and Napoleon IIIrd at Tallinn Music Week and these guys were really great, so we’re looking forward to see them again live. Also Female Band and Octagon Court sound exciting.

How do you find festivals in general? Do you prefer smaller venue shows?
The thing with festivals is that there are always really tight time limits for sound checks and getting on and off the stage. As we are just amateurs and using quite a lot of cheap electronics and effects, we are always short on time. So it’s fair to say that we prefer smaller venue shows time wise and also because of the intimate feeling and being closer to audience (and each-other on the stage).

Do you enjoy the prospect of people that necessarily aren’t that familiar with your music getting the chance to stumble upon you?
It’s always wonderful to get this kind of positive feedback from people who haven’t heard us before. The feeling that you can surprise people with your creation is one of the best that’s out there.

Could you tell us a little bit about the track you chose to give away as a free download?
It’s called “Pea on pilvedes” (Head in the clouds) and it reflects quite well what we’re about – one-chord drone with glittering tambourine, tons of echoes and reverbs, sinister bass and synth lines and distant vocals with a touch of melodrama. It’s recorded live in our rehearsal space with just one take on portable Zoom recorder. All the instruments and vocal together. It paints a hazy picture of introvert tripping in the spheres of one’s mind. In a darkened room, where you never climb higher in the name of ambition. With a touch of erotic closeness.

What do your band have going on at the moment? Anything you’re working on or forthcoming releases in the works?
Performing at Brainlove Festival is actually a part of our record “gastroll”. A mini-tour to present our first official release, a 10-inch EP “Külastus”. It’s released by Estonian label Onesense Music and will be also lovingly released and distributed in UK with the help of Brainlove Records (thanks, John at Brainlove and Helen at TMW!) Our gastroll also takes us to Moscow on the 19th of May. And of course couple of shows in Estonia. New songs keep popping up all the time, so may-be later in autumn we’ll record some new material also.

Brainlove Festival takes place at Brixton’s Windmill today (26th May).

Tickets & Lineup Info at: www.brainloverecords.com/festival.

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