Saying Goodbye with Minilogue

Photo courtesy of Kotaro Manabe

Minilogue's performance this past Saturday was both a first and last for the duo—their first time playing in Toronto, and their last time playing as Minilogue. The Swedish legends came to bid farewell to an almost fifteen-year stint under the moniker at the AVANT_MUTEK and Breakandenter show at 99 Sudbury, with Martin Fazekas warming up the room before their four hour live set. For the last night of their six-show closing tour, they pulled out all the stops. We squeezed in half an hour with them to hear about how presence is the key to a stellar performance.

THUMP: You release albums quite infrequently—tell us about your process when it comes to developing an album?

Sebastian: It's very interesting, we haven't released many albums, and each album has been the fruit of the whole process that has been going on between us over a period of time. It was six years between Animals and Blomma—and it really reflected how we had changed, we became more spontaneous, we started to improvise more, and it was kind of a release with the album. After the Animals album, we split our studio. We had to split studios or stop making music together—we had a studio together, we had a company together, it was a bit much. And then after this past album, we had to seperate ourselves even more. I feel like each album has been the result of an era in our creative life together, very natural products.

Did this influence your decision to stop working together as Minilogue? Was the decision a long time coming or relatively recent?

S: The thing is, you get older, you have all these gigs, you have an established name, you kind of come to a situation which gets a bit too cosy. It's tough to leave that. But we realized that it's better we get some fresh air. It started with not taking too many gigs together, and then it started to feel good like that. At first I wasn't sure that it was so important to me to go solo or work with other people, but then when we started it was like ah, this is important. At the time of the decision we had already started to plan the tour, so we were wondering whether we should cancel it, but we decided to go ahead.

How did your time apart before this tour affect your performances?

Marcus: Over the past three months so much has happened—the decision to separate, and actually be separated, you begin to see what you miss, where else you have to develop—this made me more compassionate about myself, and also towards Sebastian. After we took these three months apart we were more open and honest with each other. We were able to say "yes I like this, no I don't like this," more easily and without hurting one another's feelings. Being on stage is all about being in the moment, expressing in the moment, and if your energy is stuck, it is very difficult to do that. Since we've had this break its been easier to talk to each other, so on stage we are far more free.

S: Definitely, best tour so far.

You've developed a set-up when you play that allows you to interact with the audience, and remove yourself from a laptop screen. Why is this so important to you?

S: I know that when I get a little nervous or insecure on stage, or I'm not sure where I am, if there is a screen I kind of escape into it—I no longer have to be in front of the people, I am in front of the screen, I can hide. But when it's out of sight, I can't escape from the moment of insecurity or nervousness I am experiencing, I have to find a way through it rather than around it.

M: The screen sucks my energy away. I prefer to use the things you can touch, things which trigger my thoughts. I feel myself losing the connection with the crowd and my overall awareness of the vibe of the room when I look at the screen, it takes me out of the moment.

What are some underrated pieces of hardware you think producers should get their hands on?

M: [Laughs] I don't even want to mention them, I almost want to keep them for myself! No, I'm only kidding…but for me, the more basic it is, the fewer knobs, the more fun I have with it.

S: Well actually, I think it's good to keep things like that for yourself. I know how easily I lose track of what I should be doing because I'm looking at what someone else is doing. And if you say "Oh, this one piece of hardware is essential for everyone," everyone goes out to buy it. But it's really only essential for me personally, because it is part of my creative flow. I think it is very important before recommending anything to say that it is more important to find what is essential for you as the artist, rather than what's good for everyone. It's like health trends—people jump on them without thinking first which one makes them feel the best. Creativity in the studio is the same—you have to learn for yourself what improves your own work the most.

How much of what you play is influenced by the evening and the audience, and how much do you already have in your head?

M: On this tour, everytime we get to the venue we check out what it looks like. Then we sit down and discuss what we think the vibe is like, and choose the first, say, three tracks depending on what we decide. But what comes later, we don't already know. That's up to the crowd and their reaction.

S: I think over the years we've developed two different ways of playing. One side of us really loves spontaneity, and express in the moment, and on the other side, we have noticed certain things that we know works—that creates the possibility of presence, both for us on stage and for the audience.

How long has it taken you to become so good at reading the audience?

M: I think we're still learning. It's been an ongoing development. The more present I am, the more I can rest in myself without playing any other role, the easier it gets for me to have a birdseye view of the crowd and what's going on in the room. But if I lose myself, I lose the crowd and the connection. That's why we say to each other when we play, "Hey, are you here?"  We have to remind ourselves to come back to the moment.

S: Sometimes I feel that I am not strong enough to feel the crowd. Sometimes if the crowd is restless, I am restless myself, I am not really confident in myself, and I look to the crowd for confirmation. And then I lose myself entirely, because they are feeding off our energy. But if I look to the music instead, I don't care about the crowd, I don't try to force it, and then I begin to become present again. Then the crowd follows.

M: You can't look for confirmation from the crowd, but instead take direction from their energy. All this is a continuous learning process, for us and for everyone else.

What's the most important part of a set for you?

M: I believe in the ritual of music. We humans have been dancing to music since the beginning of time, we need to dance, it's inside of us, and this way of techno and club music, I feel it is the modern way of expressing the ritual. Maybe that's why we take it so seriously, this ritual, the meditations and the focus on being present and inside of yourself all the time. Because if you can do that, it makes a solid foundation for the people coming to be able to express themselves through dance, to let go of all this bullshit society we deal with—it's healing, for everyone involved.