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Lucrecia Dalt

May 3, 2018

With her surrealist experimentations, Colombian musician Lucrecia Dalt draws from a vast wealth of artistic and philosophical influences: from New German Cinema and artificial intelligence to the politics of listening and technological ideas of the future.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. I’m a mobile folded consciousness that has learned how to operate machines and develop expression through it.

How has living in Berlin affected your music? In Berlin, I’ve been exposed to a great deal of professional and interpersonal stimuli that is unusual from where I come from and that affects deeply everything I do.

How long have you lived in Berlin and what brought you there? Five years. I came here after feeling stuck professionally in Barcelona. I followed a spontaneous impulse, packed a few boxes and came here without any other plan than pursuing my music project.

What kinds of things are influencing your music right now? Productive lies, flexible and multiple identities, telluric forces, inexplicable elements, irreversible entanglements, self-induced limerence, abstract romance, mobile and static alienations.

What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on? I have started to gather the first intuitions for a new album. Working on a new installation to be presented at the C3A museum in Spain with Regina de Miguel. Learning strategies to becoming a better performer. Learning German.

How did your interest in music begin? It began with the input I was receiving at home, my mother was a record collector and she was playing music all day.  The earliest memory I have is of this song which was played on repeat on hidden speakers around the house. Apparently, I loved hearing that piece on repeat.

What other musicians are you interested in right now? Heiner Goebbels, Ramzi, Mike Kitcher, Adam Asnan, Andrew Pekler, Henry Andersen, Adi Gelbart, JD Zazie, Jan Jelinek, Don The Tiger, Francesco Cavaliere, Melanie Velarde, Beatrice Dillon, Laurent Fairon, Ruth White, Aaron Dilloway, Matana Roberts, Jerusalem In My Heart, Momus, Phew

What do you want a listener to walk away with after hearing your music? A sense of confusion, mild pleasure, abstract emotionality.

What’s your absolute favorite place in the city/the world to be? Difficult to point out one, outside of the city I like places that feel tellurically charged, like Meteora, Monte Naranco, Dune du Pilat, Montserrat. I also feel great somewhere in a terrace, in a table, in a chair, glass in hand, wine inside of it, friend afront, discussion put forward.

What is one of the bigger challenges you and/or other musicians are struggling with these days and how do you see it developing? I notice a lack of narrative in many contemporary (electronic/abstract/dance etc.) acts I see live, which give preference to instant seductive strategies that are a simple byproduct of the possibilities of technology. I honestly don’t see much development on this, unfortunately, for example, the classic format: inexpressive dude, purposelessness visuals behind and/or a tacky light design, put together with a superficial coherence, seems to still be a well accepted and comfortable formula.

I also wish musicians were less isolated in their purely musical realms and would open up to interdisciplinary work.  I really think it’s the only way to be propositive but especially responsible for the history and advancements made in other fields.

What was the last show you went to that stuck out to you? Sky Walking showcase at Meakusma Festival in 2017. Yeah You at Otannenbaum in Berlin in 2017.

What is your snack/beverage of choice when recording? Lately, actually just nothing, water, some tea, coffee I suppose, I used to work on highly altered wine states but that has ceased for the last couple of years. It comes and goes.

What do you do when you’re not working on music? Sewing clothes, I’ve been sewing since I was five years old, I really like going to the Turkish market to buy fabric, come back home, make patterns, cut, sew, while I listen to interviews or podcasts. It’s so rewarding and relaxing. I almost only wear pants I have made myself. Other activities include reading, watching movies, cooking and a newly discovered delicacy: orange wine.