Interview with NADJA
October 2010

** Interview conducted by Taylor
Questions answered by Nadja.

Nadja is a duo of Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff from Toronto, Canada creating what has been called "ambient doom" -- music that combines elements of metal, shoegazer, ambient, post-rock , experimental, and neo-classical. They have released numerous albums on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, The End Records, and Conspiracy Records and have toured extensively including appearances at such festivals as Roadburn, FIMAV, and SXSW.

TAYLOR: Thank you for your time. How is the tour going right now?

NADJA: We are just back from touring Australia and New Zealand -- which was interesting, but super-exhausting what with schedules and travelling and airplanes and jetlag...

TAYLOR: Nadja was originally started as an outlet for the heavier side of your music. What do you believe Nadja allows you to do that you other solo music doesn't?

NADJA: I can get loud and noisy with my solo music but with Nadja volume and noise are a specific part of the aesthetic - they're the tools which we use to create our sound while with my solo work, volume/noise are merely possible sounds I might incorporate into a larger spectrum of sound/technique. Which means Nadja is more limited, sonically, but working within those confines are part of the challenge...

 

TAYLOR: Do you ever do two sets between the different projects?

NADJA: Yes - I've often done a solo set leading into a Nadja set.

TAYLOR: The discography of the band is quite large considering you have only been creating music under the Nadja name since 2003. What do you believe is the drive behind the quickly expanding amount of material?

NADJA: Our music is largely improvised so it is relatively 'easy' for us to record. I think another aspect of our aesthetic is that tension or juxtaposition between improvisation and composition, form and chaos, so we often delve into sort of 'spontaneous composition'. We also tend to work on albums as a whole (as a concept or album-length composition) rather than individual songs.

 

TAYLOR: I like that a lot of your music is improvised. It fits well with the heavy-ambient style of music you play. What do you believe improvisation has over rehearsed set song structures and ideas?

Next Page