‘&’ is the stunning new album and collaborative debut project between Grammy-nominated Argentinian cellist, composer and producer Sebastian Plano and award-nominated Dutch cellist, composer and producer Maarten Vos. A remarkable seven-track opus combining neo-classical, modern composition with ambient soundscapes and vanguard electronica, Plano and Vos’s expert fusion of cutting-edge production techniques with contemporary musicianship shines through across the exceptional long-player, as the newly formed duo deliver a beautiful catalogue of diverse, thought-provoking records into one truly impressive and timeless collection.
As two musical pioneers who specialise in merging classical instrumentation with electronic sonics, Sebastian Plano and Maarten Vos clearly have something in common. After fortuitously meeting each other at a music festival back in 2015, they were inspired by the idea of pairing their approaches to create something new and unique. Sure enough, a year after their first meeting, the pair would spend a marathon week of improvisations at Plano’s studio in Berlin, which resulted in over sixty hours of arrangements and recordings. Finally trimmed down to an LP-length collaborative record after almost four years, the weeklong burst of improvised music has led to an exquisite new body of work that almost transcends genres; an album replete with rich, emotive cello duos, complex, counter-posed piano melodies and a subtle array of complimentary analogue synthesizers and forward-thinking studio techniques. We had the pleasure of sitting down with Sebastian and Maarten to find out more…
Photo by Nino Halm
Hi guys, great to have you with us today at DMC World and thank you for taking the time out of your schedules to speak with us.
It is our pleasure, thank you for having us.
To start off, do you mind both introducing yourselves?
We start with the common ground which is that we are both cellists, composers and producers, we both have a classical music background and we both left behind black suits and conductors.
Maarten: I am a Dutch classically trained cellist, composer and producer known as much for my exploratory approach to the cello as my work with the modular synthesizer. I make music under my own name and also released a few collaborations. I compose for contemporary dance, film, digital audiovisual projects and have a recording studio as well.
Seb: I was born in Argentina and left to study music abroad when I was 17 years old. After living and studying in Italy, Boston and San Francisco, I relocated to Berlin where I’m currently based and have my recording studio. I have released three solo albums, the last title ‘VERVE’ got a nomination at the 62nd Grammy Awards in 2019. I also write music for films and videogames.
Where are you each based at the moment and how has the year been for you so far, given the global situation?
Seb is based in Berlin, and Maarten in the Netherlands and Berlin but eventually moving his studio to Berlin as well, given the current situation the plan is a bit on hold.
The global situation did affect us with so many cancellation of concerts and programmed work that we had, however we both focused being productive on our solo works but also we planned the release campaign for our record “&”.
When did you each start composing / playing / producing, and what / who were your early influences?
Seb: I started playing cello at age 7 and writing music when I was 12. I was born and raised by a family of musicians so all I heard was classical music up until my eight birthday’s gift from my dad which was a cassette tape by Vangelis, then a fascination for electronic sounds started right away. Years later I left home when I was 17 years old to study music abroad living in Italy, Boston and San Francisco.
Maarten: With both parents being classical musicians I started playing the cello when 5 years old. Later on I finished classical cello and a master in electronic music at the conservatory. There I had my first encounter with music production and composing my own work. Early influences were contemporary classical composers like Alfred Schnittke, Morton Feldman and Steve Reich and also listened a lot to Aphex Twin and other electronic music artists like Ryuchi Sakamoto & Alva Noto.
How did you meet?
We meet at the Dutch music festival called Cross Linx, where we were both playing shows back in 2015.
Talk to us about the concept behind your upcoming new album ‘&’…
We were interested in bringing a concept in which each track creates a theme by the relation of two elements. The center piece is “One & One”, being rather literal and representing sort of the sameness in respect to our musical upbringings; we both play the cello as our main instrument coming from a classical music background and both are working with electronic instruments.
The album bridges the gap between neo-classical composition, avant garde electronica and modern production techniques. What are some of the main artistic challenges in combining such different styles of music?
We were not minding or speaking on genres during the week we were improvising, the challenge was faced after which was making a record from about 60 hours of improvisations. We think that the cross genre of the record is what gives its character.
Tell us about your studio(s) and where the record was made. What were the criteria when setting it up and how does this environment influence the creative process?
The record was done at Seb’s studio in Berlin. We had several different instruments such as two pianos, two cellos and different electronic devices and effects.
We were experimenting a lot processing all acoustic sounds electronically, mostly with our own Max/MSP effects. We had approximately 60 hours of recordings that later on Seb trimmed down editing and arranging all into 7 tracks. Sharing many musical aspects in common we were curious to see where that improvisation journey would take us, not knowing where it could go was surely inspiring.
Collaborations can take on many forms. What roles did you each play in your approach and what were your preferred ways of engaging with each other for this project?
We were both improvising with all of the instruments we had. Most often Seb would sit to improvise at the pianos while Maarten would be processing its sound electronically in realtime with various effects. We were doing several improvs with two cellos as well. After the week of improvisations Seb started editing the approx. 60 hours of improvisations and making the 7 arrangements which finally ended up in the record.
Once things have settled down and live music events start to return, would you consider touring together?
The project was meant to be a one-off, without the plan to play it live, but surely we are open to the idea.
Leaving ‘work’ aside, what sort of music do you like to listen to in your spare time? Any favourite artists you can share?
Maarten: Bach, Gorecki, Tim Hecker, Julianna Barwick, Alessandro Cortini to name a few.
Seb: Isao Tomita for Friday, Hiroshi Suzuki for Saturday and Art Pepper for Sunday
Thank you for speaking with us today guys. We wish you all the best for the album release and for the rest of the year.
Thank you a lot, likewise best wishes to you and all the readers out there!
Sebastian Plano & Maarten Vos – & is out now
