Out of her home in Kiev, Ukraine, Sasha Cats (a.k.a. protoU), a promising young creative voice in the dark ambient scene and the latest addition to Cryo Chamber’s extensive artist roster, talks about her musical background, influence and of course Earth Songs—the new collaborative work with Dronny Darko.
What lured you to the dark ambient realms and for how long have you been experimenting with these sounds?
Sasha :: I always knew that there is a lot of unexplored music in the world and I was looking for those pieces that magically take the listener to his/her own world. A person I love showed me that there’s something beyond and led me to the drone world. Dark ambient not just takes you to different places but also rules your mind, telling it what to do, fills your blood and gets to each cell of your body. And now it’s been almost two years since I wrote my first drone piece.
Tell us about the making of Earth Songs, the creative process and flow with Dronny Darko in the studio and outdoors.
Sasha :: Me and Dronny Darko are involved in music flow for a very long time and when we first met my interest in creating sounds was increased because of his support and guidance. We have started Earth Songs like a year ago and the creative process since then included our own field recordings in any place we’ve been: a bus, lake, sea, forest, airport. We used those recordings and combined them in the live jams. Almost all the tracks on the album were recorded live at home with our instruments. We create all the time and have a lot of different projects and it is so great to be involved in music especially with the person you love.
It has been mentioned that you’re a trained violinist and choir vocalist. Did it come in handy during the making of the album?
Sasha :: For sure. When I was little I was so angry at my mom for making me attend music school for 8 years but after that I understood that music is the best thing you can connect your life with. When we were making the album it really came in handy. I added vocals and keys to some of the tracks. Just now I brought my old violin to our home and we will use it in the future also.
What did you and Darko want to achieve with Earth Songs musically?
Sasha :: We actually wanted the listener to feel what we feel. This special communication with nature and true love for it. We wanted it to be melodic and show all the sides of life on earth.
It has also been mentioned that you’re a music addict since early childhood. Tell us a bit about your musical influences, from the earliest to the latest.
Sasha :: When I was a child we had a lot of old soviet and foreign vinyl and those were my first passion. Led Zeppelin, Queen, Pink Floyd influenced me first. Then it came to a very interesting ethnic band Deep Forest that showed me how much I love the ethnic aspect in the music. I really am a music addict and it includes a lot of styles so it will take a lot of paragraphs to write all artists. I would say that in drone ambient music the greatest influences are from Red Fog, Mattias Grassow, Steve Roach and Dronny Darko of course.
Should we expect a solo album from you soon?
Sasha :: Now I learn and experiment with different concepts, and I think that in the future the world will see my solo album as well.
Earth Songs is available on Cryo Chamber.
