Interview with tangent mek
As some of the followers and the readers of my blog know, I have reviewed ''Immutable Traveler'' by tangent mek some not long time ago. I took a liberty to interview three lovely members of the trio about their music and creative process behind it.
anouck genthon | violin
anna-kaisa meklin | viola da gamba
marina tantanozi | transverse flutes, voice
1. In almost every musician's creative life, there is a moment that is and will be remembered as a kind of turning point, when they move toward a realm where they can express themselves. An inspiration that makes you think: maybe I'll try and do this. What was that like for you?
In our album Immutable Traveler, we decided to turn towards composition through our shared practice of improvisation. This decision emerged from a long process of exploration—indeed, something of a turning point for us. While we did not intend to leave the world of improvised music behind, we felt the need to focus more closely both on specific musical material as well as on broader concepts connected to our individual and collective memories. From there, we began to reflect more consciously on the kind of music we wanted to create: how to allow it to emerge, how to shape a form that feels authentic to us, how to define it, and ultimately how to bring it to life in performance.
3. You are active soloists, each of you and collaborate with other artists – how did that begin, and what lies ahead for you? How did it come to create the current project - tangent mek?
We are all part of the Insub Meta Orchestra, an experimental music group which is based in Geneva. After travelling and performing together with the ensemble in St. Petersburg in 2018, we decided to form this trio, Tangent Mek. The decision grew not only out of our musical collaboration, but also from the strong personal connection we developed during that time. For all of us, it is essential to feel comfortable with the people we work with—to share not only music, but life as well. This sense of mutual understanding and trust naturally extends into our artistic practice and continues to shape the direction of our work together.
4. What are your inspirations in terms of style and creative process in your own work? Both within and outside of music.
Our inspirations are closely connected to certain ways of being in the world rather than to fixed stylistic references. Three notions that often inform our creative process are daydreaming, listening and visual compositions.
Daydreaming, for me, is a state of openness in which ideas can emerge without being immediately directed or judged. It allows associations to form freely, often leading to unexpected connections that later find their way into musical decisions.
Listening is at the core of everything. It is both a musical and a broader perceptual practice, an active way of relating to sound, to others and to space. It informs how I respond in real time, how I shape sound and how I remain attentive to what is unfolding rather than imposing a fixed direction.
Images also play an important role, not only in a purely visual sense, but as inner impressions or impressions of atmosphere, texture and movement. These images can guide the imagination of sound, suggesting qualities such as density, brightness, fragility or flow, which then translate into musical choices.
Together, these elements shape a creative approach based on openness, attentiveness and the gradual emergence of form through perception and interaction, rather than through predetermined structures.
6. Where is the line between your own prose and the theory behind what you do and your academic pursuits? How does your academic background influence your artistic practice? What and who has influenced you at different stages of your life?
All three of us have pursued extensive studies across a range of fields, including musicology, ethnomusicology, early music, improvisation, Deep Listening, gender studies, and religious studies. This diverse and multifaceted background informs our work in subtle but significant ways.
At the same time, we come from three different European countries—Finland, France, and Greece—whose cultural contexts are not necessarily close to one another. This diversity has proven deeply enriching for our collaboration.
It is not always easy to pinpoint exactly how these layers of knowledge and experience shape our practice as a trio, but they are present in how we listen and how we communicate, both musically and verbally. And very often, when revisiting older recordings, we can trace and recognize particular influences — whether theoretical frameworks, traditions, specific artists, or other sources that have marked different stages of our development as a trio.
7. How do you feel about the ever-changing world of music distribution? How difficult is it for you to promote your own music these days?
Essentially, it's still all about connections and communication. However, things are changing a lot and becoming increasingly polarised. You can listen to almost anything online. Many people say that you don't need physical albums anymore, and people don't have CD players etc. anymore either. However, in this context, it was almost more important for us than before to have a physical release of our music. Having the product in our hands and being able to sell it was still essential and a good way of getting in touch with people after concerts. As producing a physical album has become something special, we wanted to invest in the design. This makes the CD an artwork in itself. We were very happy to collaborate with Elisa Ostertag and Lea Chemarin from the label Ligne de Crête, who created the beautiful artwork. Our decision to release our album in collaboration with three different labels is also part of our promotional strategy; it helps us to expand our network. Streaming culture is a whole other chapter. It's a very unfair system if you're not a “big name” — and even then, it's not great. It could be interesting to organise ourselves in a more independent way and not use platforms that invest in war technologies, for instance. However, this would require a great deal of work, networking and solidarity between musicians.
8. Plans for the future?
We are now looking to take the next step as a group by working more closely with a sound engineer. Following our recording experience with Benjamin Maumus on Immutable Traveler, we realised that our music contains a wide range of subtle details and sonic qualities that can only fully emerge and be heard through careful and refined amplification.
For our future projects we aim to develop an ongoing collaboration with a sound engineer and to further explore this approach to nuanced amplification. We would also like to tour together, allowing us to maintain a consistent and distinctive sound across different venues.
https://cartonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/immutable-traveler
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