Photo credit: Jean Marc Eloy
Born and raised around the world, the Yarosslav brothers are the symbol of a family story creating its own boundaries. Composing indie electronic compositions, their musical expression is orchestrated by Viktor creating sophisticated grooves and Anton delivering mesmerising melodies. Synthesisers, guitar riffs, organic percussions mixed with dreamy vocal : a balance that represents their diverse influences ranging from electronic to more indie songs.The brother’s mantra: in between concert and electronic live set. They interpret their own productions on scene: ideas come as the environment changes, bringing the dance to another state.
We caught up with Yaroslavv to talk about their latest musical projects.
Electronic Groove: Hi, Anton & Viktor, we hope you are doing well and staying safe. Can you please tell us a bit about your thoughts on the current situation with the COVID-19 virus?
Yarosslav: Hello there, we’re doing good, thanks! We think coronavirus is a situation where you can’t forbid yourself from thinking about the future. So obviously we make plans and try to think out of the box. Now if you ask us what’s our viewpoint on the effect that it’ll have on society, we hope it’ll help people realize how great it is to be able to gather in parties and celebrate music together.
EG: Is this giving you more time to reflect and do other stuff aside from music, or are you more
driven into producing music?
Yarosslav: Both. Currently we’re living in the countryside. Therefore we’re doing new things that we couldn’t do in Paris. But at the same time, we’re doing a lot of music, experimenting with new sound design techniques, and strengthening our vision.
EG: How did you end doing music together? What’s the story behind Yarosslav?
Yarosslav: We’ve been doing music together since the beginning – as we’re brothers. But Yarosslav appeared to us as our new way to express ourselves after we acquired our first computers. We heard of Ableton and thought it could be a great way to make a 2-person band, and kind of worked out! In the beginning, started as a family affair learning with a machine and playing live, then we got deeper into producing and electronic music, but we really started as two musicians using technology to achieve something simple.
“Yarosslav appeared to us as our new way to express ourselves”
EG: What would you consider are your main musical influences? Can you name a few?
Yarosslav: Caribou, Bob Moses, Weval… Just to name a few!
EG: How would you describe your sound?
Yarosslav: Indie electronic/indie dance. Bringing the concert to the club, with a really good mix of
organic and electronic sounds.
EG: Any new release planned in the coming months?
Yarosslav: We just released the track ‘Ahead Of Time’ via Rituel Recordings. We’re very excited about it and the playlist that includes music from some Parisian producers that we really like. We have been working with the label for some years now, and we love how they push our scene into the Parisian landscape.
EG: What’s your live set up like? What was the highlight of the year before this break?
Yarosslav: Our setup is a mix of synthesizers, Nord stage, TR8, Moog Grandmother, and more traditional instruments like guitar, microphone and drum pads. We are currently in the process of rethinking the setup, to really use Ableton to express more creativity and do everything around improvisation rather than just “playing our tracks”.
A clear gig highlight this year would be the party in the Dominican Republic with Shaveurlegz, it was a really good one! We played along with Sabo.
“We just released the track ‘Ahead Of Time’ via Rituel Recordings. We’re very excited about it”
EG: Your single ‘Floating Away’ had a very positive welcome. What is your regular process of production when creating a track?
Yarosslav: Usually, we split the process into three parts. First, when it’s about composing a new song, we let ourselves free to do anything we like separately and then share with the other. Second, we meet in the studio and finalize the best tracks, the ones we really believe in. Third, we meet with our sound engineer and we work on the last arrangements.
EG: What would you like to achieve during the rest of the year?
Yarosslav: As mentioned before, we would really like to focus on the live performance, not only to make it interesting for the ones who are listening, but also for us. After playing a few gigs, we feel like we are getting in a comfort zone and we would like to introduce more excitement into the live. We are certain it will create something special, as we started very young by jamming and improvising with acoustic drums and an old looping pedal. We would like to go back to this original way of delivering our music.
Yarosslav’s ‘Ahead Of Time’ is now available. Stream and buy here.
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