Joel Krozer and Brian Della Valle are Fluqx. The Copenhagen duo conjures fantastic soundscapes paired with punchy lyrics. We talked with them about their debut album “Monolith” which will be out on 6th March, inspirations for writing a new song and where they see themselves in a few years.
Tell us a bit about your musical path and the way you got in touch with your love for making music for the first time in your life?
Brian: I started playing guitar at a young age, mostly heavy metal and punk, and sang in a church choir. Music was all around in my upbringing.
Joel: Making music was a natural continuation of listening through my dads records when I was a kid. Most of the music he was into was quite sound focused, mainly punk, new wave and reggae where production is in focus. This made me curious about how these sounds were created and getting my hands on Cubase 2 (digital audio workstation) at the age of 14 gave me a lot of the tools to get my hands dirty.
Your debut album is called “Monolith”. Which one of the songs is your most personal one?
Joel: To me ‘Feather’ feels most personal, maybe because it is the most recent composition on the record. The chords resonate with a feeling I was having at the time, an uplifting meloncholy.
Brian: ‘Carvings’ is rather personal for me at the moment. It captured, for the most part, what I wanted to say.
“Most of the songs on this record were inspired by visuals.”
Who of you is actually responsible for writing the lyrics?
Brian
The greatest inspirations for writing a new song are…
Joel: Most of the songs on this record were inspired by visuals. I was taking a lot of photos at the time and travelling through South America. The photographs inspired concrete ideas for songs.
Joel, you also have a passion for photography. Do you have a professional art background?
Nope. Though I’ve been interested in it for years. Film and painting were actually my passions before music.
I know this is a big chapter, but what are your thoughts on “social media”. How much is it a gain to you as an artist but also as a person in everyday life?
Joel: Personally: We both use news feed eradicators and Brian’s phone is set to grayscale. Certainly, there is inspiration to be found, for example in following other artists. Maybe if posting was a little less frequent, it would bring a little more value to checking out what’s going on.
Life without music would be…?
Brian: Joel would be a painter
Joel: Brian would be a professional hockey player
Nevertheless not knowing, where would you like to see yourself in a few years?
Brian: Looking at a stack of photos from Joel’s travels, imagining how he’ll turn it in to sound.
Joel: Releasing a second Fluqx album would be in the cards.
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images by Ed Gumuchian
