Sound Coalition: An Interview with Trio Not Trio

Over the past three years, collaborative releases have been crucial in the new music sphere.

Aidan Baker has been no stranger to forward-thinking ideas, influencing a generation of experimentalists on the back of his Nadja project. And while the Canadian Berlin-based artist has ventured through a mélange of era-defining sound portals in conjunction with pummeling his audiences through the Nadja lens, the Trio Not Trio series is debatably Baker’s finest hour.

Over five releases (of which four are already out there in the wilderness), the Trio Not Trio concept has seen Baker collaborate with artists from across the globe, unearthing some of the most underrated voices within the world of experimentation.

The series began at the beginning of May with, Yn Gyntaf, which saw Baker team up with Oneida’s John Colpitts and British, Berlin-based vocalist Stacy Taylor. Siguiente followed, featuring saxophonist Sofía Salvo and Rohan Rebeiro (My Disco) while the heavy hitting Trzecia saw Khanate’s Tim Wyskida and Pinkish Black’s Daron Beck enter the fray, delivering a beautiful series of hypno-sonics which caused sensory overload.

Last week saw the release of the equally excellent Yonbanme, as Baker aimed up alongside Japanese vocalist Ayami Suzuki, and U.K., Berlin-based drummer Tobias Humble (Ghost Poet/ Gang of Four). Suzuki has embarked on her own wonderful journey this year, with raft of releases both in a solo and collaborative capacity, which have featured American experimental guitarist Rob Noyes and Brazilian composer/ guitarist Carlos Ferreira.

Dark Passage: In Conversation with Nadja’s Aidan Baker

And while the fifth and final chapter in the Trio Not Trio series is set for a November release, it marks a worthy conclusion. Spearheaded by Melissa Guion – the brainchild of the enthralling MJ Guider – alongside German percussionist Jana Sotzko (Epiphany Now, Ex Best Friends et al), Baker orchestrates a fitting finale with a series of long-form nightscapes that cleanse the soul.

The only real surprise about the Trio Not Trio series is that more people aren’t talking about it. Baker has been on some run of form since the lockdown period, and coordinating this series is one of his greatest boons either side of the pandemic.

Like the project itself, I’m sure, it has taken a while to pull this feature together, with the past couple of months spent working out the best way to present it. A big thanks must go to Aidan Baker, who reached out to all the artists involved. Whilst not all have participated, along with Baker himself, Colpitts, Wyskida, Suzuki, Guion, Beck and Humble answered a series of questions via email about the ideas behind the project.

Furthermore, shortly after this interview took place in July, Daron Beck suffered a major health setback – our thoughts are with him during this difficult time.

As Daron continues to recover, he is unable to work/ tour, and a GoFundMe page has been set up in his support, which you can contribute to here.

Sun 13: While your creative endeavours have always been inspired by outside-the-box thinking, to me this is the most ambitious you’ve done. Had the idea of something as vast as this been fermenting for a while?

Aidan Baker. “Yes and no… I had been contemplating a live performance with multiple trios as a sort of installation work, either all playing at once or trading off sounds, in different spaces within a venue – which would be challenging enough to pull off in the first place, then COVID hit and playing live was not possible. So, I adapted this multiple trio concept to more of a recording project. I specifically wanted to combine in-person with file-sharing/ long-distance playing as a way of exploring those different techniques of making music – but also as something of an attempt to make up for the difficulties/ impossibilities of touring or performing live during and after the pandemic.”

S13: Did you have an initial plan on which artists would feature on which record, or was it a bit more sporadic than that?

AB: “A bit of both. There were a few artists I already had in mind that I wanted to work with, while others I approached more spontaneously/ sporadically. I did want to have a variety of instrumentation, though, so that was one thing I kept in mind while considering different musicians.”

S13: Before approaching each artist to feature throughout this series, did you know them personally, or was it a mixture of having played together in the past and admiration for their work?

AB: “I deliberately wanted to work with people that I had never played with before (and who had never played with each other). So, while I did already know a few of the players I asked personally, we had never played together. Those who I did not already know were people whose work I admired and was interested to see how they might contribute to the project. While I have done lots of improvisational recordings and performances before, the freshness and spontaneity of this project was something I was deliberately seeking, if only to maintain my own inspiration and enthusiasm about making music.”

S13: Were there any artists you reached out to who didn’t feature on these recordings?

AB: “There were a number of musicians whom I approached who were either simply not interested or expressed interest but did not have time to participate. Among the latter were artists like Chris Corsano, KMRU, Lucy Kruger, Katherina Ernst, and Kate Wright from Movietone – so perhaps we might end up collaborating in the future on some other project. That said, I had originally planned to just do three trio recordings, but as more people were interested than I had anticipated, the series ended up being five.”

S13: Were Gizeh Records on board with the idea straight away?

AB: “I was originally planning to release this series myself on Broken Spine and initially asked Rich [Knox] from Gizeh Records if he would be interested in printing the sleeves for me. As something of a perfect example of the adverse effects of Brexit on small, independent, UK labels and musicians, Gizeh had not been active as a label since 2021. But after discussing the project, Rich decided to take on production of the entire release, partially as a means of revitalising the label and trying to find a new path forward.”

S13: By collaborating with artists from all over the world, I think it feeds into the core idea of experimental music’s ‘no borders’ rule. Was this something you thought about?

AB: “Definitely!”

Sun 13: Aidan has been a vital core in experimental music so long now. Do you remember the first time he reached out to you about the possibility of this collaboration and what was your first thought?

John Colpitts: “Sure. It sounded like an exciting and intriguing opportunity. I had just had a baby but what Aidan proposed was totally doable within my new limits.”

Melissa Guion: “First thought was probably some kind of swear / affirmative combo. I’ve been a fan of Aidan’s music for many years and had recently been getting into the idea of doing more collaboration when he hit me up, so it was a no-brainer to say yes.”

Tobias Humble: “I honestly don’t remember when and/or how he reached out, but I remember thinking, as I often do when Aidan has asked me about working with him, yes.”

Daron Beck: “We have a mutual friend in Dana Schechter from Insect Ark/ Swans. She introduced us online a while back. I was appreciative being asked to contribute keyboards, as usually in collaborative situations, I’m asked to sing. I was more than happy to have an opportunity to be included in this project as a player rather than a singer, if that makes sense.”

Tim Wyskida: “Indeed. I’ve been listening to Aidan’s music since we met 20 years ago when I was touring with Khanate, and Nadja played with us in Montreal and Toronto. Aidan moved to Berlin many years ago and I’ve been living here the past year and a half. We’d been talking about recording music together since I arrived. When he asked me to be part of his Trio Not Trio project, I jumped on it, knowing we’d land on something interesting musically.”

Ayami Suzuki: “Yes, I remember. It was at the end of August last year when Aidan emailed me out of the blue. I had never spoken to Aidan before, and I was very surprised and happy because I like his music a lot.”

S13: Did you know that it was a collaboration between many artists spanning over multiple releases?

JC: “Yes.”

AS: “I didn’t know. I thought it was just a trio release with me, Aidan and Tobias. I was surprised when I heard the details of this project. I have been enjoying the releases so far, and I am excited for the upcoming releases. I feel honoured to be a part of this massive project.”

TH: “Again, without checking my emails, I would say I can’t really remember! I think so though…”

DB: “I had initially been told the scope of the work but wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting involved with. I’m a very open person, as far as creativity with others goes. I was just glad to be part of the whole project and am very excited about the end result.”

TW: “Yes but I knew few details.”

MG: “I believe he laid out the whole idea pretty clearly of there being multiple trios and albums.”

S13: While there is a lot of back and forth with most collaborations, I get the feeling that Aidan was a little more relaxed about this and gave you plenty of licence to follow your nose, so to speak. Was this the case?

MG: “Definitely, yeah. That seemed to be at the core of his concept. There were no ‘rules’ as the third on our collaboration, other than to take the original duo improv recordings and improvise over them in some way myself. It was very clear that I was free to proceed in whatever way felt right. He might have regretted giving me so much license when he got my contributions back.”

JC: “Aidan was perfect in this regard – which is the way I’ve been about collaboration. The more you interfere, the worse things get in my experience.”

TH: “Totally, it was very free. I very much let myself play that way.”

DB: “I was given free reign. I would have loved nothing more than to actually be in a room with Aidan and Tim to work these tracks out in person, but given the distance, this works just fine.”

TW: “Every aspect of the process was collaborative. Aidan set up mics and we started playing, without discussing direction. There was a chance we’d have a mediocre initial session, since we hadn’t played music together prior but fortunately the opposite was the case. The magic was there right out of the gate. A classic case of getting your conscious mind out of the way and letting your unconscious rule. The keyboard parts Daron added later greatly enhanced the mood.”

AS: “Yes, it was. Aidan sent me a sound file with recordings of Aidan and Tobias, and he let me add sounds to it at will. And even though it was difficult because of the number of tracks, Aidan mixed it and made sure the tracks were in the right place. I thought it was amazing how respectful he was towards his collaborators.”

S13: Do you think collaboration is vital for you to grow as a musician and is it an aspect that you currently seek out?

AS: “I think the act of listening to other people’s sounds and producing my own sounds in response is a fundamental form of communication. Through collaboration I learn aspects of others that I didn’t know about, aspects I didn’t know about myself and aspects you didn’t know about music. I spent a lot of time doing music alone, so the world that is created by playing with other people in collaboration is always really new to me, and I wonder, ‘What is this?’ I don’t know if I’m growing as a musician, but it deepens the mystery about music. I think that’s a good thing.”

JC: “I don’t really think of it in this way – but yes probably. It helps having someone you’re meeting on the other side of the pen. I just try to keep busy creating and collaboration is practical in this sense.”

TH: “I’ve found that collaboration constitutes the majority of my artistic output as a musician, so yes, I seek it out and to the former, I think all experience is valid, so I suppose it helps me grow too, yes.”

DB: “Pinkish Black, the band I play in, is totally collaborative. I feel, in a band you get a lot of the magic from collaboration. It’s the only way to find the unexpected. Since the pandemic, I as well as most musicians, have found ways to make music via internet. Still not my preferred method, but at least it’s an option.”

TW: “I don’t think it’s vital but it’s one way to grow as a musician. For many years I rarely went outside the core group of people from my main, ongoing groups but in recent years I’ve started looking to collaborate with others.”

MG: “Collaboration is something I’ve been craving more lately. I think this is in large part because I usually work in such an isolated way and collaboration forces me to modify my process, which can become rigid and tedious if I’m only working alone. It’s a mandatory reset that has absolutely proven vital to my growth as a musician. This collaboration, in particular, made me completely recalibrate how I use my ear and sense musical movement. Not having been in the same room as my collaborators but still being able to ‘read’ them in order to improvise was definitely a challenge. I really enjoyed feeling it out track by track and coming up with different approaches. I’ve been extremely fortunate to get to connect with musicians I really admire, like Aidan.

“Getting the opportunity to work with people whose music has impacted me – to have dialogue around combining your sound / style / skill to make a third thing completely outside of yourselves, even just the conversations that spark a collaboration or open up the possibility of collaborating in the future – those experiences are incredibly energising.”

S13: What are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what are your main motivations and inspirations?

JC: “I think at the moment it’s discipline – engaging with my instrument every day. Motivations are any kind of high-level performer or composer who does the same. I don’t have much spare time anymore now that I have a baby, so I grab what I can get. Johnny and Alice Coltrane and Elvin Jones are big inspirations but it’s a big list.”

TH: “This is something I honestly haven’t managed to nail down yet, as I feel I’m going to be on a constant journey with changes along the way. Some of the ideas behind my current approach would be, ‘order vs chaos’ and ‘improvisation within boundaries’. I’m motivated by some neurotic and endless desire to perform and improve, probably a deep-set insecurity of some sort! My inspiration comes from all over the place, musically, visually; multi-sensorily! It tends to be books and words that motivate me the most.”

DB: “I’m not sure it’s a shared feeling amongst any of my collaborators, but I don’t think about things like that. I started playing guitar when I was 10 years old and I’m still playing music. I like too much music to figure out any direct approach to what I’m doing.”

TW: “Generally, I try to achieve a balance between order and chaos. Ultra-orderly music leaves me feeling bored and purely chaotic music leaves me annoyed. I usually decide on a minimal core structure which leaves space for spontaneity. I’m more motivated and inspired by hearing music I’m working on getting better, than I am by outside sources, like other people’s creations. Of course, everything you experience, including outside sources inform what you ultimately express but I don’t focus on that much, to keep my music as pure as possible.”

MG: “The ultimate idea is always to make something I would want to listen to, and my main motivation is that I have to make music. Hopefully that doesn’t sound like I’ve created a miserable feedback loop of self-fulfillment, but I’m just not ever going to put music into the world that I don’t really enjoy hearing myself. And I have to give compulsion the top billing for motivation because it really is just absolutely necessary for me to make music. But I think in light of the subject at hand, I have to give a shout out to having fun as a motivator. For my solo music it’s not that it isn’t ever fun or that I don’t aim to have fun, but it can be heavy and stressful, and I can’t always expect to have fun. So, another reason I enjoy collaboration is that it’s a way to inject more fun into my music making life. Right now, I’m very inspired by my collaborators – past, present, future, and fantasy.

AS: “There is a world that connects through sound, and I make sound to connect with that world.”

S13: Does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life?

JC: “No. My music making and practice are probably better and more organised than my regular life outside of this.”

TH: “Probably! This is probably best judged by someone who knows me well enough in both areas!”

DB: “Thankfully, no. I walk my dog. I go to work. I write music on acid and sleep it off the next day and walk my dog and go to work. I’m not a method actor. I save that shit for the stage.”

MG: “Yeah, for sure. Both my approach to being in this world and my approach to making something to put into it are expressions of the same ideals. It’s not great for business but it works for me.”

AS: “Yes. My music is like a living diary, reflecting not only the emotions I felt at the time, but also who I am and the situation I am in. Whenever I re-listen to old music, it’s like looking into a mirror of the past.”

TW: “Seemingly. Order and chaos reign within the music I play and in my personal life.”

The Trio Not Trio series is out now via Gizeh Records. Purchase from the Gizah Records website here.