Interview: Aidan Baker

There exist a few musicians within our sphere of 'out there' music who have an extraordinary ability to produce music in both quantity and quality....those blessed individuals whose drive and output is matched only by the calibre of their recordings. One such is Aidan Baker who when he isn't creating some sublime ambient doom with his partner (in music and life) Leah Buckareff in Nadja is getting krauty with Caudal (their latest album, 'Fight, Cry, Fight' was a recent release on Drone Rock and this is what I had to say about it)..add to this the myriad of solo and collaborative projects, taking in an equally expansive range of styles, and you have one very busy man. He could be seen as alternative renaissance man...a leftfield Leonardo if you will. He very kindly took some time out to answer some questions...and if you like what you read then check out the various Bandcamp pages.

Nadja Bandcamp

Caudal Bandcamp

Aidan Baker Bandcamp

Broken Spine Productions Bandcamp

"Hi Aidan, many thanks for taking the time to do this as, judging by your prodigious output, you a very busy man! It's difficult to know where to start as your music projects are as varied as they are numerous. Does your output reflect a deepset creative urge...the need to translate ideas into action?

Simply - yes. Less simply - I suppose it is something of a need to externalize the interior. I always have a lot of songs and sounds and fragments of melodies, or whatever, going through my head and while I personally don't think that's a bad thing, it does feel necessary to get them out and, ideally, share them with others. Sometimes that action is more instinctual or automatic, sometimes it is more concrete or intellectualized - so, one could say it is sometimes translating ideas into action, other times it's translating emotion...

If we can start with Nadja. It was initially a solo project with Leah coming on board a couple of years later...was it difficult to move from solo to a duo without obviously changing the music?

It wasn't especially difficult, no. The 'sonic identity' of the project was already in place. So, if anything, the project only improved when Leah joined, as it automatically expanded our pallet and brought a second set of ears and another perspective to how and what I had previously been creating alone. And certainly performing live, which wasn't really possible when the project was just me, changed and improved the project, giving it opportunity to grow and evolve, both in terms of the music and in terms of exposure.

Even within Nadja's discography there is a range of styles and sounds from the deliciously heavy that makes Sunn O))) seem like kaoraoke kings (the intro to 'Jornado Del Muerto' on 'Excision'...wow!!) to warm and cocooning shoegaze fuzz via megalithic post-rock and all points between. Do you have a plan when recording an album or is it an organic process and you just go where the music takes you?

It depends on the project - sometimes it's an entirely organic process. Other times we have a very specific idea of what we want to do, whether sonically or structurally or just aesthetically. But, in both instances, our techniques and methods are such that the process of playing and recording informs the direction of the song or album, so there is always an organic element.



How do the dynamics work in Nadja....working, recording and touring as a couple?

A big challenge of being a musician is finding compatible people with whom to share time and space and creativity and especially on tour. Who better than one's life partner to travel and create with, then? I know that notion probably seems weird to a lot of people, but it makes to us.

I was lucky enough to catch Nadja live in London a couple of years ago and it was a deeply immersive experience. The emphasis, from my own standpoint, was most definitely on being connected to the music on an almost emotional level but I remember others in the audience being somewhat bemused by the lack of 'action' on stage....is this something you hear often and does it infuriate/disappoint you?

We've certainly heard that comment a lot in the past. Perhaps this lack of action is a bit more expected of us or known these days, as it doesn't come up quite as much as it used to. That said, in the last few years we have been deliberately attempting to remove ourselves from the performance, so to speak, reducing the lights or showing projections, such that we're less of a visual focal point and it's more about experiencing and being enveloped by the sound. I wouldn't say this kind of response is disappointing, exactly, since I don't want to dictate how people should experience our music or what they might be getting out of it, but it does still surprise me when it I hear it...

I gather you live in Berlin as a Canadian ex-pat. Berlin is a city that has a long musical heritage and somewhat synonymous with leftfield and experimental music. Has this re-location been reflected in your music (in its many guises). Is there a creative difference between Canada and Berlin?

I would be making music regardless of where I live, so there's not really any creative difference, per se, between Toronto and Berlin. The difference is more in terms of opportunity - I am able to perform and tour so much more in Europe than in Canada. Which isn't necessarily about a higher appreciate of art and culture in Europe (though perhaps partially - maybe more so in comparison to America), but more about population density. There are lots of great musicians and appreciative listeners in Canada, but thinking proportionally, Germany has a population almost three times that of Canada's in a much smaller area, which means there are that many more places to play and people to play to.

The Caudal project is another fave of mine, particularly the last album 'Fight, Cry, Fight' . It has a distinct 'krautrock' flavour ...is this a 'nod' to your current place of residence or has krautrock always been on your radar?

I was a fan of krautrock before moving to Berlin...but I guess I have gotten into it more since moving here. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with geographical proximity or if it's simply because I've come appreciate it more at this point in my life.



Literature and the written word are important to you I'm guessing....you have written several books of prose poetry and I've also always assumed that the name Nadja comes from the Andre Breton surrealist novel. Does literature influence your music in any way?

Yes, certainly. Again it depends on the nature of the project - some albums very specifically take inspiration from literary sources (Radiance of Shadows, Invisible Cities, for example), while with others it's more abstract. The name Nadja does in part come from the Breton novel, but also from Almereyda's vampire movie of the same name and it's my first name spelt backwards. Which, in my mind, correlates to the themes of identity and persona in Breton's novel.

We would be here forever if we were to deal with all your solo projects but suffice it to say that they are many and varied. Many of them have been collaborations with other artists. How do these normally work...in these days of mps/wavs etc does it make collaborations easier?

I have done a lot of collaborations via file sharing, yes, but in recent years I have attempted to avoid that and focus on doing collaborative work in person. Playing together in the same room is almost always more satisfying, both personally and on an artistic level, and another advantage to living in Berlin, since a lot of people pass through or spend time in this city. That said, a lot of my online collaborations have been quite satisfying - it really depends on the individual in question and their methodology and how it synchs with mine.

Is it you that approaches other artists with whom you work or do they contact you...or a bit of both?

Both. I get a lot of people writing me with requests, more than I could possibly take on, so it really depends on how much I like what they're doing and the circumstances of the collaboration.

One of my favourites is 'Noplace' that you made with Thor Harris and Simon Goff, an absolutely sublime record...how did that particular project come about?

Simon and I are both based in Berlin and had both played with Thor in other projects, but the three of us had never all played together. So, we found a time when Thor was coming to town with his band and got together in the studio for a few hours in the afternoon and played - quite simple and spontaneous, really. Then we all played together again that evening as part of the Thor & Friends ensemble -- which set was very different than the sessions which resulted in Noplace, but was also a lot of fun.



A lot, if not the majority, of your records have been drone based whether it be electronic, guitar or loops...what is it about drone that you find so musically attractive?

I think a big part of my appreciation of drone came from my initial training in classical flute, which is very dependent on other people, whether playing with an accompanist or part of an orchestra or ensemble. Of course, I don't completely eschew playing with groups, but the lack of opportunity or viability of playing flute solo I found frustrating, particularly when I was younger and attempting to establish an artistic identity. So turning to guitar, using loop-technology, and incorporating elements of drone allowed me to play and perform by myself. That isn't to suggest that drone is just a practicality, though - I've always appreciated the universality of drones, the possibility they offer of a shared sense of space and time, whether on the individual or the collective level.

The one album that really surprised me was 'Already Drowning' ....very much a song-cycle. Is this a format you will revisit....lyrical songs rather than instrumentals?

Already Drowning isn't the only song-oriented or non-instrumental work in my catalogue, although it is unique in that each track features a different vocalist. Delirious Things, with Shield Patterns' Claire Brentnall as a guest vocalist, might be closest in spirit to Already Drowning (and also released on Gizeh Records), but is much more synth- and cold-wave oriented. The sort of shoegaze/post-rock/sadcore style of the songs on Already Something is something I've listened to and appreciated for a long time as a fan of bands like Red House Painters, Codeine, or Low, and I do find myself coming back to it now and then...

What artists/records have been an influence on your work?

Aside from the afore-mentioned, here are a few artists I consider influential: Big Black, Swans, Nick Cave, Stina Nordenstam, Godflesh (Justin Broadrick), Khanate (James Plotkin), Neurosis, Bill Frisell, Legendary Pink Dots, PJ Harvey, Circle, Sonic Youth...I could go on.

Looking at some of the people with whom you have already worked, the list reads like a who's who of leftfield / outre music (Edward Ka-Spel, Thor Harris, Tim Hecker, Troum...the list goes on)....is there anyone with whom you would really like to work?

There are lots of people I'd like to work with...I suppose playing with Caspar Brötzmann is still something I'd like to do, but I don't know if it will happen...or Bill Frisell? That might be just as unlikely.

The world has changed a great deal since you started at the turn of the century......the rise of streaming services, a resurgence of vinyl, social media making the world a smaller and smaller place...have these hindered or helped you or do they not register on your consciousness ?

I wouldn't say social media and internet connectivity are a hindrance, but certainly they have changed the way people think about, consume, and appreciate music. Not always for the better, since attention spans seems to have significantly decreased, and the amount of music out there now can be overwhelming - but the ease of discovering new music and hunting down older, more obscure music (whether physically or digitally) is something I appreciate. When I first started making ambient/experimental music, the internet and the ability to communicate with likeminded people around the world - and yes, file-sharing - definitely helped the spread of my music. Likewise, the increased level of connectivity has made touring so much easier than it used to be. Now, I can't say I'm especially fond of social media, but using it is a reality for a non-mainstream, largely DIY musician like myself.

What's on the horizon...any new Nadja work to look forward to?

We do have a new Nadja album coming out in September on LP our own label, Broken Spine, and CD in Japan with Daymare Recordings. It's entitled Sonnborner and mixes our usual ambient doom with neo-classical (with guest string players Julia Kent, Simon Goff, and Agathe Max) and what we've termed 'grindgaze' - shorter, faster but still atmospheric songs, as we did on our EP Tangled a few years ago. Caudal will be releasing an EP Let's All Take The Yellow Pills in the fall with Kapitän Platte - this was previously only available as a limited tour CD, but this will be a vinyl release. I don't have anything lined up at the moment for solo releases, although I have a few collaborative projects in the works...

Do you have any more UK gigs lined up?

Not at the moment. The UK isn't the easiest place for us tour, particularly considering that we need work permits to go there (unlike the rest of Europe - not to mention that Canada's part of the British Commonwealth!), so we don't perform there especially often.