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Dynamoe interview: Home is Where the Heart Is

Author: Shell Heaven Lee
Monday, August 21, 2006
At the core of Dynamoe, Scandinavia's premier electronic duo, are Giovanni Campagna and Dennis Lee. Collaborating with a number of additional musicians, Dynamoe produce music described as "leftfield downbeat tunes with strong jazz influences". The two met while signed individually to Hypnotic Records, a division of U.S. label Cleopatra better known as a goth label. Despite this tentative start, including a slight name change when it was discovered that a German group were already known as 'Dynamo', the chemistry was instantaneous and within a year they had signed their first record deal. Almost a decade later, and with a new album almost complete, TranZFusion caught up with the duo.

Congratulations on your #1 debut on the Australian ITunes Electronic chart and 50 on the main chart! Why do you think Australia in particular has been so receptive to your music-
Thanks. It seems like Australian's have good taste in music ;-) We had very good reviews from many different countries but being #1 on the Electronic chart on Australian iTunes was a blast! Probably somebody sat down and actually listened to the album. We are very happy, Australia is now our #1, no doubts!

As Dynamoe, is there a certain emotion or mood you are trying to evoke with your music-
The mood we're trying to hit with our music is something like when you are alone with your own thoughts and bits of your life experiences flash back in your head while being completely aware of your surrounding. Does it make any sense- That explains also the slow pace of our tracks. Also, as we keep on telling ourselves: "Don't break the silence if you can't improve it"

Did that inspire the title 'Coming Home' and who do you see yourselves coming home to-
Home is the shelter. It is the place where you feel safe, where you welcome your friends to spend some good times. It's the place where you want to go if things suddenly take a wrong turn. We like to see this album as a place you go to unwind and make peace with yourself.

It took 2 years for your record company to release 'Coming Home'. What took so long and did this lead to any self-doubt-
No, no self-doubts at all, the record industry is changing. Things are more complicated now than they were not so long ago, and the machine definitely takes its time to warm up and get in gear. This is especially true for an underground release such as ours. But as they say: "Good thing comes to those who wait", so, let us be happy with that.

The direction you take is very different to your last album, 'Jump Start.' Was this a conscious decision or did it occur naturally-
It was like a natural development. As we started experimenting with new sounds, things took a different turn. Though, we consciously chose to flavour the whole thing with jazzy atmospheres. With the vocal tracks we also have been working much more on the songs way rather than the instrumental way of developing music.

There is a strong downbeat, groove, jazz and funk element amongst many others on 'Coming Home.' How difficult was it to not just to put it together but make it work-
It took us about two years to make the album, mainly because we had a transition period which saw us trashing a lot of tracks 'cause they simply didn't sound right. But when we completely understood what we were looking for everything turned into a creativity mine. In the beginning it was more like we knew what we didn't want to sound like but still looking for the right combination.

Joy Morgan and Liz Wilson are just two of the collaborators on the album. What kind of influence did they have on the overall sound of 'Coming Home' or was it 100% Dynamoe-
Well off course we guided them, but they all been surprisingly good to understand where Dynamoe was going and supply us with the best of
performances which got the album to its final stage. We love our crew. They are a bunch of super talented musicians.

Dynamoe<
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