Exclusive Interview: Forma

INTERVIEWS

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Following an enchanting inaugural offering from German electronica outfit Ameli Paul back in April, burgeoning Berlin-based imprint MEIOSIS now returns for its eagerly anticipated sophomore outing, welcoming Juan Hansen and Pablo Bursztyn – a.k.a. Forma – for another mesmerising label debut.

A stunningly crafted four-part package, replete with hypnotic modular soundscapes, ethereal toplines and succulent analogue experimentation, Hollow EP is the first extended body of work to be released from the Buenos Aires-based duo, and comes complete with a brace of eclectic remixes from esteemed house producers Nandu and Santiago Garcia.

Christening the release with the evocative title track Hollow, Juan and Pablo make their intentions known from the off, as they take the listener on an emotive and harmonic smoke-screened journey, accented by warped synthesisers, haunting vocals and a playful mixture of subdued four-four beats and elastic rhythmic triplets. Toying with aural imperfections and melodic disarray throughout, Forma’s work honours emotional ambiguity and harmonic dissonance, cultivating a sound that can be equally euphoric as it can be melancholic.

Forma Live

Within this ambiguity, Forma find a place to liberate themselves from instrumental boundaries, creating landscapes that value coincidence, intriguing sound choices and a degree of sonic unpredictability. The second original, Everytime, portrays an unusual kind of music that will, in its abstract layers and polyphonic structures, balance both the familiar and the surreal. Combining disputatious organ chords with avant-garde vocoders and arpeggiated instrumentation, Juan’s electronic sound experience merges with the experimental spirit of Pablo’s musical quest to create an eclectic journey that exhausts one mood at a time.

Produced by: Mama Hungara @mamahungara

Co-produced by: Im House @imhouse_productora

Directed by: Francisco Mazziotti

Executive Producers: Luca Macome, Juan Saravia, Soti Charnas

Artwork by Sophie Le Meillour

The flip sees the introduction of two of the most exciting producers on the underground house circuit, as Nandu and Santiago Garcia each step up to deliver their own unique interpretations of the formidable title track. First up to the plate is Argentinian-born, Valencia-based Garcia. Following a wealth of critically lauded releases on the likes of Innervisions, TAU and Exit Strategy over the past few years, the classically-trained producer digs deep to deliver the artier, more introspective of the two remixes, before handing the reigns to iconic Danish stalwart, Nandu, who closes out the remarkable package with a deep, melodic dancefloor groove, primed for the early hours.

We caught up with Forma from their studio in Buenos Aires to find out more…

Hi Pablo and Juan, wishing you a very warm welcome to WOTN. How are you both doing today?

Hi everyone! Everything is good around here, we just arrived at the studio 🙂

Would you mind introducing yourselves to the WOTN community?

We are Juan Hansen and Pablo Bursztyn and toghter we are Forma. An electronic duo of proud nerd producers 

Where are you answering this interview from today?

We are sitting in our studio in Buenos Aires, after answering this questions we have a long vocal recording day ahead!

Starting at the beginning, how did you meet?

Well is kind of a weird new era thing, but we used to know each other just from the underground music scene here in Argentina. We both knew the other one existed in the music world but nothing else until one day Pablo posted a story asking if anyone wanted to join him at the studio to jam a little bit and there I was answering that call… I went to Pablo’s home studio and from that day on we never stopped making music 🙂

What were you both doing before you decided to create Forma?

Juan was playing live and releasing music under he’s “Juan Hansen” solo project and Pablo was producing, mixing and mastering a lot of different artists, making soundtracks for movies and contemporary dance works while also playing live with “Proyecto Gomez Casa”.

You have your debut EP ‘Hollow’ finally out today on MEIOSIS. Can you tell us about that and what we can expect?

We are really anxious for this release! and so happy that it is coming out through Meiosis, a new and fresh label with a beautiful family of artists around it.

You can expect variety and eclecticism, we are not planning to make Forma a one genre band, we are making many different types of music and want to share all of them. There are two originals coming out, On one hand “Hollow” is a deep sounding four by four hypnotic track with Rocio Giorgi’s vocals in it, while in the other we have “Everytime”, a downtempo, slow building track that creates a hopeful atmosphere and leave you with a smile on your face 🙂

The two remixes from Nandu and Santiago Garcia add a really nice angle to the EP. Are they friends of yours?

It is an honour for us to have these two amazing producers remixing Hollow, they imprinted their own sound and style in the song and the result is absolutely amazing. And yes, Juan’s friendship with Santiago goes way back… we are fans of Nandu music and hope this leads to a good friendship with him too!

Nandu
Santiago Garcia

We just finished watching your stunning live performance for Mutek Digital Festival. Will you be looking to take this live show on the road at some point this year?

Absolutely! We are eager to play a longer version of that set live as soon as possible. We are in the middle of rehearsals to make this live show a unique journey. And we sure hope to take it on the road as soon as humanly possible.

Do you have any specific hopes or goals for the Forma project over the next few years?

Well, we think there’s lots of goals for us now but maybe two main ones are testing our extended live set and releasing tons of music we have ready to see the light.

What else do you have coming up over the course of 2021 that you can talk about? 

We have a big surprise for “Everytime”! a beautifully crafted all analog music video shot entirely in 16mm will be released. It was directed by Fransisco Maziotti and Produced by Mama Hungara.

We also have our second EP ready! where and when will come out is a mistery yet…

Thanks for your time guys, really appreciate it!

Forma – Hollow EP (including remixes from Nandu and Santiago Garcia) is out now via MEIOSIS

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