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Insatiable, the stunning new album from DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE has just been released and it sees the emotive music of Takiaya Reed take on even more elements of sonic passion and intensity to create a truly stirring and hypnotic record. We spoke with Takiaya a few days after the album’s release to hear all about Insatiable and its themes, as well as discussing the DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE live show and Takiaya’s love of classical music and how that is an influence on her music.
We start off with Takiaya speaking of her delight in being able to bring this album out for people to hear and what it means to be releasing such an affecting and sublime collection of music. “I feel grateful to be able to share this album with people, just because it means a lot to me.” Takiaya follows this up by emphatically explaining what is at the heart of album and its sound. “I wanted to explore the realms of possibility in terms of what feels psychologically possible about the overwhelming in the world. Sometimes it feels so overwhelming, how so many people are suffering, and I just wanted to address this in a way.”
Takiaya then told how Insatiable follows on from her previous work but stands alone in terms of its themes of sheer emotion. “I feel like all of the albums are in conversation with each other. They’re all connected. I feel like all of the albums have a link in them, and they’re all addressing this, but this one in particular, just feels like it’s really what it’s about.”
Takiaya subsequently delved into how the experience of making Insatiable was and how it affected her. “I’m a very emotional person, and music is a great way to express emotions. It was a deeply emotional experience, and I’m really happy to be able to share that with everyone. It feels intense, there’s a wide range of emotions there, and I’m grateful to be able to assign music to the emotions, basically.”
Insatiable features the track Grief which features vocals for the first time on a DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE track with Takiaya explaining the reasons behind this and if it may happen again. “I’m happy to explore it more in the future. It felt like the right thing to do. I’ve really had something I needed to say, and then I said it. I think in the future, if I really have something I need to say, I can use my voice to say it. It feels really nice to be able to do that.”
Talk then turns to playing these new songs live and the power of the music of DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE in a live setting. “I am really looking forward to playing Insatiable live. It’s probably some of the most complicated things I’ve ever done on saxophone before. I love a challenge, I love feeling challenged in this way, and I love just being able to exert myself,” she says. “I’m so excited. I honestly love playing this music, and I’m very excited to be on tour and to share this album with people, because this music is meant to be experienced live. I love how heavy the recordings are, it’s hard to capture heaviness, but when you go watch it live, you can literally feel the music. That is a unique quality, and something that I appreciate immensely.”
Takiaya then talks about how playing her songs resonates with the audience in an emotional sense. “I can feel everyone else’s emotions, and I feel responsive to that, there’s just so much more to be experienced there, because I’m in conversation with my music, and then all of a sudden, I’m in conversation with so many other people, and that’s something else that really makes sense for me.”
DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE are coming back to the UK to play such varied festivals as Desertfest, Supersonic, and Pitchfork music festival, and Takiaya describes her love of playing her music at so many eclectic events. “I love it, because I don’t ever want to box myself in. And it seems like so many different people are being receptive to my music. The music isn’t boxed in. It feels like it doesn’t want to be contained, which is great.”
In keeping with not being boxed in musically. Takiaya is a lover of classical music, so we discussed her experience of playing with an orchestra, for the BBC Concert Orchestra and how classical music has influenced her and the music of DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE. “That was so cool. I hope I get to do that again. I really loved getting a chance to do that. I love classical music. I love playing with an orchestra. I grew up playing in band in high school, but I’ve never played with a professional orchestra before. It was so beautiful to be able to experience playing music with them.”
With the music of DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE being do heavy and beautiful and classical music being such an influence, we end things with Takiaya excitedly giving us a recommendation for a classical artist to check out, especially coming from a heavy music direction. “I would recommend Tchaikovsky. I love exploring his catalogue as much as possible. That’s a great starting point. It’s just beautiful, and ethereal and ephemeral, he’s so tortured and you can feel it!”
Insatiable is set for release on April 18th via Bella Union. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS120 here:
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The post Divide and Dissolve: Insatiably Classical appeared first on Distorted Sound Magazine.
