ーーあなたたちにとって音楽とは？
キャサリン「音楽は結婚みたいなものね。人生にいいときや悪いときがあるのと同じように、音楽もアップダウンがあるの。自分の考えや感情を映す鏡みたい。とても繊細な関係にあって、強力だけど常に育まなければいけなくて、育つためのゆとりも必要。毎日一緒にいるもの。たまには離れて静寂にひたってみたくもなるけど、基本的にはいつも囲まれていたいわね」
ーーファッションからの影響はある？
キャサリン「アルバムを作るときは必ずムードボードを作るわ。ファッションも含めて、色んな違うもののイメージのね。他には自然、絵画、彫刻、写真や建築なんかからもイメージをもらったり。『Another River』に関して言えば、砂漠の写真をたくさん見たわ。作ろうとしている音楽そのものを捉えていると思ったから。荒々しさとか、むき出しの自然がとてもしっくりきたの。ここでもっと見られるわ」
https://www.pinterest.com/alpines/minimal/
ーー最近のユースカルチャーってどう思う？
キャサリン「ロンドンは私が生まれ育った町なんだけど、ここにとって今日のユースカルチャーは様々なことを現しているわ。でも大半は多様性とか表現を受け入れて、変化を許して未来への柔軟性をもつってことだと思うの。この町と国の若者のほとんどは、政治や社会、それに気候変動みたいな具体的な問題についても解決へ向かうことを望んでいるはずよ」
ーー音楽のトレンドはどこからくると思う？
キャサリン「とても難しい質問ね。インターネットのおかげで世界はこんなにも開かれた場所になって、世界中から常に文化や影響が混じり合ってくるもの。スタイルやジャンルを定義するのが物凄く困難になってきていて、多分それはとても素敵なことよ」
ーー好きなYouTubeは？
キャサリン「二人とも、この子猫が亀に乗っている動画が大好きね。私たちは猫を飼っているし、マネージャーは亀を飼っているから、いつかこの動画を再現できるかもしれないわ」
ーーロンドンで好きな場所(店、バー、どこでも)や好きな人々(ミュージシャン、デザイナー、アーティスト)を教えて。
キャサリン「リッチモンド・パークはアウトドアで言えば好きな場所の一つね。自然に溢れていて簡単に迷子になれるの、時に重要なことなのだけど。『スイッチハウス』っていう、テート・モダンの新しい建物も大好き。兄がデザインした建築家チームにいたんだけど、アートにぴったりな場所よ。マルタ・ジャクボウスキー(marta Jakubowski)っていう、すごいタレントとビジョンを持ったファッションデザイナーからもインスピレーションをもらってる。私の兄とロンドンで学んだことがあって、今は世界中にファンがいるくらいすごい仕事をしてるの。音楽界で言うと、すごいミュージシャンが本当にたくさんいるけど、今思い浮かぶのはThe XX、Sampha、Nao、Ritual、SeramicとSwimsかな」
Q10. What is “Music” to you?
Catherine – Music to me is like marriage. All the highs and lows you go through in life you go through with your music too. It is like a mirror to your thoughts and emotion. It is a delicate relationship – one that is powerful but always needs nurturing and room to grow. It is with me everyday. Sometimes I want to be away from it and indulge in silence but mostly I want to be surrounded by it all the time.
Q11. Is there fashion reference in your music?
Catherine – We always build mood boards when we write an album. The images will include lots of different things including fashion references. We also look to other images from nature, painting, sculpture, photography and architecture. For ‘Another River’ we looked at a lot of photography of the desert landscape as we felt this really beautifully captured what we were trying to achieve in the music. The rawness and exposed nature of this landscape made a lot of sense to us. You can see more of our references here:
https://www.pinterest.com/alpines/minimal/
Q12. What’s youth culture today to you?
Catherine – Youth Culture today in London, where I have grown up for most of my life means many different things. But most of all I think it means embracing diversity and expression, accepting change and being open minded to the future. I would argue that the majority of youth in this city and country want to see progression whether it is in politics, society or more specific issues such as climate change.
Q13. Where do you think the music trend comes from today?
Catherine – It is a very difficult question to answer. Because of the internet the world has become such an open space, therefore cultures and influences are merging all the time in all corners of the globe. Styles and genres are incredibly hard to define and maybe that is a wonderful thing.
Q14. What’s your favorite Youtube?
Catherine – We love this video of a kitten riding on a tortoise. We have a cat and our manager has a tortoise so maybe one day we can make this dream come true!
Q15. Can you tell us your favorite place(shop, bar ,anywhere) and people( musician, designer, artist) in London.
Catherine – One of our favourite outdoor spaces in London is Richmond Park. It is a wild space which is easy to get lost in which is important sometimes. I love the new extension of the Tate Modern building called ’The Switch House’. My brother worked on the team of architects who helped design it and it is such a wonderful space for art. I have been really inspired by the fashion designer Marta Jakubowski who is so talented and a visionary. She studied with my brother in London and she is now doing incredibly well gaining fans from all over the world. In terms of music there are SO many incredible musicians but some people that come to mind that we love are The xx, Sampha, Nao, Ritual, Seramic and Swims.
Q16 Any news, or highlight you want us to note about?
The main news is that our new album is out on October 28th. Worldwide. We will be playing lots of shows. One day our dream is to come to Japan and play a show. We will keep our fingers crossed!
photo Yuichiro Noda
text&edit Ryoko Kuwahara
Aipines『Another River』
10/28 on sale
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/another-river/id1141372258
http://www.alpinesmusic.com/
