Interviews
Cydonia
This was an interesting interview. It was my introduction to the 23 phenomenon – not only was the interview set in SE23 in London, but once the interview was done, the tracks that I had itemized on the DAT player totaled 23, which prompted quite the reaction from Iain. Dino told me shortly after this was published how thrilled he was with it. How unfortunate that it took so long for Blue Room to get the album out afterwards…typical and unfortunate.
Hidden in SE23…
In an ordinary house in London's SE23 district is a studio where some of the earliest and most innovative psychedelic trance music was created. Among the first tracks ever released, familiar to all who bought the first Concept in Dance and Dragonfly CDs, were produced in this studio, which at one time housed three projects. At long last, trance enthusiasts can look forward to an EP, an album, and live performances by a trio of artists who have played a key role in the development of psy trance. Dino Psaras, Steve Ronan, and Iain Rive, who have participated in several groups since the scene's beginnings, are together about to unleash an onslaught of Cydonia's new sound upon an unsuspecting (Dream Creation readers excluded) but no doubt appreciative audience.
In the beginning…
It all started about 5 years ago. When Dino got back from India in '92, he played a tape of some music to Steve (who he has known since primary school) and Joti Sidhu. The three pooled their equipment together, and the group Ayahuasca was formed. They released 4 tracks on the first Concept in Dance compilation and one on Dragonfly's 2nd compilation (a revamped Ayahuasca track will be released on the Atomic label, for which Dino is doing A&R, in the coming months). When Joti left to work on Psychaos, Dino and Steve worked with Martin "Man With No Name" Freeland, who had engineered the Ayahuasca tracks, to produce the first Cydonia tune (issued on Concept in Dance's Tribal Science album). Iain joined shortly afterwards, and they were signed to Blue Room, an agreement with which the trio still seems more than satisfied.
That it has taken so long for Cydonia to produce an album is due not only to the fact that its members have been working on various other projects; it is primarily borne out of a quest for quality and refinement. Dino and Steve have worked in Phreaky and Tripsters (in addition to Ayahuasca) and recently did some work with Tim Schuldt, and Ian was with Universal Sound and continues to write for Semsis. Until recently, they only had 3 months of the year in the studio together - not enough, they felt, to produce an album at the artistic and technical level they are aiming for.
Aiming for the best
"We've basically just got it sorted now so we can do something professional with the gear we've got," says Steve. "We just didn't have the experience with top-quality sound," adds Iain. Talking to the exuberant Dino and more restrained but equally articulate Steve and Iain, one comes to recognize and admire the importance that quality and attention to detail mean to these musicians. When they speak of sound quality, however, their standards for comparison go beyond the trance scene - they want to produce music that will attract the attention of those who are not part of what Dino describes as a "small psychedelic scene" (an ironic yet unfortunately apt appraisal). "There are only a few bands that are making a sound that sounds proper...those are the people who are taking the scene where it should be." Juno Reactor is one name that crops up in this regard, not only concerning their production values, but the scope of their musicality and the fact that they are expanding the scene, with 2 tracks in Hollywood movies. "Everyone's been trying to get to what their first album was like," says Dino.
Cydonia's own album aims, like Juno's, to tell a story by unifying a variety of tracks which stand well on their own while contributing to the whole. They hope to tie up the ideas they've been working on for the past couple of years, leaving themselves free to move in new directions in their future work. It will not be an album of old tunes and remixes, but will incorporate earlier ideas with a new language and sleeker production. Listening to some of their new tracks, one does not recognize the familiar Cydonia sound from stormers like Screaming Darkness. [At least, that’s what it seemed like at the time in the studio…] What does remain, within the framework of smoother, more refined production values, is the epic, dramatic nature of their earlier tracks.
Natural evolution
What comes through in their music, as well, is one key element necessary in real psychedelic trance but often missing recently: a solid inner voice producing both harmonic and geometric patterns which serve as a declamatory mantra even more than the beat itself. Dino points out how many groups now are copying certain elements of trance tracks but missing out others, resulting in a stale, third-hand sound which has little to do with the original vibe of psychedelic trance. The first real tracks evolved naturally out of existing styles into forms with which we are familiar today, not by trying to force things in a certain direction.
As evidenced by the forthcoming releases and live performances (including several London gigs and one in South Africa in February), Cydonia have found their element - for the time being. While the three musicians are satisfied with their latest work, they want to leave the past behind to explore uncharted territory. "We're definitely not still thinking about doing what we're doing now in a year's time," says Steve. "We want to change it radically, if possible." They are not yet certain of what this will be - different beats (although they are not jumping on the "new" breakbeat bandwagon) and sounds, to be sure - but whatever comes out of their studio "is going to be some sort of electronic sound that will sound wicked on a massive system," Dino says. It is a description which could be as appropriate for the forthcoming releases as for the future ones. They've been a long time in the making, but good things come to those who wait.
© 1998 by Mark Ainley
