Q&A: ALTR∞ Is Pioneering Sonic Exploration With “Infinite”
ALTR∞, born from Markus Girrulat and Nora Mincheva's meeting in Dusseldorf, has been crafting genre-fluid music since 2021. Their evolution mirrors life's dynamic shifts, from pop-infused IDM to indie pop and breaks. Influenced by Moderat, Nina Simone, and Portishead, their EP "Infinite" resonates with vibrant energy, blending Latin percussion with EDM and multilingual vocals. Dreaming of collaborations with Thom Yorke and Dave Gahan, ALTR∞ envisions a future of boundless creativity. As they prepare for 2024, ALTR∞ remains committed to artistic growth, poised to unveil captivating tracks and electrifying live performances.
LUNA: Introduce yourself: who is ALTR∞? How and when was the project born?
ALTR∞: ALTR∞ is what happens when you bring together two like-minded creatives who possess a huge passion for music and a great desire to explore and experiment with sound.
It all started at the end of 2021. We met in Dusseldorf and started jamming together and immediately realised that this will be the beginning of something beautiful. Our first song - “Eclipse” was born from that very first encounter.
As for who exactly are the people behind the project: Markus Girrulat (Germany) produces the tracks, as well as plays all instruments, such as synths, guitar, drums, congas. Previously he’s been releasing music as part of Soul’n’Soda, producing music for worldwide TV commercials and composing sound environment for urban spaces like Dusseldorf’s Tonhalle. Markus loves the combination of acoustic, electronic and nature/surrounding sounds. He is known for his vibrant soundscapes that people often refer to as “music that creates pictures in your mind”. Nora Mincheva (Bulgaria) is ALTR∞’s vocalist and songwriter. Nora is an interdisciplinary artist, whose work explores the fields of stage arts and visual arts with music being a strong focal point. Besides being part of ALTR∞, she releases music under the monikers NoomRa and E0N.
LUNA: How has your music changed in the past few years?
ALTR∞: We like to refer to our music as some sort of a diary - allowing it to fully reflect our life experiences and inner world. We both love experimenting with different genres so our sound is very fluid; In the beginning, we made pop-infused IDM; later we got into breaks and indie pop; currently we explore the club-side of our sound - mixing thick beats with organic percussion. Meanwhile we also worked on the sound design of one contemporary dance performance - this was great fun as we could get out of the ‘song’ format and go even more experimental! All of this resonates fully with our concept to transcend sound borders, capturing the essence of life through the lens of music.
LUNA: Who inspired your music? Who are your biggest influences?
ALTR∞: We have very diverse influences and it’s hard to name those who impacted us the most. However, we find a few artists very inspiring:
Moderat, Nina Simone, Clark, Bonobo, Portishead, Cid Rim, Noisia, Skrillex, Depeche Mode, Jazz and 60s Latin and even Classical music. In short: every type of music that creates deep emotions and takes you on a journey throughout time and space.
LUNA: Could you introduce your favorite singles you've released so far?
ALTR∞: That’s quite tough! Each of our songs carries its own story and spirit. I guess we love all of our tracks equally. However, if we have to name 3 tracks that represent our sound in a nutshell, these would probably be “Awake”, “I Saw The Future”, “Doom Harmony” and “Hurricane”.
LUNA: How did you develop this style? Will you experiment with other genres in the future?
ALTR∞: At its core ALTR∞ is an ever-evolving sound adventure that is not bound to a particular genre or mood. We developed our style through freely following our intuition, basically; we do what moves us and we use music as a canvas, unleashing the tides of our subconsciousness. We like to explore different aspects of our musical taste, capturing sound ideas and letting them unfold and expand in each following track. Thus, every EP becomes a sound journey on its own…
LUNA: Let's talk about "Infinite": what inspired it and how did it come to life?
ALTR∞: The songs from the EP were born this summer, and one can certainly tell - as they carry this intense, vibrant energy; We wanted to explore a more dancefloor-friendly sound and set people’s feet on fire, while trying to imagine what the music would be like in the clubs of the future.
‘Infinite’ represents the transitions of life, the constant evolution and entropy. In addition, the broad spectrum of music influences, woven into the EP’s music tapestry, symbolises the infinite flow of ideas and references that shape and drive the collective consciousness. It truly is a celebration of the complexity and the beauty of life and the connection that binds us all.
Instrumentally, “Infinite” is all about the fusion of classical Latin and African-inspired percussion with EDM. At the core of the EP is the atmospheric meditative and evolving flow, mostly created with Moog Subsequent 25, Atruria Minifreak and Analog Rytm. A very crucial part of the sound are the live-played percussions, which inject so much warmth and dynamism into the sound that it’s impossible to stand still while listening! We wanted to bring the listener to a trance-like state, so this time we didn’t care so much about the song structure or the harmonic progression, we just allowed the grooves and the melodies to freely unfold.
Vocally, there are various influences as per usual, with Nora exploring the contrast between gentle and serene vocals and more solid textures that add to the rhythm, sometimes even challenging the perception of the listener. Lyrically, the approach this time was different: “I Saw The Future” is in English, so anyone can understand it, ‘7th Moon’ is in Bulgarian, ‘Hurricane’s vocals are in a non-existent language and ‘Infinite Mind’ is a purely instrumental track. This dissolution of language and voice into the void of sound refers to the process of creation and deconstruction and overall transformation of matter; it once more symbolises the bond that we share in relation to eternity.
LUNA: Who's your dream feature?
ALTR∞: We’d love to work with artists like Thom Yorke, Dave Gahan. But in general there are so many incredibly talented musicians out there and we’d love to work with anyone who shares the same passion and a common music taste with ours.
LUNA: Where do you see yourself in one year as a musician?
ALTR∞: For us the most important thing is to keep on creating and sharing our music with the world. Meanwhile we are growing not only as artists, but as people. We try to keep an open mind and enjoy the process, regardless of whether things are going according to our vision or not.
Currently, we are working on a few new tracks and we can’t wait to share them with our audience!
