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Interview with Diana Yukawa...

In an exclusive interview, Diana Yukawa talks to Metamatic about herself and her career to date. Also discussed is Codex, her highly anticipated collaboration with John Foxx and Benge as Ghost Harmonic...

Metamatic : I read that your next solo album (the follow-up to The Butterfly Effect) was due out in 2013 - with Finding The Parallel being released as a taster. How's that album progressing?

Diana : Well yes, I'd hoped that Finding The Parallel would be the teaser for a full album to come later on in 2013, but as life goes sometimes, I didn't feel I'd got the right material together to release as an album. With every release I've had, it makes me dig a lot deeper every time to discover what it is I really want to release. I've learnt so much from the music I've put out there that I feel I'm in a very real and honest place with my music, which is why it's taken some extra time to finish my fourth album. I don't want to put something out for the sake of releasing something - I want it to deeply mean something to me.

Metamatic : How would you describe your sound?

Diana : Describing my sound is always a difficult question, because people usually want to be able to compare or reference it to something else to understand it, which I can't really do! Electronic Classical maybe?!

Metamatic : What music resonates the most with you?

Diana : It depends on what I'm hearing and when I'm hearing it! I find myself drawn to melancholy music. I've been asked why I write more sad / dark music when I seem to be a happy person and I always say it's because when we're hurting, we want to reach out and find things to comfort us more than when we're riding waves of happiness. Sadness in music or in art is not the same as experiencing something sad in your daily life. I feel it evokes a greater mix of emotions and you feel it in a uniquely beautiful way.

Metamatic : Which artists do you admire the most - and why?

Diana : When I was growing up, aside from the more embarrassing posters I had on my wall of certain pop stars I won't name, I also had pictures of Jascha Heifetz and Fritz Kreisler. Kreisler has always been one of my biggest inspirations because as soon as you hear his recordings, you just know it's him. He has such a distinctive style, full of his own personality and the most beautiful tone. I love Heifetz because quite simply, he's a God of violin. For more contemporary musicians, I love people like Massive Attack, Radiohead, Craig Armstrong and Jon Hopkins. They make music that is beautiful and timeless.

Metamatic : How did you meet up with John and Benge?

Diana : I met up with John and Benge after my manager spoke to John's manager. I really admired John's career and wanted to see if a collaboration might be something he would be interested in. Fortunately they were very up for meeting!

Metamatic : Were you aware of John and Benge's work previously?

Diana : I was aware of John's music but I didn't know of Benge's work. It was great to learn more about the work they've done together and then being in the studio with them, it's easy to see why they make such a great team.

Metamatic : Was this collaboration borne out of wanting to take your work in a different direction - there doesn't appear to be anything similar in your musical past.

Diana : Collaborating with John and Benge wasn't because I purposely thought, who can I work with to take my work in a different direction but more because I'm always wanting to find new collaborators and experiment with my music. I don't believe in musical genres or boundaries and working with John and Benge was exciting because we didn't really know what was going to happen or if we'd all get on with each other and fortunately, something I feel is really great came out of it.

Metamatic : What inspired the music on Codex?

Diana : As there wasn't a set idea on what we wanted to create, I think the inspiration came from each other, the studio and our different backgrounds. Codex was born from a very free and open place.

Metamatic : What was the writing process like?

Diana : The writing worked really well between us all. A lot of it grew organically, there was lots of improvising and layering separate violin parts. Sometimes there would be some musical ideas as a starting point so there was some structure but otherwise it was a very free flowing process.

Metamatic : How long has this album taken to write? I believe that this collaboration started back in 2012.

Diana : We did initially meet in May of 2011, but had no set time on when we wanted to release something. At first it was just a case of seeing how we all got along. Once things got moving musically, it was then of course a case of finding space within all our schedules to get together in the studio. Once we felt we had all the material, I think Benge had the hardest job going through the many, many violin layers we recorded! Whilst I'm always impatient to do things and to get the album out for people to hear, I'm also happy that we let it evolve at the pace we did because without it, I don't think the album would have been what it is today.

Metamatic : How did you settle on the name Ghost Harmonic?

Diana : I think we all felt Ghost Harmonic was the best reflection of the work we did together. It represents the spirit of the music.

Metamatic : Are there plans for Ghost Harmonic to write more material together?

Diana : Absolutely! I hope this is just the start of Ghost Harmonic's journey.

Metamatic : Are there plans for Codex to be performed live at any point?

Diana : I'd love for Codex to be brought to life on stage - it should be interesting to see how we can perform it live.

Metamatic : What are your future plans?

Diana : Aside from the release of Codex, I have lots going on this year - all of which I'm very excited about. I'm hoping to finish material for my fourth album for a release by the end of the year as well as other collaborations for new artist projects. A charity project I'm working on involves translating brain scans into music which has been pretty challenging but something I've come to feel very passionately about and if it all comes together as we hope, it should hopefully reach people in a powerful way. On the live side of things, I'm looking forward to performing at some fab festivals again this year so let's hope England can give us some lovely sunshine to enjoy!