We caught up with Sceti, the musical trio of Alisa Scetinina, Michael Kuebler and Daniel Varga to discuss their new project…
Sceti - Interview with MinimalMag
Welcome to Minimal Mag, please can you introduce yourselves and tell us a little about where in the world you are based?
Alisa: We are all living in Stuttgart where our studio is located. Michael is also partly living in Berlin and Budapest. Daniel and Michael started releasing music together 20 years ago with their first release as Rework “Anyway I Know You”on Playhouse. We started to team up for the “Sceti” project earlier this year for a release on our own label, exlove records. I am also working on my own music project called “Gaisma”. We are kind of connected by our passion for analog studio gear and vintage sounds. We all like to record and play live with our hardware, enjoy to turn knobs, faders and dive into the world of sound.
Alisa, you are a former dancer at the Stuttgart Ballet, what was your life like as a dancer and how long did you pursue it for?
I moved to Germany alone, when i was 15 years old. Becoming a professional ballet dancer was my dream since i was around 6 i guess. My parents took me to the theatre to watch “Swan Lake”, I was just mesmerised and wanted to become part of this whole experience when i grew up. I danced professionally in Bavarian and Stuttgart Ballet, all together around 6 years. My life was totally different, long exhausting working hours in the theatre, but at the same time lots of beautiful memories working with so many of my close friends, starting the day with the piano music, and of course diving into the world of acting on stage.
Alisa, it’s evident that you are an accomplished vocalist, please tell us about the journey from dancer to singer?
I used to go to acting classes and singing classes after kindergarten. I always enjoyed challenging myself, even if the teacher was saying that this song doesn’t really fit my voice. I do believe that voice comes from within, and all the joy and pain that we carry with us can be heard.
Sceti - Interview with MinimalMag
You’re releasing a new EP with Exlove owners Rework, aka Daniel Varga and Michael Kuebler, how has the process been working with each other and can you explain to us what we can expect with this new release?
Alisa: It has been a quite fast process, that started with Michael sending me a few tracks that he had produced together with Daniel. I listened to them and felt that vibe immediately, and was really motivated to create some cool stuff together. Some lyrics just popped into my head, and for others i went through my notebooks and found fitting lyrics/phrases that i wrote in the past few years. I guess we were all pumped up and jumped on that inspirational wave, so the process of mixing and the rest also went quite smoothly. I guess this Ep has this flare and lightness to it, as well as a bit of nostalgia, as in ” It’s Not A Goodbye”.
Michael, you have an obvious love of synths from the sound of the Sceti release, what hardware are you using and why?
Daniel and I bought our first Synths around the same time in our teenage years. For the Sceti Release we used some of our Studio Synths (Roland JX3P, Moog Source and Yamaha CS15D) but also some VSTs. We especially love the analog synths from the 70s.
Your new EP has been described as straddling the lines between disco, new wave, indie, electro and synth pop – has there been any artists in particular that you feel have inspired your upcoming release and it’s fusion of sounds?
Alisa: There is much inspiration that i get from the people that surround me and of course from many amazing artists around such as New Order, Deux, Kraftwerk, Chromatics, Glass Candy and many others.
Do you have any plans to tour or perform this new music live?
Alisa: Yes, we would love to perform live, combining dance and cool visuals into our shows. I think it could be a fun one.
Is there any interesting new you’d like to share with us?
Alisa: I guess we are just excited to hear the feedback on out first Ep and see how everyone is feeling about it. We are happy that we finally made it to our release and can share it with all of you guys.