Following an enchanting inaugural offering from German electronica outfit Ameli Paul back in April, burgeoning Berlin-based imprint MEIOSOS now returns for its eagerly anticipated sophomore outing, welcoming Juan Hansen and Pablo Bursztyn – a.k.a. Forma – for another mesmerizing label debut. A stunningly crafted four-part package, replete with hypnotic modular soundscapes, ethereal toplines, and succulent analogue experimentation, the ‘Hollow’ EP is the first extended body of work to be released from the Buenos Aires-based duo, and comes complete with a brace of eclectic remixes from esteemed house producers Nandu and Santiago Garcia.
Toying with aural imperfections and melodic disarray throughout, Forma’s work honors emotional ambiguity and harmonic dissonance, cultivating a sound that can be equally euphoric as it can be melancholic. Within this ambiguity, Forma find a place to liberate themselves from instrumental boundaries, creating landscapes that value coincidence, intriguing sound choices, and a degree of sonic unpredictability.
We caught up with Juan and Pablo from their home in Buenos Aires, Argentina to find out more about the release of ‘Hollow’, what Forma means to them, workflow, and future expectations.
Electronic Groove: Hi guys and welcome to Electronic Groove. Please can you quickly introduce yourself to our EG readers?
Forma: Hi everyone, Juan and Pablo, here at the studio having a short break to talk with EG. Together we are Forma, two music production obsessed nerds ready to put out a lot of music
Electronic Groove: Where are you guys based and how are things there right now?
Forma: We are based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Right now we are in the middle of winter, the country is currently a major COVID-19 hotspot and many activities including musical performances are pretty much restricted, and have been since summer’s end. We know this eventually will pass and we’ll be back playing live, so we are trying to take advantage of the situation and use this very rare time frame to produce. We’ve gotten on a pretty prolific and extended creative inertia.
Electronic Groove: How has 2021 been treating you so far? Any particular highlights?
Forma: The summer started with a glimmer of hope (our summer is Europe’s winter) We could travel a bit, get out of Buenos Aires, play live. We even managed to make our first live performance at MUTEK, and also to shoot our first video clip.
Electronic Groove: How would you best describe the Forma sound?
Forma: We like to think that Forma is our genre-free space to make music, our sound is definitely eclectic. It can go from a deep four by four to a more hip hop mood break or to an entirely beatless track.
“We are so excited to finally put out some music and doing it through the MEIOSIS family means a lot to us!”
Electronic Groove: We understand the Forma project is a relatively new one. What were you each doing before you launched it?
Forma: Well yes, we started Forma in mid-2019 so we are pretty much making our first steps together. Pablo was producing a lot of different artists as well as playing live with Proyecto Gomez Casa, and Juan playing live with his solo project Juan Hansen.
Electronic Groove: We’ve just seen your amazing live performance video for MUTEK. Can you talk us through your live set up?
Forma: Our setup for MUTEK video was really fun to put together! We use Ableton to send all midi melodies and program changes to the synths which are a Prophet 12, Digitone, and an Analog Four for Pablo, and a Minilogue XD and Roland SE-02 for Juan. We sent all individual tracks to an eMotion LV1 console to make our own mixes and used the TC Helicon Voicelive 2 to process vocals live. We tried to keep the set as human as possible, meaning that there are no long backing tracks, only drums and other details are triggered by audio. We both have keyboards to play in real-time the main elements of the tracks and not just a drone that hovers above everything, leaving a lot of space for building the tracks on the move and improvise on them.
Electronic Groove: Who is the singer you worked with?
Forma: The name behind the beautiful voice is Rocio Giorgi, she’s been working alongside us this whole time. We have a lot of new tracks with her waiting to see the light!
Electronic Groove: You have just released your brand new four-part ‘Hollow’ EP on Berlin-based imprint MEIOSIS. Can you talk us through the release?
Forma: We are so excited to finally put out some music and doing it through the MEIOSIS family means a lot to us! We chose two really different tracks to make the statement that we want to make different kinds of music. ‘Hollow’, the title track of the EP with Rocio as a vocalist, is a deep-sounding electronic 114 bpm track while ‘Everytime’ is a downtempo emotional journey to make you want to close your eyes.
“Well, I think the pandemic locking us down in the
studio was kind of inspirational“
Electronic Groove: Where did the inspiration for your debut EP come from?
Forma: Well, I think the pandemic locking us down in the studio was kind of inspirational, having this feeling of musical imprisonment, making music not to be played live in the short term, and shifting the angle in which we make electronic music for listeners at home. But we are trying to get inspired all the time by other artists such as Dirty Projectors, Billie Eilish or Bon Iver.
Electronic Groove: We’re also really digging the remixes from Nandu and Santiago Garcia. Such a fantastic package. How did you go about choosing those artists?
Forma: We love the remixes of ‘Hollow’, we think both Santiago and Nandu imprinted their own style in the song and knocked it out of the park! They are both edgy artists always working in the music of the future so is just an honor for us to have them remixing one of our tracks.
Produced by: Mama Hungara @mamahungara / Co-Produced by: Im House @imhouse_productora / Directed by: Francisco Mazziotti / Executive Producers: Luca Macome, Juan Saravia, Soti Charnas
Electronic Groove: Looking forwards, what do you have coming up over the rest of the year that you can tell us about?
Forma: Honestly we have a lot of music, a lo of music which we are trying to figure out what is the best way to share with you all. There’s also a very special music video about to be released but we can’t share more details right now about it. And of course, we’re anxious to get back on stage, as soon as we can.
Electronic Groove: Do you have any final words for our EG readers?
Forma: Thanks so much for your interest and support! Hope to keep up with the expectations and deliver good music 🙂
Electronic Groove: Thanks for your time guys! We wish you all the best!
Forma: Thank you guys! It’s a true pleasure!
Forma’s ‘Hollow’ EP (including remixes from Nandu and Santiago Garcia) is out now via MEIOSIS
