The talented trio of Forniva, Eleven Sins, and Sonic Union, who pilot the good ship Lowbit, deliver the labels next release with this long-awaited full-length album Ascension. The album showcases the experience and endless talent that this trio of producers has in their locker. It also demonstrates their versatility as they move from progressive and melodic sounds through to indie dance, techno, and breaks.
To celebrate the release of their ‘Ascension’, we catch up with Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva to talk about the record in-depth, their chemistry, and expectations for the future.
Electronic Groove: Hi guys! Welcome to EG. It’s a pleasure to have you here with us. How have you been doing? Where’s everyone at the moment?
Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva: Hi EG, and thanks for having us! Moke (Forniva) and Denis (Eleven Sins) are both in Sarajevo and Erik (Sonic Union) is in London, UK.
Electronic Groove: Congratulation on the release of ‘Ascension! Must have been a crazy ride recording a whole full-length album as a trio. What was the experience like?
Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva: Thanks! We have had some fantastic feedback on the album and it’s great to have it out there finally.
The album took the better part of 2 years to write, working on ideas and tracks that we would go back and forth on, leave for a period and then come back to again. We didn’t set out to write an album, but during one of our chats, we realized that we had quite a few things almost ready – and thought maybe we should collate them into an album. We went through the material we had, and decided to focus on 10 tracks that could work together and show the different influences and styles the three of us have.
Electronic Groove: Is there a concept uniting the tracks on ‘Ascension’? What themes inspire you?
Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva: There is no particular theme to the album, it’s more of a personal journey for the three of us, through the evolution of our own musical growth. Over the years we have all changed our personal taste and musical desires and I think that shows here. We feel now that our paths diverge so much that this will be our last project together for a while to allow us to focus on our own ideas. But we all loved working on this together and putting something together that hopefully will stand the test of time.
With the last two years being incredibly tough for everyone, we wanted to make something that could hopefully spread some joy, both at home or in a club.
Electronic Groove: How much work goes into putting together something like this? Is it hard to decide which tracks make it into the record being three of you?
Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva: We had quite a backlog of ideas and tracks and decided we wanted to have a diverse mix of tracks that could work on the dance floor but also to just listen to at home.
“The album took the better part of 2 years to write, working on ideas and tracks that we would go back and forth on, leave for a period and then come back to again”
Electronic Groove: We can imagine that with so many tracks, you all had to do just about everything in the studio, but what are your strengths, generally speaking?
Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva: There has been a lot of back and forth on the tracks and ideas over the two years for this project, and we all chip in and do a bit of everything. Moke tends to be the wizard when it comes to melodies, Denis does the arrangement and mixing, and Erik loves drums and groove and did all the mastering for the album.
Electronic Groove: What is the dynamic between you guys like? Is there a lot of back-and-forth on every track?
Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva: Absolutely, it’s either an idea that gets sent over to the others to work on and flesh out and that might go back and forth a few times, other times it’s more verbally talking about the arrangement and mixing and just sharing some input.
Electronic Groove: And what can listeners expect, sonic-wise?
Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva: We think the album really showcases the three individual musical identities here, from the organic and deep movement to the more experimental side and the dance floor bangers.
Electronic Groove: If you could recommend a perfect setting for listeners to get into ‘Ascension’, which one would it be?
Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva: There is no perfect setting. It could be in the bus or car while you are heading to work, it could be at a club or festival, but it’s also perfectly suited to Sunday chilling at home.
“We feel now that our paths diverge so much that this will be our last project together for a while to allow us to focus
on our own ideas”
Electronic Groove: What’s next for Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva, and Lowbit Records? What new milestones are you looking forward to in the coming months? Are there any plans to present ‘Ascension’ in a live setting?
Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva: With the last two years being so difficult for everyone and the world still catching up, there might not be an opportunity for us to do anything with the album live, but we would absolutely love to do something if the chance presented itself.
Lowbit keeps pushing; there are several excellent releases in the pipeline, and we’re already looking forward to 2022 and the new challenges ahead. We also have a very very exciting announcement for the label that we will share soon, which will enable the music on Lowbit to reach a much bigger audience!
Electronic Groove: Thank you for your time guys! We wish you and Lowbit Records all the best for the future!
Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva: Thanks for having us, and hope you all enjoy the album!
Sonic Union, Eleven Sins & Forniva’s ‘Ascension’ is out now via Lowbit. Purchase your copy here.
