Baby Volcano, A Sweet Explosion of Bewitching Energies

Morgane Marchon: How do you feel about your performance at Paleo?
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Baby Volcano: I'm super grateful to be here. It's a festival that's actually quite renowned in Switzerland, so it's an honor to be doing my first Paléo!


M: What did you listen to on repeat when you were a teenager?

B: I listened to a lot of bachata, like Aventura or Monchy y Alexandra. It's really a musical genre that rocked my teenage years.

M: The song todomeparece RIDÍCULO has been described as a captivating and almost dystopian journey, mixing elements of children's nursery rhymes with shamanic invocations. What was your vision or intention behind it?

B: It's a track where I wanted to talk about that very moment when you step out of reality. You get a little perspective on your life. You are under the impression that all the injections we give ourselves as a society, or as civilized beings, is that everything is mechanical and a bit ridiculous. And those moments when you wonder what we're doing as humans, why we're acting like this. With all those hours, that Monday-Friday, that kind of thing. I wanted to talk about those moments and get away from this extreme civilization.

M: The song's enchanting atmosphere can evoke a range of emotions in listeners. How do you hope people will feel after listening to the music?

B: That's a good question. It depends on the music, for example todomeparece RIDÍCULO is to give people a bit of space where they can release certain things, whether it's rhythms that put the human being in a trance, it allows us to overcome certain things, to free ourselves. Then, I have tracks with sounds that are much softer, that can accompany people in quieter moments, when they need to be rested, lulled by the music. Others where I want to get something into their bodies. I have a very visceral approach to music. And so it would be great if people could feel all that. Anger is also sometimes part of it, because it's true that these are energies that I also invoke during creation and during my live performances. Reawakening that a little and then allowing the authorization to feel those emotions there. I am under the impression that beyond whether you like it or not, receiving something that's generous is already a gift.

M: In your latest video, we can feel what you're trying to convey through your striking visuals.

B: I have a background in dance and theater. I'm also approaching this musical project from a global point of view, meaning that the aesthetics of the clips or the costumes, the way I construct things, are all things that respond to each other and create a universe with the music.

M: Your first project Sìndrome Premenstrual, is composed of 6 titles with the same names as a part of your body. Which signification of each part of the body did you put on those songs? Can you give us some insight into your songwriting process?

B: I'm fascinated by epigenetics, which is the history that we carry from our ancestors in our genes and which is often transmitted from generation to generation. These are often things we call traumas, experiences that are very powerful. And I wanted to be able to approach the lyrics of the songs in this way. What does my uterus have to say? What does my solar plexus have to say? And to try to make the lyrics more organic than cerebral.

M: One of your songs is called Swiss Anxiety is the country making you feel that way?

B: Yes, a little. But there's still a lot of that that I feel in this society. There's something quite complex about Swiss society, where you have a lot of resources. But it's also a society where there's a lot of pressure. Pressure to succeed, pressure to make money. I think it's all a bit vicious. Sometimes you lose a bit of the natural chaos, the fact that you can let yourself go, that everything's very clean and that everything slips a bit, I find that sometimes it's a bit scary.
This thing of control, of appearance... maybe, always very swinging. I'm convinced it does something to the body.

M: You are passionate about marine volcanoes and the fusion between the opposite elements. How do you translate this into music?

B: For me, it's really this idea of the contrast of water meeting fire at the bottom of the ocean, of these emotions that are born within us, of our organs that are always working, feeling things. I translate this into a lot of sweetness and rage in the music, so that we can really have this panel where we can feel several things. Baby Volcano isn't just about fire and rage, it's also about all that gentleness, how vulnerability can take on so much strength, I find that fascinating.

Image Courtesy of Salomé Cortat

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