Interview: miserable.noise.club

Global music collective miserable.noise.club are one of the most intriguing acts I have come across in a long time. A multinational group who's membership includes artists from China, USA and Jordan, three nations that on a global political scale are far from traditional allies. But miserable.noise.club show that the borders of politics can be broken down in the name of art, and their subversively experimental blend of ambient, drone, electronica and ethereal post-rock comes together in a beautifully atmospheric way. Every one of their many releases is unique and often focuses on one specific element of the group's sonic assemblage, but there is a consistently dark and heavy feel to their music which gives their sound an intensity that many experimental acts can miss.

It's a deep and fascinating world to dive in to, and sometimes the best way to do this is with the words of the composers to accompany you. It was on this basis that I took the time to ask a few questions of miserable.noise.club founding member Abood Ashqar. We talked about the origins of the group, the stylistic creativity of the collective, and how to create art with a membership from across the globe.

Let's start off with how the group came together. The band members come from such different places in the world, how did you all come into contact?

It started in the States around 2012. I’d recorded a few tracks and was doing a couple of shows in North Carolina. The following year I relocated to China for collaborations and other music-related work, so I kinda sat on it for a while. A few years later I got invited to perform at an event in Guangzhou. I got in touch with W J from If Signifying, and he recommended Left from Lèng to join us too.

Soon after that performance, Left recommended Mark Lee, producer and owner of Royal City studios. He also teaches at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou. Neon and Zhan Hau joined for a performance the following summer and I recently got in touch with Shaher Majali in Amman, Jordan. We’re long-time friends and we performed together in Desperar over a decade ago.

Your musical output covers such a wide array of genres. What inspires and motivates your music?

Throughout our discography, you’ll hear Ambient, Drone, Dub, Techno, World Music, Psychedelic and Post-rock. As random as it seems, everything is structured and presented with a calculated and predetermined audible purpose. We’re an experimental group, and we value creating new soundscapes and atmospheres, but not necessarily for the sake of experimentation. We do this without restrictions on the creative output as well. We want to create original sound textures, and present them as a unique listening experience. I’d like to think of it as sound sculpture in a way.

Are there any particular artists that have inspired you, both in creative terms and how you guys work together?

Repetition and progression; perhaps both at the same time is something that’s predominant in our work. Arvo Part’s “Alina” is a great example of this. It’s simple, yet incredibly complex. Repetitive, but still sounds different with every listen. Each note resonates, and the silence in between is as important. It definitely changed how I perceive and approach music.

Hans Zimmer’s “The Thin Red Line OST” has been and still is a great influence on our music structure. It’s eerie, tense, mesmerizing, beautiful and emotionally draining. An incredibly well structured, moody collection of droney orchestral pieces. It’s an essential and important listen. You can hear a lot of the influence in our release “Frost Confinement.”

Traditional Japanese folk music and aesthetic is an important influence as well in regards to pacing and discipline. I highly recommend “Japan (Traditional Vocal & Instrumental Music - Shakuhachi, Biwa, Koto, Shamisen)” by the Soloists Of The Ensemble Nipponia.

You have accumulated such a large discography in just a few years. Is that a consequence of your set up as a collective?

We’re constantly working on new material in addition to releasing recordings from previous live performances. Throughout the past few years with new members and/or contributors joining, doing live events and studio sessions, we end up with a decent amount of material to sort from, re-issue, or completely re-work into new releases. And indeed, being a loose collective means that there’s flexibility in regards to who works on a specific release. Some tracks feature two or three members, others only one. It depends on location and availability.

Is your creative process more individual or group orientated? And being in different locations, do you all work together remotely?

I’d say a bit of both. Not much is done remotely, as a collective, since we’re spread-out and we all have other bands and projects to contribute to as well. We write and record whenever any of us are together. Everybody can choose any instrument, play it however they feel suitable, and contribute to the sound and recording process with any idea or suggestion, without any obligation to go on tours and release albums within a specific time-frame.

Most tracks on “Frost Confinement” were recorded in the U.S., “Given To Heartache”, “excerpts.shards.petals” and “Dust Coated Departure” in China. “Thoughts On The Impasse” in Lebanon, and all recordings from “Live At Abajur” onward were done in Jordan. A few upcoming releases were recorded in South Korea.

I've noticed some of your output has a clearer focus on beats than other works which seem more ambient in texture. Is this a deliberate creative choice, or more of a natural progression?

Beats and electronic drums are common throughout our discography. Our recent release “Dead Flower Effigy” is a beat driven mix of Dark-techno, Dub and Drone. It's a natural progression and just happened to be what we were working on at that time. We do include guitars and other instruments when performing these tracks live. I think our two releases “Frost Confinement” and “Dust Coated Departure” attains that balance of ambient textures, droney soundscapes and beat driven electronic sound.

When it comes to playing live, how do you go about recreating your recorded sound on the live stage?

We improvise during live performances, and certain tracks sound different live than the original recordings, but the core melodies and characteristics are always present. The live sets are certainly more intense and rich in sound. Factoring in the presence of additional instruments, and the members performing on that particular set, it’s much more organic. Some sets are more drone/ambient structured, whereas others a bit more complex, upbeat and even jazz-oriented.

What has been the highlight of your career as a group so far?

We’re very thankful that our music has been featured and performed across continents all the way from New York, to Guangzhou, Tokyo, Seoul and Beirut. Performing at the National Gallery of Fine Arts in Amman, Jordan was a great experience as well.

What does the future hold for you? Has the pandemic been holding you back at all?

While scattered around the globe, some members are focusing on other projects and personal endeavours. We would love to schedule short tours and perform with more members of the collective, coming back to East Asia, the Middle East and Europe eventually, but this will be on hold for now.

Nevertheless, we’ll be releasing a collection of singles and EPs soon, plus a collaboration with Korean musician and producer Rainbow99 (Ryu Seoung-hyun) coming up in the next few months. We performed a set together at Club Bbang in Seoul, South Korea this past July.

Any final words you would like to add?

“Signals from an Abandoned Railway Station” is a new track that will be part of a compilation album organised by the Tse Tse Fly Middle East Radio Programme, in partnership with the non-profit organisation Migrant Rights. All profits from the album will go to charities bringing attention to worker and migrant rights, and working towards ending the modern slavery kafala system. This will be out later this month. Check it out.

Thanks so much for the interview, Will, and to everyone who went through it. We really appreciate it.

You can listen to miserable.noise.club on Bandcamp