translated from Spanish: Chinoy: “I’m always looking to outdo myself but here the mentality is too closed to create music”

The five years since the release of “De loco medieval” (2015) may be among the most intense in Chinoy. In that span, the Sanantonino singer-songwriter not only lived and played in countries such as Germany, Argentina and Mexico, but also set aside music to devote himself to writing three books and organizing exhibitions.
“I have followed my passions for art and to know what life is about. I haven’t tried to fit into being a pop artist, I’m not a pop artist and I don’t come from that essence. I am looking in other areas and I complicate the matter in order to understand”, he explains, that since his debut with “Let the Dragons Come Out” (2009) it was listed as one of the most particular voices of the new Chilean singer-songwriter.
But the dizzying tour took a forced pause in March, when a visit to San Antonio from Buenos Aires was prolonged because of the pandemic.
Although unforeseen, the situation meant for Chinoy an ideal opportunity to focus on finishing “Leaving the Other”, a third album that had been working a year ago and which finally, after recording it in the studio of his Buenos Aires house, was released on December 11.
And while the lyrics maintain the musician’s usual poetic profile to portray moods motivated by the social situation of the country, one of the great novelties of the work lies in its sound: if until now Chinoy was associated with an acoustic format, in “Leaving the Other” the proposal turns to electronics, with sequences, synthesizers and bases programmed in songs such as ‘Languages in Sun’.
“I like the idea of changing and in music the variations are infinite, I do not find that there is anything sacred in a loudness. Now I’m trying to make a new, modern sound that sounded broadly superior to what I had done. The thing is to overcome as well,” sums up the voice of ‘Klara’, who in his new quest worked with Rodrigo Gonzalez, a Chilean producer based in Germany and bassist of the band Die Arzte.
“With him we met here in Chile, when he came to record a film, and we were friends. Over time we met again on the tour I did in Berlin, we got together several times and he offered to work the album in a mode of retribution in friendship, of affection,” the musician narrates. He adds: “I had ‘The Fatal Machine’ (song that opens the record) before I left for Europe, and that model already had that sound. When I got there I showed it to him and he told me to do something with that loudness, because he felt like something could be done much better. And it actually improved.”
It’s striking that you’ve already been related to electronics because you’ve always been more associated with the trova.

It’s just that I’m always trying to outdo myself, but here the mentality is very closed. Urban tribes require you to have one sound and if you defvate a little bit they’ll tell you about this and that. The world has come a long way and the critical share there is quite poor. You should not be criticized for changing; one has the right to change one’s mind, clothes, music. One can be known in another type of scope.
You say you’re not a pop artist, but when your record came out, you got a lot of attention. Did that affect you?

Of course. It made my life complicated when I became acquainted, I didn’t feel so comfortable. In Chile there is good vibes and everything, but there is also bad vibe out of nowhere. So that question for me, which was just released, was difficult. I was very within reach too, so I don’t know, to get punched in the street for being Chinoy and it wasn’t that good. It was those things that drove me away from Valparaiso and went to live in Santiago. And well, working on the picture and all that, it was a process I ran away from. Anyway, now I’d love to put a song on the radio, participate in the Festival or something. Today, in the situation where I live, my work is more mature and so am I.
Feeling more mature? Are those situations that complicated you in the past already left behind?

yes, right. I mean, I’m not that in range anymore either, I know where not to get in and there are things that don’t affect me that much. I’ve been playing for 12 years now, and that gives you strengths in terms of mood and character. So, I feel like I’m reborn and willing to make a cleaner career in music. Less teluric, although teluric is always going to be because I have my ideals, I have my convictions and I have my character.
After this twist, what’s coming for your future?

I was working in the studio of my house and I have the idea here to March to take out about 20 songs, an album that includes the songs of my time in Valparaiso as ‘Valpolohizo’, ‘Vamos dos’, ‘Plata Pa Pan’. There’s also a record we’re fixing right now, which is a record with ‘Let’s Not Pack the Water’, ‘The Lightning’, ‘Equal’, ‘Step by Step’. So the situation is that, it’s to keep working my songs. And another album is coming in mid-April, which is the album “Vesusterio” that we are working with Rodrigo Aros (Hoppo!). There’s going to be a lot of stuff going to come out this time and I’m happy about that, because I finally had the time to record and settle down with those songs that had never had a place on record.



Original source in Spanish

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