Zen Baboon
by Mister Mime
30th October 2020
Zen Baboon’s latest release Hidden Frogs is an aural bouquet of sublime harmonies, tantalising melodies, caressing ambiences and silky beats, all of which present to us a perfect paradox of flawless glitchy goodness. Tiptoeing between classical glitch, trip-hop, chillout and techno, all with a subtly psychedelic touch as mild yet seductive as a micro-dose of Lucy on a warm summer’s day in nature, the music occasionally evokes feelings that are reminiscent to traversing through Parisian rues or a quaint Lisbon alley in an alternate sur-reality. Zen Baboon’s work has always been one of a kind, rich in feeling, spontaneous, sentimental, sympathetic and with a strong storytelling sense. This record is no different as you are anachronistically transported through several layers of nostalgic moods and musical topographies that leave you enamoured by this delightful musical courtship.
MM: How are things in Portugal and how has 2020 been for you?
ZB: Well, it could be a more political answer but despite what's going on around the world I think things here are pretty much ok for now. Much less or no work in the cultural industry and many others that had to shut down or adapt due to the current situation. Nonetheless, summer had the beaches packed with national and foreign tourists and most of the people learned other ways to survive in this upside down economy.
But for me, it has been pretty good as I've spent much more time with the family, did some upgrades in the house that have been postponed and I’m really happy with this last release that to be honest I didn’t expect to have this kind of feedback and support from the Zen Baboon fans.
MM: How did you come up with your artist name - Zen Baboon?
ZB: This was actually the name of a track back in the days. Then, we were invited to do our first release so we had to come up with a band name. We gathered a few names and showed it to our close group of friends and Zen Baboon was the most voted.
MM: How do Zen Baboon and Zen Racoon interact creatively? Are you a collaborative duo?
ZB: It's just two different approaches of our music. Zen Baboon is our main project, more downtempo directed, and Zen Racoon is something that Daniel and I do for fun once in a while. This one has a more techno oriented touch. Basically everything that is on the 4/4 straight kick over 120 bpm is already Zen Racoon.
Yes, Daniel and I are a collaborative duo. On some occasions we are together but most of the time we work separately in our home studio. Everything we produce goes back and forward until is something we can call a finished track.
MM: What is the theme or idea of ‘Hidden Frogs’?
ZB:To be honest, we normally like to release something in the mid-end of june but this year we wanted to give it some time for the final mix and not be in a rush to just release something. This year's idea was just to release in winter time a full album with 12-14 tracks but as time went by, we realised that these 6 tracks would go well together for the summer time. I guess it was the vibe in it and as the months went along, more tracks with this atmosphere began to gather and this made this album happen.
Hidden Frogs was the name we came up with literally an hour before we launched the album on our bandcamp.
MM: The tracks : The Odd Lion, Deeb - Speak in Colours, Marimbando, Back to Paris, Sabo De Raia, Curga Larva : What do they mean and do they have any story behind them?
ZB: It’s just names we’ve come up for the tracks. Nothing mysterious there to tell.
MM: The mood of your music is very unique, intricate and relaxing! How did you go about your sound design, sound selection, instrumentation and arrangement to create this mood in 'Hidden Frogs'? What is usually your production process and approach?
ZB: The production process I’ve already explained before in brief. All the rest is just the process taking place. Sometimes is more instrumental, other times is more electronic. It all depends on the mood we’re in when we start a project and if it goes well or if we like it, something is on for a new track. That’s magic happening or if you want, a warm and overwhelming feeling when this process takes its right path.
MM: Genres: I would roughly call your music Global downtempo, instrumental chillout or world trip-hop…but that barely begins to describe it. How do you perceive different genres like Classical, jazz, World, psychedelic, glitch, techno, etc and incorporate them into your sound of downtempo electronica?
ZB: It’s all about upcycling everything that we experience through our lives since early times.
I guess it’s just all the influences we got from our child / teenage times and from what we’ve been listing too. Also the festivals and traveling have influencing us a lot. In the end It’s all just upcycling from the genres we have empathy with.
MM: What are your musical Influences and some things that inspire you out of music?
ZB: Obviously we’re influenced by the 80s and 90s and generally speaking, Classical, Bossa Nova, Morna, Reggae are some of the genres we listened to when we were kids. Mentioning some names, Kruder and Dorfmeister, Boozoo Bajou, Air, Thievery Corporation, Shulman, Bonobo, Kaya Project, Shpongle, Eat Static, Trentmoller...
You Can Follow Zen Baboon on:
https://soundcloud.com/zen-baboonhttps://zenbaboon.bandcamp.com/album/hidden-frogs
All Images courtesy of Zen Baboon
