Interview with Lee Margot (vocals) and Michal Laudarg (music) from NNHMN
Berlin-based NNHMN (pronounced “nonhuman”) is a captivating electronic music duo that defies conventional boundaries with their unique blend of genres and hauntingly atmospheric soundscapes. Comprising Lee Margot and Michal Laudarg NNHMN has been making waves in the underground music scene, enchanting audiences with their mesmerizing live performances and thought-provoking lyrics.
With influences ranging from Post Punk and Minimal Wave to Industrial and Synth Pop, their music creates a sonic landscape that is both nostalgic and forward-thinking. Combining ethereal vocals, pulsating synthesizers and rhythms, NNHMN crafts a sonic journey that takes listeners on an immersive and introspective ride. With their distinctive sound and unwavering commitment to artistic authenticity, NNHMN continues to push the boundaries of electronic music, leaving a lasting impact on those who venture into their captivating sonic universe. The project recently released the new album ‘Circle of Doom’ which is already gaining attention across various audiences. Before I see them at Castle Party festival, we had a chat about the music and live concerts.
Reflections of Darkness [RoD]: What are live shows for you in general? When we last spoke, you mentioned you play a lot of concerts and that it may be quite demanding sometimes.
Lee: For me in general, live gigs are the meetings with our audience and presenting our music to them. I am always very electrified, everything can happen, and usually, it does. At the very beginning, we try to accommodate ourselves onstage, which sometimes is hard or awkward, it depends very much on the sound / light conditions at the venue we perform, and also on the audience which divers sometimes very much from one city to another. So, both sides’ performers and audience must have some time to get into the connection, the right mood, accommodate in the shared experience…
Michal: Live performance is a core of our project. It is demanding I think always on many levels, but we really love this experience of exchanging energy between us and the audience. We play big festivals and small clubs, and probably small venues are somehow more difficult. But the truth is if all clicks well between us and the audience then the “perpetuum mobile starts” so they feed us with power, and we send them more energy back. and the one-hour show is like five minutes. You don’t feel the time when the energy is so high. actually, same as being high.
RoD: Are there any places you’d like to perform at in particular?
Lee: The year will bring Amphi, W fest, Sanctuary, Castle Party and gods know what’s more, so my dreams are being constantly full-field, however, I think that it would be good to be back to the Off festival in Poland which is a very welcoming alternative and diverse festival, we would like to play Melt one day as it’s in Berlin (read home) and has a quite big, diverse audience, so I guess it would be nice to say hello to this audience, I do have a feeling that more dance electronic gathering would also appreciate our music, I was thinking how great it would be to play one-day ADE, f ex, would be great if they open for acts like ours, that is - the acts from the broader, more underground spectrum of electronic music(but of course I am aware that these are very, very commercial events)… Last month we played at the big electronic festival Nuits Sonores in Lyon, which was just on point for our new material. We are sometimes located in-between DJs; it seems like the audience needs more diversity at dance events. I personally, also miss the situation from back in the days, when there were not only big room DJs, but acts and chill-out areas to sit or lay down, talk, you know.
Michal: I think the Dark Mad this year was very crazy with a hot audience. a really great festival located at a car cinema, big terrain. And I’m really looking forward to playing Castle Party, we haven’t played in Poland for many years. Probably the last time, just before the pandemic starts. Also, W-Fest where we play at a stage located on the beach in Ostend. Terminus Festival in Calgary will be the first time for NNHMN to be in Canada (with a previous project we played in Montreal already). So actually, every place is always somehow special.
RoD: Tell me about the origins of NNHMN? How did it all start?
Lee: This is quite simple we started to be together, Michal was an electro DJ, and I was a theatre actress, we both didn’t want to continue the standard path, we wanted to be in our own kingdom and started to experiment with music, which was extremely chaotic and experimental at the very beginning, but all the beginning is drowned in chaos so was ours.
Michal: Throughout the years, we had different projects that led us finally to NNHMN.
RoD: You decided to live and create your music in Berlin. Is it a demanding or inspiring scene?
Lee: Absolutely beautiful, so many people moved to live here only because of music, the lifestyle, so everyone I know (that makes music) is very concentrated on it.
Michal: Berlin has definitely an inspiring scene. You can find here almost everything and every genre, every niche has its own scene and audience, which is really cool. you cannot find it in many other cities. Of course, the techno and club scene are very strong here, but the cool thing about Berlin is that there is a very alternative, kind of darkish audience as well for club-oriented music as also for other genres. Perfect place to be for us.
RoD: What inspires you to create new songs? What is the general vibe you’d like to give with your art?
Lee: This is always the sound, and lyrics I am just collecting in my notes on a daily basis, but the sound determines what the song will be like. That’s why we constantly develop the sound, the style, to get to this something not yet known, it is a pursuit after the unknown. From Here to eternity. Somehow freedom, the underground one and artistic as well.
Michal: Probably many things can trigger me to go and make music. Sometimes it could be club night you know dancing and listening the whole night to the “techno loop” and then you wake up next day with the loop in your head, so you need to do something with that. Another time it could be simple experimenting with new machines, synth and then suddenly a cool bass line is being created so there you go with it, Lee always has some beautiful lyrics ready to go so then you need to finish this song.
RoD: Are there any new releases on the way? What can we expect from you in the upcoming months? (the question was asked before the releasing the new album ‘Circle of Doom’.)
Lee: That’s a good question actually, now there is the time for us to restructure the sound again, after had played 40 concerts in 2022 we realized we totally miss studio work, you see when you are packing and repacking your stuff constantly travelling, waiting on the railway's stations, on the airports, sitting in cars, running through foreign cities, to get to the venue where you play at night, you're starting to realize that the core of your doing is the music itself. And this you can’t do when you travel. So, we are just extremely happy that although we do have some massive things booked for the next year, there are not that many of them - we will be able to focus finally on the sound development, and this is priceless.
Michal: We just released the ‘Circle of Doom’ album but still have some songs in the making. So, you can expect some extra single releases in the autumn, maybe even this summer.
RoD: Thank you!
NNHMN in web:
Bandcamp (vinyl still available:): https://k-dreams.bandcamp.com/album/circle-of-doom
‘Circle of doom’ live premiere at DarkMad in Madrid: https://youtu.be/zXo1_hun1rE
https://www.youtube.com/nnhmn / https://nnhmn.com / https://open.spotify.com/artist/3PFLYlaguMd2AXu1i3UAKt / https://www.facebook.com/nonhuman.duo
All Pictures by Cristina Del Barco
Comments powered by CComment