In the light of Diabulus in Musica’s new single, Otoi, we talked to Zuberoa to know more details about their new album, Euphonic Entropy, to be released on the 14th of February. We were very curious to know about their new single since it wasn't sung in English. Keep reading to know more about it!
M.I. - Hello I am Sara from Metal Imperium. First of all, thank you so much for giving us the opportunity for this interview.
Hi Sara! I’m Zuberoa, nice to “e-meet” you, thanks for the questions.
M.I.- I’d like to start by asking (and congratulate) you about your latest single Otoi, we noticed it was fully written in Basque and we are very curious to know how you feel about it?
Thanks! Yes, it is written entirely in Basque, co-official language in the Basque Country and Navarre together with Spanish. Basque is one of the oldest Pre-indo European languages in Europe, and we know many people don't know about its existence, that’s why we wanted to show a little bit about our ancestral culture. It was a bit risky as people are used to listen to this kind of music in English, but the reactions so far have been very good. We think it sounds cool as it is an ancestral language and the songs have this folky/ancient sound too.
M.I.- Can we know more about your official videoclip? We think it is very symbolic so we are curious to know more about it.
Yes, it talks about the connection with the ancient Gods of Basque mythology, our ancestors and Nature. It is a prayer to two of the main Gods (Urtzi and Amari) who represent the Sky and the Earth. It is also a kind of lament because of the loss of our cultural identity through the years and due to different circumstances. The video was recorded in an ancient (16th century) and typical house of the Basque country.
M.I.- Was the composing process for “Otoi” easier since it was sung in your mother tongue or was it the same as your previous songs?
To be honest I’m more used to writing songs in English, so it was not easy to do it in Basque. Basque is a difficult language, the words are generally much longer than in English and with a lot of consonants, verbs are also complicated as they work with declensions, but it was fun and I think it turned out cool!
M.I.- Can you tell us how much time you spent in the studio and writing your new songs?
It is impossible to tell as we didn’t have the time to sit down for hours being parents of a 3 year-old boy and a newborn baby girl, so we had to make the most of every little moment we had to work. It has been a very intense year and we have been very focused on what we wanted to achieve with the new songs.
M.I.- And what can you tell us about your new album “Euphonic Entropy”, to be released on the 14th of February?
We are very happy with the result! I would say it’s our heaviest album, the most energetic one and very varied too. We explored new paths again. It is strong, matured… I’m sure our fans won’t be disappointed!
M.I. - Why the name “Euphonic Entropy”?
It refers to the chaotic situation of being parents and working on music at the same time. We do everything at our home studio and the kids are there with us, so sometimes working is a hard task but, despite all the difficulties and this apparent chaos, we managed to write and record good songs achieving an “euphonic” result. Haha. Duality has always been represented in our music and this title refers to that too.
M.I.- We heard it will be your heaviest album to date, may we ask why?
Because the general feeling we had once we had listened to it when it was finished was stressful (in a good way). There is not much time to relax (apart from the ballad), and we think this is probably the result of our lives now. Everything goes fast, it is difficult to find time for yourself and the little time we found was to create music, that’s why the album seems so energetic and heavy to us.
M.I.- Are you planning on composing more songs in Basque? We noticed you’ve been doing several Basque covers, we’d love to see more of it.
Probably yes. Once we recorded a complete soundtrack in Basque for a book about the Basque mythology and we liked the experience. Also, we have included sentences in Basque since our very first album, so why not do it again? Anyway, if we do so, it will be for one song or so, the main language in our music will be English as always. Making covers in Basque was a proposal by the label to show people more about how Basque language sounds. It was fun!
M.I.- Can we know more about your plans for the future? Is there any tour on your plans?
We are working now on a possible European tour. We cannot wait to play the new songs live!
M.I.- Do you want to say something to your Portuguese fans?
Yes! Although we live so close, we have never played there, so we really hope to visit your beautiful country soon! Thanks a lot for your support!
M.I.- Thank you so much for your time, we can’t wait to hear your new album!
Thank you!! We hope you like it!
For Portuguese version, click here
Questions by Sara Assunção
