A ‘dream pop’ trio that claims both Brooklyn and Puerto Rico as home, Kordan was very much at home at last night’s Culture Collide Festival at The Echo. I got a chance to speak with the three members in the green room before their set, so fellow BnB staffer Lauren Novik and I headed upstairs for a few words before the show. We entered the room to seven or eight people lounging comfortably on large couches, and when we walked in everyone immediately greeted us warmly, like we were old friends instead of brand-new ones. The non-band members politely dispersed to the other side of the room, giving Kordan and myself as much privacy as could be afforded in such a small space. The three members, Arthur, Gabo, and Liz, huddled together around me, leaning forward in anticipation of my questions. I admit, their gracious attention was a little daunting at first. I have never felt more at home with a band right off the bat, especially for a pre-show interview where (understandably) the band is usually busy going over last-minute show details. But Kordan was different: they answered my questions thoughtfully and candidly in softly-accented English, and we talked about their music and goals in a serious way. For some bands, it’s just about the music. For others, it’s about the stories behind the music. For Kordan, it’s both; and yet it’s so much more.

 

Before heading out to The Echo last night, I spent some time listening to Kordan’s Myspace page. I really liked their music, but it wasn’t until after hearing the band talk about their music that I really understood it as it was intended. Once I heard the story behind their new album The Longing, I was unable to picture anything else but the detailed scenes they effortlessly placed in my head. When they got onstage, I understood why they were described as a dream pop trio. But not all dreams are pleasant ones, and Kordan waxes and wanes between lovely fantasy and dark mystery.  The push-pull between the two was tangible and kept the energy level high, and the crowd responded by spontaneously breaking out into little dancing circles. The voices of Liz and Arthur fit snugly against one another, and they frequently created a surreal cacophony of echos that was hypnotic to the ears. Gabo’s live bass playing was spot on with the electronic drum sounds, adding a much-needed bottom to the textured sound. Arthur’s constant guitar strumming really contrasted with Liz’s dreamy synth sequences, and the trio never stopped moving for the duration of their stand-out performance. I highly recommend reading the interview below, especially if you are going to be seeing Kordan live anytime soon: both their answers and their music will surprise you.

BnB: Tell us about Kordan‘s full-length debut The Longing (now available on iTunes).

Arthur (pictured center): The idea for The Longing came from a dream scene. A large metropolis, foggy, it’s raining, your’e surrounded by people and there’s lights everywhere. there’s people everywhere. All of the songs stem from this scene. We are surrounded by material things, too many things; but are we connected? That’s the longing there. Again, like all works of art, there’s no precise fashion to thinking things. It’s always open to interpretation.

What are your band goals for the next year?

Gabo (pictured right): What we’ve talked about..we would like to go out and go to different places and you know, expose our music to different types of people: different cities, places, towns, wherever we can play, we’d love to play there.

Arthur: I guess a live show also, we want to develop the live show as much as possible. Right now we are just playing the music and everything, but we don’t want only be a band’s music, we want it to be a full visual experience. Like, if we could get someone to do video for our live show that connects with the music, some mixed media as many experiences as possible. There’s a long-term view to this.

Liz: And definitely just doing a lot of touring. That would be a number one goal for the upcoming year.

Arthur: Likewise, recording-wise we are already thinking and planning for the second album: we have some demos happening, we have changed people. Like everyone else, we need to change our work. For the second album, it will probably be a more mature, deeper album. More collaboration between us, more eclectic piece of work. We’re moving away from The Longing, the metropolis scene we created for the first album. We’re crafting another world for the second album, made of those same life situations.

Kordan played CMJ last year, and there are two shows lined up for you there this year. What are your hopes and expectations for CMJ 2010?

Gabo: We just hope to have a similar type of exposure. We had a good crowd last year; we were really happy about that. We want to see more bands, play with more bands. This year we’re playing a different venue: we’re playing The Cake Shop, and it’s more of a small, comfortable venue. So we hope to have more people out there and get our music out there, just expose our music to as many people as we can. That’s our main goal.

Liz: We’re also very thankful to all of the people that are having us at CMJ, We’re excited about collaborating with all the new people that are interested in us and coming to our shows, and working with those who have given us the opportunity to play. Terrorbird, Dub Frequency. We’re really excited to work with them.