Plastic Operator — “Peppermint” | download
[audio:http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/02-peppermint.mp3]

Plastic Operator — “Another Sound” | download
[audio:http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/08-another-sound.mp3]

Autumn Chorus — “Remember the Dead”
[audio:http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/autumnchorus-rememberthedead.mp3]

What drives you to create ambient and post-rock music?
I think as a band we’re more about atmosphere as opposed to ambiance, as that suggests it’s in the background, and we want to be very much in the foreground! We’re never sure if we are “post-rock” but that’s what we seem to fit into. I think we’re influenced by classical music as much as we are other post-rock bands.

What, aside from music, do you find to be an influencing factor in your musical production?
Because a lot of our music is about a certain mood, there are certain themes that are hard to shift. Loss and sorrow definitely play their part, and grief. I think each of us has a picture in our minds about what we play; we’ll just never know what each other’s is! For me, it’s trees, pine trees to be specific. They remind me of places near home.

How do you create your music?
Our songs seem to either form out of nothing, or the opposite and we go into massive details about every note and harmony. Both ways seem to work, but it’s always very considered when we play together to know that we’re getting the most from each instrument.

What sorts of factors play into a typical recording session?
– We’ve only done one proper one! Sadly, the main factors were time, and money! We were happy that we got we wanted though, so for a short recording time, we didn’t feel like we’d had to compromise.

What are your post-Rosa plans?
We’re undecided as to whether or not to try and record a full album ourselves, to have the time we’d like to spend on a debut album, or hope that a record label picks us up to pay for it, and get the biggest and best results we can. I think our sound lends itself to big recording rooms and time to get the most from it, and that sadly costs money. We’d feel sad to think that we hadn’t got the best record possible, so it may be a case of waiting for the right offer to come up.

What sort of support do you find locally?
We’ve spent so much time locked away writing, recording, or mixing that our live set is only really just coming together. We’ve found a couple of lovely promoters to help us out with Brighton and London gigs, but our aim would be supporting the bigger bands out there in our field to give us the bigger venues and therefore bigger sound! Some promoters seem to give such strange choices of support that we don’t bother asking them anymore, as they don’t create nights that people will enjoy.

How has Rosa been received?
Rosa has gone surprisingly well! We’d hoped to get a cd out that would get us industry interest, which it has, but we’d put a lot of time into the post-production side of things, and currently have it stocked in the UK in Brighton, and online via Rough Trade. It’s also stocked in Berlin through a promoter friend of ours, and we’ve shifted a few copies there, too, which is cool.

Jenny Hallam – “Avoiding the Spotlight” | download
[audio:http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/03-avoiding-the-spotlight.mp3]