What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.

We met in 2013. At the time, Xavier (our former drummer) and I were looking to form a new Nordic post-rock inspired band and we posted a small announcement with the demo of our first title ‘Lighthouse’ . We felt a fairly immediate human and musical connection with Daniel and Fabien. We evolved for a while at five, with an Italian musician, Camilla, who then decided to devote herself to other projects, then we stabilized fairly quickly as a four-piece band. We recorded and released our first EP in 2016, inspired by dream pop, post rock and sometimes even progressive rock. To tell the truth, we were kinda trying to find ourselves even if we have nothing to be ashamed of with this first effort. We gradually evolved towards darker tones with the release “Forest in my head”, as a single, beginning this transition in 2018. Xavier having left Paris the following year and after several unsuccessful attempts with other drummers (the succession was difficult!), we finally decided to continue the adventure as a trio and to write new music thanks to these new limits, namely without organic rhythm. Our new record “VOLAVERUNT” was born from this new balance.

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

After the release of an EP and a single, we decided, in 2019, to take advantage of our new drummer-less trio configuration to explore our most drone facet and experiment with sounds. We completed our instrumentation with a violin and experimental devices (clock bells, noise boxes …) in order to give new sounds and atmosphere to our long improvised ambient tracks. This work results in an organized chaos where daydreaming and distorted sounds alternate, laying the foundations for VOLAVERUNT, a monochrome album, composed in one go and based on a single soundtrack. It’s really conceived as a catharsis, a “whole” with a beginning and an end
VOLAVERUNT is also one of Goya’s engravings. On it, you can see a woman “wearing” butterfly wings. She appears as a free figure, liberated from the norms and we found a certain resonance with our music in it. It appeared quite naturally as the album’s title.

Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?

On this record, we wanted to link the ritualistic side of Anna von Hausswolff with SWANS’ toughness and GY!BE noisiness. We’re also great fans of Big/Brave. They have such a massive sound!
Other than that, we’re inspired by life, death, beauty, ugliness, light, darkness, melancholy, contrasts, …

In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?

We don’t think we belong to a specific genre so this is quite a difficult question. But I guess we could say that our tracks offer free structures within which the sounds are ample, deep and the play on textures permanent. The whole is surrounded by drone-like soundscapes and a somehow mystical voice. Ecstatic vocals lead the way to slow movements before letting the sound space tear up under bass and guitar feedbacks.

Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…

Definitely: Ceremony by Anna von Hausswolff, The Man who fell to earth by Nicolas Roeg and the Goldfinch by Donna Tart!

Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?

Both a great really. We like how we can spend hours refining a specific sound and building sonic atmosphere like a goldsmith, really, in the studio. it’s a complex yet fulfilling work of art. But we also love the energy we get from the stage, the alchemy we feel within the band and with the audience. Performing live is like getting rid of your own body and sticking together with the music. It really has this uplifting vibe!
Both studio and live experiences really feed us and are intimately intertwined.

Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?

After one of our shows in Le Mans, a girl approached me and asked whether I was a witch in a very serious way. I jokingly answered yes when she said “omg, me too!”. She told me my voice reminded her of the voices she listened to while doing a ritual and that she’d listen to our album for her next ritual. Now, I’m an atheist so I don’t believe in these kinds of things but it really moved me because the album has been conceived as a sort of ritual, yes, so it’s always great to hear about how people experience it in their own ways.

Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?

I personally really love “The Open Door”. It’s very organic, ritualistic and “fluid”. The tension grows and grows and grows until it explodes and blows your mind/heart/soul, all at once. I am in a kind of trance when we play it live. It has this effect!

Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?

We were recently joined by a great drummer called Constantin du Closel (ex-SaaR, Nordkapp). He did a great job rearranging the songs with excellent drum parts. We love how it sounds live! Our future plans will be mainly playing the record live in every European location that will be willing to host us! We also have a filmed live session planned during the summer 2022. We’re very excited about it! So, great things ahead!

Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…

Are you dark and sad people?

It’s funny because we recently played in Lyon and Dani, our bassist, which is quite a cheerful and sociable person, got to chat with several people before the show. One of them was really surprised that somebody so radiant would play music as dark and cryptic as Bank Myna’s. We’re actually quite happy and well-balanced people. I guess we use music as a means of liberation from our darkest thoughts.

Photo Credits: Marine Duquesnoy

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

Recommended listening:

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Connect with Bank Myna:

linktr.ee/bankmyna

https://www.facebook.com/bankmyna

https://bankmyna.bandcamp.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/bankmyna/?hl=fr