About
VĀRUA – QUINZEQUINZE
Since 2013, QuinzeQuinze has been shaping their own „climatic“ music, for lack of an
existing category adapted to encompass the inconsistent nature of their creative
approach. Today, Ennio, Julia, Marvin, Robin and Tsi Min go down a little deeper into
the volcanic well from which emerges the flaming power of their musical, visual and
narrative triptych. It’s from this same incandescence they have drawn the energy
needed for the creation of this new project entitled VĀRUA EP.
Vārua, which means soul or spirit in Tahitian, was an illuminated choice: the notion,
which is deeply anchored in the Polynesian heritage (that two members of the band
share), gives the entire project its raison d’être.
The same Vārua is also the root of the word Vārua’ino, designating both evil spirits
and celestial phenomena (thunder, rain, meteorites and rainbows), then shedding a
new light on the true essence of this new EP.
Its changing nature naturally encourages the connection between the tracks and the
variety of genres they conjure. Here, one can sense the presence of the Southern
and Northern American, Caribbean, Afro-Portuguese, or English scenes. And there,
one can hear R&B, trip-hop along with experimental electronics or dancehall
sonorities. The whole project articulates itself around a DNA formed by traditional
percussive instruments (to’ere, steel drum), Ori deck, bravado carried by the young
Tahitian underground scene and ancestral ōrero (Polynesian oratory art).
VĀRUA is a cybernetic hybrid of anticipatory sci-fi and folk legends around which its
diverse instrumentals intertwine. An accessible and adaptable orchestration replaces
classic structures/choruses and weaves with the narrative, as simply as our maps
and beliefs allow us to connect celestial movements.
Often swaying between stellar coherence and astral wandering, the seven tracks of
the EP and their vārua dive into different mental spaces – the stream of collective
consciousness crosses paths with bruised memory („Te Tiare“), the melancholy felt
at the end of a life cycle merges with the ecstatic emptiness of the subconscious („Le
Bleu“), the sadness arising from the loss of a dear friend or the frustration created by
the lack of inspiration contrasts with the emergence of hope („Le Soleil“, „Muse“).
Just like the existential crisis undergone by artificial intelligence on „Les Restes“,
VĀRUA highlights personal feelings and paradoxes which make for the backbone of
human experience.
Chahina MOUSSA (translation to English : Jean François Adjabahoué)