Kamikaze are a Neo Pop / Neo Electro Acoustic Soul duo operating from Berlin and remote, undisclosed locations in Switzerland. For discerning ears they meander and explore a sound somewhere between Mount Kimbie’s most Indie expressions and James Blake’s excursions into the deeper end of Soul. Being that both Alexandre Maurer (drums and synths) and Fabio Pinto (vocals, synths, guitar) are seasoned Jazz musicians, their music is quite a challenging genre bender. Kamikaze have recently released their latest EP entitled Velvet Ghetto. We caught up with them to ask them about the video for the ironically title Happy Nation, which just went live.
What is Happy Nation about?
Happy Nation is a song about the insane tendency to accumulate money and possessions. We think that getting economically richer gets us a certain status and we often get confused with happiness and financial wealth. The growth rate of our countries is still based on how much we produce and sell. I think that a “happy nation” should take in charge other factors as for example culture and education to measure its growth.
How did the song come about?
Just by observing the general behaviour around me. Even I have the tendency to think that I’m happier with a fat bank account.. Buying new stuff makes me happier in a way and makes me feel well integrated in our society. I think it’s inevitable to have this feeling.. But the song is more about this super rich 1% of the people, I think that’s really insane..
How can we stop this madness that we’re living right now? Can we?
I’m a happy pessimist, as they said in Rome 2000 years ago: “homo homini lupus”, the man is the mankind’s wolf. There is no cure, that’s how it works. I think we could put some limitations to the free market and put some rules in the casino.. But it seems like the governments here in Europe are more worried about other problems as for example blocking the mass migrations from poorer countries. We heal the symptoms and forget about the illness.
What’s next for Kamikaze?
We will release a new Video in November for Strange Echoes, we are currently planning an Europe Tour for the spring 2016, hopefully Festivals during the summer. The plan is to Tour again in september and then record a LP at the end of the Tour. We are looking to collaborate with some fellow label-mate Bass Sekolah in order to get a residency in Malaisia.
