There’s a melting fragility in SAMUUM’s latest effort ‘ASEL’. Navigating collective history and personal pain, the American-Armenian outfit explores the troubling memories surrounding the Armenian genocide in 1915. A very delicate lyrical theme that gets treated in the most poignant cinematic production, supporting Lusine’s mesmerising and heartfelt lead vocals.
‘Asel’ represents the Armenian word for ‘speak’. Such a title was inspired by the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Armenia, also reinforced by the protests in Iran, where women are fighting for their basic rights. The platform they get to share those empowering messages from is also relevant: the duo has been on a constant rise for the past few years, emerging from The Voice Ukraine and being championed by the likes of Loud & Quiet, CLASH and Fred Perry Subculture.
Intrigued by the project, we caught up with SAMUUM to find out more about their artistry and future goals. Interview below!
Hey Samuum, how is it going? we are currently living through turbulent and volatile times. How can art (and music) help us in finding the right path forward?
Art is a dopamine needle. If the world is blocked as it was during COVID-19 or if there’s a war around like in Ukraine and Armenia right now, art can be the fastest way to make a trip out of crazy reality. It’s always been like that. Luchino Visconti helped us to go through the difficulties of the post-war world during the 40s, Hendrix helped to overcome societal collapse which the Vietnamese War did with people in the US. Every generation needs some good music or films to beat the shit around. Samuum is highlighting the problems with women’s culture and making the voice of Mid-Eastern girls heard. Art can help you to survive, to escape – depends on what you need in a particular moment. It’s a powerful tool.
Your current work is the result of a long journey; What first drew you to making music?
Back in 2015 when we came up with the idea of Samuum, we just sat in a bar with Lusine. We ate terrible cheap pizza and she was telling me stories about her ex. So I acted as “ears” for her, I’ve just been listening to her story. Basically, I am doing the same shit now but in the studio and she’s singing and instead of just speaking. But her stories are not much better I must say.
If you had the opportunity to pick any artists in the world for a collaboration, who would be your first choice? (and second choice, perhaps?)
We always had a dream to perform instead of masked artists. No one will see the replacement anyway! We could definitely play a gig instead of Daft Punk. And it would be nice to slam with Slipknot. We will be wearing their masks. Our singer Lusine can scream instead of Corey and I’ll be Dicknose.
Your music is very arty and focused on its lyrical message. What motivates you in your artistic research?
Pain. It’s the best driver. And the artist should not necessarily be the owner of that pain. It can easily be someone else’s pain that is triggering us to write a song about it. It was the same with “Asel”, because the song was inspired by the common pain of girls in Ukraine, Armenia and Iran. As for the lyrical message, we are always triggered by some Mediaeval Armenian poetry and the poems of our ghostwriter Ella Harutyunyan (Ella Kanegarian-Goktas). From these sources, we can always dig enough of “song-triggering” pain even if everything is great around us.
‘Asel’ is your latest record, signalling a comeback from your previous 2020 singles. A nuanced and eclectic piece, it showcases the full extent of your musical prowess. How should the listener approach the listening experience?
We consider “Asel” a pretty easy-to-listen song. It may sound complex only because of the sonic idea behind it. We wanted to achieve some “tribalistic sound”: guitar to sound like an African Cora and cello like Oud, you know. I played the cello’s part with an office pen instead a bow, then tortured the guitar with an old slider. But the listener doesn’t need to have anything specific to feel the taste of the record. It would be great if our listeners will listen to “Asel” having a nice sub, but even if they have cheap earphones, the record will work for them.
The music video for ‘Asel’ draws its script from painful events occurring during the 1915 Armenian genocide, at the hands of Ottoman Turkey. A lot of people today seem to have forgotten about that dark page in our history. Do you believe remembrance is essential in setting a righteous example for the future?
One of our favourite phrases sounds like: “If you shoot your past from a gun, the future will shoot you down with a missile”. We thought that the story of the Armenian Genocide and tattooing the girls as slaves will be never repeated. The world has almost forgotten about that. But see what is going on now in Ukraine, Armenia and Iran. Just look at the level of cruelty against women there! We were so shocked by the terrible crimes against humanity which happened this year that we could not stay silent. We believe that art can prevent evil. Just look how people in Berlin are leaving red lines across the city – right in the same place where the horrific Berlin wall was built. Yeah, art (when it’s done in the right way) can help us to rethink the past and to avoid mistakes in the future.
The last three years have been – for many of us – an absolute rollercoaster. How was it for you?
It was a period of strange lessons. The majority of the time we felt like being in the desert during the mirage: you just think you caught what you wanted but the very next moment you realise that result you dreamed about became even farther from you than it was before. So we learned not to be attached to plans. When you are expecting something and then not achieving that, it can break you. It’s better to stay “anti-attached”, we think. At least for now.
What are the next steps for your project? Anything exciting on the horizon?
We are finalising an album and we really want to start touring right away when the album is done. We really miss the audience. We really miss the big stages. And we really want to see people sweating at our gigs. The majority of our songs are 130 bpm and higher, so our audience will definitely have an opportunity to sweat a lot.
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