By: Filip Sandström Beijer
JASSS aka Silvia Jiménez Alvare is releasing a powerfully concentrated in sonic form named A World Of Service. Playful Magazine catches up with the Spanish producer who’s doing her debut on Ostgut Ton.
You’re releasing a new album ‘A World Of Service’ which digs in ideas of gender, identity and interpersonal relationships. Can you tell us a bit about the concept?
“AWOS” talks about limits that bend and unfold, turning boundaries into portals,
almost in the way a fractal “starts when it ends”.
I stared at faces, at my face, for a very long time, until the features became
meaningless. I bet this is something a lot of people do.It turns out the same thing happened to my notion of gender, when I finally had a good long look I found myself in need to create some custom made parameters that could bring me closer to a sense of identity. Almost like my own internal vocabulary that helps me understand how I feel more accurately.
All this affects very much the way I exist in the world, with others. In a very positive
way. I wanted to sing about this, to make music from this place.
”AWOS" started as your radio show in Berlin and it will become an A/V live show in collaboration with Ben Kreukniet. How did the project evolve in this direction and what’s the core they have in common?
That name randomly appeared (was it randomly tho?) in my mind when I did those
shows, the only common ground with my current project is the concept of “service”,
which can be very elastic. I recycled this name, I thought it was full of meaning. While sitting with some of the ideas, it kept coming back to me.
You are from Spain and lived in the Netherlands before relocating in Berlin. How has
this city affected your career and creative process?
When I came here I eventually started meeting people that I felt were like minded,
this excites me. I think Berlin was the first place where I felt I belonged, where
strange wasn’t so strange after all. It lifted the weight of importance off things, It exposed me to other peoples realities ina more diverse way. I come from a place that is quite limited in many ways, so I guess the stereotype of Berlin being the land of freedom suits me well. I think moving here gave me the fuel that I needed at the time, to dream strong enough to pursue what I really wanted to do.
What do you appreciate from Berlin outside of the music scene?
The people, how not pretentious this city is in many ways, the spätis, the street
markets, the random mixture of people, the cultural offer in general, Victoria bar, the
parks, the trash, the coincidences, how wild but gentle it is.
What gets you warm when the weather is bad?
Nothing gets you through the winter like good company, cuddles and soup