We meet Belau made up of Kedves Péter and Krisztián Buzás. These guys are a blend of eletronica and traditional Afro-Cuban music, Belau’s Krisztián Buzás chats Spotify playlists and music inspirations.
1. Who are Belau in Three Words only?
We are trying to make the possible “soundtrack of Self” for anyone.
2. What top 5 tracks would we find on your Spotify or iTunes playlist?
If you ask for the top 5 of Belau in my eyes, I will say Finally Home, Aspire, Essence, Risk It All and of course LUZ. If you ask for my own recent favourites from other artists, I have to admit I do not listen to that much music in the last few months, I prefer silence, but if I have to pick a few I would tell RY X’s YaYaYa, Bring Me the Horizon’s 1×1, From a Second Story Window’s Most Of Us Are Normal, Shlohmo’s Heaven Inc. and of course Seal’s Fly Like An Eagle (ha-ha).
3. We love your track ’Luz’ tell us a bit about that track?
This track is a real outsider in the history of Belau. According to our motto “step inside the outside” – we tried to make that move ourselves as well and step outside of the zone we have made songs earlier. With Luz I think we made a huge step towards to a way more intimate, honest and traditional direction, which I believe is a bridge between the Colourwave era and the third LP.
Working with Sexto Sentido turned out pretty well and smooth with this Yoruba / Spanish folk direction as the soundtrack of the Dawn for the human race and the individual as well. Luz means light, which is a symbol of the approach we believe in: let yourself flow in the stream of life. Nothing else will make yourself truly you; and nothing else will make you complete just if you are truly yourself. Easy (ha-ha).
4. Who are your musical inspirations?
In music we were inspired through multiple genres, but Belau directly mostly creates under the legendary affects of Portishead, Bonobo, Saltillo, Yonderboi, Odesza just to mention a few bigger ones, but we really do love The Acid, Caribou, Air, Ulver, Mike Shinoda, Aurora and somehow our secret childhood common favourite came to my mind: Supernatural by Santana. In the approach towards the lyrics what I write my greatest inspiration is CG Jung, but there are several great hermetic thinkers who came up with thoughts that aligns perfectly with the spirit of Belau.
5. We love your sound; the vibe is very chilled out almost afro meets minimal house would you agree with this?
I think “afro” is something I never heard about our music, but everything is right. Any association is good. With Luz we tried to use the least as possible in the music, so that’s why minimal sounds accurate.
6. What embarrassing songs might I find on your Spotify?
We really do love trashy music somehow despite the thoughts above, I know. But we never listen to those on Spotify, that is for sure (ha-ha).
7. Where would you most like to perform?
Our album release tour was cancelled in full, which was a very difficult situation to face, but we experienced quite a lot in the past 5 years thankfully: Russia, Slovenia, UK, Poland, Germany is always fun to play, but playing in the US was also outstanding.
8. Who would you most like to open for?
A Portishead reunion tour would be a so-called dream supporting slot for us (ha-ha).
9. If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?
To be honest we are doing that thing parallel, what your question refers to. I am a jurist (lawyer) and graphic designer in the other halves of my life and Peter is a music manager, PR expert.
10. Which song do you wish you had written?
Through the eyes of Belau I would say The Acid’s one and only full-length is a good answer.
11. If you could dabble in another genre of music, what would it be?
To be honest, I “dabble” in other genres (ha-ha). I even have a metal band, called Orient Fall, where we play pretty heavy stuff fusing black metal, djent and a lot of other stuff. Go give it a try!
12. What genre of music can’t you stand to listen to?
I am pretty much open-minded and respect multiple genres, but there are some nightmarish, true “Satanist stuff” called Hungarian operetta. That is some hellish thing to listen to. Once we were playing in London with a three-piece classical expand to our band (violin, cimbalom, piano) we had to cover a Csárdás folk dance piece, which is something that is very far from us. That was a very tough task to fulfil, but facing your fears makes you a better person (ha-ha).
13. What hidden talents do you have?
If I tell you, it won’t be hidden anymore.
14. Describe your style to us?
A conceptual approach through music and lyrics to provide shelter and possibility for the growth of the individual. If it inspires you, it inspires us.
15. Finally – what’s next for 2021?
We will release the deluxe edition of Colourwave in March with a few remixes, live versions and LUZ, then we are in the hands of fate. If shows won’t happen in 2021 either I think we will focus on the distant era of Belau, creating LP3.
