Xeno & Oaklander discuss Via Negativa and analog synthesis on Dais Records

Transmission 132: Interview with Xeno & Oaklander

Xeno & Oaklander discuss Via Negativa, their latest album on Dais, recorded in their Connecticut studio and inspired by minimalist philosophy.

Title: Via Negativa
Artist: Xeno & Oaklander
Release Date: 2024-11-15
Genres: Electronica, Synth Pop
Label: Dais Records
Description: Xeno & Oaklander discuss Via Negativa, their latest album on Dais, recorded in their Connecticut studio and inspired by minimalist philosophy.

Xeno & Oaklander is a synth-pop duo made up of Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride. They are known for their focus on analog synthesizers, combining retro influences with minimalist electronic structures. Their latest album, Via Negativa (in the doorway light), will be released on November 15, 2024, through Dais Records. Recorded in their Connecticut studio, the album explores themes of negation and duality, shifting between melodic and sparse arrangements. 

What early experiences or influences drew you both towards the world of analog synthesizers and minimal electronics?

Liz Wendelbo: It’s a matter of language – the synths speak to you. The possibilities are endless so it seemed like a very novel and challenging instrument to get into in 2004, when we started the band. 20 years later the synths are still as fascinating and forever transforming.

How did your collaboration as Xeno & Oaklander begin, and what led to your mutual fascination with minimal wave music?

LW: There is an interesting photo that a friend took at a small club in Williamsburg Brooklyn in 2003 I believe: I had just arrived in New York from Amsterdam where I lived at the time. Sean had a solo project, Martial Canterel, and did a show in Williamsburg Brooklyn. We didn’t know each other yet. A friend had invited me to Sean’s show and I went without knowing anything about it. I stood in the audience while Sean was getting ready to start performing and his friend snapped a photo of the audience with me bang in the middle of the photo – it was a 35mm analog photo with a flash. This was at a time when technology was in an awkward place: transitioning between analog and digital, and the digital wasn’t quite good enough yet. So the photographer was intent on taking analog photos. And there was Sean with all his analog synths on stage! The rest is history.

How did the early synth scene in New York influence your approach to both performance and production?

LW: The ‘no dance’ cabaret law instilled by the mayor of New York in the early 2000s made it so that people couldn’t dance in bars and no heavy beats could be played. This was in the aftermath of the unfortunate demise of the Club Kid scene when most clubs closed. We lived in Brooklyn at the time and the only way to have parties was the DIY way, and so thin beats such as found on minimal electronics records seemed a perfect fit for the times. As a dj in intimate DIY settings minimal wave was perfect for that. Record collecting was formative for us. And both Veronica of Minimal Wave and Gibby of Dais Records lived in the same building as Sean. It was only a matter of time until we started performing live. Eventually the cabaret law disappeared and New York went back to its big club culture. DIY was an interesting window in New York music history to be experiencing, and we are happy to take our project on the road today. Clubs have pretty powerful and surgical sound systems nowadays and this calls for stronger drums, and a stronger sound overall. 

You’ve worked with other artists, like John Foxx, Robert Calvert and Tobias Bernstrup, on remixes. Can you share how these collaborations came about and what you’ve learned from reinterpreting others’ work?

LW: Imagination always captivates us and these artists seem to tap into that, an imagined take on the modern project. John Foxx in particular, he is probably the most elegant man we’ve ever met.

How do you view the progression of your sound from the early records like ‘Vigils’ to this latest release on Dais Records? Are there certain creative principles you’ve maintained throughout?

LW: Creatively Xeno & Oaklander is always inhabiting a similar universe over time in terms of themes and moods, but also in the way we record the songs. We basically record all the tracks in one go.

The title ‘Via Negativa’ suggests an exploration of the concept of absence or negation. What drew you to this philosophical approach, and how does it manifest in the music itself?

LW: I was drawn to acting methods when we were writing the album and this one theater director in particular- Jerzy Grotowski. I studied theater in college, at Bristol University and was always drawn to his work. He developed an acting technique akin to method acting. He held workshops in the late 1950s until the 90s in various places in Europe. He saw the rehearsal as being the actual performance and encouraged his actors to get out of their comfort zones by exploring what not to do: and that’s what Via Negativa means in this instance, the study of what not to do. 

The album seems to play with the idea of duality — positive and negative, visible and hidden. How do you use the structure of the songs to reflect this thematic duality?

LW: unexpected chord progressions and odd parts that fall into place are ways for us to shape a song using this sort of tension. 

Your music often explores themes of technology and alienation. How do you see these themes evolving in your future work? 

LW: I guess it’s the idea that we are asking ourselves questions about technology and the ambivalence towards it because it is in everything

 we do – the fact that we ask ourselves questions and imagine answers will always remain. 

What future projects do you have planned, either as Xeno & Oaklander or individually, that you can share with us?

LW: We’d like to record new material this summer, there’s so much to write about and explore with synths. It’s a project of a lifetime. 

Photos courtesy of Xeno&Oaklander

Matteo Damiani

Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others