Ja Ja Ja club night: MAASAI talk Wes Anderson and sci-fi, create a 'music from film' playlist

27 October 2015, 11:07 | Written by Andrew Hannah

(News)

(MAASAI)

John and Yoko. Stevie and Lindsay. Jack and Meg. Couples in bands seem to confirm that opposites attract, and that these differences combine to make great music. Sure, there’s the possibility of it all ending in disaster but for all time that it does work, then magic is created. The Stockholm-based duo MAASAI, made up of singer Dominique Teymouri and instrumentalist Zackarias Ekelund are another couple thriving on their differences.

Together since 2010, MAASAI released their debut single “Memories” in 2013 before following up with “The Healer” and “Forgive Me”, the thread through these tracks being stories of heartbreak delivered through Kate Boy-esque icy, minimal electro - a contrast against Teymouri’s stunning and emotive vocals.

Ahead of their appearance at the Ja Ja Ja club night at The Lexington on October 29 we asked Dominique and Zackarias to talk us through the influences on their music. Unsurprisingly, the differences we hear on record come from differences in inspiration: First of all, Zackarias talks us through his love of Wes Anderson before Dominique shares her adoration of science fiction films – and MAASAI combine to give us playlist of songs from films which unite them in love.

Zackarias: “I mainly like Wes Anderson’s aesthetics and the way he creates a world of his own, the space between fantasy and reality, and the tragicomedy that contains all of his movies. He creates a colourful world with sad stories that often have happy endings. This scene in Moonrise Kingdom involves two characters named Suzy and Sam. They come from different backgrounds and have now decided to escape together and created their own world where they can be themselves without anybody judging them. They dance quirky and kiss each other for the first time, accompanied by a french song named 'Le Temps de l’Amour’ by Françoise Hardy. There’s something tragicomic about them fumbling around in their underwear on a bleak and cold beach in contrast to the music that just makes you wanna dance."

"This scene is from The Royal Tenenbaums where the characters Eli Cash and Margot Tenenbaum meet each other after a long time apart. They were in love but she could never allow herself to fully commit to anyone. The music ’These Days’ by Nico reinforces the sparks between Eli and Margot in a fragile and dreamy way."

Dominique: "There’s something about the movie The Matrix that inspires. It’s not only a simple sci-fi movie, it also addresses essential questions in life, like what is reality, what is our ”truth” and the structure and conventions in society. I think that in a subconscious way, there are traces of those elements in our upcoming album. We’ve tried not to follow conventions of how music 'should' be, but finding our own way."

"A collide between Wes and The Matrix brings us to one of our favourite directors - David Lynch. He’s in a land between fiction and reality but in a different way. Dreams are woven into and mix with the images of a more realistic tone. The music is often suggestive and mysterious and lifts the scenes [from Mulholland Drive] to another level. A great inspiration."

MAASAI's Inspiration: 16 Songs from the Big Screen

MAASAI appear at Ja Ja Ja on October 29 at The Lexington along with Kill J (Denmark) and Loveless (Norway) - Tickets on sale now via Billetto; £7 in advance and £5 for Ja Ja Ja members.