"SOMETHING MAGICAL HAPPENS WHEN TATIANA RECORDS"

Longtime producer and fellow countryman Max Morton explains why he can’t get enough of Jinjer

HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT JINJER?

“In the mid-2000s we had music forums, and I remember noticing a band with a really cool name – Jinjer. After checking some of their live-inthe-studio demos, I felt they were special. A couple of years later, Eugene contacted me with a job offer. The funny thing is, he wanted to hire me as a videographer for their upcoming single, not as a sound engineer. His music video idea was way beyond my capabilities, so I ended up mixing No Hoard Of Value [from debut album Cloud Factory] instead!”

WHY HAVE YOU GONE BACK TO PRODUCE THEM AGAIN AND AGAIN?

“We’re close friends, we understand each other without words, and it’s precious. Also, there’s always something magical happening when it’s Tatiana’s turn to record her parts. Before she takes the microphone, the songs only exist as instrumental pieces. No one of us has any idea about the lyrics or the vocal lines. It’s always a mystery unveiled right after I press ‘record’…

Tati just records a few takes, usually three – sometimes all completely different – and together we choose the best one.”

WHAT PARTS OF THEIR UKRAINIAN HERITAGE DO THEY BRING TO THEIR MUSIC?

“Jinjer come from the industrial part of Ukraine. And I guess all industrial cities have something in common: they give birth to some of the best metal bands in the history of mankind. Think Black Sabbath or Motörhead. With Jinjer, it’s very similar, it just has some of our

Slav flavour. Simple folks who know the price of hard work. Roman [Ibramkhalilov, guitarist] was literally working at the factory back in the day! Their parents were the salt of the earth, the true working class. No Hoard Of Value is about the unjust life of miners in Donbass. Or let’s take their Retrospection music video: just take a look at their childhood photos, featured there. It will describe things better than a thousand words.”