ROOKLEY neue Single „Konavle“ Feature & Interview

Das Artwork zur Single „Konavle“ von Rookley

Der Electronic-Künstler Rookley beeindruckt mit seiner neuen Single “Konavle” und einer schwermütigen Story dahinter.

Wer sich mit der Story des Tracks befassen möchte, sollte direkt das Cover zur Single zu Hand nehmen. Dieses Bild stammt vom US-Kriegsfotografen Ron Haviv und stellt ein Haus in Sarajevo dar. Es zeigt ein Familienporträt, deren Gesichter von Serben abgekratzt wurden
Soldaten. Die Serben, die das Haus besetzt hatten, verließen die Stadt unter der muslimisch geführten bosnischen Regierung, die die Möbel der bosnischen Familie und den Rest der Habseligkeiten aus dem Haus schaffen. Nur das Foto blieb übrig. Eine einzige Erinnerung, leicht verblasst und man würde gerne wissen, wieso das alles passierte.

“Konavle” ist die erste Single einer Serie, die auf unterschiedlichen Stories des Electronic Musikers Rookley basieren. Der Track erzählt die persönlichen Erfahrungen eines reisenden Kindes in der Nachkriegszeit in Kroatien. Denn Rookley ist mittlerweile in New York. Wichtig zu wissen ist hierbei auch noch, dass Konavle eine kleine Region und eine Gemeinde südöstlich von Dubrovnik in Kroatien ist. Dort hat Rookley seine Kindheit verbracht und genau diese erzählt nun auch der Song. In diesem sehr Synth-lastigen Track erzählt er seine Geschichte, lässt seine eigenen Erinnerungen wieder aufleben und wühlt uns als Zuhörer auf. Sehr industriell und kühl klingt sein Track und passt in eine Zeit, in der wohl alles sehr grau, eintönig und beängstigend gewesen sein muss.

In seinem drängenden, hellen und synthlastigen Electronica Track erzählt er diese Geschichte aus seiner eigenen Sicht. Für den ein oder anderen, der jetzt zum ersten Mal einen Track von ihm hört, mag das verstörend wirken. Wo ist hier die Melodie? Wo die Eingängigkeit? All das mag abhanden kommen. Aber “Konavle” ist hier umso mehr wie ein Bildnis zu sehen und zu hören. Hier ist rougher und wirklich kühler Electronica entstanden, der eine beeindruckende Story erzählt.

Hier könnt ihr den Track in allen Stores streamen! 

Um noch mehr über den zu erfahren, haben wir ihm einige Fragen zum Track gestellt:

On June 12th, „Konavle“, your first single will be released as part of a series of story-focused releases. What is „Konavle“ about in detail and how have you implemented these events musically?

ROOKLEY: In “Konavle” I’m talking about the „Gulf of Konavle”, which has its name from a small region in southeast Dubrovnik. The track is about things I’ve lived down there: Basically, my parents used to go on vacation in Croatia before the beginning of the war and during those years they bounded with some people there. Then, in 1991, when the war began, we tried to help with basically anything we could „smuggle“ in. These friends had friends which needed help, so we went south to see them. The first time we arrived in Dubrovnik was in 1996, in Mlini, which is a very small village in the gulf of Konavle, 7 km away from Dubrovnik.

The first year in Mlini, we arrived very late at night and stayed at Hotel Mlini, which was abandoned by the soldiers just some days before. I remember my mother covering the blankets because they had stains of blood on it.
The Hotel we slept in the first night was on sea level down the road, so moving upwards this 200m road, there were 15 ex-resort houses, bombed to rubbles.

Villa Carmen is where we slept the second night and we did so for 20 years. At Villa Carmen lives a family of 7 people, a couple with 3 sons and relatives. Their 3rd son and I quickly became friends and with him I got introduced to all the kids on the gulf, and they were hundreds! Hundreds of kids in an abandoned place after a war and we just wanted to have fun and riot.
We were the gypsy kids and we had the perfect playground. Some of the kids would steal some of their fathers’ war weapons and we used to shoot. We loved destroying everything (which wasn’t a big deal because it was already a mess) and always pushing the limit. Our main fear were the hills surrounding the gulf, because they were full of landmines but even that couldn’t stop us.

ROOKLEY im Interview: Hier im Bild KUPARI BOMB (credit https_www.facebook.com_croinfiltration_

How difficult and liberating was it for you to deal with your past in Croatia?

ROOKLEY: I would be disappointed if this message gets misunderstood. In this story, we aren’t talking about war complexity, neither all the horrible things that come with it.
From a small kid’s perspective, that time was one of the best I’ve ever had, it was like a jungle where I could do whatever I wanted ‘cause no one would even care. There were much more serious issues to solve.

ROOKLEY im Interview, hier im Bild Kupari Hotel

How important is it to you that the listener also deals with this topic? And what should we remember?

ROOKLEY: I guess it can help to describe better the scenario where everything took place. Besides the vocal sample, talking in Croatian at the beginning of the track, there aren’t many elements in the song which reference to the topic. I can’t tell you what you should remember, but what I can do is tell you a story from a friend of mine, who also lived the same war. A Serbian friend, which I met several years later.
One day this guy was telling me that during the war, when there were bomb attacks, his family used to hide in the underground beneath the house, ‘cause the roof could collapse during those attacks. After several years, this situation was too much to live with, so despite it all, his father decided to bring him outside, on the playground to play. What I get from this is that sometimes you need to be brave and a bit reckless to keep on living, ‘cause sometimes fear can be worse than death.

Das Artwork zur Single „Konavle“ von Rookley

Can you give us a brief outlook on the upcoming releases, what can we expect?

ROOKLEY: Soundwise all the tracks are going to sound quite different from one another. I focused more on the sound to best describe the story I wanted to tell. What concerns me the most is the atmosphere. It must be credible, at least from my perspective. But this is just my way, I’m just trying to have an authentic and genuine approach.

The upcoming releases will have some 2-step feel, some of them are more ambient and electronic sound. Some of them make references to artists that inspire me (Burial, Lorn, Guðnadóttir…) but all of them will conclude the concept of what inspired me to make them. It is about values, and life experiences like this ‘getting out of your comfort zone in order to really live’ that I want to share.

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