Check out our recent interview with Alia Synesthesia, the creative mind behind the blacksynth project Subterranea!
For the unfortunate few who don’t know who you are, would you mind introducing yourselves?
Alia Synesthesia: Oh, fortunate are the ones who don’t know who I am! My name is Alia, I am from Toronto. I go by moniker Alia Synesthesia and I am a cello player, classically trained singer, producer, audio engineer, keyboardist, and a beginning drummer. I tour as a part of ATTRITION (UK) – I sing operatic vocals. My main solo project is called Subterranea – it can be classified as cinematic, symphonic doom with progressive influences, but in truth, it is a bit more complex than that. I draw inspiration from a lot of different music from avant-garde and prog to dungeon synth and dark ambient.
In the effort of getting know each other better – if you could be a sandwich, what sandwich would you be?
Alia Synesthesia: Peanut butter raspberry jelly. With ants.
Tell us about your latest release
Alia Synesthesia: My recent release is an 11-minute track titled Ecochamber – for this track I collaborated with Half Past Four’s phenomenal guitarist Constantin Necrasov. Original inspiration came from mythology (or more specifically, environmental mythology). I am enamoured with the world’s mythology in general, because I find it to be an incredibly fascinating lens to study humanity and see similarities and differences in beliefs across various folklores. But also, I find mythology to be a “well that keeps on giving” in a sense – no matter which aspect of it you are interested in, there are some discoveries that lie ahead. Literally any human problem or issue was already explored in mythology to some degree. Nature and relationships with nature is no exception.
Musically, I was inspired by Corpo Mente and Igorrr, as well as Opeth, Myrkur, Dan Swano – not all influences are obvious in the composition itself, but they all laid the foundation to the sound.
It’s a strange world right now and touring is obviously at a minimum. Talk to us about that.
Alia Synesthesia: No one is touring right now due to Covid-19, but I was actually supposed to tour South America plus Mexico this summer. I would have found this journey amazing, I am sure – I talked with some of the promoters online and they were incredible and very responsive in organising the tour. Sadly, we are facing touring uncertainty now, no one can say for sure when the touring will resume.
Have you got any crazy tour stories you can share with the world?
Alia Synesthesia: I am not a loud partying type, so there aren’t many crazy stories on tour. If something unforeseen or unprecedented happens – it was always resolved quickly. I am very fortunate with my no trouble bandmates and exceptional promoters.
Here at Upside Down Shark we discuss a wide breadth of pop-culture, including music, movies, TV, video games and the like. So with that in mind, if you could have a track featured in anything, whether it be any of the above on even a wrestling theme, what would it be?
Alia Synesthesia: Oh, I actually have a couple video game soundtracks coming out this fall. One of the soundtracks is black/death metal inspired but with folk influences. I recently bought a Guzheng and find it to be an incredibly fascinating music instrument. Guzheng is featured on the game soundtrack for Kodama: The Judgement Day. The second soundtrack is more electronic/retro-80s sounding.
Name one thing on your bucket list
Alia Synesthesia: Collaborate with one of my musical influences. Dan Swano or Michael Ackerfield, or Chelsea Wolfe. It’s not exactly on the “bucket list”, it’s more like hopeful thinking.
What would be your inspirational quote to share with the world?
Alia Synesthesia: Oh, I am such a bad person to go to for inspirational quotes, because my bar for success, in a way, is both very low and very high at the same time (if you can believe it). I will just fall back on “Per aspera ad astra” – i think in a way it reflects my mentality.
What does the rest of 2020 have in store for you?
Alia Synesthesia: A lot of games and media. Because sadly touring is not going to happen until 2021.
What’s your favourite shark?
Alia Synesthesia: Jaws? That shark just knew what it wanted and persevered no matter what.
Many thanks to Alia for sitting down to chat with us. Check out Subterranea!
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