COVID-19 restrictions cancelled most events this last year, including live music. But the limitations of quarantine also brought two musicians together from across the globe.
Image courtesy of the artists.
Binary Tundra is the musical project of Haines’ Jojo Goerner and her Argentinian friend Santi Segarra. And it might not have happened without a global pandemic.
“The last time I’d really heard what Santi was up to is a couple years ago. “I heard his tracks an was blown away,” Goerner said.
Goerner hadn’t seen Segarra in years—they met in Colorado while he was a visiting ski instructor in 2015.
He reached out with music in 2020 because when Argentina locked down for Covid-19… that’s all he had.
“I had to stay at home for around three months… under quarantine, so I couldn’t go out,” Segarra said.
“That means a lot of time in the studio. I think it would have been very hard for me if not for the music to stay in an apartment for so long.”
Segarra mixes electronica tracks. He samples Goerner’s voice and layers it with synthesizers. So, she gets his music, listens, and then creates a melody or lyric from her cabin in Haines.
“Santi is always creating a scene, which is in a story,” Goerner explained.
“And that’s kind of the trick to figure out how the vocals fit in with that story. And whether it’s, are they going to be spoken? Is it simply gonna be vocals where there’s no words? Are the words going to be in English? Are they going to be in Spanish?”
It’s not the same as creating together, in person. There’s lag time while they send ideas back and forth. But Segarra says that’s part of the creative process.
“I think that this kind of limiting is a limitation. But at the same time, thanks to technology, we can do it and I think that’s amazing,” said Segarra.
Their latest release is available on social media and streaming platforms now.
