Pétra: The ‘Wednesday Alternative’ Mix

Musicians Brian Allen Simon (aka Anenon) and Chantal Chadwick are the minds behind Pétra, a Los Angeles collective merging electronics and acoustic instrumentation. Their name, meaning "stone, rock", is inspired by a chance encounter with a photo by Daniel Boudinet as well as the geological formations of Greek volcanic island Nisyros, the location that their debut album 'Aunis' was wrote, performed recorded in 2018. The album is free-form, the ambient sounds and abstract vibrations driven by improvisation energy.

Outside of their work as a collective Brian is a multi-instrumentalist and producer who co-curates an ambient music series at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, while Chantal is a musician, dancer and founder of Assortment, an agency that supports artists working various creative mediums.

Compiling a mix of some of their current favourite compositions, they ease us through Wednesday with washes of twinkling ambient, leftfield electronica and cinematic soundscapes…  

Please introduce yourself… Who are you, where are you, what are you?

Pétra is Brian Allen Simon and Chantal Chadwick. Brian is currently on a flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles and Chantal is in Mexico City.

Tell us about the mixtape you’ve put together for us… 

The mix was a selection of some of our favorite tracks at the time we put it together.

If it were to be drawn what would it look like?

Electrocardiogram

If it were a food what would it be?

Nigiri

What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?

Bathtub in a glass house in the jungle

What should we be wearing?

We recommend bathing nude but up to you.

Where was it recorded?

Los Angeles

Who got you hooked on electronic music?

Ultimately our parents, on both sides

Who would you say are your biggest influences and what are you hoping to achieve with your music?

We find ourselves more influenced by things outside of music, such as nature, wine, food, relationships.

What were your original aspirations as a musician and how do you think you're shaping up?

We are both happy to create and have the ability to share it, we don’t aspire for anything more.

What was the first electronic record you heard and how did it make you feel?

Incunabula by Autechre, warm and gooey

How does your brain work when making music? How does it work when you aren’t?

Fast vs. slow

What were the first and last records you bought?

Hieroglyphics – 3rd Eye

Vision HTRK – Over the Rainbow

What are you obsessed with at the moment?

Massages

If you could travel in time…where in time would you go? Why?

Back to the womb, seems cozy in there.

Tracklist
The Kyoto Connection – Intro (The Middle Way)
Gigi Masin – Call Me
K. Leimer – All That Follows
Ripperton – Vespa
Bed – Descend
Midori Hirano – Secret Aria on the Piano
The Kyoto Connection – Kamakura
Jonny Nash & Suzanne Kraft – Maybe This Is Something You Should Think About
Leif – Myrtus
Helm – I Knew You Would Respond
HTRK – You Know How To Make Me Happy
Yosi Horikawa – In The Wind

Buy Aunis HERE.