“Our
musical journey is a constant wandering, but this album is our innermost self, the thing we have been searching for…” says singer-guitarist Gergő Balla.
The four young men of Platon
Karataev first started performing songs together in 2016. Since then, the group
has gone through an organic development, going deeper, both personally and as a
result in their music, too. “This album is the continuation of Atoms,
but those feelings and inner processes inside of us have since come to a
conclusion, so this album is us, this is the core of our music,” confesses
Gergő.
After
their two previous releases, For Her in 2017 and Atoms in 2020
both containing English-language tracks, this album will be a breakthrough, as
this will be the band’s first work entirely in Hungarian.
Lyricist Gergő
explains that the reason behind singing in English was never to become famous
abroad, it was more of a self-defence mechanism. As the songs were so personal,
it was simply easier to put them down on paper in English. He also ponders his
personal barrier with Hungarian, feeling that the great Hungarian poets and
writers achieved everything with their literature in their own mother tongue. Now
he feels that he has found his own voice:
“I
felt a wall between myself and the English songs, and if I had had that barrier
the listener must have felt that too, because in a way I didn’t own the English
songs,” confirms Gergő.
He also says that the connection is fundamentally
different now with the Hungarian songs and it’s important that local audiences hear
the music and lyrics together in their mother tongue.
Authenticity is the key
“We simply gain
more with singing in Hungarian as our aim is and will always be to stay
authentic and to have an impact as deep inside as possible.”
He
also reveals that the pandemic situation had a positive impact on the band’s
musical work together. In fact, he and friend, Sebestyén Czakó-Kuraly, the
other composer and frontman of the band, were inspired and very productive
during lockdown.
They produced several original songs and some tracks are even ready
for the fourth album as well, explains Gergő. But of course, Covid had its
negative effects on Platon’s life, as it did for every performing artist. The band
were forced to cancel tours, while their concert to promote Atoms had to
be postponed to October.
Gergő confirms that their third album, Partért kiálltó, will officially come out in January 2022, after a number of singles. The title track has already been released and, according to Gergő, it perfectly encapsulates where the band is heading musically with this third LP.
A metaphor for water as a unifying force guides the listener through this unconventional hit, hardly the stuff of radio play:
Finding the void
“We have found that artistic void inside to
create something others have rarely achieved in Hungary”.
He
explains that their most recent single is not an easy song to digest. It
requires the listener to dig deep inside and be present in the process. But
then those brave enough to have joined the band for this journey will hopefully
experience catharsis at the end.
The band know that the song doesn’t conform to
the mainstream, but for Platon, the most important factor was authenticity where
the whole album was concerned. The other songs on the album will be similar in
approach, but different in atmosphere. Yet they remain connected by the unifying
water metaphor:
Q&A
“We never wanted to provide answers, what we are
aiming to do is to ask questions with our music. But as we all know, sometimes
certain questions could serve as the greatest answers.”
Apart
from gaining wider popularity in Hungary, Platon Karataev have garnered
attention abroad, too. In 2019, they performed at Sound City Liverpool. As
Gergő tells us, this showcase festival experience was rather unique in that they
played before other artists and industry professionals, not the normal
festival crowd.
Since then, they have been invited to play in Germany, Holland
and France. Upcoming tours will take in several cities there once the pandemic
situation calms down.
But,
before going abroad, they played a sell-out show at Müpa earlier in September. Now come two nights at the
A38 Ship on 23-24 October, with tickets currently available for the second show.
Plans then include a fourth album in 2023 and taking advantage of fewer Covid restrictions
for further appearances in Hungary and elsewhere.
Gergő hints that upcoming concerts might feature unreleased songs from the new album, old English songs translated into Hungarian and some covers as well, all to be performed for the first time. He would also like to spice up shows abroad with a few new Hungarian tunes, for international audiences who might already know their English songs.
