DIGITAL UNICORN
A Strange New Dance Sensation from Overseas -- by Sonia Marlowe

Chain Reaction, Orange County: Mann and Hoerse transmit their new sound to the American youth

SM: I'm writing from Los Angeles. [this interview is being done over the internet] Where are you as you respond? What's going on around you, and why are you there?

DU: Digital Unicorn has been traveling via railroad to Vancouver from Los Angeles. Digital Unicorn finds the railroad immensely inspiring. I often look out the window at the expanse of land and draw a representation of the continuum between land and air. The train is not a gentle ride and these drawings reflect that. Digital Unicorn thusly travels currently for inspiration, not performance.

I just finished reading your Manifesto [read it below] and was moved by your passage: "Sometimes I dream of clouds, not as shapes, but as oracles of future movement. How can this be? They have not revealed themselves yet, but I believe it is fate." What kind of diet do you maintain to preserve this clarity of vision?

The simple answer: bird. I realized one afternoon, that a diet similar to a bird could perhaps lead to the simplicity of their life. I did however choose not to eat grubs, worms and insects in general. Carcasses, too, for that matter I do not eat. I would say for that matter I eat more akin to a parakeet than a raven.

I assume you must have many eccentricities to preserve your unique vision. Do they appear in the form of routine? Ritual? Exercise?

Well, I of course believe in maximum cardio. The heart needs to pump with vigor every day or the humours fall ill. Yes, the idea of "humours" is rather archaic, but I see them as fanciful. Often my cardio takes the form of swimming. When I lived in Poland, I swam mornings in the icy Black Sea. When I lived in Montreal, I, against the advice of the health authority, swam in the St. Lawrence river. In Los Angeles I tend to, as the children here say "hop fences" into back yard pools where I swim when adults and children are at work and school.

Yes, you are very fit. Your feelings on the information age?

I think it is an exciting time to create. Information is sent in packets and shared throughout the world. It is beautiful. I do have an idea. I think that for 2 weeks my associates and I will reject the information age. We will travel via train. We will watch no television and read newspapers. For news, we will gather at town hall and inquire as to the week's events. Our scope will be limited to our local lives. We will gather at the library to read literature. We will utilize a pony express to deliver correspondence. Yes, that will drive the price of this endeavor up considerably but in order to make a point money must be sacrificed.

How do you feel about American audiences? How have the kids reacted to your performances?

The young people in America have been more than receptive. I have been fortunate to play throughout the nation and even though they haven't been exposed to art of this nature, they choose to let the art run its course, fill the room, settle into their laps. At this point they often choose to accept the challenge.

How does the Digital Unicorn make sound without touching this strange instrument? The answer is no one knows.

Your music…it explores the limits of the human mind and current technology, but seems like it could have been made for dancing. Do you intend for people dance to your music or would you prefer they focus their minds?

That's a wonderful question. For much time Digital Unicorn has performed the dance for others to interpret and internalize. This in no longer the case. Digital Unicorn now enjoys making the music for dance, not just of dance. When at their own homes people can do what they will with the music of Digital Unicorn.

Let our readers know where will you be in the months to come… new music? touring? adventure?

The upcoming months will be mostly adventure. Performances, however, are being planned. Will Digital Unicorn create a new record album? This is to be determined. Digital Unicorn believes in the creation of new music and will realize one in a time dependent upon the amount of interest and motivation.

email: digitalunicorn@yahoo.com

records/shirts available at: www.merch.com

MANIFESTO by Digital Unicorn
There was a time in the early 1980s when I believed my artistic being was soon to be expired. I returned to my apartment in what is now Lithuania, then the U.S.S.R., after a sublime performance in Oslo Norway. What more could I ask then for a week of performances in front of captured crowds? This dream was short lived. Upon my return, my passport was suspended and I was stuck in Lithuania until 1990. My musical exposure was stunted by me and the government. I turned my artistic vision inwards and withdrew within myself. It was not until I moved to Montreal in late 1990 that my art again blossomed. I began my recherche de vision, one that would take me first to Montreal, then to New Orleans and finally to the southern California coast.
Sometimes I dream of clouds, not as shapes, but as oracles of future movement. How can this be? They have not revealed themselves yet, but I believe it is fate. This manifests itself in the music I have made since 1990. There is a quality removed from itself, made transparent, then resynthesised with the former state to create a feeling not unlike a cloud-like oracle. I do not expect everyone to understand this. It will take time, much like erosion. This isn't about erosion however, it's about music and dance. The simple act of man and horse-man expressing the digital on stage. One can take our performance, break it into 65,792 discrete pieces, scatter it into the sky, form a cloud, then resynthysise the cloud into our shapes and see a performance exactly as they saw it previously (one can expect this performance June 2007).
Many ask Digital Unicorn: why horse? Why not unicorn? I answer simply: unicorn is fantasy. It is far too easy and not worthwhile to include unicorn. It does not belong on stage rather it belong on canvas, decoupage, mural, clouds, etc. Leave it there. Do not allow it here. Allow it to reach a potential unlike one that stage performance allows. Mann and hoerse on stage is an experience, not a fantasy. You are here watching, breathing. You are here. It is a simple philosophy, but one that is very important to Digital Unicorn.
I look very forward to more performances of Digital Unicorn. Digital Unicorn was many years in the making and the dreaming. Digital Unicorn encourages the dreaming for more than the making for as I have said: the dreaming of the clouds, encourages the making of the being.