Cibo Matto Check In At Hotel Valentine

After a ten-year hiatus, Japanese experimentalists Miho Hatori and Yuka C. Honda are having another crack at their alliance in Cibo Matto.

Both girls, originally from Japan, met in New York's vivid '90s Lower East Side art scene – among the likes of John Zorn, Sean Lennon and the Beastie Boys. Within six months of forming as a band, David Byrne saw them live and Warner Brothers picked them up off a single self-released cassette tape. 



After initiating one of the most colourful careers of the decade, Cibo Matto went from strength to strength with 'Viva! La Woman' in 1996 and 'Stereo Type A' in 1999. Exploding internationally, touring worldwide and collaborating extensively with Yoko Ono and renowned French director, Michel Gondry, the band's fanbase was shattered when they announced their extended hiatus in 2001.

In a reunion they call their “second marriage”, the girl's fantasy lives are intwining once again with their wild creations and undefined genre of sound. Marking their first trip to Australia, the girls will be promoting their third album, 'Hotel Valentine'. Miho says of the album, “'Hotel Valentine' is the cinematic bricolage of Yuka and me. Our medium is music. For me, making an album is like raising a child. We don’t know what kind of person [story] they will end up to be.”



During their ten-year break, both women worked on numerous projects of their own. Miho releasing a solo album, two Brazilian discs with Beck guitarist Smokey Hormel and percussionist Mauro Refosco, guesting on three Beastie Boys songs, and singing the role of Noodle on the Gorillaz first album, including lead vocals on '19-2000'.
Noodle

Yuka also released three solo albums that were experiments with her personal style. Recording with jazz great Dave Douglas and Yoshimi (Boredoms), Yuka also produced acclaimed albums by Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band and Martha Wainwright.

“Having spent some time apart, we became more aware of our magical chemistry, our magnetic bond. We both realised we had unfinished business,” Miho says of their reunion.


Yuka believes that they needed to go their separate ways in order to grow as people and musicians. “We are calling this reunion 'second marriage' because we feel like the first one we just stuck together, and things happened so fast. You know, you marry your highschool boyfriend because you got pregnant and everything moves really fast and you just jump into it.

“We were just trying not to drown in this ocean. I think it was very healthy that we took this break because we were able to re-think and re-touch with a lot more cautiousness about why we're singing together. We took everything for granted because everything was happening so fast. But I think now, we have a very special kind of chemistry and it wasn't very clear the first time.

“I'm the same person, but at the same time, I'm not the same person either. I think I've accumulated. The music I play now reflects the Yuka of today. So I'm trying to find a medium to express it. I also have lots of fun learning new instruments and new machines. They make me express things in a different way and I really like to find new things and keep it exciting.”

Taking a long time to get back together, the girls caught up more and more often until they decided it was the right time to make more music together. Feeling added pressure in making their latest album, Yuka laughs about not wanting their fans to think they suck “We didn't want people to be like ohh they're back together as some kind of revival thing but they aren't as good as before.”



Excited in mixing together a lot of different genres, 'Hotel Valentine' takes the same experimental feel of their previous albums which were infused with hip hop, African and Latin jazz, Brazilian music and pop. But now that anyone who's anyone in this decade uses electronics in their songs, the girls welcomed the situation of what they used to do is more popular now than it used to be. “Back when we did it, it was like 'ohh these machines, eww', it isn't like that now. I think we're really excited in mixing a lot of genres, always... I like to go with the flow.”

Going with the flow has always been one of Yuka's characteristics. After deciding to move to New York on a whim, she didn't realise how drastically her life would change. “I moved [to New York] without having any purpose or ideas. It was a very spontaneous thing that I did. I was dreaming of doing a hippy trip to Thailand. I wasn't a musician, I was a writer... I wanted to travel Thailand with a friend and then go to Australia because my brother there at the time and I hadn't been there.”

After having lunch with friends who introduced her to some musicians, Yuka felt her drive change direction.“It was the one time in my life that I felt like I heard someones voice, I don't know who, telling me 'go to New York, go to New York, go to New York'. I wasn't even dreaming of New York, I thought it would be a very dangerous place.

“I just kind of followed my inner voice and went. I remember my mother saying 'why are you going there?' and I said 'I don't know' and she said 'where are you going to stay?' and I said 'I've met these musicians' and she was convinced I was on drugs... I just felt like I should go and explore with my life.”

Yuka

Delighted in her decision and where it has lead her life, Yuka thinks that she will continue to work on her solo career as well as in the band. “I think [working as a solo artist] will keep our relationship healthy. I think we have a very special chemical energy and there's a very special sort of music we make together.”

And if you're wondering about the band name, Cibo Matto is Italian for 'Crazy Food'. And yes, they love a good meal. “We're really food obsessed. That's another thing that wasn't understood in the '90s. People would be like 'why food and music?' Because.” 

Cibo Matto play at The Zoo in Brisbane on the 29th October, Oxford Art Factory in Darlinghust on 30th October and at the National Gallery of Victoria on the 31st October.