Chinto is my solo project that I started a couple of years ago, shortly after moving to Prague. As much as cooperating with other musicians in bands is endlessly fun, I also needed a musical space where I could experiment and create completely on my own terms and this is, well... it.
Funky visualiser for "The Single" from "Ying".
The basic challenge was creating a project where guitar is the leading role, substituting vocals in a way, but without overshadowing another important element: home produced, groovy beat loops. Another aspect was achieving a full sound live while being only a single musician, hell bent on avoiding backing tracks. I found my answer in live looping - recreating my songs live from separate elements and overlaying multiple guitar tracks using a looper pedal, making a one man performance possible and, hopefully, entertaining.
I also felt like using this project to prove that high quality can be achieved even with cheap equipment, making a point of it for people who think making music is expensive. I wanted to go practical, minimal and battery powered, so my laid back project could appear in unexpected places. Hence, the guitar I'm using is an entry level Fender - in fact, it's a "Squier by Fender", mass produced in China, while the pedal responsible for the guitar's live tone is a Zoom G1X - cheapest battery powered multi-effects unit I could find at the time. The whole pedalboard fits into a small, 60x30cm travel case.
Album art for "Ying" and "Yang".
Anticipating time challenges linked with single-handedly producing anything, I planned a twin release of two shorter albums instead of going for an hour long first release. "Ying", the first record, was released in 2020 and "Yang" followed almost exactly a year after. Both contain seven songs and exist as counterparts, differing slightly in terms of their signature sound, while still coming together into a consistent, hour long live set.
Most popular tracks on Spotify.
