Inside the World of Faith in Geometry

Photo by Brendan Buesnel

Faith in Geometry are a four-piece instrumental band from Bridport, Dorset, blending elements of electro, post-punk, psychedelia and alternative rock into expansive, genre-defying soundscapes. Since forming in 2022, the quartet of Andrea Crociani, Dingo Valaitis, Kathy Kelly and Andy Park, have built a growing catalogue of original music, including their 2024 debut EP, ‘Delete’. Ahead of their next chapter, we sat down with the band to discuss creativity, interpretation and why some of the most powerful stories are told without words.

Faith in Geometry came together in 2022 – what brought the four of you together, and when did you realise this project had something special?

Andrea: It happened quite organically. I actually started with a different line-up a couple of years earlier, but we didn't share the same vision, so it never really took off. Dingo joined first, then Kathy, and later we changed the drummer.

Dingo: I met Andrea in a pub called The Woodman in Dorset. I was DJing one night when he came over and asked if I'd fancy jamming with the band. I turned up with my bass, and that was it.

Kathy: Dingo’s my husband, so he asked me to come along and play. I was the newcomer because I'd never been in a band before. I'd learned piano as a child, but I'd forgotten how to read music, so it was a completely new experience. I have been DJing for many years, but of course it’s very different. 

As an instrumental band, every listener projects their own story onto your music. Have you ever heard someone's interpretation of a track that completely changed how you thought about your own work?

Andrea: When we were naming the tracks, Kathy came up with some very descriptive titles. I wanted to go in the opposite direction because I didn't want to steer people towards one interpretation. There isn't a right or wrong meaning – it's entirely personal. What surprised me most was seeing people dance to our music. I'd never expected that, especially as it's not the kind of music you can easily sing or dance along to. I love that people found their own way of connecting with it.

Kathy: We once had a dance student choreograph one of our tracks after hearing it. Seeing someone interpret our music through movement was really special.

Your EP is titled ‘Delete’, which is a loaded word in a digital age. Was the title about erasure, starting over, or something different?

Andrea: Like the music itself, it's open to interpretation. For me, it's about the process of creating and destroying at the same time. I've always been fascinated by that relationship, where making something often means letting something else go.

Kathy: You construct in order to deconstruct.

Do you find that process of creation and destruction within your own music?

Kathy: Definitely. We often end up shortening our songs because it's easy for them to grow and grow. Editing is a big part of the process.

Andrea: I come from a visual arts background, so I tend to think about the overall picture first rather than getting caught up in the details. It's about stripping away what's unnecessary until what's left feels right.

Faith in Geometry blends electronic textures with post-punk, psychedelia and alternative rock without feeling tied to any one scene. Do you ever worry about being too difficult to categorise, or do you see that as one of your strengths?

Dingo: Genre labels are mainly for the media. You're almost forced to define yourself, but I'd rather not be pigeonholed.

Kathy: At the same time, when you're promoting yourself, people need some idea of what they're about to hear.

Andrea: We've always struggled to describe our sound because we all bring different musical backgrounds into the band. Those influences overlap in interesting ways, but they also make us difficult to pin down and I think that's one of our strengths.

Instrumental music often demands a different kind of attention from an audience. When you're performing live, how do you know you've connected with a crowd when there are no lyrics for people to sing back?

Kathy: You often find out afterwards through people's feedback, but you can also tell by their body language. If they're standing there completely engaged, that's a connection.

Dingo: Not everyone expresses it by dancing. Some people just watch quietly and then come up afterwards to say how much they enjoyed it.

Andrea: It's difficult to judge because someone can be completely still and still be deeply absorbed. When I'm playing, I know I'm connected when I reach that point where everything else disappears and I'm completely in the music.

With over an hour of original material already written, have you noticed recurring musical ideas or patterns emerging across your catalogue that you didn't intentionally put there?

Dingo: We've definitely evolved as a band. This line-up has been together for nearly four years now, and it takes time to develop that chemistry. We've dropped songs, written new ones, and we're constantly moving forward.

Kathy: We're also about to jam with a violinist, which could open up some really interesting new directions.

Andrea: For me, it's less about style and more about intention. We try not to overcomplicate things or add unnecessary layers. I like the idea of stripping music back so each instrument has a clear role.

If someone unfamiliar with Faith in Geometry listened to ‘Delete’ and then heard where the band is today, what would surprise them the most about how your sound has evolved and where do you think it's heading next?

Kathy: We've grown a lot since ‘Delete’. It feels like an early snapshot of who we were, even though I'm still really proud of it. Our newer material explores a wider range of melodies and textures. On our latest track, ‘Melt’, I'm working with three different melodic lines and type of sounds, and that's opened up a lot of new possibilities.

Andrea: I wouldn't say we're trying to make the music more complex but it's more about making it richer and more nuanced. I often think about chamber music, where each part is relatively simple on its own, but together they create something much bigger. That's what interests me: the interaction between the melodies, with no one instrument dominating the others.

Listen to Faith in Geometry on YouTube, Spotify, and Bandcamp. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.