TB: I know horror movies are one of your sources of inspiration. How do you translate this into music and what horror movies have you seen lately that made an impression on you?
SI: Some of the things I looked to were of a compositional nature – I tried to use dark scales and tunings to create dissonant pads and atonal leads. Others were more focussed on sound design – I tried to learn a lot about foley sound techniques. For example, in "I am Everything You are Running From", there is a weird voice sound that comes in. This is actually a glass office door creaking open, I pitched it way down and processed it into this floaty, nightmare-like sound. This was directly after watching the "The Sound of Godzilla", which I found to be really interesting and inspiring! I watched and read a lot of things like this to pick up whatever tools and techniques I could.
Of course, looking to horror films for inspiration also meant watching lots of old and new movies! I usually did this with my microGranny to hand – this is a little, lo-fi granular sampler that's heaps of fun. I'd very lazily record bits directly from the sofa! It has an in-built mic that's terrible in a really good way, this, combined with the natural space of the room, already coloured the sound so much that the source content was no longer recognisable. I'd then use the granular controls to shape it into something noisy that might end up as percussion (you can sync the grain size to the BPM – instant techno!), atmospheric stabs or very distorted drones. This device is all over the album, but features particularly heavily in "It Scuttles". Hear that grinding distorted sound that is almost like a chant? That's all microGranny!
As for horror movies I'm digging lately... I loved “The Ritual”, there's something about dark forests and folklore that I really dig, I used to be really into old Irish tales when I was younger. “The Witch” was also really great, especially the language and overall sound, it added this whole extra depth to the movie. The latest one I watched was “The Invitation”, that one creeped the hell out of me! The thought of people weakened by their own suffering being preyed upon and manipulated into carrying out horrible deeds is all too imaginable.
TB: Throbbing Gristle saw the knowledge of how an instrument works as limiting, whereas the lack of knowledge seem to be opening doors for them. For someone like you, who is an expert in Ableton’s Push and a gear specialist in general, how does the knowledge work in your favour and where does experiment and mistakes come into play in your work?
SI: Expert and specialist aren't words I would use to describe myself, but thanks! I certainly believe in embracing mistakes and flaws, it's a central part of my workflow. I like to push systems towards entropy, where sound starts to fall apart. You can reel it back in then, but it's nice to balance right along that edge.
Of course, this never makes for easy mixing. Here is where knowledge definitely can cause more doubt and worry than it's worth. I can totally see what Throbbing Gristle mean here. I often find myself tweaking and refining until I whittle a solid idea into nothing. There is a voice that comes into your head, saying that kick isn't punchy enough, that bass isn't heavy enough, there is no definition in that mid-range... It's hard to ignore!
Obeying rules and over-analysing at every step is a quick and sure way to kill creativity. I am so grateful to the friends who have helped me build up these years of knowledge, but while I know I will always need to learn more as I chase that perfect mix-down, some part of me also longs for the time where I knew none of this!
TB: Tell us a gig/event you recently attended that blew your mind and why.
SI: Probably the Eotrax night in Säule, it was the week after we did a Voitax showcase there. Eomac’s DJ set was epic, Arad’s new live set literally shook chunks of the ceiling free, they started raining down on our heads. LAIR’s set gave me goosebumps, something so deep and ritualistic about her music. Unfortunately I had work the next day so I missed Kaltès & Nene H. Have the 12” though!
TB: What do you do when you are not making music or working?
SI: Hang out with my awesome girlfriend, drink beer, eat good food, binge-watch tv shows whilst sprawled out on the sofa, mix records, meet friends around Berlin… the usual!
-Maria Bungau
