by Anka Zielińska
Vexillary is the brainchild of the New York-based producer Reza Seirafi. His diverse work is seeded with a singular undercurrent of gloom and shaped by his unique approach to production. Today sees the premiere of his track "Le Diable" from the upcoming "Crash and Yearn" LP.
The Brvtalist (Anka Zielińska): Nearly a year passed from the premiere of „Full Frontal Lunacy” on The Brvtalist and you are coming back with the second LP „Crash And Yearn”. Both your albums explore the human condition and passion leading to self-destruction. „Full Frontal Lunacy” is a laboratory of a progressing madness that comes from isolation, while „Crash And Yearn” is based on the Fall of Icarus- the myth of the human dream fallen through hubris. You have been around for a while and released several banging EPs. What brought you to work on more elaborate storytelling albums?
Vexillary: Thank you for your detailed observation. When you describe the records like that I realize that they have more in common than I thought. The biggest difference being that „Full Frontal Lunacy” explored psychological horrors whereas „Crash And Yearn” tries to distinguish myth from reality. I always tried to cram concepts into the EPs as well but there was only so much room to explore. Think the stories helped the records stand on their own and have their own unique place in the discography but I always yearned for more.
After 6 EPs I thought that the project had reached its gestation period and I was finally ready to graduate into a new level of production, concepts, and writing. With „Full Frontal Lunacy” I did just that. There's an art to making cohesive full lengths and it's certainly not easy but I enjoy working with that bigger picture. It forces me to stay in a particular zone and play in a certain sandbox for a good period of time. Songs start reacting to one another and you end up writing things you wouldn't normally do if you were to look at everything from a singles lens. I'm enjoying the long form at the moment and as long as the ideas are there I'm happy to dedicate the time to bring them to life.
AZ: Today we are premiering 'Le Diable'. It's a track with quite a bit of momentum with guest vocals by Baylee. What did your collaboration on the album look like?
Vex: I came across Baylee's features and guest appearances a little while back and always thought she had a unique contemporary voice. Velvet-smooth at times and super powerful the next. She's definitely the most technically proficient vocalist that I've ever worked with, which makes me step up my game when it comes to writing vocal parts.
I first reached out to her online to see if we could collab on the 'Come as your Madness' track and thankfully she agreed. Her delivery exceeded far beyond my expectation, so after that track, I was eager to do more songs featuring her vocals. In fact, I even started writing a few of the stuff with her vocals in mind. 'Le Diable' is one of those tracks. As far as our collaboration process, I always try to deliver finished songs with my demo vocals as direction for phrasing and vocal melodies. I love writing lyrics and it goes usually hand in hand with the writing of the music, so yeah, all is ready to go by the time I reach out to her and she faithfully follows the directions while taking them to another level with her take on it. Happy to report that she'll also be appearing on my current tracks in the works for the next project.
AZ: You are running your own record label Con:trace. What was the idea behind starting to self-release? Are you planning to invite other artists to leave their mark on your project?
Vex: I first set up Con:trace out of my obsession for the last LP, „Full Frontal Lunacy”. I wanted to see through the entire process of releasing a record and setting up the label gave me that opportunity. I started the label after years of working with Blaq Records so there was a learning curve at first, but the whole thing was massively liberating and a breath of fresh air. The goal at the time was and still is to expand to include other artists but at the moment I'm too focused on Vexillary so it might take a while before that happens, but it'll get there. I'd love to put on the curator hat soon but we'll just have to wait for a bit. That said, I'm glad that the foundation is all set up and it's a matter of time before we get into that next phase.
AZ: What are your plans for the nearest future? Can we expect another LP from you in the upcoming months?
Vex: The immediate next steps are the videos in the works for „Crash and Yearn". The video for 'Come as Your Madness' and the visualiser for the title track are ready for release and will be dropping soon. We're actually shooting the video for 'Le Diable' tomorrow, I am excited to translate that track into visuals that match. I'm also planning a few more videos at the moment.
I also have a split EP with HBK1 in the works. It should be an exciting release from a label out of Spain that is planning a vinyl run as well. Super early stages at the moment but it's coming together quite nicely. And yes, you can definitely expect a new LP as well in the coming months. I'm more than halfway through recording the next album and if all goes according to plan you'll be able to hear that one not too long after the release of „Crash and Yearn".
I wanna thank you for speaking with me and premiering 'Le Diable'. I appreciate all your support for my project and your ability to shed light on all the good underground stuff. Your platform remains a true inspiration for me and I look forward to all that you guys are up to next. Hope we get to chat again soon.
Our pleasure.
Crash And Yearn LP [Con:trace] will be out on September 2nd 2022
PRE-ORDER: www.vexillary.bandcamp.com