{"id":35822,"date":"2021-09-24T14:26:49","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T12:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/?p=35822"},"modified":"2024-01-31T20:53:26","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T19:53:26","slug":"interview-vexillary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/interview-vexillary\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Vexillary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Through six interesting EPs, we have followed the musical evolution of Vexillary, an American electronic music producer with a dark soul. We have reviewed his latest works, but today it is the man behind Vexillary, Reza Seirafi who explains the properties and behavior of his art. On October 31st, he will unveil his first album, Full Frontal Lunacy <\/em>that will be released on cassette and digital format.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cover Photo<\/strong><\/span>: Tuek<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Nick Starichenko, effects by Tuek<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2014When did you get interested in electronic music?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014I\u2019ve always liked electronic music to a certain extent, but I really got obsessed with it with the rise of Warp Records stuff. Around late 90\u2019s, Aphex Twin<\/strong>, Autechre<\/strong>, and others on that label were leagues ahead in the genre in terms of technicality and futurism. So, they sparked an interest in me to learn how this sort of music was created.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luckily, there was an electronic music program at my college where I took a basic recording class for which we had to make a short electronic song on cassette as the final assignment. It didn\u2019t take much more than a few hours of experimenting with synths and sequencers to realize I had a true passion for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I ended up with a few academic accomplishments by the end of college but that cassette, with this bizarre dark ambient song that I made on it, left the biggest impression on me. Since then, it was a matter of time before I put some studio gear together and I\u2019ve never looked back since.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Why did you choose a name like Vexillary, did you see like the bearer of the flag of electronic music?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014I was going with a different moniker in the beginning, but right before my first EP was to be released, I panicked and thought I should give the name thing a real thought before I was stuck with it. I remember having a bad cold just a few days before cover art was to be finalized. I reached for the dictionary and read pretty much every word in there. Came up with couple of good ones and some interesting word play too, but almost everything worth entertaining was already taken one way or another.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I stumbled on Vexillary, read the meaning (bearer of the flag\/vexillum in Latin). Didn\u2019t care for the meaning but loved the look of the word. It just sounded and looked really witchy, and it wasn\u2019t taken. There\u2019s also a mathematical meaning and application of the word too which intrigued me given the IDM stuff I was into at the time. Shared it with label just in time for final art and here we are almost a decade later and still using it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014In your first EP, Taste Masking<\/em>, there are some drum n bass influences, I would say that specially in “Extinct Genus Mammuthus”. Were you interested in this style of music? How big was drum n bass in America? You know, here in Europe we got mainly d n b from the UK and don\u2019t know much about the American one.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Photo: Nick Starichenko<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2014Definitely, I\u2019d say bass music at large had and continues to have an impact on me. I was always into live bands and concerts but after the shows I wanted to continue to listen to music and stay out, so I\u2019d end up at either Techno or Drum n Bass parties depending on the night.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back around 2010 ish bass music was in a very healthy place and in New York, there were lots of DnB parties early on the week and they\u2019d usually go on pretty late which suited my lifestyle at the time. Dub War party on Fridays was the most exciting and I rarely missed any of those for their entire run, pretty much saw all the UK bass innovators come through and remember geeking out in the back of the room staring at the sound system and trying to figure out how many bass layers there where on each track.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although US has its share of great bass producers and labels I was also mainly into the UK stuff like you mentioned. From the DnB side, anything from labels like Metalheadz and Renegade Hardware did the trick and the early dubby stuff on Hyperdub was a favourite as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, I\u2019ve only made 2 \u201cDnB\u201d songs as experiments and “Extinct Genus Mammuthus” is one of them. I still experiment with half time DnB beats with “Annihilation” being the latest example of it from the previous EP. The dub influence is more common on my releases but for the upcoming album it\u2019s been largely put on hold. I have a feeling I\u2019ll return to it in a big way in the future, we\u2019ll see.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Why did it take you so long to release the second EP? This EP was supposed to be a full album, right? What happened?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014That\u2019s an interesting story, frustrating for me at the time but a great education non the less. Right after the first EP, I came up with the Chemica Divina<\/em> concept, a record about how our lives are influenced by chemistry. This was an inspiring direction that lend itself to a variety of interesting tracks which soon enough I had an album\u2019s worth of.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the tracks where all glued together with this unifying theme, they were too many different tempos and styles under one roof. It\u2019s safe to say there was a lack of musical focus there which looking back is very apparent to me now. Ultimately, Blaq Records chose to release it but as an EP featuring only 2 of the songs and few remixes.<\/span><\/p>\n

I definitely think this was the right call, but it did end up setting me back a few years with quite a few unreleased tracks on hand (few of which are still on my sound cloud page dating back to early to mid 2010\u2019s).<\/span><\/p>\n

On the plus side, this experience gave me a true education on making albums and how tracks should work together and react to one another when grouped for a full-length release. Fast forward to now, and my first proper full-length, Full Frontal Lunacy,<\/em> is coming out in a few months and happy to share that it\u2019s a much stronger record because of what I learned from the Chemica Divina<\/em> era.<\/span><\/p>\n

The original tracks that did end up on that EP did however, work together really well. They were created one after the other and using a lot of the same sounds. One of the main sounds being this clean, clinical ambient lead that is not unlike some of the sounds on Autechre<\/strong> records.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u2014In Chemica Divina<\/em> I see more the influence of IDM, I also read that Autechre was one of your influences. How have they influenced your work?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span>To me Autechre<\/strong>, holds a very interesting spot in my influence list. First off, they always had a techno side that was at the core of their beats (although heavily processed and mutate beyond recognition but still there) but they were\/are also kings of abstraction. They are electronic music\u2019s version of Rothko or Pollock, where no matter how abstract their themes get it never loses the meaning. And finally, they feel like a futuristic version of classic dark music with Coil<\/strong> even referencing them as a modern\/updated take on what they were doing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Instead, your music got darker with CrossFire<\/em>. As “dark” influences you have named Coil and Skinny Puppy. Were these bands important during this part of your life? What did you like of them?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Dark electronic bands like Coil<\/strong>, Skinny Puppy<\/strong> and others in the same vein from the original batch or 2 of industrial pedigree were the first and foremost musical influence on me. In fact, one of my first songs is pretty much a direct descendant of Coil<\/strong>\u2019s dark ambient mid 90\u2019s sound. The truth is when I was getting more serious about releasing music it was important to steer away from the things\/sounds that I loved the most.<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought I had something new to offer in other directions in the beginning which is why the first 2 EPs are so different from CrossFire<\/em> and what came after. I had too much respect for these types of acts to rip them off or try to do a poor imitation, so I just stayed away. But my dark soul ultimately found a way to tap into that sound.<\/span><\/p>\n

With CrossFire<\/em> EP I brought some of the influences from bass and techno and IDM to that dark music platform and the results felt fresh and it sounded like my own version of the dark genre. You can say I started finding my own sound with that EP and since then the growth\u2019s been in that same direction.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014This is the first time you started working with voices. How did your way of working change with this?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014CrossFire<\/em> EP gave me a voice in more than one way. The vocals seeped in simply because I had more to say and I felt like expressing it. It started with few vocal parts on the last track of that EP but it was enough to give me the confidence to do more. I don\u2019t consider myself a \u201cvocalist\u201d in the traditional sense, but over the years I have learned to use my voice as part of certain songs as a proper musical element.<\/span><\/p>\n

The big boost in vocal production and inclusion was having Dictatress perform on \u2018Heart Attack\u2019. Being in the same room as a proper singer and having her nail the parts is a special feeling. That collab set the foundation for having more vocalists on the upcoming album. In addition to WARTERAUM<\/strong> who contributed to the \u2018Scent of Torture\u2019 single, Angela La Strange, from Italy, is also featured on a track called \u2018The Descent\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Full Frontal Lunacy<\/em> sessions where quite inspiring in all aspects and that included lyrics and vocals. In total, 5 out of the 8 tracks on the album feature voice and words and that gives each track a unique personality.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Nick Starichenko<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2014I read that you like the music of Foetus. Sadly, I don\u2019t have too many occasions of talking about him. How did you start being interested in him?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Jim Thirlwell is one of the most underrated artists of our lifetime. From early industrial adopter, to composing scores, he\u2019s done it all and somehow remains tremendously humble about it. I was lucky enough to run into him over the years at shows and record stores in New York and he\u2019s been always approachable and open to talk music. Somehow, we always end up chatting prog rock but we should leave that for another time.<\/span><\/p>\n

I got into his work when I got into industrial, and his albums were standouts in the genre. He\u2019s great at bringing in different styles in unexpected ways and that always stuck with me. Obviously, his music is very different form mine, but I was heavily inspired by the spirit behind his records. He made his most complex albums pretty much all on his own at a time when studio gear was far harder to operate than the tools at hand today. Definity one of the acts that inspired me to get up and try my own thing, no excuses were allowed after I learned about what he had accomplished all on his own.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014I saw a big improvement in the composition in The Brutalist.<\/em> Were you more interested in songwriting in this EP?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014It\u2019s interesting that you picked up on that. Not to get too nerdy about music theory but that record was the first time I started working in predefined music scales. Meaning, the notes all stuck with the same key throughout. There are surprises on the title track still, but all done more methodically.<\/span><\/p>\n

Up until that record everything else before it was pretty much all put together by ear. Making unrelated riffs and hoping they actually work together. It\u2019s crazy that I went on so long like that given that it was too time consuming to work that way. But with The Brutalist,<\/em> I studied music more and the result shows. My mind already works in a chaotic way so sticking to a smaller group of notes per song is a much welcome limitation. And since then, it\u2019s become a key part of my writing technique, one that has helped the song writing aspect of the project more for sure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014SurViolence<\/em> was based on what happened to Snowden. What do you want to transmit with your music? Do you think that music can change society or at least make people think?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014I think it\u2019s perfectly fine to create music without a clear story or concept but for me that\u2019s just not enough. The concept stage of the record helps build purpose and momentum behind the project and each song becomes a character in the larger story being told. The concept behind SurViolence<\/em> was about the sort of stuff that Snowden was\/is warning us about.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know people that are not the conspiracy types but still cover their device cameras cause they think they\u2019re being watched all the time. The paranoia and the social implications of surveillance culture is inescapable, so it became the driving force behind that record.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not sure if music holds the position of power it once did to inspire change but it can definitely get people to think. Art in general can help people see things differently by putting a mirror in the face of society. It\u2019s funny that you don\u2019t have to reach too far to find and stay inspired by wild concepts. The craziest things are happing right in front of our eyes, we just tend to look away a lot. My stuff puts it under the microscope.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Andrii Didyk<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2014Somewhere I read that, at the very beginning, you wanted to do only five EPs. Why?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014After I put out my first EP, 5 sounded like such a huge accomplishment. But soon enough I reached that stage and realized that I\u2019m really just getting started. I just finished my first full length and at this stage 3 of these seems like a satisfying number but I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll do many more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Think overall, the rapid music consumption of the recent years is pushing artists to release more and more music. People now have 5 EPs out in under 2 years, so I guess it says more about the school of thought around releasing music 10 years ago vs now.<\/span><\/p>\n

The challenge is to edit oneself and put out the best stuff and highlight the statement pieces.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014The first single from the new album is more darkwave. Is this a genre that interest you at the moment?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014I\u2019ve been getting into Darkwave in the last few years, but I didn\u2019t see my project as that until \u2018The Geneticist\u2019 single and its remixes came out. The press coverage on that started tagging me as Darkwave which surprised me since I thought I was trying something else.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the inspiration behind \u2018Scent of Torture\u2019 was indeed darkwave with a techno twist. I remember watching the Ellen Alien<\/strong> set for HOR Berlin last year as she dropped a Figure Study<\/strong> track form 8 years ago to a techno beat and it just worked. The minute I heard that I wanted to do a track like it and \u2018Scent of Torture\u2019 began. It says a lot about the position of influence that DJs hold, again like all good artists, helping us see things differently. Of course, BPitch Control and her original productions have been in a position of influence for a while now but it\u2019s incredible when DJs look outside of the latest trends and breathe new life into different musical styles.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have to credit WARTERAUM<\/strong> a lot for bringing the Darkwave vibe and killing it on the vocals. I wrote that song for a female voice and thought it would be more provocative from a female point of view. Having worked with Dictatress in the past I just assumed she\u2019d be on this track as well but once I did the song, I couldn\u2019t track her down. Soon enough I thought: -“Damn, who\u2019s gonna do this?” I\u2019m not the type of producer with a rolodex of singers to reach out to. But then I remembered having met Misha AKA WARTERAUM<\/strong> from a producer forum a little while back. I wrote her a desperate message to do this and luckily she agreed before she even heard the song. And I couldn\u2019t be happier with the way it turned out. Big thanks to her. I\u2019d encourage your readers to check out her stuff too for proper synth pop greatness.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Nick Starichenko, effects by Tuek<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2014This song was inspired in your work in the perfume industry and we know that you have studies in Chemistry. How do you think that these studies influenced your work?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014The work in labs and studies in science shaped the way I approach every project in life. There\u2019s a scientific mindset there that will never leave me. I start by conceptualizing (theorizing), experimenting and analyzing the result over and over until I\u2019m ready to come to a conclusion and my music creation process is no different.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fragrance design structure and music production share many attributes as well. Both are highly time sensitive languages that demand the right balance in order to work. It\u2019s no surprise that fragrance ingredients are commonly referred to as \u2018notes\u2019. The bass and lower frequencies are similar to the bottom notes of a fragrance, mids and rhythms occupy similar space as the middle notes would, and the higher frequencies are similar to the top notes of the fragrance\u2014first thing to catch the attention like the vocals and lead parts but riding on a bed of lower frequencies\/ingredients.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014I find a new element in your music, especially in the first mix. We Europeans would call it New Beat, but also I read that you were interested in \u201cclub culture\u2019s recent appetite for faster BPMs.\u201d So, how would you call this new element?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014I think there are 2 elements at play here, one is the BPM and the pace of the song and the other is the mixture of styles. In terms of BPM, it feels like everything is a bit faster in the recent years. Probably most evident in techno at the moment where some of it is virtually indistinguishable from 90s trance or even hardcore.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mania being a common theme of the album, it made sense to create a manic feel and aggression through the faster pace of the songs. I welcomed the 140 bpm plus techno style as one of the ingredients for the sound of the record as it was the best device to convey those aggro vibes.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting that you\u2019re picking up on New Beat vibes too. That\u2019s more of a coincidence. If I\u2019m not mistaking the traditional definitions of New Beat had a mixture of house and EBM going on and it probably rings true here on the original mix of \u2018Scent of Torture\u2019 with its mixture of EBM like basslines and traditional dance beats.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014The second single from the upcoming album is called Burnt Leather<\/em> and together with the original track, we can find a remix. As with the previous song, I prefer the remix. You are also making a video for the remix. How do you approach the remixes of your own songs?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong>\u2014I\u2019m probably one of the few electronic artists that\u2019s been remixed several times (7 times to be exact) but has never done a remix themselves. That\u2019s until I did the remixes for \u2018Scent of Torture\u2019 and \u2018Burnt Leather\u2019. I knew these would be the first singles form the album but didn\u2019t want to release them as a single track, so thought a unique remix would give the single releases a stand-alone feel and give the listeners something to come back to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Was definitely anxious when approaching these and didn\u2019t have a ton of time. I took on \u2018Scent of Torture\u2019 first, dropped the tempo, stripped out the lead parts, added a driving chord and new lead lines for a much moodier effect. I was surprised that just a few changes led to a totally different vibe and loved the result so much that I chose to do the music video for this remix version.<\/span><\/p>\n

I took on \u2018Burnt Leather\u2019 the day after, replaced the bass line with a much simpler roll bass, put the main vocals on repeat, and added a simple chord progression and a couple of new lead lines for a more energetic take. And again, ended up with something totally different even though it shared the same chassis as the original. I liked this version so much more that in fact it appears on the album instead of the original and once again I\u2019m making the music video for the remix version.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to do more remixes, both for my stuff and others\u2019 thanks to how well these 2 turned out. The goal for the next remix is to do something vastly different form the original track and see where that goes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014For the visual aspect of your work you have worked with Luqman Ashaari and Svitlana Zhytnia. How do you \u201csee\u201d your music?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014There\u2019s a strong visual side to my music, having partly been inspired by soundtracks. For a long time, it begged to be matched with visuals. After a few missteps on the video creation side, I finally caught a break when Luqman offered his original digital art as the ingredient for the \u2018Maritime Panic\u2019 music video. Luckily, I stumbled onto Svitlana\u2019s work as a video creator at the same time and we worked together to edit that first video.<\/span><\/p>\n

I must say, since \u2018Maritime Panic\u2019, the project as a whole has been rejoiced and I\u2019ve gone on to produce 10 videos in a little more than a year (with videos for \u2018Burnt Leather\u2019 and \u2018Full Frontal Lunacy\u2019 coming out very soon). I now see the visual aspect of the project as a key element of my work and hope to continue to evolve and push the visual side as the music progresses. I also have to credit dith_idsgn who is a video creator that I turn to for my starker looking videos.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s great to be a in position to come up with ideas and see them come to life through the hands of the right expert. I think much like the different musical styles of my sound I\u2019m enjoying experimenting with different video styles as well to tell a unique story with each single\/video.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014What can you please tell us of your future full album, Full Frontal Lunacy<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014I had the title in my head for a while and thought it would only be a song title. The first song I made after the SurViolence<\/em> EP was \u2018Burnt Leather\u2019 and it happened to fit the overall madness theme. Then I followed it with a song called \u2018Absinthe Minded\u2019 that further explored the same direction. Soon enough I realized that I was making an album without really planning for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heading into the 2020\/2021 winter there was not much change in terms of pandemic restrictions and I was starting to feel the cabin fever from the mounting isolation. Needless to say, I had the perfect backdrop for creating an album that explored mental demise.<\/span><\/p>\n

A very focused few months of recording followed. I stayed in the zone, working around the clock often through caffein-fueled sessions to stay in the manic state needed to arrive at the intensity suggested by the title of the record. This was by far the most efficient recording period I\u2019ve ever had and having learned from the Chemica Divina<\/em> era, I knew what it was gonna take to make an album in the right way.<\/span><\/p>\n

The resulting 8 tracks on the album document the demise of a protagonist from flirting with madness all the way to the point of total breakdown. There\u2019s also nods to the overall madness of the society so there\u2019s a few layers of meaning as always. I\u2019m beyond thrilled to share that as a whole, it\u2019s the best body of music I\u2019ve ever created, and it announces a new stage of the project in a big way.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Andrii Didyk<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2014After recording six EPs, is making a full album a big challenge?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014It\u2019s a huge undertaking that took some getting used to. The biggest challenge was to stay focused and listen to where the music wanted to go rather than forcing it. Fortunately, the concept of the record lend itself to many ideas, approaches, and sounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a surprisingly inspired time even though I didn\u2019t work in a healthy way and grew obsessed with the album and its creation process. I became so obsessed with the record that I ended up setting up my own label (con:trace) just to see it through all the way to release without any interference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another challenge was to not get too excited about the work and avoid the temptation of stopping halfway to put it out as another EP. I\u2019ll definitely put out more EPs after this album, but the larger ideas and statements will be reserved for the full length format.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014How do you think that your music has evolved until this album?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014This album is without a doubt the apex of the Vexillary<\/strong> project up until this point. Every little bit that I learned from my previous releases was taken into consideration and I took the hard road to make sure it\u2019s the best thing it could be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sonically, there\u2019s a bit more reliance on analogue gear which has given the album a warm and at times noisy feel. I\u2019m sticking to the same tools here and stay in very similar genres and tempos for added continuity. The album is a healthy mix of darkwave, techno, and industrial. It leans more on one side or another depending on the needs of the song.<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, the more aggressive sides of the story are told through harder techno songs like the title track and \u2018Maniac\u2019. And if I were to convey a feeling of loss there was no better approach than the colder industrial sounds used on songs like \u2018The Descent\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking back at the recording process, all decisions were methodically thought through to convey the strongest story possible and I ultimately ended up with an evolved version of the darker sound I first tapped into with the CrossFire<\/em> EP a few years back.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Any possibility of seeing you playing live in the future?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n