My seventh mix for Tak Tent Radio is one to lose and find oneself within; a blissful journey with some extraordinarily beautiful music, culminating in a mesmerising mix session by Fragile X.
I’m Fragile X, a music producer from Glasgow, Scotland. I’ve been making music in some form or another since my teenage years but over the last decade or so have settled fully on electronic music as my main creative craft. I find it hard to pigeonhole my sound (doesn’t everyone?) but I enjoy drifting between ambient, IDM and electronica. Sometimes I’ll maybe go a bit heavier if the notion takes me. I also dabble in the audio/visual side of things. It started off as a hobby of sorts in my twenties but has also gotten me some paid gigs over the years. On the subject of gigs, I wouldn’t call myself a proper DJ as such, but I have DJ’d at various events in the last 15 years or so. I haven’t really played regularly in that sense since maybe 8 years or so but really enjoyed my last set at the “A Day In The Sun” in Liverpool last summer. An all vinyl affair. I would love to find the time and energy to start playing regularly again but if I’m honest I much prefer just making mixes at home these days and posting them online.
I started up the Bricolage record label in 2015. We’ve released music from all over the world and right here in Scotland. We also run a monthly podcast and are close to reaching our 100th mix in the series. When I see that number written down it really hits home how long we’ve been doing this for. It’s a labour of love and has given me so much inspiration and satisfaction over the years. I wouldn’t change what we do and how we do it for the world.
In terms of my own music, I’ve released sounds on quite a diverse range of labels over the years. Tribal Pulse, Waxing Crescent, Cue Dot, Disintegration State, noci miste, Subplant, See Blue Audio, Light At The End, Soundtracking The Void, Triplicate, Unstrung and of course, Bricolage. I also have a wee imprint called Gorecki Productions that I use to self release singles, EPs and odd bits and bobs.”
Please introduce yourself and tell us about your music journey
Hi everyone, I’m Emanuele, the person behind the ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ project. I’m a mathematician by trade and musician by hobby. In my youth I had a heart condition that eventually required me to have a heart transplant in 2001. I mention this since, as you will see through the interview, it’s shaping ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ in more than one way!
Music-wise, I come from some piano training in my youth and during university I was the founding member of a local power metal band. The days of playing with other musicians are long gone, as my last live concert was back in September 2012, but they were a fundamental part of my music journey. Between 2012 and 2016 music took the backseat as I was working through my PhD in mathematics. In 2016 I was gifted an iPad, and GarageBand has been one of the unexpected ingredients of my return to composing. I started sketching on that app and finished about 15-20 tracks by the end of 2021.
In 2022, encouraged by my wife, I bought my first analog synth (a wonderful Dreadbox Nyx v2) and three FX pedals. But something was still missing, until I replaced my humongous and unwieldy Korg Triton (from my power metal days) with a tiny Cobalt5s. The Cobalt is great for portability and recording, and the Nyx complements it with its wild side. In 2023 I added a reverb pedal, a FX shimmerverb and a FX pitch delay to this setup: the combination of these tools is turning out to be really inspiring, as you can see from the number of projects I released this summer.
In the future, I can see myself phasing out the iPad entirely and focusing on my hardware synths, plus a handful of VSTs for orchestral sounds and other specific textures I can’t achieve on my hardware instruments.
Tell us about the themes behind your project
There’s a lot to unpack here, since my themes, like my music, apparently are all over the place.
Wanderings and Vistas, my debut album, actually didn’t have a theme until the songs were completed. When I worked on them, they were called with generic names such as “Atmospheric song in A phrygian”. Since they were very different and without a fil rouge to keep them together, I thought they could represent different parts of a fantasy realm. One of the last songs to be completed had the working title Drones of the Empire, because it was based on a droning synth. Of course, I couldn’t leave it like that, so I changed “Drones” to “Explorers”, to convey the idea of travellers who wanted to study different parts of this setting, and then changed “the Empire” to “the Old Empire”, just to lean on the feeling of mystery of ancient history. That apparently insignificant change kickstarted a process of soft worldbuilding that eventually lead to me to think about this setting again and again, to the point that I decided to record a direct sequel, The Roads of the Old Empire (that I plan to release by the end of 2023). The Roads will stay faithful to the spirit of Wanderings and Vistas, with the addition of some songs that hint at a greater picture that I’d love to explore in a future release.
The Last Embers of the Fire was planned for the 2022 Winter Solstice Rush, even if the album was completed only in late Spring 2023. The challenge asked to incorporate a theme of memory: Alzheimer’s disease, while being (unfortunately) very far from fantasy, came to mind. My paternal grandmother, to whom the song She Knitted At The Window While It Snowed is dedicated, suffered from Alzheimer’s, and my wife worked some years in a day-care centre for patients at an early stage of the illness. Before planning the album, I started researching poems written by caregivers. Apart from She Knitted and Pilgrim, that was inspired by my own experience and struggles with the heart transplant, all the other tracks were directly inspired by those poems.
However, the theme of illness is very dear to my heart, and I couldn’t stop thinking about a future release focused on my own journey. This idea eventually became Sumarið Þegar Hjartað Söng, Icelandic for The Summer When the Heart Sang. It was originally planned for June 2024; however, a spell of creativity in conjunction with some unexpected free time in August allowed me to finish it a bit earlier than planned ^^” It’s my most personal album so far, and it’s infused with a lot of emotions: in the first two songs, you can hear sadness, loss, dread… then, I tried to convey the endless joy and energy of a life born anew, but without hiding the bittersweet aftertaste. Musically, it explores heavier sounds that I yearned to revisit since I left my power metal band. I am really proud of how it turned out, and some passages still give me the goosebumps, even after I’ve listened at them a thousand time while composing and mixing.
Finally, Golem Dreams is my first EP based upon literary works. The generative nature of the songs suggested the theme of artificial beings, and both Dorfl from Feet of Clay (by Terry Pratchett) and Andrew from The Bicentennial Man (by Isaac Asimov) came to mind. What’s great about both characters is that they rebel to the “unperson” status that society has given them, but eventually they manage to get recognized as persons and the corresponding rights are granted to them. The stories remind me of many struggles everywhere in the world: I wrote this EP also as a reminder that I have to be more active in support of the oppressed. In the future, you can expect more works based on literary works that spoke to my heart. And, also, more albums that explore ambient, drone, and other music that is not as melody-driven as my current releases.
The connection between all these different inspirations comes from the name of the project: in Icelandic and other Old Norse languages, ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ means “of the heart”. All of ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ songs, no matter how different from one other, are the music of my heart.
Thank you for the long explanation. Can you give us a brief guide to your music?
Here’s a quick map for ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ releases up to Sumarið Þegar Hjartað Söng.
Wanderings and Vistas is a great starting point for those who prefer more traditional fantasy synth (if there’s such a thing).
The Last Ember of the Fire is for the lovers of contaminations and of “that 80s sound”.
If you prefer ethereal ambient, Golem Dreams is the album for you.
If you like moodier, heavier DS with melodic metal riffs, you definitely want to check out Sumarið Þegar Hjartað Söng.
There’s a lot of Icelandic in your project. Why is that, and do you actually speak the language?
I have been fascinated by Iceland since about fifth grade, when I read Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne. The descriptions of the Snæfellsjökull always filled me with endless wonder. To this day, I am looking forward to visit that magic place and wander among its wild panoramas, the relics of old sagas, and the eerie hideouts of the hidden people.
The reason why ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ has many bilingual bonuses (for instance, did you know that “ilbedsen” from A Walk Through the Ilbedsen Forest means “enchanted” in Mongolian? The Roads of the Old Empire will feature a couple more of these apparently fantasy words with a hidden meaning) is that I like both wordplay and hiding messages in plain sight. To my eyes, it adds a tiny bit of mystery and depth to the project. However, I can’t actually speak Icelandic ^^” Dipping my toes into it is on my to-do list after family life has settled a bit.
Tell us about your creative process.
Until the end of 2022, I’d have described my approach to music as “bottom-up composing”: most of the time, I started from a single feature (such as a small melody played at the piano, a drum track in 7/4, a non-western scale, a drone played by a specific instrument, a song at the lowest BPM my DAW allowed for) and then figured out the other elements needed to complete the song. You can hear this approach in Wanderings and Vistas and, to a lesser extent, in Golem Dreams, where the technical constraints were given by the two algorithms I used for the compositions. The advantage of bottom-up composing is that it gives each song a unique feel, but as a drawback it is sometimes challenging to get a cohesive album together.
From the beginning of 2023, I changed my creative process in two ways. The first is that I am beginning to plan whole albums with this bottom-up approach. For each album, I try to settle on a target number of songs and the broad characteristics of each (for instance: some fast melody-driven songs, some midtempo short breaks, and so on). A benefit of this broader planning is that it’s easier to incorporate creative themes into the tracks. This leads to the second change: songs are planned not only with the “bottom-up” approach I described above, but also with a “top-down” approach that takes into account the narrative needs of the album. As I mentioned before, most songs from The Last Embers of the Fire were directly inspired by poems on Alzheimer’s disease written by caregivers. Thus, I looked for some musical ideas that could convey the disease (the shimmering sound you can hear in most songs), but also the presence of loved ones (the comfy synth elements that appear in the second part of the album). Similarly, Sumarið Þegar Hjartað Söng wanted each song to represent a different aspect of facing the heart transplant. The character and energy (or lack thereof) of each song reflect closely how I felt in each step of that journey.
I’m finding it really fun and stimulating to combine both approaches. You can hear the difference between these two ways of composing if you compare Wanderings and Vistas to The Last Embers of the Fire and Sumarið Þegar Hjartað Söng.
Tell us about your creative space
My creative space is whenever I can use a musical instrument, even with just a tiny amount of focus. Wanderings and Vistas was recorded with my old iPad, so it allowed me for a lot of portability: the first two songs were written during train trips, a couple more at the park… And I have kept part of this “wandering musician” approach also with the current setup. For instance, the trumpet solo of Love Me ‘til My Life Is Done from The Last Embers of the Fire was improvised on the Cobalt balanced on my legs in the living room’s couch, while my wife and her parents were watching a movie… once, I recorded an idea for a melody humming on my phone while giving a bath to my daughter! And most of The Roads of the Old Empire was conjured into existence in hospital waiting rooms. This is one of the reasons why songs of the Old Empire are about exploring different places!
However, since the beginning of 2023, I find it more and more convenient to work in my home office, like a boring old guy ^^”
ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ setup for The Last Embers of the Fire
Tell us about the art & design associated with your project
I have the incredible luck of having a very supportive wife that has also attended an art high school. Almost all the visual aspects of my project come from her. I tell her what my music is about, then she shows me some very rough sketches. Once we settle on the big picture, she’s free to work on them however she pleases. I really like the naïve feeling of the artwork for Wanderings and Vistas, and the heartwarming meeting hinted by the cover of The Last Embers of the Fire (and did you notice the snowflakes that blur the line between inside and outside, making you feel as disoriented as the narrator of When I’m Lost?). With Golem Dreams she really managed to capture the wistful, ethereal mood of the album, and for Sumarið Þegar Hjartað Söng she poured a part of her own heart in the cover art, since she knows it was of particular significance to me. I love how the heart seems to almost be exploding at the top, like it can’t contain its music. It captures perfectly how that album came to be!
How does your sense of place affect the way you express yourself?
When I was younger, I used to write stories inspired either by some features of the place I live (we get very thick fog in winter, and once I wrote a short story about an old man disappearing into the whiteness) or of some places, real or imaginary, that spoke to my imagination. Iceland was the first of such places. Then, years before visiting London, I wrote four steampunk stories set there. I remember using Google Maps to get a feel of the place and researching how it could have been a century ago. A couple of years later, I did the same with New York. So, my sense of faraway or imaginary places has always played a major role in my narrations. This is another reason why Wanderings and Vistas and The Roads of the Old Empire have a voyage and exploration theme.
Interestingly enough, listening to other DS artists has strengthened my connection to the place I live (which is also the place where I was born), and especially with the hills nearby. When I was younger, I didn’t consider them interesting and almost never visited them, but now I want to explore them whenever I can. DS has also rekindled my interest in castles, no matter how well or badly preserved.
The courtyard of my hometown’s castle
What are some of your influences, musical and otherwise?
No matter how hard I try, it really shows that in my past there’s a lot of power metal! And, actually, I am quite happy that this influence is so evident in my music, since it gives a unique twist compared to BM-inspired Dungeon Synth. Other than metal, I enjoy a bit of this and that in pop music, “modern” classical music (let’s say after 1850, more or less, but I prefer more recent composers such as Stockhausen, Ferneyhough, Pärt), Gregorian chants, and some new folksy artists such as Clamavi De Profundis or The Longest Johns. I listen to very few musicians from my country, but Angelo Branduardi surely had influenced me from a very young age. In 2022, I discovered that what Summoning and other cool, atmospheric bands did back in the day is now called Dungeon Synth, so I’m having the time of my life discovering new and old DS artists.
Outside of music, I enjoy reading, especially fantasy and science fiction. I also loved to get lost into RPGs (the Final Fantasy early titles, Neverwinter Nights, Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura…) and point and click games (The Longest Journey, Quest For Glory, Monkey Island…) but now I have very little time for immersive playing. Plus, all the gaming time has become music time ^^” Especially since, when I turn on my instruments, I am driven by an almost childish joy of discovery: a synth patch, a new use for some FX, a simple melody or chord progression might be the starting point of something magical.
What does dungeon synth and related genres mean to you?
Dungeon Synth has lots of meanings for me. As a hobbyist musician, it is first and foremost a home and a clearer direction for my music. Since I quit my band in 2012, and especially from 2016 onwards, I’ve always wanted to have a solo power metal project, all made with synths since I can’t play guitar or bass (or any other instrument, really). However, I didn’t really know how to do that. I mean: how can you replace that distorted guitar sound? And a real drummer? For those reasons, I started experimenting with what I could do on my own and what felt right for me. After many years, I discovered that some of my more atmospheric music was very close to this genre that I met many years ago through Summoning. It was the first time I got aware of the label Dungeon Synth and, listening to Umbria, Bruna and other “new” DS artists, I realized that this could be what I was trying to achieve during all these years.
One day, I gathered my courage and reached out to Bruna, and they invited me into Melkor’s DS Dungeon, a (Discord) community that encouraged the development of ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ and the publication of all my albums. I also need to thank Erang, whose words were crucial in a moment when I was this close to cancelling the release of Wanderings and Vistas. If it wasn’t for him, for Bruna and for all the great people at Melkor’s, today almost two hours of ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ songs wouldn’t exist.
As a listener, Dungeon Synth rekindles a sense of wonder and mystery that, unfortunately, has very little room for expression in daily life. Also, having an almost direct connection with the artists enriches the listening experience in a way I never experienced before.
How would you describe the Dungeon Synth community?
I am aware that I only know a small part of the Dungeon Synth community. The people I met are all very welcoming and encouraging. I couldn’t have dreamed of this level of support and am glad to give it back whatever I can, mostly in the form of discussion about music and feedback on ongoing projects. There are also some cool collaborations going on (for instance, this Spring’s You Wake Up In A Crypt, or the Solstice and Equinox rushes), and it’s almost as good as playing in a band again.
Can you share a glimpse into the next ᚼᛁᛆᚱᛐᛆᚿᛋ releases?
The Roads of the Old Empire is in the works since the end of Spring, and I should really focus on getting it released by the end of 2023.
In Spring 2024 you can expect an ambient/drone album inspired by Spectral Sorrow, The Orb Weaver, Snowspire and similar artists. There’s also a secret release in the works, exploring a similar music space. These ambient releases will feature one xenharmonic song each, marking my first steps into the world of microtonality.
Beyond these releases my powers of foresight are blocked by a higher (albeit tiny) being, that will forever alter my reality in a few weeks: we will welcome in the family our second daughter, and she will keep us very busy for quite some months!
Pick a favourite song from each of your albums
What a cruel question! Every song I release has some meaning for me, otherwise I wouldn’t consider releasing it. However I’ll play along 😉
Wanderings and Vistas: today I’d pick After the Festival, tomorrow The Canyons of Taar Ogdal. Lots of non-conventional details in both songs.
The Last Embers of the Fire: I would have liked to point you towards some deep cuts such as Love Me ‘til My Life Is Done (did you notice the change of time signature at the end, and the echoes of the initial melody in the second-to-last section, just before the vocals come in for the last verses?), but who am I kidding? It’s Pilgrim, hands down. I wrote the melody and lyrics more than ten years ago, as something I’d have loved to hear back when I had to face the events described in Sumarið Þegar Hjartað Söng, so that song will always have a special place in my heart.
Golem Dreams: as soon as I heard Sitting in a Dream by Erang, I knew I had to cover it one day or another. Golem Dreams was the perfect EP for this tribute. In addition, the song title describes very accurately the cover art. This was due to an unforeseen astral alignment, as I didn’t mention to my wife that I had a track with such a name.
Sumarið Þegar Hjartað Söng: Tvíhjartað captures perfectly the elation of a new heart beating in my chest after I woke from the surgery. I never thought I could be able to express such feelings in any form, but here we are.
If you could step through a portal to any realm of fantasy (established or otherwise), where would it be?
There is a ring of truth to Erang’s answer to this question! Nevertheless, during high school I wrote a fantasy story where a secondary character, a dear friend of the protagonist, worked as a sentinel in an outpost at the edge of a huge forest. Then, I never thought about this story for more than a decade. Since 2021, however, I’ve been yearning to visit both characters in that place far away from the burdens of everyday life… and who knows: maybe one day I’ll bring you along for the journey. Until then, may you always listen to the music of your heart.
FIGHTING are a three-piece collective of musicians based in Preston, Lancashire, in the North West of England. Until their latest release, FIGHTING had been writing and performing Post-Punk songs since 2012. When founding member Richard Bilsborough left the band in 2021, the three remaining members decided that a change of pace was needed.
Taking time out to redefine the band, James Hodgson (Vocals, Synths, Guitar), Luke French (Bass, Synths) and Adrian Townsend (Drums, Synths) spent 18 months deciding what there next move should be, and if they should even release music ever again.
‘This was supposed to be a secret. As a band we’ve always loved all kinds of music, and have always been listening to and making different little bits and pieces behind the scenes. We started down this road of making a completely new sound with the intention of never playing it out or releasing it to anyone. But after a few musician friends listened to a couple of tracks, they begged us to get back out there. So here we are!’– James
‘Live Laugh Leyland’ is the band’s 6th EP, and the first with this new-found House sound. It was recorded in the Summer of 2023.
FIGHTING have been actively playing in around the North West of Britain for some time, known for their energetic performances and upbeat shows. They’ve played Festivals across the country, as well as playing a sold-out show at the Preston Guild Hall, the biggest venue in their beloved hometown. For the band’s new sound, the band has been hard at work creating a new experience for fans, integrating electronic music with live elements to create something completely unique.
Answers by James Hodgson
Where did you come from and where are you going?
We come from Preston, a beautiful city in the heart of Lancashire, in the North West of England. It’s a lovely place. Just big enough where there’s stuff going on, but small enough for things happening to feel special.
Where are we going? Metaphorically, we’re beginning a massive journey! We decided to change up our sound. A band member left for a new life, and we decided FIGHTING had to be something new to reflect this. Honestly, it’s the scariest thing I’ve ever done as a musician. In the past when we were first starting out, there were no preconceptions. No-one knew who we were, we just cracked on with it. Now, we have people that know us and love our music, and I’ve had to go up in front of them onstage and say ‘hey, you know that music that you like that we do? Well, we don’t do that anymore. Here’s this…’. Absolutely terrifying. It’s also a little bit exhilarating if I’m honest, and as a few people are starting to hear the new stuff they’re saying really nice things, so it’s starting to feel good!
What preoccupies your mind these days?
These days my brain is going 500 miles an hour. As we’re pretty new to making electronic music, there is SO MUCH to learn! I used to make stuff when I was a lot younger, and have always dabbled a bit, but getting back into it fully has been such a massive task. But also incredibly fun. I thought learning stuff like compression and EQ would be super boring, but the satisfaction of making progress and starting to figure it out is crazy rewarding. Songwriting always comes first to us, but it’s been great to delve in to the technical side of things and get a bit lost in it. I realised when I was getting excited about getting a gated delay just right to my wife that I was really enjoying the new process. She told me to relax and finish my dinner.
Name a favourite taste, touch, sound, sight and smell
Taste- That first pint of beer after a long band practice that went particularly well
Touch: The cool answer would be like ‘ohhhh, the keys on this super obscure synthesizer I have’. I should just stop there. But it isn’t. I can’t explain it, but there’s this dog food thing called Webbox Chub Roll. And it’s like in a sausage packaging and it just feels really nice to slap when I’m in the supermarket. I don’t know why. I’ve never known why. But that’s the truth. That’s one of my favourite things to touch ever. Am I going to Prison? It feels like I’m going to get done for that, doesn’t it?
Sound: Definitely my Wife’s laugh when I say something so ludicrous she feels like she shouldn’t be laughing. That’s the best. But musically, a proper cliché FM Bass. I’ve written loads of Garage Remixes recently (downloadable on our Bandcamp), and part of the allure of making them is that bass sound. There’s just something about it, the way it cuts through, the way it brings me back to a time and place. Plus it slaps.
Sight: I recently went to Santorini on holiday, and we booked this proper posh hotel villa for a big anniversary. The view out to sea and across the island was frankly insane. I did ruin it a bit by exclaiming to my wife ‘I should have brought the laptop, I’m feeling so inspired to write music!’. Mr Romance, me.
Smell: Petrol. It’s a thing, isn’t it? Doesn’t everyone like the smell of Petrol?! I wonder what’s in our human evolution that we all love the smell of petrol so much. Maybe it’s Darwinism. Like we want to drink the petrol, it smells so good, but that’s what keeps humanity going and strong. Only the divs drink the Petrol.
Describe one of your most vivid dreams or nightmares
I can never remember them. Literally 30 seconds after waking up, they’re gone, and I’m left with a sense of confusion. I hate them ones where someone you know does your head in, in your dream. And then when you see them you’re mad at them a bit and don’t know exactly why, but you can’t tell them either, as it wasn’t real. So you spend the first five minutes in a grump with them secretly as you try and convince your brain that they’re alright and you like them. Bit weird, innit.
Have you ever had an uncanny experience?
Not really. I get Déjà vu and stuff like that sometimes, but my brain is really good at remembering stuff and experiences, so that feeling is often fleeting as my brain can recall why I feel like I do, and when I was last at a place. I’ve also got a very over-analytical mind, so spooky and mysterious stuff never really washes with me, as my brain is always searching for the reasoning behind whatever is going on. I wish I could turn that off sometimes, and just get lost in the wonders of the universe. I think it’s healthy to be a bit freaked out now and again.
How does your sense of place affect the way you express yourself?
For FIGHTING, our sense of place is everything. We embrace where we’re from, and let it permeate every single aspect of our process. For our latest EP, we have absolutely zero budget for anything we’re doing. It’s all self-funded, and it cost us a fair bit to get the Vinyl cut. So when it came to videos for youtube, the budget was £0. So I took my phone and my tripod out to various spots across Preston, and just filmed vistas and bits of the city I found beautiful/interesting. It’s more just something to have on whilst the music is playing, but it’s great to just be able to lean on my hometown when I need help and inspiration. Our EP is called ‘Live. Laugh. Leyland.’, which is a bit of an in-joke. Leyland is a town next to Preston, full of daft lads and lasses who have ‘Prosecco o’clock!’ shopping bags. It’s a cheeky little dig, but also an affectionate one.
I sing in my own accent. I realised pretty early on that I couldn’t live with myself if I got up in front of people and all of a sudden I’m trying to be Julian Casablancas. It’s pretty mad that people do that, isn’t it?! People from Solihull out there talking about fawcets and going steady. It’s never really about me trying to advertise Preston or my heritage and culture, more just me being proud of it and embracing it. I’m glad you asked this question, as I think it’s one of the key components of our band. We’re so proud of where we’re from, and the people it’s made us into. As I think everyone should be. Every place has something unique and wonderful about it, and tapping into that is good for the soul, I think.
What has particularly touched or inspired you recently?
I’ve been really inspired recently by the creativity of my friends. It seems at the moment that a loads of our music and art friends are creating a lot of really stunning work, and it’s so exciting to consume. But it also motivates me like nothing else, to push further and do more as a creative. LA French has just released ‘Pre-Post’, which is an incredible ambient album which I’m really enjoying listening to (he’s also in FIGHTING, by the way, so this is pure concentrated nepotism at it’s finest). We’ve also worked with Stephen Buckley aka Polypores, on the new record. He’s always been the hidden extra member of FIGHTING, producing pretty much everything we’ve ever done, but his work rate and solo output is just on another level. Other Friends like visual artist Tao Lashley-Burnley, or Photographer Utopian Mechanics, everything I see being created by people I know just fills me with so much positivity. I think at one point I used to be a bit jealous and intimidated when friends made stuff, worried that my own work wouldn’t measure up. But these days, it just gives me a warm feeling that I’m so lucky to be surrounded by such talented people. It’s currently helping me write some of the best music I’ve ever written, which is an amazing feeling.
I’m Fragile X, a music producer from Glasgow, Scotland. I’ve been making music in some form or another since my teenage years but over the last decade or so have settled fully on electronic music as my main creative craft. I find it hard to pigeonhole my sound (doesn’t everyone?) but I enjoy drifting between ambient, IDM and electronica. Sometimes I’ll maybe go a bit heavier if the notion takes me. I also dabble in the audio/visual side of things. It started off as a hobby of sorts in my twenties but has also gotten me some paid gigs over the years. On the subject of gigs, I wouldn’t call myself a proper DJ as such, but I have DJ’d at various events in the last 15 years or so. I haven’t really played regularly in that sense since maybe 8 years or so but really enjoyed my last set at the “A Day In The Sun” in Liverpool last summer. An all vinyl affair. I would love to find the time and energy to start playing regularly again but if I’m honest I much prefer just making mixes at home these days and posting them online.
I started up the Bricolage record label in 2015. We’ve released music from all over the world and right here in Scotland. We also run a monthly podcast and are close to reaching our 100th mix in the series. When I see that number written down it really hits home how long we’ve been doing this for. It’s a labour of love and has given me so much inspiration and satisfaction over the years. I wouldn’t change what we do and how we do it for the world.
In terms of my own music, I’ve released sounds on quite a diverse range of labels over the years. Tribal Pulse, Waxing Crescent, Cue Dot, Disintegration State, noci miste, Subplant, See Blue Audio, Light At The End, Soundtracking The Void, Triplicate, Unstrung and of course, Bricolage. I also have a wee imprint called Gorecki Productions that I use to self release singles, EPs and odd bits and bobs.”
Where did you come from and where are you going?
I’m going to answer this one in a musical sense. I came from a shoegaze and post rock based background in my youth. In and out of bands and projects. But always with a healthy obsession with electronic music. Particularly Warp Records, Fabric and Ninja Tune alongside the Toytronic, Skam and City Centre Offices labels. Where I’m going….I have no idea! I’m in a happy place with my music and just exploring different styles. It’s taken me quite a while to get to the stage in my production where I can just make what I want now from release to release. I don’t feel the need to stick to anything in particular. I just go where the mood take: me. That’s where I’m heading next I suppose. Wherever my brain decides to stop off at.
What preoccupies your mind these days?
Everything. Twice! My mind is constantly on the go. It’s like a three ring circus. ADHD is a big factor in my daily life and thought processes. I’ve managed to harness that into a positive thing though and I use it as a tool to help me balance real life, family, the day job, my own music and of course running the label. I see everything as layers and blocks every day. Everything has its own folder in my brain and I can focus on the right thing at the right time by breaking everything up into their own little segments on a daily or weekly basis. But yeah, my mind is occupied by everything, all the time. Not a very imaginative answer I guess, but the truth.
Name a favourite taste, touch, sound, sight and smell.
All these things change on the daily but my current favourite things are:
Taste – A bottle of Jamshed red wine.
Sound – The laugh of my partner, Marie.
Sight – An empty washing machine!
Smell – Petrichor (we’ve had a LOT of rain in Glasgow this summer)
Describe one of your most vivid dreams or nightmares.
I dream a lot. A lot of it is lucid dreaming too. I’m not sure if I enjoy that side of it or not if I’m honest. I recently had a dream where I wrote and produced a full track in my dreams. Fortunately, it was a weekend morning so I pretty much woke up and got down to actually writing and recording it there and then! It’s gonna be on a compilation on Bricolage before the end of the year.
But the most vivid dream/nightmare that sticks out for me is one I had maybe around 4 years ago. In the dream I was on a night out with some friends, my partner and my dad. We went to a gig, the band was called “Cloud Wavers”. Completely made up in my head of course. They don’t exist. The music was instrumental stuff. Kinda like the band Russian Circles maybe. After the gig we went to a pub. I remember my dad pulling out a giant sock full of coins and slapping it up on the bar to pay for the round. That’s not even the strangest part though!
I got lost from the group of people I was with in my dream. I flagged a taxi down, got in and asked him to take me home. I was staying in a place called the Gorbals in Glasgow at the time. The driver didn’t speak and I couldn’t see his face. He drove the complete opposite direction. I asked him to turn around and kept trying to look at his face. He kept turning away so I couldn’t ever see it. At this point I kicked open the taxi door and rolled out and down a ditch and lost consciousness (in my dream) when I woke up (in my dream) I was back in bed in my old childhood home in a village called Elderslie. I had gone back in time. I was maybe like 8-10 years old now in the dream. I could feel that my face was warm and wet. I scurried up out of bed and down my old familiar hallway and into the bathroom. Hopped on the toilet seat to get a clear look in the mirror and my face was torn to shreds. Like I had been clawed at by something. At that point I woke up in reality. In my own bed. As an adult. It intrigued me more than scared me when I woke up and I actually tried to get back to sleep immediately to reach some kind of conclusion!
Have you ever had an uncanny experience?
See above!
How does your sense of place affect the way you express yourself?
In terms of music and my influences on what I make, I’m very much affected by my sense of place. I work in a garage Monday to Friday so, as you can imagine it’s a pretty noisy environment. Lots of hammering, buzzing and drilling. These kinds of noises definitely have some kind of impact on certain expressions production wise.
At the same time, living in the city and having traffic and constant noise filtered in from life outside the window gives me that sense of chaos and bustling activity. Constant life, always moving. This is one of the reasons why I like to spend a lot of my free time/holidays in quieter areas. Remote beaches, wilderness, trails etc. It helps bring a sense of calm to the chaos. I couldn’t get by without having that balance of both those elements and how they affect my day to day life.
What has particularly touched or inspired you recently?
In terms of inspiration, I find it every day in my friends. I have some really musical minded people in my close circle. Producers, label owners and the likes. I’m always learning something new on a weekly basis from those around me. Be it something as simple as giving a kick drum a reverse effect for added thump in my tracks or advice on how to approach the promotion side of things with Bricolage. I take everything in and soak it up. That helps keep me on my toes and inspired.
Tell us a good story, anecdote or joke.
I was recently told what I think was simultaneously one of the best and worst jokes ever by my partner, Marie.
What did one saggy boob say to the other saggy boob?
We better get some support or people will think we’re nuts!
Wyrd Daze 