What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.
I first started making music in 8th grade after discovering the Bandcamp noise scene. I was on 4chan a lot at the time (before or maybe while it turned into the cesspool it is now) and there were a lot of people just making music on their own, because they felt like it, and that was a really huge moment for me, like “you can just do that?” I’ve always been a very musical person, my dad got me into metal from a really early age, and I’ve always been creative in various disciplines, but that was the push that really led me to start making music. What became Tsunxmi is my third main project, and it used to be a vaporwave project where I would take loops from things and affect them with really, really dense reverb and compression, to the point that the sample would become an unrecognizable fog of its former self. This was before I had the money to get any real equipment, and I was running Linux exclusively so my options for making music were severely limited (prior to this I was a game developer, which is why I had switched to Linux initially), but I made do with Audacity and got a meagre audience. Eventually I got a new computer and I bought Ableton, and the sampling suddenly stopped being a necessity and was a choice. After that it was probably 4 or 5 months before I switched to exclusively writing original music, partially due to just wanting to accomplish more with it and partially due to my extensive disillusionment with what the vaporwave scene had become at that point, and that was when I wrote Shrouded in Light, which I consider the first “canonical” Tsunxmi release.
Provide us with some info about your latest release…
“Caitlin Ryan” was originally a demo I had recorded for “Long Walk Home”, my last release (though “Pictures of You” released far after it, it was recorded significantly earlier), and it was originally this ambient techno-ish thing. The first incarnation of that album was all synths, had drum programming, was very influenced by Boards of Canada and early Aphex and all that, but then I had decided to make it a lot more guitar because I was listening to a lot of Godspeed and Sigur Ros and that sort of stuff. That version of “Caitlin Ryan” was this big epic rock thing with this huge drum breakdown at the end, but when I listened to it, I just thought it sounded kind of cheesy. So, I cut it from that album. But, when I started writing stuff for “New Life Now” I came back to the base melodies that I had written — that trance synth, the upward arpeggio figure, the 4-part choir, the Deafheaven guitar solo — and I just loved the way it sounded. The workflow for this album involved a lot of tape looping and half-speed stuff, so I recorded tape of each of the main loops and threw it into half-speed and lo and behold! It sounded incredible. I arranged it roughly in the same way it is on the release and gave it the name “Caitlin Ryan”. Originally that was a working title, actually, because I was binge-watching the 80s Degrassi at the time and I had absolutely fallen in love with this character, but it fit so well that I ended up not changing it. I’m actually just about finishing my second watch-through of Degrassi High right now! Finishing it up before tour. Anyway, the meaning of the song as sort of a long-distance love song to my boyfriend kinda arose as I started listening to it more and more. For me, the music absolutely has to come first. I can’t write stuff with a specific feeling in mind, I write stuff and then the feeling comes out of where my headspace is at when it’s finished and what the music makes me feel. That’s more or less the story of Caitlin Ryan, though.
Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?
Influences these days is a pretty big list. I listen to a lot of music and I absorb a lot of what’s going on in that music and apply it in my stuff. Uplifting trance and Midwest emo from the 90s probably are the clearest influences on the way I write melody. Emo in particular is just a huge influence all the way across my stuff. Jazz fusion has been inspiring me a lot lately too; I’ve always been big on gigantic, open-voiced chords with a lot of extensions, to the point where a lot of my early work consists literally of just chords and no melody really at all — “Ephemera” especially is guilty of that. Godspeed You! Black Emperor has been a big influence in their use of dynamics, and psytrance too with its emphasis on building atmospheres to a psychedelic end. Probably the one everyone would guess is that I’m a huge Tim Hecker fan, and a huge Oneohtrix Point Never fan. I remember the first time I heard “Chrome Country” off R Plus Seven by OPN, that just blew me away, and just his love of big spacey arpeggiators — there’s a running joke between me and my boyfriend, who’s also a huge arp guy, that all of our music consists primarily of arpeggiators. Shoegaze and blackgaze have always been huge informers of my sound, I mean some of the stuff I’m working on right now is straight up blackgaze without drums and there’s a whole lot of Deafheaven influence all over my work. Merzbow and the rest of the Japanese harsh noise scene are an intermittent presence in my stuff — especially now where I’d consider myself more of a noise artist than anything else. EAI, all that cool avant-garde stuff. I mean really, anything with pretty chords, a lot of (maybe unnecessary) reverb and distortion, and that sort of stuff just gets me going. And, obviously, Degrassi Junior High. Haha.
In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?
I get pegged with the term “ambient” a lot, which I disagree with at this point because my aims are fundamentally different from those of someone like Eno. “Ambient music” is supposed to be able to fade into the background, to be exactly as rewarding when not paid attention to as when you do. I don’t exactly jive with that. My style, as it’s developed now, focuses on atmosphere for sure, but it’s in-your-face, it’s loud, it’s emotional, it’s cathartic and it’s often distorted. I cut my teeth more or less in the hardcore scene, and that DIY sensibility is one of the key drivers of my sound. I think it’s important that raw, unkempt emotion is a key part of what I do, which is why I insist on the DIY approach. I think, if you’re considering listening to my stuff, just be prepared to let it hit you with that emotion. That’s why Tsunxmi is important, in my opinion.
Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…
That’s a tough one. Albums, I’d probably go with “Complete Discography” by Minor Threat, “Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow!” by Orchid, and “Geogaddi” by Boards of Canada.
Movies is a little bit easier, I’d probably go Mallrats, Chungking Express, and Little Shop of Horrors.
And as far as books, I’d go “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg, the Avatamsaka Sutra, and the Huey P. Newton Reader.
Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?
I love both for different reasons, but I probably would go with studio. As much as I love the raw energy of performing live, I think there’s almost a spiritual component to working on new material for me. The work more or less flows from me without me needing to think too hard about it, whereas live I’m often trying to make sure everything stays together. It’s easier for me to enter that sort of hyper-focused state when I’m in my home, with all the lights out apart from my computer screen, than when I’m performing live. Besides that, the way I do live shows currently is fairly deterministic and doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for improvisation — I’m far more of a composer than a performer, my punk bands notwithstanding.
Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?
Explaining what I do to members of my extended family is always fun, haha. I usually go for the extremely vague term “composer” these days, instead of trying to describe to them exactly how my stuff sounds (I feel like they usually just assume I’m in a death metal band anyway, which is understandable). The doorman of the Warehouse, my home venue, always compares my music to Tangerine Dream, which always gives me a chuckle.
Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?
Most unique? Well, as far as released stuff goes, I’d say “In Search of Lost Time” is one of the tracks that sticks out the most. In stark contrast to the rest of the album it’s off of, which is depressive, sort of mournful dirges about grief and death, that song is this huge, emotional catharsis moment with gigantic 707 drums, MIDI choir and squelchy bass. There’s also a track on the tour-only EP that’s called “Eli Goldsworthy”, which is heavily inspired by Autechre’s wilder moments, with these buck wild flashcore drums skittering all over the place. That’s not gonna be released digitally, though, at least not for the time being.
Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?
Well, in the immediate future (as of this writing, it’s the 28th of May), I’m doing a 6-day tour with my good friend, the amazing chiptune mastermind Pulsing, around the Midwest. Apart from that, I’m probably gonna lay low until someone else wants to tour with me and until my new record comes out. “New Life Now” should be out later this year, it’s my favorite thing I’ve done yet and I’m immensely proud of it. I’m probably gonna end up writing some cool new stuff this summer, so hopefully I can get some of that out eventually as well!
Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…
Nobody’s asked me anything Degrassi-related yet, which is admittedly shocking considering the name of the single, so I guess I’ll ask myself, “favorite episodes of Degrassi (from each era)?”
To which I’d answer, for Junior High I’d go with either “It’s Late!” (which won an Emmy, and rightfully so!), “Can’t Live With ‘Em…” (which sets up Wheels’ entire arc for the rest of the show) or “Taking Off” (where the show goes from “fun 80s show” to “high melodrama” real quick. For Degrassi High, the entire second season is incredible, some of my favorite TV of all time, but I’d go with “It Creeps!”, “Bad Blood”, “The All-Nighter”, and “Showtime”. The movie is great as well. And for The Next Generation, I literally cannot pick one because there’s just so much of it (it took me literally 6 months to watch the first time) but, gun to my head, I’d probably go with either “Tears Are Not Enough”, “Drop the World” or “Bittersweet Symphony”.
Photo credits: J. Feala (1st one)
Curated by: Christos Doukakis
Recommended listening:
‘Caitlin Ryan‘ (Stream)
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