Aptøsrs has some brilliant instrumental connections with his latest album, Elders. In this interview, we find out about the composition process and inspirations. Check out the interview below!:
1) Your music is an eccentric blend of several genres. How did you come about this signature sound that is so synonymous with Aptøsrs ?
For the writing and recording process of this debut album ‘Elders’, I came at it with a desire to make an instrumental album that combined synth components with orchestrations often associated with film music, then add a blend of drum and percussion parts from different subgenres. I wanted to incorporate a really big drum sound just as much as I wanted to play around with breakbeats and downtempo energies. The album started with those ideas. As the songs came together, I quickly found myself experimenting a lot more.
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2) The opening song Rust Mountain itself has some incredible percussions, synths and guitar elements layering for an instrumental frenzy. What is the inspiration for a song like this?
“Rust Mountain” sort of fell out of my head in the order that it appears on the album. I get musically inspired by a lot of visual cues, and these different landscapes and images were coming into my head that kind of formed a loose storyline. I then started musically improvising, and each distinctly different section of “Rust Mountain” came together very naturally and quickly, in the order that you hear in the song. I love those songwriting moments. Because, when you look back on it, it doesn’t necessarily make sense, in a traditional “song form” sort of way. But I love songs that have unexpected structures.
3) Sonic atmospheres are a very important aspect to you. This is evident in how you treat songs like With Each Step. Tell us about your recording process a little.
The guitar parts for “With Each Step” came together when I was playing around with some simple, dream-like lead guitar riffs. One thing I wanted this album to have was lead guitar parts but no chord-based riffs. Only because I’ve made a lot of songs and records that feature riffs of that type. But I’ve never restricted myself to clean, electric, lead guitar. There was just something about the tone that felt at home in “With Each Step.” I think it sits really well inside the synth soundscapes and the overall movement and atmosphere of the song.
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4) Is there a direction you have seen Aptøsrs evolving into which you never expected? Sonically and theme wise?
The album evolved a lot during the making of it. Even though I knew I wanted to include drum tones and parts that are often synonymous with progressive metal, I didn’t think I’d find myself loving how they sounded against the clean, undistorted bass guitar lines and piano parts. It felt like a new combination of tones. But, at the same time, felt inevitable. That’s my favourite part of songwriting is when the overall song ends up feeling like it was just meant to be. It’s a hard to describe, but I guess another way of putting it is, you feel it in your gut that “yes, this song’s finished.”
5) In Graveyard Syndrome, you bring a hint of instrumental metal as well. Are there any musicians you are directly inspired by, who can be heard in your music some way?
I’ve been a huge fan of metal and heavy music since my early teens. There are so many heavy music artists that have influenced my composing and songwriting, including Devin Townsend, Machine Head, Mike Patton, Sevendust, Filter, Periphery, Fightstar, and many, many more.
6) You also touch upon a synthwave energy, noticed in the song Nothing But Recall. Is there a genre you keep revisiting, that triggers some response from you as a composer?
Not really – it’s not the listening of a particular genre or artist that triggers composing ideas. I tend to get ideas from a lot of non-musical inspirations, especially visual ones. And when it comes to listening to music for pleasure, research, or curiosity, I like to be an active listener, rather than putting it on in the background.
7) What decade of music do you feel your music distils into. Are there particular cues you take from these bands and/or movements?
I don’t feel this album neatly fits inside a specific decade. Actually, maybe the right answer is that it’s very much a 2020s record. Even though the album has musical tones and flourishes that tip the cap to years gone by, I think, overall, it’s not a record with both feet firmly planted in the past. Because I love making music that also enjoys looking forward to something new and different.
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Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
