Interview met FENRA
Wat doe je als een track van je debuut-EP zo’n eigen leven gaat leiden dat je er de hele nacht mee blijft jammen? Voor de vernieuwende atmosferische elektronische muziek producer FENRA resulteerde die ene nacht in een veertig minuten durende sessie, die nu is teruggebracht tot de drie tracks van zijn nieuwe Chicago EP. Vlak voor de release op Base Layer Records sprak ik hem over het uit elkaar trekken van zijn eigen stems, de invloed van minimalisme en waarom dit project het definitieve slotstuk is van zijn 'Chicago-hoofdstuk'. Een kijkje in de keuken van een artiest die organische warmte combineert met diepe, elektronische texturen.
What do you do when a track from your debut EP takes on a life of its own, leading to an all-night jam session? For innovative atmospheric electronic music producer FENRA, that single night resulted in a forty-minute session, now distilled into the three tracks of his new ¨Chicago EP¨. Just ahead of the release on Base Layer Records, I spoke with him about pulling apart his own stems, the influence of minimalism, and why this project marks the definitive conclusion of his 'Chicago chapter.' A look behind the scenes of an artist who blends organic warmth with deep, electronic textures.
Your new project, the Chicago EP, revolves entirely around reinterpreting the focus track from your debut. What made you feel that the story of this specific song wasn't finished yet, or that there were still more layers hidden within the original stems?
With CHICAGO, Oliver Schories was working on a remix, and while I was bouncing down the stems for him I loaded them into a new set, mapped them to a controller and a bit of hardware just to see what it would feel like to play it live. I ended up playing with it all night. I was having a great time taking it to different places. At one point it had turned into something like a 40-minute piece that kept morphing through different environments and moods. I briefly considered releasing it as one long jam, but realized that might be a lot for people to digest, so I cut it into the three versions that became the EP.
The process of deconstruction
Instead of writing completely new songs, you kept the core of Chicago and reworked it into three new tracks. Can you walk us through your workflow: how do you start pulling an existing song apart to create something new like Chicago PM?
That’s a great question. I mostly just listened to the track while soloing different elements until I heard something new. For the PM version I took the chords and vocals from the original, stretched them out, and ran them through a huge washy reverb. That created a long, interesting drone which I ran through a slicer and a gate triggered by a MIDI track. It became this rhythmic bed that I then added new drums to. I had already added these flutes to the AM version, so I pulled them in, inverted a few of the melodies, pitch-shifted some parts, and it started to take shape.
The influence of minimalism
The press release mentions artists like Philip Glass and Floating Points. How big is the influence of minimalism on this EP, where you work with a limited palette of sounds (the original stems) to create an entirely new atmosphere?
These tracks definitely have the spirit of minimalism in them, even if they don’t immediately sound that way. Limiting the amount of newly introduced audio at the beginning was important. I purposely didn’t add a new hook and kept the vocals out as well. I wanted to see how far the original material could go.
Emotion in electronicsYour music is often compared to Four Tet and Bonobo, artists known for their warm, organic sound. How do you ensure that a track, which is technically a rework of existing stems, still maintains that same emotional depth as the original?
I’m not really thinking about preserving the emotion in a deliberate way. I think it comes from having live control over the music during the writing process. Once you get into a flow state, those emotional moments tend to happen naturally. I know that’s not the most technical answer, but it feels true to me.
Base layer records and the releaseThe EP is being released via Base Layer Records. How does the vision of this label reflect your own growth as an artist since the release of Delusional?
Base Layer Records feels like a great fit because they’re focused on thoughtful, forward-leaning electronic music. Since Delusional I’ve been exploring more depth and atmosphere in my tracks, and the label’s vision lines up nicely with that direction.
Chicago as a constant factor
The city of Chicago and its musical energy seem to be a recurring theme in your work. Do you see this EP as a definitive conclusion to your 'Chicago chapter', or is it the start of a deeper exploration of this specific sound?
This definitely feels like the end of the CHICAGO chapter. I’m already finishing up the next EP and it’s coming from a very different place. I will have fun playing these versions live though.
The live translationWith these new versions of Chicago, you now have different variations of the same DNA. How do you envision this during a live set? Will you be merging the different versions into one long, hypnotic experience?
Honestly, I’m still working it out. My live set will probably be very adaptive. If the energy feels right, I could see myself pulling these pieces together in different ways.
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