ALEPH - Interview

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Tell us about your project 'Ego Death' (2021)...

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ALEPH

The record ended up being the answer to a question I had been pondering for a long time. I have spent many years making electronic music, and often felt like I had more to say, but truth be told, I didn't really know what that was. Towards the second half of 2019, I had run out of steam in making club focused music, and had taken a break to focus on figuring myself out. I was listening to a lot of Burial (big surprise I’m sure haha), and always admired how many of his records often felt like a statement of purpose. I thought that perhaps attempting to make my own statement, I could possibly parse out what was buried in my subconscious mind.

I wrote the title track over the course of a month or so, and felt like I had found a clue to what I was searching for, but had only really touched the surface. The narrative of the psychedelic experience, the “hero’s journey” was really interesting to me, and I tried to catalog that story in music and sound. Right when I had this eureka moment, the covid-19 pandemic hit the United States in full force, shutting down clubs and locking many of us at home, which allowed me to take time, and make creative choices that were not beholden by anything but the narrative.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Track 11 (titled 'Ego Death') stands out on the album for its long (but not overstayed) run-time and unique samples. Can you run us through your intention with this track? Does it mimic ego death?

ALEPH

I had all these strange pieces of audio, from conversations w/ my friends, snippets of old medical films, warped acoustic noise, and chaotic synthesized recordings, and they all struck me a certain way. I began to put them together into a sort of sound collage, and it all fell into place. By traveling through intense emotions, through uncertainty into fear, and then into the void that lies beyond, I could tell a story that represents the dissolution of the self. I think I wanted this in part as a way of shedding my skin, and so the analogy was exactly what I needed.

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ETHEREAL.PRESS

How does spirituality influence your creative process?

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ALEPH

I have been a great admirer of Ram Dass for many years and have learned a lot of self/situational acceptance from his teachings.  Ego Death, the album, was very much about that in the form of narrative, but also as a mechanism for my own change as an artist.

“I like to include extra bits of audio in many of the sounds, like noise, field recordings, or even the sound of my room, as a way of bridging the gap between the digital and physical, internal and external.”

To me, it makes the music sound whole. I think we’re all searching to be whole and complete, so perhaps that is why I write this way?

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ETHEREAL.PRESS

Can you elaborate on the title, 'Formless Noise' in your Bandcamp bio?

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ALEPH

In audio, noise is the sound made when a signal’s amplitude moves really fast and chaotically, much like my own creative process, so I felt the phrase represented an ethos where I wouldn’t let my music be bound by a specific form.

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ETHEREAL.PRESS

Have you heard of listeners having spiritual experiences while listening to 'Ego Death'?

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ALEPH

I’ve heard from a few! It’s really wild to hear that. I’ve personally had that experience while listening to music before and it’s a very powerful experience. To know that others have been affected in the same way is really touching and a great honor.

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ETHEREAL.PRESS

Outside of music, who influences you creatively?

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ALEPH

I’m a big fan of classical art to be honest, especially impressionism; Monet and Van Gogh are two of my favorites, something about the texture of their artwork speaks to me. I’m a big fan of Tsutomu Nihei, his architectural drawings in ‘Blame!’ have levels of detail that I admire and try to put in my music work. Lastly, I’m a big Dark Souls fan, and have loved each game the studio FromSoftware has put out since.

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ETHEREAL.PRESS

Tell us about the album art for Ego Death…

ALEPH

The art was done by my friend Matt, who is a really brilliant visual artist and programmer! I sent him a list of references focused on the “moment of expansion/moment of collapse”, which I felt was on theme for the project. He built a program that would generate these “geometric nebulae” and let that be the guiding structure of the art. It was very appropriate since accepting the loss of control is a part of the ego death experience.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What's your favorite quote?

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ALEPH

Probably a bit obvious but

‘Be here now.’ - Ram Dass.

I say to myself everytime things feel overwhelming and it helps!

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What's next for Aleph?

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ALEPH

I’m getting back into shows right now and doing a lot of preparation for that! I also just released a remix of Stormzy’s ‘Wiley flow’ for free on Bandcamp! Currently at work writing my next album, as well as a few other projects that I can’t divulge too much info on just yet. Beyond that, I’m trying to be outside as much as possible!

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ARTIST LINKS: BANDCAMP - INSTAGRAM