In dialog with A&R Manufacturing facility, Y is Nature unpacks the mechanics behind Evasion!, a cinematic idea album rooted in spy fiction aesthetics and laced with ironic self-awareness. From John le Carré to D’Angelo, the inspirations are as eclectic because the execution is sharp. The Oslo-based producer discusses how spontaneity and collaboration formed the album’s character, how Portishead’s affect knowledgeable his choice for feminine vocalists, and the way themes of disinformation and emotional ambiguity creep by the tracks. This isn’t about pastiche or homage—it’s about refracting huge feelings by playful motifs and sonic espionage.
Welcome to A&R Manufacturing facility, Y is Nature – it’s a pleasure to have you ever with us to debate your newest mission, Evasion!
Evasion! strikes a captivating tonal stability between the melodramatic aptitude of basic espionage tales and refined private introspection—how did you form the emotional undercurrent of the album with out tipping into parody or pastiche?
Hehe, good query. I suppose it is type of tough. However one factor is that I by no means got down to do a straight-up imitation of espionage movie music. I’ve been approaching the theme, let’s say, by extra of another/indie rock/pop lens. The opposite factor is that we’re all totally conscious this experiment dances on a high quality line between cliché and stylized expression, and that it’s very a lot topic to scrutiny. That’s why we attempt to embrace the universe and idea with a humorousness — like in our first music video Transition, the place two grownup spies play cover and search within the forest with toy pistols. It’s meant to be enjoyable and on the identical time heartfelt.
The undertaking feels meticulously composed, but there’s a way of looseness within the preparations that permits every observe to breathe. What position does improvisation or spontaneity play in your artistic course of, particularly inside the context of a style as stylised as spy pop?
One other excellent query. And also you’re proper – It’s undoubtedly composed, however at its core, all of it begins with some type of improvisation. I have a tendency to start from scratch, normally with a guitar, piano, or a beat, after which construct from there. On Evasion, there’s one observe particularly, Take Care of Me, the place the place to begin was the ascending five-note motif from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Op. 20, earlier than it veers off in fairly one other path. Past the composed chords and melodies, the background soundscapes — typically made up of synth arpeggios, LFOs, and different ornamentation — are fairly improvised. That, together with subject recordings and samples, provides an unpredictable texture to the entire thing.
I feel the looseness you’re selecting up on may come from the necessity to make fast choices — particularly when working with a gaggle of musicians and vocalists, lots of whom I didn’t know that nicely earlier than heading into the studio. There’s additionally the sensible actuality that this undertaking was tied to a tough deadline. We risked shedding some funding from the Norwegian FLB, so we needed to push by and end. That urgency can create a type of uncooked power. So you might say that, alternatively, it hasn’t been all that spontaneous, hehe. I actually felt like I needed to carve out one thing actually private and significant—quick.
Your studio on Christian Kroghs Gate in Oslo has turn into the command centre for this launch—how does your setting affect your sonic choices and the ambiance of your recordings?
Effectively, I feel my studio has been extra of a technical command heart — the place the place all of the concepts come collectively, if that is sensible? It’s the place I form the items and produce all the things into kind. However when it comes to inspiration, I’d say it’s extra about cultural impressions, private style, and life in a broader sense that basically affect the concepts. The studio is the place I refine them, not essentially the place they start. With Evasion, I’ve been in many various areas alongside the best way. However once more, good query! I’ve to assume extra about that one…
You’ve enlisted a spread of musicians and cultural contributors to construct out this sonic espionage world. What had been you on the lookout for in your collaborators, and the way did their enter form the ultimate reduce of the album?
I needed the undertaking to turn into a platform for me as a producer to collaborate with many various artistic individuals — partly due to my immense want for socialization, but additionally to expertise, study, and develop my community. Over time, music has turn into one thing I have to do in collaboration. I can give you concepts by myself, certain, however I don’t need to stroll that lengthy and dusty highway fully alone.
I additionally should say that I used to be particularly on the lookout for feminine vocalists. It’s a bit arduous to clarify precisely why, however Portishead has been a supply of inspiration for this undertaking — so possibly that claims it. Extra broadly although, I wasn’t looking for anyone kind of particular person. I simply needed to work with individuals who felt drawn to the thought and needed to step into this universe. And Im so grateful and completely happy to have discovered each Martin, Tuva, Ronja, Sindre, Einar and plenty of extra gifted creators and artists who all have been a significant a part of the shaping of Evasion.
Was it necessary so that you can construct a conceptual framework across the undertaking first, or did the sonic identification of Evasion! emerge extra organically as you wrote and produced the tracks?
The entire spy factor got here from the beginning. I needed the undertaking to have one thing cinematic and conceptual. In my case, it made the entire affair of creating new music and crafting an album a bit extra intelligible — each from an inside and exterior perspective. It’s simply simpler to clarify what you’re doing when you will have one thing clear to hold it on. However it took some time for me to settle into an much more direct understanding of the idea. Particularly, the idea of spy pop.
Themes of surveillance, deception, and emotional ambiguity run deep within the album—do you see Evasion! extra as social commentary, a private reflection, or a calculated mixture of each?
I feel it’s a little bit of each — and a type of cinematic imitation. So far as social commentary goes, it’s possibly largely about belief or mistrust in data. These days, with a lot disinformation, misinformation, and basic noise circulating on-line, you possibly can simply get disoriented and lose your potential to tell apart reality from fiction. And I wish to imagine that there are particular truths on the market. And that these truths are necessary and have actual worth.
On the private aspect of issues, there are undoubtedly some features of the spy determine that I establish with. That’s additionally a part of the story I’m telling — however I’ll go away that for an additional dialog.
Together with your background in indie and neo-psychedelia, what drew you in direction of the cinema of spy fiction and its soundtracks? Was there a specific second or affect that pushed you in that path?
Effectively, I had learn some John le Carré and had “Actually Love” by D’Angelo caught in my head for greater than a yr. That intro — the chord, the Spanish guitar vibe, the swingy rhythm — was all one thing I used to be actually into on the time. I assumed it had an actual “spy really feel” to it, in order that grew to become the seed of the thought: Spanish guitar, swing beats, and a really sneaky vibe. The undertaking turned out fairly totally different, however I feel you possibly can nonetheless hear traces of that D’Angelo inspiration in there.
There’s a tongue-in-cheek appeal to among the motifs in Evasion!, regardless of the gravity of the themes. How do you preserve that delicate tonal friction with out undermining the strain you’ve constructed into the narratives?
Effectively thanks! I’m attempting to strike a stability between seriousness, playfulness, and humor. I generally tend to put in writing gentle, romantic tunes, so leaning into extra humor and upbeat, rocky materials is definitely a little bit of a problem for me. I really like irony although and possibly this album simply says one thing about me as an individual. The Y is Nature undertaking can in that sense be a gateway or a symbolic enterprise into the thoughts of a real Danish-Norwegian musical agent — somebody who tries to not get fully overwhelmed by huge feelings, however nonetheless likes to dig just a bit deeper.
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Evasion! Is out NOW! Stream the LP on Bandcamp.
Interview by Amelia Vandergast
