AntiMozdeBeast: An Interview
AntiMozdeBeast is a solo artist.
Caught up with the prolific AntiMozdeBeast to discuss approaches to lyrics, songwriting, and sound.
Weirding: There are certain themes that are traceable across all of your work. But there is also what I find to be an intriguing form to lyrics across your albums whereby the lines seem to continuously enjamb one to the other. There's no stopping from one line to the next and the words spill over one another. The result is something that sounds more like speech or prose than like verse. And while there is a poetic effect to it, it comes across as very direct as if spoken directly from your mind.
AntiMozdeBeast: Have you ever seen the movie Seven?
Weirding: Sure.
AntiMozdeBeast: Remember when they track down the serial killer and enter his apartment only to find mounds of journals sprawled out all over the apartment? My closet is not too far from that truth.
Weirding: So your lyrics are taken directly from your journals. Adapted from what you’ve got written to the needs of the song.
AntiMozdeBeast: I need to write, lyrics, poetry, essays. Anything my mind needs to satisfy itself with for the temporary time. When it comes to adapting my journals into my music — which mind you takes some time — I am constantly searching for what poem or song fits the music, the theme of the album, and the overall concept.
Weirding: Similar to the breadth of the lyrics, the variety of sounds on the new album is really spectacular. Could you walk me through your process of creating a song like 'Masquerade of Death'.
AntiMozdeBeast: When it specifically comes to ‘Masquerade of Death’ it was no different than the process used for the rest of the EP. I like to take a different writing approach on each of my albums. On The Ritual I wanted to start as basic as possible — so I would start the track with a drum beat. I’d start with a hard hitting sound that creates an echo of energy.
Weirding: And that became the foundation on which everything else was built?
AntiMozdeBeast: I adapted that basic sound and wrote the riffs and chords on a piano. Then I translated it to synth arpeggios and sound dynamics. Once the riffs and the chord structures were completed I added some layers of tone and melody to accompany the song.
Weirding: So when you say that you take a different writing approach to each album, I think that's really interesting. Could you walk me through that some more.
AntiMozdeBeast: Each of my albums definitely creates a completely different atmosphere, to say the least. What I tend to do with my approach to a new record is adapt the ideas I like most about my previous releases to create a new psychological experience.
Weirding: So it’s partly about this process of adaptation.
AntiMozdeBeast: A different adaptation of my sound with a completely different direction. It’s much like taking your favorite parts of a record and manipulating the environment — opening up a new wave of sound that invites the listener to a new reality.
Weirding: You mention the synth arpeggios. Throughout your work there is a lot of use of arpeggiated synth. I'm interested in what draws you to that sound.
AntiMozdeBeast: I have been very drawn to arpeggio synth recently. I like to create a mood of uneasiness — and at times panic — because these are the emotions that fuel my everyday well-being. I want the listener to not only enjoy what they’re listening to but to travel into my emotions and psychology.
Weirding: I'm wondering, as a listener yourself, what are some pieces of music that you feel allow you to travel into the emotions and psychology of the artist?
AntiMozdeBeast: Not to sound too cliche, but The Downward Spiral is definitely an album that invites you into the mind and emotions of Trent Reznor. Pink Floyd’s The Wall is another album that executes this very well. And of course the cult classic by Cursive, The Ugly Organ does this as well. Typically when an album is good enough to be considered a concept album the artist has done great work.
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Avant-garde Aggrotech Industrial Experimental Electronic Metal
