Insant and natural: Blanck Mass

The creator of one of the most impressive records of 2015 answers our questions about the creative process.

Interview by Cem Kayıran, Illustration by Yağız Yılmaz

One half of the extraordinary noise band Fuck Buttons, Benjamin John Power, is taking us on a dark and winding journey on his second LP from his solo project Blanck Mass, Dumb Flesh. We had a chance to speak with Power, about  songwriting and remixes.

Most music writers are saying that Dumb Flesh is your most accessable record you’ve made in your carreer. I think this is from the song structures. What are your opinions?

I think that texturally this time round, the sound palette I was using, for the main part, lent itself to pieces of music which where perhaps a little more concise and instant in their individual structures and length. So maybe it’s a track length thing that has presented the tracks as more accessible. It could also be the production.

I read that you moved to a small village close to Edinburgh recently. Do you think your new daily routines or the new environment around you had any effect in Dumb Flesh?

I had actually finished writing Dumb Flesh before I moved out to the small village, so that certainly didn’t have any impact upon the album itself, although I have been working on alot of music since living here in East lothian. It hard to give specifics at this point as to how exactly it has changed my musical outlook, but you just have to look at something like ‘Seasonal Affective Disorder’ to see that your surroundings have a very physical effect on your body and state of mind. These factors unlimitedly effect your state of mind which are in turn going to influence your creative output.

Throughout the album, each song has the feel of emerging naturally. What’s the role of playing live or improvising in your creative process?

It’s the backbone. almost everything is done with real machinery/ synthesizers, out of the box. It’s about a symbiosis more than the machines being a ’slave to task’

In one of the last issues of the magazine, we dig the world of modular synthesizers, because of Moog’s Mother-32. As a musician who has managed to work with an instrument that offers you a lot, what’s the most alluring thing about modular synthesizers for you? How does it effect your song writing process?

For me, it’s about the learning process. I have such a broader and deeper understanding of my trade since entering the world of modular synthesis. How you can get from one small electrical signal and end up with something so layered and rich is a beautiful thing. It’s like how learning how sound works in nature, all over again. The sea of discovery is endless when you take the plunge. Very rewarding.

Although not in the foreground, the use of vocal samples are really peculiar in Dumb Flesh. I feel like you chop some words and sentences and build a new line which sounds really genuine, melodically. What are the things that you look for when it comes to working on a vocal sample?

What I look for is very strong punctuation and interesting phonetical twists. More often than not the samples are bastardised to the point of no return so the starting point really could be anything. It doesn’t matter to me. Could be you saying ‘Hello’ right now. What matters to me is creating something soulful.

In that sense, can you tell us about the method you chose to work with Genesis P. Orridge in The Great Confuso EP?

I’ve always been a huge fan of Gen’s work in both Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. The remix of ‘No Lite’ came first which was great, and when it came to me that I wanted a monologue for ‘The Great Confuso Pt. III’ it struck me that Gen would be perfect for the role. S/he has one of the most characteristic and resonant voices I can place and considering the subject matter of ‘The Great Confuso’ figured s/he would understand what I was trying to achieve.

You have made some amazing remixes for the likes of John Carpenter, Mogwai and The Horrors. What excites you the most about working on other musicians’ songs?

Other than the the sometimes difficult but nearly always rewarding task of somehow combining your own aesthetic with somebody else’s previous creative mindset, I quite like hearing their stems stripped of their wider context. hearing the nuances of how things were played at the time. It’s quite an interesting exercise

The visual side of the Slow Focus tour with Fuck Buttons was really mesmerizing. And after seeing that live, I was really curious about Blanck Mass show in that sense too. In Le Guess Who?, the visuals were mind blowing, again. Do you take any part in the preperation of visuals for live performances?

Yes, conceptually. The idea is always mine aesthetically, but video is not my area of expertise, so I generally need to call in help on that side.

Sacred Bones is an inspiring label that focuses more on the concept and the feeling, rather than being a genre-based label. How’s working with them?

Working with them is amazing. I really feel part of the family. They’re great people, great fun and it’s nice to be involved with a label who are 100% behind their releases for the love of the music alone.

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