10 Questions with Absent Chronicles

Absent Chronicles is a digital music artist featured in Al-Tiba9 magazine ISSUE04, interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj.

Absent Chronicles was born out of a need to express, construct, tear down and process. It is the music created by structuring chaos juxtaposed by visuals generated by processing musical parameters while trying to implement the almost inevitable technological changes happening around us, instead of fighting against them: walking the intersection of art and technology, exploring the stories yet to be told.

www.absentchronicles.com | @absentchronicles

Was there a pivotal moment that started you on your path as an artist?

I started playing the trumpet when I was 8 years old. After a while, it seemed I was learning quickly and got better and better at playing, so I started spending most of my free hours practicing and studying classical music. Around the same age, I got fascinated by cinematography and VFX. Even though I never really got into film-making, this interest sparked something that's shaping the foundation of my musical and visual productions today. 

What draws you to music or sound?

Texture. I can dislike a song for how unoriginal and uninspiring the composition is and still enjoy it because of the feel of the sounds used. When working on music myself, I'm often looking for grainy, dusty tones to use. I prefer these over all-too-clean and tidied productions. I want the sounds to trigger something, evoke a feeling, instead of just being part of a smoothened-out atmosphere.

Art can be done for art's sake, but it can also impact everyday lives, taking on a social and political role. Can you describe the intentions, if any, behind your art?

I officially started my audiovisual project "Absent Chronicles" in the summer of 2019, but it already existed before that. The project was anonymous and politically-themed, mainly involving human rights, events that didn't reach (or barely reached) traditional news outlets, like off-the-record bombings. I performed wearing animal masks for safety and received anonymous threats now and then. I've dropped the political part, now Absent Chronicles is more about embracing the beauty in negative feelings and unenjoyable life-changing events. It's not all that obvious when you listen to most of my music, I think it's something you come to realize when paying attention and looking for clues after listening to it for a while.

How would you describe your development as an artist and the way you have transitioned towards your own voice? 

When I started making music, it was all very pure and sincere, a big cliché: performing music for the sake of music. Most of the songs I was playing on my trumpet were written by composers, it wasn't my own music. I could only make it mine up to a certain degree, by putting my emotion and way of playing into it. This started to bother me after a while, and everything took a turn when I started producing electronic music. I could compose and perform my songs, tell a story. When I began doing audiovisual projects last year, everything fell into place. I feel like more than ever, I'm finally able to almost literally translate my thoughts into something that can be touched and grasped by others.

Could you illuminate our readers on your relationship between learning from others, drawing from trends, and developing your creativity?

I've learned a lot from others. Two years ago, I had a bit of a writer's block and traveled around Europe for 6 months bringing only a field recorder with me. Besides learning to appreciate every sound that's audible in everyday-life, I learned how to abstract production techniques from other people's music, just by listening to it. Once I came back home, my head was filled with ideas about composing and producing music. I used to have trouble putting sounds in space when producing. Everything sounded like a big, cloudy, music-mess. Listening to various artists taught me how to structure this complex chaos of noise, less is more seemed to be the key. All that was left was finding my own creativity. Letting go of trends in electronic music helped me with that. Another big cliché is not following trends, creating what you feel like creating, diving into the deep, it all can help to develop your creativity. Today you'll write a pop song, tomorrow you might feel like writing a piece of classical music. Once you find a way in your production process, it stops mattering. People will start to recognize your production style eventually. I feel like having your distinct form of composing and producing music can be a safe boundary, allowing you to experiment endlessly. Finding a healthy balance between being inspired by others and having your creative process.

How do you make use of technology? What do humans excel at, and what do machines excel at?

I'm a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to technology. I'm scared of technology sometimes, and I don't like how fast everything's developing, but at the same time, I'm crazy fascinated by it. I love using machines for what they're good at. Quick processing, calculating, visualizing. For example, I'm no good with a brush, but with a few lines of code, I can make my laptop draw immersive pieces of art. After writing a bit more code, my computer will make these drawings react to sounds I've only recorded and put together a few minutes before. The speed, the precision, the scale, that is something machines excel at. But all this works so much better when combined with the personal feel for beauty, aesthetics, and storytelling. I like using technology as an extension of my skill set. Together we create something more immersive, something more complete.

Let's say you have a gig coming up tonight. What does your process look like – from selecting the material to preparing for, opening, and then building a set?

I'll start off thinking about the feeling I want to translate into the performance. Is it going to be energetic, chill, emotional? Then I'll select the appropriate tracks and see which are fit for being combined with live trumpet playing. I'll practice a bit on the trumpet and maybe work out some transitions. Most of my time is spent on preparing the visuals, as they need tweaking for every gig, and everything needs to work seamlessly during the performance. I always play a few songs I've played a hundred times before to give myself some thinking space, but improvising will always be the most fun part. The first songs in the performance are often new, experimental ones, if only for the sake of feeling out the audience I'm standing in front of.

What are some of the considerations that go into deciding which track to play next and transitioning between them? What makes two tracks a good fit?

The connection you have with your audience is essential for every performance, but it seems a bit difficult at times when it comes to electronic music. It would help if you were careful not to start with highly energetic music, as the audience needs to get used to what you're doing. At the same time, you don't want to wait too long with building up the energy, as people expect to be dancing when visiting an electronic performance. Building up tension and slowing down at the right moments. Paying attention to the dynamics of the two songs you want to transition between is a good one to keep in mind. I might go from an energetic song to an ambient composition. It will work, as long as its fluid and the songs have similar dynamics. Does the energetic song have a massive, widespread atmosphere? Then make sure the ambient composition starts with an enormous atmosphere. Does the energetic song use minimalistic sounds? I might want to make sure the ambient piece starts with minimalistic sounds then.

Do you listen to your own music, or do you prefer different types, such as classical, pop, or even gospel?

I listen to my own music solely to look for improvements and mixing mistakes. I enjoy listening to all sorts of music, depending on the mood I'm in, especially the kinds of music that aren't too related to what I'm doing because they allow me to listen instead of trying to figure out how they made a specific song. Once I started making music myself, my way of listening got a bit ruined because I started hearing things I didn't notice before,production-related things. But yeah, lots of different music. You might find me being emotional over a Crywolf song, binge-listening Stravinsky's work, dancing to the Foster the People EP, or shouting along with a Faithless classic. There are so many beautiful works out there.

Behind Absent Chronicles is the creative young man Danny de Vlugt. Who is Danny in three words?

Teach me more.