Black Swan
Meet Black Swan
Natalie Portman eat your heart out. This is the only Black Swan I want at my party. Totally atmospheric and totally anonymous. Black Swan has quickly become my new favorite ambient obsession. Their latest release 'Evolution', was inspired by obscure new age cassettes of the '80s. If that does not get your pineal gland stimulated I don’t know what will.
Get down below and listen/learn about a really neat musician.
Would You Rather
only be able to communicate with Morse code or dolphin noises?
Dolphin noises, for sure.
Some questions with Black Swan
Did you go through any musical phases in high school? Has it in any way shaped what you are making now?
Never really phases. I've always gravitated toward the classic stuff, such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, ELO, Bowie, etc, even from the beginning. In fact, 'The Wall' was my lullaby as baby, it was all I wanted to hear and pretty much the only music that would calm me down. I know it sounds strange that an infant would resonate with this album, but it isn't and I'm thankful. I will say this album, in particular, played a key role in my life, creatively and personally speaking, hands down.
Growing up in the '80s, I fell victim to hair metal throughout early grade school but was even more intrigued by late-night, left-of-the-dial college station broadcasts that played lots of avant-garde/experimental/noise. I do remember hearing the work of Z'ev at about age 10 and was in total awe. I also looked forward to listening to Hearts of Space and Echoes broadcasts, which played such great ambient/early new age music.
Later years of school saw lots of techno, ambient, electronic, goth, UK shoegaze and Brit Rock bands like Slowdive, Suede, The Verve, and Placebo. Anything out of the UK stole my attention though, as overall, I found music coming out of the states boring and completely uninteresting. I absolutely despised the 90's grunge scene and still do. I would definitely say what has shaped me the most is, by far, the Hearts of Space/Echoes broadcasts, electronic music, as well as the experimental elements of college radio.
Are you self taught or did you take lessons/study music?
I'm self-taught.
You mention that your upcoming release ‘Evolution (EP, 2020)’ was inspired by obscure new age cassettes of the ’80s. How was it you came into contact with this source of inspiration?
The musical tastes of my parents had a huge impact on me as a kid and would later become a giant creative inspiration.
My mother, a reiki healer and spiritual type listens to lots of meditation or therapeutic music. My very first encounter with what would now be considered "ambient" was an obscure tape called "Lazarus Remembers Lemuria", which must have been back in '87 or '88. I fell in love with it and still hold that album pretty close.
My father is a musician and more into the psychedelic/trippy side of rock and electronica big fan of Pink Floyd, Brian Eno, and Vangelis.. so I'm sure you could put things together from there. Even his own music inspired me, which ranges from organ-heavy prog-y solo stuff to keyboard-driven neo-classical ambient.
Were the new age cassettes hard to come by?
Very.
Did you ever get grounded growing up? If so why?
Haha! Not really, no. Things did get a bit rough in my later teen years, as I got deep into hard drugs and wasn't exactly heading in the right direction. But overall, I was a pretty good kid who often kept to only close friends, himself, and his music.
What kind of gear was used in the production of your latest release?
Between my experimental and planned sessions, it's hard to say. I turn to both electronic and acoustic methods and instruments, field recordings, software such as Reason, Garritan Orchestra, multitrack recorders, etc. Black Swan stuff in 2020 will see a lot of organic tape-based sounds, as I work with multiple cassette decks, PortaStudios, and tape loops.
If the sky wasn't blue what color would u want it to be?
Clear.. ;)
