Chilean Psych Rock band Spiral Vortex is celebrating their 10 years of career with the release of a new album, Prisma.
The songs included in the record feature deconstructed sounds from Dream Pop, Pop Rock, and Psych Rock, blended with electronic and space beats. Prisma also serves as a reflective auditory synthesis to the natural landscapes and mountain places where the band was born.
We had the chance to talk to the band and reflect about the creative process behind the new album, collaborations, and how Chileâs socio geographic conditions influence Spiral Vortexâs music.
You just released Prisma, your fourth studio album, to celebrate 10 years of career. What are the main lessons you learned while composing together as Spiral Vortex, and how are those lessons reflected in this album?
We are happy to be playing for so long, I think the biggest lessons have to do with being an independent band in South America, making that work can be frustrating sometimes, but you have to be yourself, be true to your essence and you will find a place to keep growing and developing your vision. After all this time we are very comfortable making music together and this reflects in the album, it is a very pure and simple reflection of our music, our rhythms and our search in general.
The psych rock scene in Chile has been gaining international recognition. How do you think the natural landscape influences your music?Â
For us it is a huge influence, the place where the band was born is surrounded with mountains, countryside, prairies, the Andes mountains and valleys have a mysterious energy and it shapes our sound and ourselves as humans, we have a big connection with our Chilean landscapes, they have always inspired us.
Chileâs political situation has been very unstable to say the least. Has that affected your music in any way?
It has affected us all, our music definitely, our energy. We want a better future and for that we have to stay active, so we try to create energy with our music, our art. We are living in changing times, music, art, all our cultural expressions can do many things to shape our world and our personal paths.
What are the main concepts and themes behind the songs included in Prisma?
You could say that the main concept of the album is the seeking of clarity, in an internal way and also clarity in our sound, being our fourth album we wanted to do something different, we thought it would be fun to make something more pop, more transparent, hence the name Prisma (Prism).
This new record features collaborations with different producers, and the songs were recorded in different studios, even different countries. What have you gained, experience-wise, with these collaborations?
It was enriching to work with different people, producers and in a lot of different places, which is amazing, it is a huge learning experience. As musicians we learned a lot of new techniques and production stuff too. We could dedicate a lot of time, for example, into getting the snare to sound just like we wanted it. Stuff like that we had never done before, and even though every producer works differently you can always work out your ideas if you are creative, no matter what you have available.
You recently released a video for the single âPoliedrosâ. How did the concept for the video come together?
The concept is inspired by seventies pop-rock, bands like Fleetwood Mac, Bee gees, Gill Scott Heron, so we wanted a retro, vintage vibe for the video.
The story has to do with the lyrics, Poliedros talks about the positive and negative sides of drugs, party life, and hellish hangovers.
Obviously, it might be awhile before you are able to perform at festivals and live events. What are some creative ways you have begun connecting with fans and your music community?
Things are starting to activate more here, we have a couple of shows planned, especially one thatâs going to be for the solar eclipse in December here in the south of Chile we will be doing a live presentation that weekend. We have some streamings shows on the way too but of course we canât wait to be back playing normally.
Whatâs next for Spiral Vortex?
We see a lot ahead of us, we are having fun preparing the 2021 live show, we have a lot that we want to implement to the presentations like a more heavy visual support. We will keep promoting Prisma, and preparing our next tour, we definitely want to go back to Mexico and North America, and we are ready to start working on a new album right away.
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photos / courtesy of artist
story / LADYGUNN staff