Fresh off the back of their debut full length release on the label, Cleyra sits down with us to discuss the release, their approach to production and what informed the birth of this astonishingly diverse five track EP.
BATU : Your EP's track titles seem to point towards dualities, splits and fractures both in body and also relationships? Is this something you considered when making the music?
CLEYRA : No, it’s not intentional, I keep a list of titles and phrases I like and apply them to the productions later. There are references and samples to certain experiences, feelings, and relationships, but they are usually stitched together. I’ve tried recently to limit myself contextually around certain ideas, but I find it challenging and I’m much more comfortable with playful intuition.
Even on the dancefloor tracks the EP has a feeling of intimacy in the music. Are there delicate stories underpinning all your music? Does this have relevance to what the audience perceives?
Perhaps, but that’s personal, and I think it’s simply the style I am most fond of and limited to making, I enjoy melodrama and struggle producing without some melodic or textural content.
When it comes to perception - I think everyone will ultimately have their own individual experience, alone or in company and it can be quite romantic when those feelings and experiences align, but you can still write and play the most explicit content and it could fall completely flat if someone doesn’t want to invest in listening and just wants to experience a good time.
Is your music mostly synthesised? Or are samples or hardware also utilised? Are there any tools which helped shape the sound of the EP? Do the tools you use matter to you deeply or do you try and utilise whatever is available?
It’s a mixture of samples and software synthesis, I’ve enjoyed using Vital for its flexibility, but it’s limited in that you can’t import alternative filters, like the reverb filter from Serum which has a very distinct sound, and using its velocity automation for filtering isn’t as delicate as Ableton’s Sampler, which also lacks frequency precision sampling like Iris.
These are all fun and intuitive for me but there’s still a large canyon between me and what I want my production to sound like, and I just haven’t figured out how to cross it yet, samples help alleviate some of that inexperience and apply reference. The tools are not important -these are just what I came across through hearing producers I like- and I’m interested in stepping out of my shell into collaboration, it will be an opportunity to learn and express something new but also an intense challenge for me, socially and technically.
How does your music relate to physical spaces for you? Does it interest you how your music is perceived in a club or shared space? Does hearing music in a club have a big impact on what you make in the studio?
I’ve only experienced it in headphones and small studios or club rooms so it’s too early to say what influence hearing it anywhere else will have. Ben, and Beau did a fantastic job of engineering so much weight and emphasising the tracks and it certainly makes me consider how to approach production, but ultimately it was made in a small untreated room and being played in larger spaces with sophisticated sound systems. I can’t see it having much of an effect on what I’m capable of producing, there’s still much to learn. I do think the physical space is inherently intertwined with the listener, listening to Stuart Dempster’s Underground Overlays… in a replica space will likely have a similar haunting depth that lingers through its natural reverb, and Björk’s Cocoon loses its intricacy without Headphones, but club adjacent music environments come with plenty of inhibitors so I tend to just enjoy what physical experiences and relationships I’m having accompanied by the music, the two can be intertwined but it’s not essential. And I prefer producing things I can engage with in my personal time and have more of a sustained relationship with, I think some of those influences are quite obvious.
Were there any books you were reading when writing the EP? and do films impact your work at all? or video-games?
Of course, but there is nothing referential in this release, I keep a list of titles and phrases from books, and enjoy ripping audio, I have a strong relationship to video games, they create an opportunity to personification through avatars which can serve as an escape or support, if necessary, its completely absorbing, but can also serve as a distraction.. I also think it’s important to resample these soundbites you experience to bridge a relationship to the sound and its original context in a new space, and they’re usually made by experienced engineers & musicians, or people eager to make something impactful. I like reading but it makes me sleepy x
You've not released much music since your debut track was released on Timedance's Patina Echoes compilation in 2018. Is there a reason for this?
I dislike the stream of consistent releases that become food for the content machine, it leaves nothing to be dwelled upon and then desired, I often have no relationship with music that I see getting released constantly. I’m more interested in personal relationships.
With production I prefer to release with more consideration and discuss back and forth about what works. I’m also learning to have some confidence, and advocate for myself - but mostly I’m just indecisive.
Do you consider your music Bristol-centric? Does place or a sense of location play a role in your sound? Do you feel at all indebted to the city's or the UK's musical history?
No and I think it’s a bit loaded, not unless you’ve fostered some cultural relationships and made an invested change in the lives and culture of people that have lived here. I don’t think I’ve had any impact in that regard so I wouldn’t make any such associations.
It would be impossible to deny the influences I’ve been exposed to in Bristol and of course there is a feeling of being indebted, but it should come with self-reflection as the cultural ties to what is influencing you and what is being then produced are often decorated for sale. It’s also acknowledging the importance and detriment of the history of this country and what action has occurred through local government.
On the other hand, music is so readily accessible to many people and with the advent of the internet it’s not impossible to hyper fixate on a geolocation of sound and that sound can be easily exported to anywhere in the world, ripe for recontextualization, for better or worse.
Are you an artist who waits for inspiration to strike, or do you find creativity comes from routine and hard work? Do new experiences in your life generate ideas in your music or is it more contained within yourself?
I guess the latter is closer, but it’s important to recognize production and music should be considered work as it is a labour practice with very little legal protection or advocation. I think it’s very possible to combine both your experiences with what you hear internally. Sadly, for me, anything that comes from within is in-between conscious states and soon lost to sleep.
There's an ambiguity to some of the melodic parts of your music which feels both mournful and painful, but also with glints of hope and light. The final track on the EP Just Can't Live Without You seems to address the melancholia and sense of loss which pervades the EP directly, after the idea has been hinted at through the previous tracks, it feels almost hauntological. Do you feel vulnerable sharing this music? Do you think about how to express deep feelings and pain through your music? Does hauntology interest you?
I don’t know what Hauntology is so I’m afraid I can’t answer but the question is thoughtful, and I think there are multiple ways of viewing that interpretation, it can also be jovial as to have met someone you become close with, or reconciliation with a part of yourself rather than just loss. I’m impressionable and certain people have left lasting imprints on my personality and behaviour, as I’m changing, I can reconcile with those parts that have informed who I was and who I will be and that can also conclude in a struggle with identification, having lived with a part of yourself you cannot give up. I like to apply it wherever it feels necessary.
