This week, we had the pleasure of chatting with Simon Stokes a.k.a. Petrichor, a young and talented music producer from the UK, who is set to release his very first album called “Mangata” on the world renowned techno imprint Soma Recordings. Delving behind the process, the conversation covers influences and decisions, connecting with Soma, album flow and future dates.
WWD: Thanks for joining us Simon!
Petrichor is still very much in its infancy. You’ve had three successful EPs on Soma. What influenced the decision to publish your debut album?
Thanks Matteo. It’s always been a life ambition of mine to make an album and from my very first meeting with the team at Soma they were already talking about putting one out there. I feel like the music is well suited to an album format, perhaps more than putting out club-focussed EPs, because of the strong mix of melodies and techno influences.
WWD: What were your main sources of inspiration behind the sounds?
I’ve always been inspired by nature and making field recordings, so a lot of the tracks start off with a recording that I’ve made and then evolve into a live electronic performance, before being recorded in realtime as much as possible. After working with Slam on their album “Reverse Proceed” I also had loads of ideas from listening to a lot of pioneering electronic music from the 70s and 80s.
WWD: Do you remember the first time you got in touch with Soma?
I always looked up to Soma as where I wanted my music to live and so I used to send the odd demo here and there for years before my Petrichor project started. But when I’d created the “On Tides EP” I was really excited about it so found private contact details for Glenn Gibbons and sent it through. Getting two thumbs up from them was amazing as the label and events they run had been so inspirational to me over the years.
WWD: The flow of “Mangata” is deep and sensational.
Was it a difficult process to link coherently all the songs together? How did you go about that?
Getting the flow right of a continuously mixed album is not an easy task. There were times when I decided to scrap a track right in the middle of the album, meaning something had to be created that was in context with the album as a whole as well as linking together the tracks on either side.
I had to develop some new techniques to ensure that I could create an album which flowed and had tempo changes which were imperceptible to the listener, allowing me to build the tension as I wanted. I’m happy with the final results though!
WWD: “Nukumori” and “On Tides” were already published in a single release, and it’s cool to find them again! Do you think these tracks always had a hidden potential?
I’ve got a massive soft spot for these tracks. They were my first single as Petrichor and I felt like I wanted to introduce them to new listeners of the album as well as put a new spin on them for people who’ve already heard them.
WWD: What did you enjoy most while producing the tracks?
Sometimes it’s hard to find time and inspiration to make music in everyday life, but I was able to clear my daytime schedule for a few months (while teaching music production in the evenings) to work on the album. In the early stages, coming down and locking myself underground for the day/night to play around with ideas was a slice of heaven, especially as I was getting heavy into modular synthesis at the time.
WWD: On the production front, did any VSTs or specific analogue gear feature heavily?
A lot of the sounds on the album are from my Eurorack modular synth which I developed an addiction for in the last 18 months. It’s so tweakable that you can lose hours (days?!) just messing around and getting lost in a world of sound. Hardware-wise, there are various synths and some Rhodes piano in there – I’ve taken to sketching ideas out on the Rhodes even if they end up being played on synths. I tend to avoid VSTs where possible as I love constructing tracks so they can be tweaked and recorded live.
WWD: Have you got any other forthcoming projects for this Summer season?
We’re just finishing up work on a video mapping project which should be out soon. This is a live performance of one of the album tracks and it’s looking great. I’m also working on a live set for the summer, and various other singles and remixes as well. Should be an exciting year..
More info:
https://soundcloud.com/petrichorsounds
http://www.facebook.com/petrichoraudio
http://www.somarecords.com/artists/petrichor/