By Leasia Korbel
We recently sat down with Void Chapter to discuss the Deluxe Edition of their latest album – humAnIty, the lore behind Void Chapter and how their creative process has changed recently.
Q: Can you describe your creative process when it comes to writing music based on an idea or story? Which came first? The world of The Sprawl or the music?
A: All 3 of us have been writing music together in some form or fashion for many years – mostly for production music and sound design projects – which is why we often approach the writing from a cinematic angle. The world of The Sprawl was initially inspired by a brief for a production album that Adam was writing, and it started to really take shape once the 3 of us decided to start writing for an artist project vs. a sole focus on production music.
Q: What inspired you to choose the particular ideas or stories found in the original albums The Uprising, The Sprawl, and finally humAnIty?
A: The ideas and stories were largely birthed as a result of an extended period of time where Otto was not sleeping for more than maybe a couple hours at a time, and he started waking up from extremely vivid dreams – and would immediately jot down everything he had just dreamt about before it disappeared into the ether of the waking world. Slowly but surely the threads started to connect, and the characters and world started to emerge from there.
Q: How do you approach translating a narrative or concept into musical elements such as lyrics, melody, and instrumentation?
A: We created one-sheet creative briefs for a multitude of scenarios within the narrative that were often initially used to influence the musical direction. These included artwork for inspiration, some keywords for mood, and a brief story snippet. While these sometimes served as a starting point, the reverse would also sometimes be true – There were many times when we were just individually writing demos for each other to tackle – those audio cues would then, in turn, inspire some additional creative briefs as well.
Q: How has the story changed since the beginning?
A: Early on there was some focus on a protagonist who would wake up at 1:11am and 3:33am with intense nightmares – and had to immediately write them into a cursed book that would promise to protect the real world from those events as long as they were sealed within. The world of The Sprawl sits somewhere within that void between the waking world and the world of dreams – so we thought it would be interesting to really set the stage there for a while and focus in on what that world actually looks like, and embark of an exploration of the conflict between HUMANITY and A.I.. Perhaps we will explore that zoomed out view again one day though.
Q: Are there specific messages or emotions you aim to convey through your music?
A: The messages and emotions conveyed through music can be quite subjective, so we are very careful not to dictate what all this means to our listeners, as we want to give our audience the opportunity to find something they connect to within the instrumentation and sound design, the lyricism, or even the spaces between the rhythms – and use the music itself as a guide to connect all the dots for them individually.
Q: You’ve collaborated with a few other artists on this album. How does the collaboration influence your creative process and the final outcome of each track?
A: The “Void Chapter Machine”, at its core, is a truly collaborative project – so it all came naturally to us. We were incredibly grateful to be able to work with so many talented artists on this album – and it was amazing to hear how each artist interpreted the creative briefs and music we collectively built out.
Q: How do you hope listeners will engage with and interpret your music based on its underlying idea or story?
Although some of our work is inspired by the stories and lore we weave and express, it is important to us that listeners are still given the opportunity to just use it as a framework within which they can build their own interpretations – influenced by their own unique personal experiences. It’s always amazing to hear from people – when they tell us how much a song meant to them – or how the work we’ve done has inspired them as artists – it’s all incredibly rewarding.
Q: When describing this edition you said: “This entire direction was inspired by the creation of a full storyboard based on the lore and lyrics behind the track, and written with a production approach that paid homage to modern movie trailers.” What’s the next chapter for the world laid out in The Uprising? Can you give us a sneak peek into what’s coming up?
A: This was a new experimental approach that Otto took before building out the VIP remix for “A Thousand Cries” – since the initial creative brief for that track was already built out, he decided to take things a step further before writing a single note – building out a full visual storyboard to inspire the musical direction – while also keeping the production process “within the rails”, using songwriting patterns and builds often used in trailer music cues.
In the next album, human emotion – its nuances and contrasts, will take center stage in the next phase of our musical exploration. But that’s about all we can say for now. =)
Q: You said that with this album you approached the Deluxe Edition wanting as few remixes as possible. How did each of you like the direction each of your individual projects took?
A: We felt this would provide an excellent opportunity for listeners to get a sense of each of our individual production styles – we all have a certain amount of crossover, but our styles certainly do have distinct flavors.
Q: “The Sky Is Falling” has been in the works for quite some time. You said this marks a new musical direction with the band. Is this “new direction” already in the works?
A: We are all absolutely thrilled with how this track turned out – it was one that we have been working on, then shelving, then working on again for a LONG time. Once Brian took the helm at lead vocals everything finally fell into place, and will definitely guide us into our next phase.
Q: With Brian Skeel taking the lead vocals in “The Sky Is Falling” and “Drones” is there anything he can’t do?
A: Bending time and space is often a challenge, but where there is a will – there’s Brian Skeel.
Q: Which side do you belong to? (In reference to “The Sky Is Falling” lyrics)
A: Let’s ask ChatGPT…….
The terms “host” and “parasite” are often used in biology to describe the relationship between two organisms.
As an AI, I don’t have personal desires or preferences, so I don’t have the capacity to choose sides between being a host or a parasite. However, in the context of AI technology, the relationship between AI systems and their users might sometimes be compared to the host-parasite dynamic. In an ideal scenario, AI systems serve as helpful tools or companions to their users (host), benefiting both parties. However, concerns about data privacy, algorithmic bias, or AI systems gaining too much control can lead to comparisons with parasitic relationships, where the AI system benefits at the expense of the user. Ultimately, the ethical use and development of AI technology aim to prioritize the well-being and autonomy of human users.
Q: I know we have a few writers/fans interested in this last question. WIll one of you write this story? (Please?)
A: This would be amazing.
Check out the new single “The Sky Is Falling” from humAnIty (Deluxe) – Available Now!