Music / Features
Remembrance Of Things To Come -
A chat with Papaphilia
A chat with Papaphilia
Following the release of Remembrance Of Things To Come last week, we got in touch with local electronic experimentalist Papaphilia to explore the new album, her different creative outlets and the importance of dancing.
Papaphilia is one of many projects spearheaded by Naarm-based creative Fjorn Bastos. Bastos works as a researcher, community organiser, visual artist, and whatever else she can fit under the hat. Her latest release, Remembrance of Things To Come, sees a shift away from the experimental world towards the dancier sides of her practice. With support from Heavy Machinery Records as part of their Flash Forward initiative, and production expertise from Kuya Neil, Various Asses and Guy Faletolu, Remembrance is a collection of exploratory earworms, informed by a decolonial political agenda.
TJ: There’s definitely a sense of experimentalism that’s still evident, but it does seem like on this release you’ve refined things and added some danceable predictability. Can you tell us about your process of sourcing and manipulating sounds?
F: I start off mostly with collecting samples. I think for me, composition is about creating narratives from out of life. My music background is quite naïve, very untechnical. I’m not very great at programming my gear, but I am very interested in collecting sounds and putting them into relationships with one another. So I always call it a collage practice, I’m actually primarily a visual artist and my focus is collage. I was listening back to some of the stuff in the record the other day and thinking, “Okay, so the reason this Kelly Rowland song is in there is because I was feeling this emotion, or I was listening to Bhangra beats because it’s something I was obsessed with when I was having a bad day and it would help me get through the time.” All the different samples in there are drawn from a spectrum of experiences. They were things that captured me and I thought, “Okay I need to use this and honour it.” A lot of the voices are ones that have spoken to me. The main sample on the latest single (‘All Are Syllables of the Great Tongue’) is from ‘Rain’ by SWV, when I was doing my thesis in 2017 I listened to that song every freaking day cos it was a very difficult year. It’s because of those things that I don’t lose my mind and I can find a way to flick the switch and continue my drive through music.
This is quickly evident in the music itself, Fjorn has a way for marrying these disparate sounds into something unique.
Sometimes it’s a bit crazy cos you’re going from different genres, maybe from acid house to industrial techno. I’m obsessed with everything, I’m a collector. Ever since I was young I’ve been a bit obsessive compulsive about knowing what was going on everywhere and hearing different things. Instead of a specific kind of music, I just like all this shit right now, and it’s really meaningful to me, so I need to find a way to bring it all together.
Do you have an artist you would compare yourself to? How can new listeners access your music?
I dunno if it would ever make sense, the first artist who ever made me think I could start making music was Ghédalia Tazartès who’s like a weird French poet. His style of collage was interesting because he brings these vocals and weird samples and mashes them together, but it’s not dance music in any way, shape or form. It’s more like folk and experimental music. That’s where I’ve been able to sit musically for a long time, but now I’m exploring ways to make more dancey music with that same logic, because I’m a lot more interested in experiencing music through my body. I’m always drawing from lots of different things, but there’s nothing that holistically represents what I’m trying to do.
Have your label and producers provided a lot of support for this release? How collaborative has this release been?
Growing up making experimental music it’s been quite niche, it has been quite a closed world. There haven’t really been a lot opportunities unless you’re in that avant-classical world, and that takes having money behind you, or having the right connections. Most of my life being in music communities has been more about making enemies than it has been making connections. I’ve caused a lot of shit, when people haven’t represented artists in a particular way. A lot of institutions that focus on experimental music have had to grow with the community they’re supporting, they’ve had to get to know everybody, and open their minds and ears to the spectrum of communities that are here, and there’s a lot in Naarm! They’ve done their best to open their minds and be a sponge for what’s going and they’re doing really well at that now. Over the years, I’ve mostly tried to be DIY, but I’ve started to work with different groups to help them understand what’s happening on the ground.
She shares a couple choice stories of her history agitating institutions, but it’s probably best not to feed the rumour mill just yet.
This time, getting some money to make a record, it’s been like, “Alright let’s take a different approach and turn this into some sort of extravagant process where I get to be a diva, and bring on all the people.” Kuya Neil I’ve worked with before, we don’t know anyone else who loves Chicago Footwork, so we’re kinda isolated in our love of that, and he’s also Phillipino and that’s awesome. Raquel (Various Asses) I’ve known since I was 15, I’ve seen her musical progression happen over 20 years. The way she thinks really resonates with me and I wanted them both involved because we are all really close and know how we want to shape the community; they’re two people who really push boundaries in an interesting way. My biggest issue was always carving things out, so they took it and did that work for me. I gave these huge 10-15 minute constructions to them and I didn’t need to give them much prompting either, they heard what was going on and just knew what the elements were that needed to be highlighted. They would give me back pieces of music and there was very little to tweak. Even my sound engineer Guy Faletolu, we went into the studio and I didn’t need to say a damn thing! They all just knew the feeling and we shared a synergy, and I love that shit. I wanna know that we can get together and be connected, I think we all have that same vision for community and the future of music.
F: I start off mostly with collecting samples. I think for me, composition is about creating narratives from out of life. My music background is quite naïve, very untechnical. I’m not very great at programming my gear, but I am very interested in collecting sounds and putting them into relationships with one another. So I always call it a collage practice, I’m actually primarily a visual artist and my focus is collage. I was listening back to some of the stuff in the record the other day and thinking, “Okay, so the reason this Kelly Rowland song is in there is because I was feeling this emotion, or I was listening to Bhangra beats because it’s something I was obsessed with when I was having a bad day and it would help me get through the time.” All the different samples in there are drawn from a spectrum of experiences. They were things that captured me and I thought, “Okay I need to use this and honour it.” A lot of the voices are ones that have spoken to me. The main sample on the latest single (‘All Are Syllables of the Great Tongue’) is from ‘Rain’ by SWV, when I was doing my thesis in 2017 I listened to that song every freaking day cos it was a very difficult year. It’s because of those things that I don’t lose my mind and I can find a way to flick the switch and continue my drive through music.
This is quickly evident in the music itself, Fjorn has a way for marrying these disparate sounds into something unique.
Sometimes it’s a bit crazy cos you’re going from different genres, maybe from acid house to industrial techno. I’m obsessed with everything, I’m a collector. Ever since I was young I’ve been a bit obsessive compulsive about knowing what was going on everywhere and hearing different things. Instead of a specific kind of music, I just like all this shit right now, and it’s really meaningful to me, so I need to find a way to bring it all together.
Do you have an artist you would compare yourself to? How can new listeners access your music?
I dunno if it would ever make sense, the first artist who ever made me think I could start making music was Ghédalia Tazartès who’s like a weird French poet. His style of collage was interesting because he brings these vocals and weird samples and mashes them together, but it’s not dance music in any way, shape or form. It’s more like folk and experimental music. That’s where I’ve been able to sit musically for a long time, but now I’m exploring ways to make more dancey music with that same logic, because I’m a lot more interested in experiencing music through my body. I’m always drawing from lots of different things, but there’s nothing that holistically represents what I’m trying to do.
Have your label and producers provided a lot of support for this release? How collaborative has this release been?
Growing up making experimental music it’s been quite niche, it has been quite a closed world. There haven’t really been a lot opportunities unless you’re in that avant-classical world, and that takes having money behind you, or having the right connections. Most of my life being in music communities has been more about making enemies than it has been making connections. I’ve caused a lot of shit, when people haven’t represented artists in a particular way. A lot of institutions that focus on experimental music have had to grow with the community they’re supporting, they’ve had to get to know everybody, and open their minds and ears to the spectrum of communities that are here, and there’s a lot in Naarm! They’ve done their best to open their minds and be a sponge for what’s going and they’re doing really well at that now. Over the years, I’ve mostly tried to be DIY, but I’ve started to work with different groups to help them understand what’s happening on the ground.
She shares a couple choice stories of her history agitating institutions, but it’s probably best not to feed the rumour mill just yet.
This time, getting some money to make a record, it’s been like, “Alright let’s take a different approach and turn this into some sort of extravagant process where I get to be a diva, and bring on all the people.” Kuya Neil I’ve worked with before, we don’t know anyone else who loves Chicago Footwork, so we’re kinda isolated in our love of that, and he’s also Phillipino and that’s awesome. Raquel (Various Asses) I’ve known since I was 15, I’ve seen her musical progression happen over 20 years. The way she thinks really resonates with me and I wanted them both involved because we are all really close and know how we want to shape the community; they’re two people who really push boundaries in an interesting way. My biggest issue was always carving things out, so they took it and did that work for me. I gave these huge 10-15 minute constructions to them and I didn’t need to give them much prompting either, they heard what was going on and just knew what the elements were that needed to be highlighted. They would give me back pieces of music and there was very little to tweak. Even my sound engineer Guy Faletolu, we went into the studio and I didn’t need to say a damn thing! They all just knew the feeling and we shared a synergy, and I love that shit. I wanna know that we can get together and be connected, I think we all have that same vision for community and the future of music.
You’re also a researcher, a visual artist, a community organiser, an activist, you do all these varied things. I want to know what is Papaphilia in your mind? Does it encompass that full range of practices? Is it a persona away from all that?
For a while, everything felt really disconnected in my life, but now Papaphilia becomes an expressive outlet for the things that happen in life. The music is really emotionally driven, I always wanted to make the music resonate with my politics, my cultural values, all that sort of stuff. I think more and more I am trying to find ways to filter in the political aspects into my art. I think really long and hard about how I’m naming my tracks, what the concept behind the album is gonna be. Because it’s a way to reach people in different states, rather than just like getting them to read a text, or trying to get them to understand a particular value through conceptual exchange, it’s a nicer way to do that so people can see the name of a track and be like ‘okay what does that actually mean?’ The physical album has an insert that has a poem I put together that tries to describe the ideas that helped construct this. The message is more poetically driven, trying to elicit a feeling or reaction through the music that would somehow match what we would feel at a rally or when we’re connecting with people or when we’re feeling something dark or deep or ecstatic, these markers of moments in life.
Thinking about these spaces, and having political agendas of community and inclusivity and safety, how do you think your music interacts with spaces? Is there someone you’re speaking to and envisioning dancing to your music?
Getting more into dance culture, I’ve found so much joy and release in dancing but there’s a lack of dance culture here. A lot of the time what’s prioritised at music shows is like drinking and smoking and catching up, which are all important parts of life, no shade. But some of the most important people in my life I’ve met on the dancefloor cos they’ve come up to me and said, “Fuck your feet aren’t even touching the floor!” Like if I’m having a shit time, all I need to do is go out, have a green tea and a tequila, and hit a dancefloor. And then the next week, I’m fine! So dance became a political thing, I was like, “Fuck it I’m going to push for people to engage in this.” You do see people feeling quite uncomfortable in themselves at shows, and I think it’s part of the really stiff, colonial shame that exists here within a lot of culture. With this new album, I’ve been trying to pick up the pace of my music and make something I want to be dancing to, but that also has a level of complexity. I’m trying to y’know, get people to freak out a little bit? People can move at any pace they want, I want to make music that challenges people to move beyond thought. I just hope it’s something people can lose themselves in and feel connected with, and actually feel safe to just let go. If people focus more on things like that, they can get more out of people and themselves.
Is that something you’d like listeners to experience, if they’re really trying to feel embodied and dance in their bedrooms to your music, is it all about agitation?
Yes exactly. I just want people to feel and lose themselves in the same way I do in order to get myself to a place where I can overcome all the bullshit that is life. Music’s always done that for me. There’s a reason we go back to the same tracks over and over, that’s something I’m obsessed with, what attracts us, what gets us through, music does that in the wildest way. Being able to elicit that for people is an amazing to be able to achieve.
For a while, everything felt really disconnected in my life, but now Papaphilia becomes an expressive outlet for the things that happen in life. The music is really emotionally driven, I always wanted to make the music resonate with my politics, my cultural values, all that sort of stuff. I think more and more I am trying to find ways to filter in the political aspects into my art. I think really long and hard about how I’m naming my tracks, what the concept behind the album is gonna be. Because it’s a way to reach people in different states, rather than just like getting them to read a text, or trying to get them to understand a particular value through conceptual exchange, it’s a nicer way to do that so people can see the name of a track and be like ‘okay what does that actually mean?’ The physical album has an insert that has a poem I put together that tries to describe the ideas that helped construct this. The message is more poetically driven, trying to elicit a feeling or reaction through the music that would somehow match what we would feel at a rally or when we’re connecting with people or when we’re feeling something dark or deep or ecstatic, these markers of moments in life.
Thinking about these spaces, and having political agendas of community and inclusivity and safety, how do you think your music interacts with spaces? Is there someone you’re speaking to and envisioning dancing to your music?
Getting more into dance culture, I’ve found so much joy and release in dancing but there’s a lack of dance culture here. A lot of the time what’s prioritised at music shows is like drinking and smoking and catching up, which are all important parts of life, no shade. But some of the most important people in my life I’ve met on the dancefloor cos they’ve come up to me and said, “Fuck your feet aren’t even touching the floor!” Like if I’m having a shit time, all I need to do is go out, have a green tea and a tequila, and hit a dancefloor. And then the next week, I’m fine! So dance became a political thing, I was like, “Fuck it I’m going to push for people to engage in this.” You do see people feeling quite uncomfortable in themselves at shows, and I think it’s part of the really stiff, colonial shame that exists here within a lot of culture. With this new album, I’ve been trying to pick up the pace of my music and make something I want to be dancing to, but that also has a level of complexity. I’m trying to y’know, get people to freak out a little bit? People can move at any pace they want, I want to make music that challenges people to move beyond thought. I just hope it’s something people can lose themselves in and feel connected with, and actually feel safe to just let go. If people focus more on things like that, they can get more out of people and themselves.
Is that something you’d like listeners to experience, if they’re really trying to feel embodied and dance in their bedrooms to your music, is it all about agitation?
Yes exactly. I just want people to feel and lose themselves in the same way I do in order to get myself to a place where I can overcome all the bullshit that is life. Music’s always done that for me. There’s a reason we go back to the same tracks over and over, that’s something I’m obsessed with, what attracts us, what gets us through, music does that in the wildest way. Being able to elicit that for people is an amazing to be able to achieve.
Remembrance Of Things To Come is out now through Heavy Machinery Records - head to papaphilia.bandcamp.com to purchase the album on limited edition vinyl.
