Imagine going back in time a few centuries, and visiting your favourite sculptor’s studio. You’d watch him forge his creations from a massive block of marble, slowly chipping away at it to create the perfect figure. In a sense, sculptors transcend reality, capturing it into timeless monuments.
Working with frequencies, Robinson’s Village does the same. He sources them from a variety of samplers and synthesisers, before forging them into his own mental image of what heaven looks like. From what we heard, we are certain that’s also our heaven. Unlike a sculptor though, Robinson’s Village doesn’t capture reality. Instead, the London talent focuses on capturing a state of mind, a particular sensation or feeling. He captures it into a short outburst of musical matter, making it in fact timeless and on-demand.
Robinson’s Village is one of those artists you meet once in a lifetime. A visionary, sonic explorer and researcher, the British producer navigates avant-garde soundscapes, leftfield beats and vaporwave influences, freely composing aural canvas following abstract and obscure rules.
On the 6th of December, Robinson’s Village is going to sculpt and forge his own creations in real-time, for a live crowd in London. Will you be there?
Intrigued by the project, we caught up with the talented sonic explorer to find out more about his artistry, his live set and future goals.
Hey Robinson’s Village, how is it going? we can’t wait to see you perform at Mesmerized. What can we expect from your set?
Hey! It’s all going good, just working on my music and staying busy. I’m really looking forward to playing! For my set, I’ve recently started bringing my modular synth along to gigs (alongside my sp404 sampler, which has always been consistent in my setup), so expect a little bit more ambient, a lot of improvisation and probably a couple of mistakes that I’ll try to mask with lots of reverb! Also, I’ll try to dust off some older tracks that I’ve not played live yet.
You champion a very peculiar style, balanced between gritty electronica and mellower soundscapes. How did that come about, any major influence?
So originally I was super into shoegaze (I still am), I’ve played guitar in a few bands and played a few shows, each time I found myself trying to make my guitar sound unlike a guitar. During the pandemic, I decided to put the guitar away for a bit and delve into synths. I’m influenced by so much, but a few artists that I’ve consistently tried to rip off in one way or another are Oneohtrix Point Never, Lorn, Aphex Twin, grouper, and Flying Lotus.
Your latest release ‘Drenched & Doused’ left quite an impact on us; its gritty, saturated sonic quality reminds us of vaporwave, while managing to keep its contemporary edge. Is there more music coming in the future? What are your plans?
I’ve defo been on a big vaporwave thing recently, I used to listen to it a lot back in the day so I’ve been trying to revisit it and take influences.
I’ve got an EP dropping the day after the show actually! (It’s not announced yet so I guess this is some form of an announcement haha). It’s more ambient, with less of an electronic edge and more of a tape loop/piano vibe. I don’t plan on playing the songs live, but I also don’t want them setting on my hard drive forever. I’ve got a few more collabs for in the new year with some sick artists, and I’m always making music so we will see what happens! Would love to get back into playing in bands so maybe a band for 2023?
The world seems to be getting worse by the day, and many of us struggle to cope with a reality that’s becoming painful to witness. Can music (and art) help us in dealing with everything a little better?
For sure! I think any form of escapism is good, whether it’s music, tv, or games. Especially when it’s hard to escape how screwed up everything is right now.
Are there any fellow up-and-coming artists you’d like to shout out?
Oh for sure! Have to shout out Fanchon for having big riffs and for always giving me gigs. Also have to shout out Dreeks and Zlutz, 100% ones to watch.
