Chile’s LOOP MAGAZINE just published a brand-new interview with DIRK SERRIES about his recent solo album FLUCTUATION OF BEING on MIDIRA RECORDS.

In the early 80s the Belgian composer Dirk Serries began to work in the industrial scene with the alias of Vidna Obmana with whom he released more than 140 solo albums and in collaboration with other artists such as Steve Roach, San Rosenthal, David Lee Myers, Asmus Tietchens, Steven R. Smith, Aidan Baker, Celer, Scatterwound to name a few.

In 2005, Serries decided to finish with Vidna Obmana, while he had other projects like The Fear Falls Burning and Microphonics, the latter is still active. In addition to playing with several bands. Meanwhile he founded several labels such as Mechanical Orchestration Music in which he released the music of Vidna Obmana. In recent years he has developed a great interest in free-jazz and improvisational music, founding the A New Wave Of Jazz label.

Serries is a multifaceted musician who works both with metal and post-metal, as well as free improvisation, avant-garde jazz and ambient music under his name, with which he has just released the album “Fluctuation Of Being” (Midira Records, 2023), an album that features long guitar drones that float in a sea of uplifting tonalities. On the occasion of this new album, this interview is carried out.

Thanks go to Ed Benndorf, from the Berlin distributor Dense, for arranging this interview and to Dirk Serries for sharing his experience.

You work in a wide spectrum of music. Can you tell us what you find and appreciate in ambient music and free-jazz/improvisation?

“Almost from day one when I started to experiment with sound in the early eighties my goal was to look forward, to learn and grow as a musician and a human being. So, I never shied away from pushing myself and trying different combinations, genres and even instruments. Apart from a brief industrial phase in my early existence as a musician, I got extremely fascinated by ambient music and I still am. Over those past 3 decades I was able to fine-tune my own style in this genre, over the course working with synths and computers till purifying my sound to work solely with an electric guitar and a few pedals. Although I’m not that intensely active any more, the focus lies way more on the free improvisation nowadays, ambient music is what I breath and it’s actually thanks to being involved in the free improv scene I managed to apply a working method for my ambient music that is equally on the spot and surprising than any of the improvised music I do. It still is course a different music style so naturally it requires different playing techniques but both sides of the spectrum I just love to be in.”

What do you mean when you say “vintage ambient music”?

“The term is a wink to the old-school ambient scene in which I was active in the late eighties till the late nineties. Much changed over time, going from outboard hardware instruments like synths, sequencers, mutli-track recording on tape, analog mixing desks to the younger generation that works solely on a laptop computer. I am happy that I was able to perform a technique for myself that still resembles the style of ambient music I created with Vidna Obmana while trimming down the set-up to just one Carefully selected electric guitar and a handful of pedals. The way of playing, layering the tonalities and having them shift slowly over time is just that what I did with Vidna Obmana on synths and all the tools in my studio.  Therefore, the reference to the vintage style of playing the ambience”

What do you like to explore with your side-projects Fear Falls Burning and Microphonics?

“Microphonics is definitely a closed book but with Fear Falls Burning ideas are forming to do another record and it surely will be the ‘band’ approach again. Hopefully I’ll be able to record some material over the course of this Summer.”

Which bands/labels/music magazines would you highlight from the early 80s?

“There are plenty as the eighties were just such an inspiring and creative period. To highlight a few musicians and bands: Giancarlo Toniutti, Joy Division, Test Department, early The Cure, Maurizio Bianchi, Chris & Cosey and even early Simple Minds. Labels like Factory, Broken Flag, RRRecords, Sub Rosa, Staalplaat and Projekt.”

Which were the sources of inspiration for the making of your latest “Fluctuation Of Being” album?

“Being here and now. I mean, despite still a lot of people will probably deny or refuse to accept it, we are living in an intense period and already for a long time. Absolutely don’t want to go politically here but the pressure ‘On us, all the impulses we’ve to digest is just sometimes too much to handle and makes you shift your life almost constantly. This album is just about that, the constant twists of the mind under impulse of daily life.’”

On Fear Falls Burning’s Bandcamp page you pointed out “a musical meditation on purity and subdued power” What does it mean?

“Wow, that’s a long time since I read that definition but back then after completing the Vidna Obmana story I really wanted to pursue something different. Fear Falls Burning still has connotations to what I did previously but the approach was different, less studio-oriented but real-time guitar manipulations through a vast array of pedal effects. The focus was on playing simple motives on the guitar while the effects brought everything into play and constructed the full guitar soundscape. Fear Falls Burning was way more powerful than Vidna Obmana ever was, louder and more intense but at the same time it was about the detailed research in what the electric guitar could produce, from the tiniest sounds to the full-on wash of tones. That said, Fear Falls Burning slowly over time, due to My ongoing urge to experiment, turned into a band project that features several key players from the metal, post-metal and free improv. scene. More to come for sure.”

What would you highlight the most from these 30 years dedicated to music?

“It’s difficult to pick one but generally seen I’m most proud of how I have been able to create my own identity while maintaining my independency.  Nothing is original but in this all you can still work and make the efforts to realize your own voice and this is what I’ve done from day one.  Of course, I always have been ambitious to share my music with as many listeners possible, this is something you decide upon when you start releasing your work but never, I wanted to follow the straight path and rely on a particular success.  The number surely dropped when the highly successful cd retail collapsed in the late nineties, due to the arrival of streaming, but luckily there’s still a dedicated audience adventurous enough to follow me on this journey of constant exploration.  And the fact that I’ve been able to work together with such talented international musicians, through various genres, while others seem to follow that and be inspired by, confirms that I probably am doing some interesting stuff.  From my solo work, the free improv band KODIAN TRIO (with Colin Webster and Andrew Lisle) to the culmination of all YODOK III (with Tomas Järmyr and Kristoffer Lo).”

Guillermo Escudero

May 2023

Buy FLUCTUATION OF BEING here. Visit the MIDIRA RECORDS website here.

DIRK SERRIES, in promotion of the LOUD AS GIANTS’ EMPTY HOMES album, has been doing several interviews as well these (video) podcasts. Some of them brief, another lengthy and very detailed on lots that has been part of Dirk Serries’ 3 decades plus repetoire.

COUCH RIFFS with MIKE SQUIRES :

VEIL OF SOUND :

CHILL DUDE ON A COUCH :

Read DIRK SERRIES‘ interview on Ambient Landscapes about the recording of his unique NOCTURNAL DISCORD album (cassette released on Cloudchamber Recordings.

We caught up with Mr. Dirk Serries, the Belgium Jazz and Ambient artist (and pioneer), again as he embarks on the next phase of his unique journey into the ambient/experimental world of sound-craft. He was gracious enough to answer a few questions that were on our mind as we previewed his latest album, Nocturnal Discord:

1. Thanks for sitting down with us today, Dirk. With all the pioneering ground you’ve covered in the ambient genera (both solo & collaboratively) as vidnaObmana, we were curious as to why, with the release of ‘Nocturnal Discord’, this new direction now?

I always have been keen on exploring new ways and bringing those to my realm of ambient music.  Of course sometimes that process takes time as it not only means you’ve to realize new techniques or approaches to your existing style but first you need to come to terms with what your style is.

Coming out of the turmoil how VIDNA OBMANA ended (artistic frustration and exhaustion caused me to crash heavily) and re-discovering myself as an ambient musician using solely the electric guitar, it took me a while to get me that perfect set-up with which I could easily create the music I wanted to without the complexity of the studio that the work of VIDNA OBMANA always demanded.  Fast forward almost 20 years and of course new tools (read pedal effects) were developed and which could give me that extension my ambient music longed for.  While I tried during in the latter phase of my MICROPHONICS project to work with digital tool on the laptop, I never felt comfortable and dropped that option quite fast to only return to the analog rig of pedal effects and a guitar.  So when I discovered a few interesting new tools to use, this new segment in my sound as an ambient artist awoke.  While it still holds my passion for minimalism and working around the strength of a few notes, these new effects granted me a freedom to expand and take my so-called trademark ambience out of its own comfort zone.  NOCTURNAL DISCORD is that first step, a rather bold one immediately but a necessary one to take and evaluate how it will proceed.  I do see it coming even more in sync with my original style of ambience.  As a matter of fact, I’m recording right now an album that also sets the pace for unification of both directions.

2. If you can put your finger on it; how would you categorize the differences between your previous, synth-based, ambient content and what you seek to achieve with this new, guitar-driven pathway; from both a creator’s and listener’s perspective ?

Musically now I think I really succeeded in bringing my guitar ambient music to that trademark sound I had with VIDNA OBMANA, done on synths.

Technically back then it was way more complicated, no rocket science, but you needed midi, a sequencer, outboard effects if your synths didn’t have them on board, a mixing desk, etc.  and the full set-up you needed as well when you wanted to play live.  Early on in the mid eighties it was still ok but from the moment the computer got involved, the musical process became so multi-layered that towards the end of the VIDNA OBMANA era that the pleasure of just playing and creating music diminished over time.  Really felt that I got stuck in a sort of laboratory that completely excluded the thrill of making music so when I decided to end VIDNA OBMANA, I really made a decision to change my style, techniques and which instruments I would use. 

The electric guitar became my prime instrument to guide me through the various projects I started (FEAR FALLS BURNING, MICROPHONICS, etc.).  And along the way I invested my experience to simulate the so-called VIDNA OBMANA sound with the electric guitar and just a handful of pedal effects.  

A process that took a while but now I’m very happy and proud I can generate the ambient music I care for so much with such a minimal set-up.  

3. Are there specific takeaways or methodologies from what you’ve learned working with A New Wave of Jazz that now bleeds into the new ambient content?

Oh absolutely, the pure pleasure of creating on the spot, pushing the boundaries without the fear of failure and just embracing the result with heart.

I learned a lot from teaming up with these great free improvisation/free jazz artists as they really taught me the ability to drop control and just move towards that momentum on stage or in the studio with open vision and no actual definite plan.  This is what I also take with me when I’m creating my ambient music these days.  Most music I created since I learned the magic of full-on improvising has been one takes without any post editing.

NOCTURNAL DISCORD has been exactly that, music created on the fly while working with all the effects there on the spot too.  Some of the treatments you hear on this album are accidents, burbs from the electronic devices which are never repeated again but became just vital to each of those pieces on the album.  If this have happened about 25 years ago, I definitely would have stopped the recorded and deleted the file.  Now I just love those twists, turns and unexpected guidelines to stir me into a different direction.

4. And, as a follow up to the previous question, will these newer ambient treatments bleed back into A New Wave of Jazz?

Who knows, not that I’ve a plan yet to introduce this into A NEW WAVE OF JAZZ  but never say never.  If this ever would happen, I think at least it will be part of a new sub label, like I’m doing with the cassette releases on NWOJ where the music has more noise ingredients.  Its musical language is at this point quite different:  the pace, the instant interaction and the way how I use the guitar is totally the opposite.  But it surely could be an interesting angle for when that moment arrives.  

5. Finally, with ‘Nocturnal Discord’ setting the stage for a “darker”, “stranger” and “more abstract” first step . . . can you
forecast what we can expect from your next step (or perhaps, leap)?

NOCTURNAL DISCORD is not per-sé the next necessary step in my ongoing progression as an artist but more a side path, a way of testing the range of possibilities.  But most important to combine this with the trademark ambient music I’m known for.  Like I said I’m currently working on an album that more or less already mixes both approaches.  Exciting as it gives flare, new life and spirit to what I know so well is creating my kind of ambient music.

The ongoing (re)search for the sublime in sound just keeps me motivated.

Despite his prolific ambient period in the eighties and nineties, with a huge back catalogue of music and several tours in Europe and the United States, Dirk Serries never played his solo ambient music live on UK soil.  Until November last year when he played a solo ambient concert at his favorite place in London : Hundred Years Gallery. 

Through his experience in the free improvisation Dirk transformed his solo ambient music, originally constructed melticulously by writing strict motives before performing, to being able to improvise 200% and still create his trademark ambient music for which he is recognized worldwide.  Now released on HUNDRED YEARS GALLERY’s home label in a very limited run of 50 copies ! Available here