Hello Chris Reierson. Please introduce yourself?
Greetings! I’m just another dude who does noise. I live in Wisconsin, USA, and I’ve been making experimental music under various names since 2007.
Could you please describe your music / sound genres?
Generally I stay in the realms of noise and ambient, but I’ve tried a bit of everything at some point: plunderphonics, power electronics, noisecore, HNW, spoken word, field recordings, even some hip-hop... basically anything that doesn’t strictly require traditional musical skill, I’ve done it. Recently I’ve been trying to sharpen my harsh noise sound with an emphasis on circuit bent gear, though with my first album, Insomniacs Anonymous (under the name MLF aka MY LOVELY FIGMENT), I went for an extremely ambient sound.
What inspired you during the track composing process?
It depends on the album. I get inspired by many different things, as I’m sure others do.
List us some essential releases from Chris Reierson?
It’s not uncommon for me to change up styles between albums, so it depends on what you’re looking for. For example, Sensitive to Textures is by far the album I’ve put the most effort into, however I acknowledge it’s a deeply flawed experience and it’s not for everyone. I’d say for people into ambient, listen to that album or Ha Det; for people into harsh noise, listen to the last half of Mouthful of Grapes; for people into tape loops, try Airtractor (Gracious Host label); etc.
Explain further about latest album “Mouthful of Grapes”?
I’ve already explained the origins of each track in the liner notes, so I’ll be going over more general details here.
Honestly, Mouthful just sort of happened. I was preparing material for a different project and during that time I gradually accumulated four long tracks I liked, tracks that would’ve otherwise gone unused for the project I was then working on. Despite being vastly different in tone and recorded at different times, they somehow came together in a single, synchronous package.
If there was any point or “message” behind Mouthful, it’d be synchronicity. I have this text file I keep on my computer of ideas for track titles, usually just weird stuff I’d hear while working or whatever. I’ve kept this file updated for years. Meanwhile, when I was playing around with the art for Mouthful, I found that I liked the contrast between the graphite grey drawings and their magenta copies. Without even knowing it, I’d made a thematic connection between the art and the title of the first track, Eyes Bled Magenta. This wasn’t intentional: I’d written down “eyes bled magenta” as a potential track title years before working on Mouthful, and by pure coincidence I just happened to be working on cover art that had a strong magenta motif. That’s not even saying anything about how the next track, Bespoke Native Retina, introduced yet another unintended motif, this time with eyes.
Speaking of the cover art, it’s this crappy drawing I did in middle school called Mouthful of Grapes, from which the album gets its title. It was part of some school assignment where we were given a phrase and asked to draw our interpretation of what we thought it meant. From my research, I can’t find any evidence that “mouthful of grapes” was ever a common saying or idiom, nor what it could’ve possibly meant. But to me at least, it does sound like something someone might have said about who knows what. I think it’s kind of funny, that there’s this supposed proverb that doesn’t really mean anything yet sounds familiar when you say it. I guess in regard to the album, I don’t really know why I called it that other than being what the drawing was called. It just seemed fitting in its own way.
What themes / messages usually expressed through your compositions?
I tend to stay away from promoting any sort of message or worldview in my art, though there are exceptions. Sensitive to Textures was me coming to terms with my autism; Ha Det was about saying goodbye to old habits; Insomniacs Anonymous was an approximation of sounds I heard while struggling to go to sleep; etc. Generally, however, I do what I do simply because I like to do it.
How do you see the market / distribution for the type of music you play?
It’s challenging. I struggle a lot with promoting my music, not only getting people to hear it but to be interested in it enough to buy a physical copy. Noise really isn’t something you get into for the money, but thankfully the community is there to support you in any way they can. I’ve ruminated a lot about the noise market in the past; just look up the NoiseWiki forums and you should have little difficulty in locating my thoughts on that subject.
Thanks. Say something for the last?
I’ve got some really harsh material coming up on NoiseWiki under the name DIODE SNORTER, so keep an eye out for that. I’m also planning on putting out a silly HNW side project in the very near future. And then there’s the occasional digital reissue or remastering of old works posted on my Facebook (
facebook.com/chris.reierson.7). I try to post something every Friday. Thanks for the interview! -CR
