Fog - A brief foray into artifice

After a few months of courting, we managed to get in touch with the mysterious Fog, who nonetheless remains an enigma as far as his identity goes. Even so, the artist originally from Wilmington, Delaware, didn’t shy away from our questions, aimed at digging even deeper into that synthesis of free-improvisation, electroacoustics, sound collage, avant-folk and a “totalist” taste for the organization of sound which, roughly a year ago, reached its peak with the excellent “Thirty Three, Recurring,” an “exploration of recurrence” that is also a hymn to creative freedom.

I can finally talk to you! I thought Fog was a ghost – a phantom musician, but still a ghost! All I know about you, aside from the fact that you make music, is that you’re from Wilmington, the city where the current President of the United States, Joe Biden, had his residence before moving into the White House. I don’t even know your real name! So tell me a bit about yourself, and also about your first steps as a musician.

I’d rather not give my real name, since I’m a very private person. But I will say that I’m 25 years old and that I work with Audacity as my Digital Audio Workstation. I really like it, even though it has its downsides. My first steps as a musician… were probably playing Frank Zappa on long car rides… and then I spiraled out of control until I became what I am now…

On your Bandcamp page, there's a photo of a woman front and center: at this point I associate you with her! Who is she?

She's not a real person: I didn't feel comfortable using my own face, and using someone else's face would have been a strange choice too. I like to call her Evangeline, after the song by Angels Of Light.

I find it fascinating that, in the age of social media and globalization, there are still people who are so protective of their identity and privacy (incidentally, the choice of the name Fog seems very fitting, given the foggy nature of your identity). It makes me think of Abu Lahab, for instance, though that Moroccan artist has to reckon with a reality that can't accept the anti-Islamist themes of his music... In any case, I've had the chance to deal with elusive, more or less underground artists before, but with you... I'm almost at ground zero. Either way, I imagine your choice of anonymity also reflects a particular worldview and outlook on life in general...

There are two reasons.

One: the Internet is a dangerous place.

Two: I have no interest in being an important person. I've always found there to be a certain arrogance in putting your name on something for the whole world to see. Not that I'm not at least a bit self-centered myself, and of course I'm proud of what I've done, but I'd rather not show it outwardly. If that makes any sense...

Your music, especially on “Thirty Three, Recurring”, seems dominated by a “totalist” approach to sound organization. How much of Totalism's ideology underpins what you do as a musician?

It's not exactly what I'm trying to achieve, but somehow that's always where I end up. Totalist music inspires me a great deal, but I've never set out to make something in that vein. I think, instead, that I tend toward that all-encompassing sound of artists like Swans and Glenn Branca.

What exactly are you trying to achieve with your music?

I just make what I like to listen to. I'm not trying to conform to rigid genre rules, and I never set out to make something totalist. Totalism just seems to happen when I make music. In a way, I like to make music that's emotionally overwhelming.

Which musicians in particular inspire you?

I draw a lot of inspiration from La Monte Young, Scott Walker, Glenn Branca and many others. Some might call these artists fairly totalist. But I also love the music of artists like Steve Reich, Brian Eno and Harold Budd. I often describe my music as a mild ripoff of Paul Dolden's work.

Paul Dolden! What fascinates you most about his music? Which of his albums do you like best?

I love how visceral and otherworldly it is. I consider Paul Dolden one of the greatest living composers. I really love “L’Ivresse de la Vitesse”. It's music you won't find anywhere else.

“Thirty Three, Recurring” is presented as an “exploration of recurrence”. Can you explain that definition a bit more for us? Does it have anything to do with minimalism, by any chance? And why the number 33 specifically?

"Thirty Three, Recurring" was created to explore the meaning of recurrence — there are lots of small motifs that repeat throughout the album. Every track has a kind of repetitive quality to it, whether it's the prepared piano loop on "Dancer" or the mid-song crescendo on "Happy Ending Problem", where various instruments hit the same note over and over, each time climbing a bit higher in pitch. As for the choice of title, it just struck me as intriguing.

The album opens with a recitation, in Spanish, of the first verses of the Book of Genesis. Where does this recording come from, and why did you decide to put it at the start of the album?

I put it there for fairly obvious reasons: I wanted the album to come into being the way the heavens and the earth do in Genesis. As for where I found the sample, I think if I told you it would ruin the mystique. It's pretty mundane, honestly.

For this album you collaborated with several musicians, some of them from Europe and Australia! How did you all work together?

We met on a music forum. One thing led to another, and we ended up contributing to each other's musical projects. They're more than just collaborators to me — I consider some of them among my closest friends.

I'd like to name a few, if that's alright.

Go right ahead!

The first is Dave, a one-man band and one of the most talented people I know. The album wouldn't sound the way it does without him.

Then there's CJT, a hugely gifted and prolific Scottish artist who's currently working on the artwork for my next project. He's been making music longer than any of us.

Zero Point Fool, who although he's not featured on the album, was essential in helping me visualize what I wanted to achieve.

Neopoliten, someone I deeply admire and draw inspiration from for his artistic output. Keep an eye out for his next record: from what I've heard, he's outdone himself.

Finally, The Eternal Returns, who is essentially my co-pilot for the next album. Even though he's not heavily featured on this one, I played him almost every track to get his input.

Tell me more about Dave's contribution to the album's sound. At the end of the day, the sound of the various tracks that make it up is one of the record's great strengths.

Dave played a lot of instruments on the album. There's something he did in almost every interesting moment on it. For instance, the guitar licks on "A Brief Foray" are all his. The wild clarinet runs on "Esther" and "Of Collatz" are all his. A good third of the percussion is his work, while the other two thirds are either mine or come from samples. Without him the album wouldn't have been nearly as compelling.

"Thirty Three, Recurring" is certainly not, and never will be, an album capable of reaching huge audiences... And yet, I know quite a few enthusiasts who were absolutely won over by it, enough to place it at the top of their 2023 year-end lists (I did the same!). Did you expect this small success?

Certainly not! Honestly, I have no idea how you found me, I haven't done much to promote my album lately. I just expected my friends to listen to it and my family to tolerate it. All this new attention is crazy to me.

Satisfy a curiosity of mine: the title of the first track, "Tall Shadows Of The Wind", is the same one given to the English-language version of "Saye-haye Boland-e Baad", a magic-realist Iranian film directed in 1979 by Bahman Farmanara. Is that a coincidence or a conscious choice?

It was a conscious choice. I saw a clip of that film about a year ago and it struck me for how raw and mythic it felt. It took a long time after the album came out to find a decent copy of the film, but a few months ago someone uploaded one to YouTube.

Would you like to walk through the other chapters of your discography a bit, starting with "Basking In It"?

Sure! I don't have much to say about "Basking In It", it's not something I'm particularly proud of, and to be honest I look back and see that most of my work before "Insect" is pretty mediocre, with just a few promising flashes. "Basking In It" was made over two and a half or three years, but most of the material comes from the last four months of work, and it shows. The album went through a lot of rewrites, just like a bad Hollywood screenplay. Honestly, the album took that long simply out of ineptitude. I really didn't know what I was doing, and it shows.

The opposite can be said about my self-titled album, which was made over six or seven months in a state of frantic, suicidal panic. The title track was meant to be a note to my friends and family announcing my departure from this world. Thankfully, I replaced it with a lazy sample of a 1950s or '60s dictaphone message. Overall, this album is the one I like least in my discography, not just because of the project's original purpose, but also because it was made in a rather rushed way. I'm glad I got the help I needed.

"Idle Hands" has some really nice tracks, like "Little Lamb" and "Time is Running Out", but it's a bit one-note. There are a lot of moments that feel like filler. To me, the underlying problem with "Idle Hands" is that it tries to be more accessible, when that was never the intention of my music: take "Infinite Love", for example, a tedious song that meanders toward a messy, unsatisfying conclusion. That's pretty much what happens throughout most of the album, with a few exceptions. "Insect" is the first album of mine that I actually liked after releasing it. I drew a lot of inspiration from recordings of religious ceremonies from various tribes around the world. The project flows really well, and I like that it doesn't waste the listener's time.

You forgot to mention the standalone EP "Jeweled Throne", where you went full harsh-noise, and which, as far as I'm concerned, is your weakest work so far...

"Jeweled Throne" was made as a joke, and I don't consider it part of my main run of albums.

Neil Young used to say that every one of his albums was a piece of his autobiography. In what way, if at all, does your music reflect your own life journey?

Some of the albums I've made carry pieces of me within them. Especially the self-titled record. I was in a terrible place when I made that project, and it shows. The album was made in a rush because of my state of mind, and it shows. Sometimes it feels like making music is the only thing keeping me alive.

How do your songs usually come about? 

There's a lot of spontaneity in how I make music. For the most part it's about throwing everything I can at the wall until something sticks, but most of the time nothing sticks. I prefer using Audacity, it's a pretty blunt DAW, but thanks to its destructive editing you can do things that would take many complicated steps in other programs. Audacity has its rough edges, sure, but I like it. I'm also a fairly patient person, which helps when you're using a program like that.

I'd love to know which 2023 albums you liked the most...

I really liked the new Sprain album: it's a shame they broke up. I love how tense and twisted a record it is. I also really enjoyed "The Beggar", being the diehard Swans fan that I am. It's a gorgeous tableau of mortality. I'll also add "Dogsbody" by Model/Actriz: it was a great surprise and I can't wait to hear more from them. A truly impressive debut.

Let's play the usual game: tell me 10 albums you'd take with you to a desert island and why exactly those…

La Monte Young – The Well Tuned Piano

It's simply all-encompassing, both in its beauty and in its virtuosity. I could talk about this album for hours.

The Angels Of Light – How I Loved You

One of the darkest and most emotionally honest country albums I've ever heard, and a serious left turn for Michael Gira.

Glenn Branca – The Ascension

The Holy Grail of no wave and the greatest album of the Eighties.

Lift to Experience – The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads

I'm not a religious person, but this album is a religious experience.

The Band – Music From Big Pink

It's so soulful and inviting that I couldn't not pick it.

Scott Walker – The Drift

As nightmarish as it is stunning. An absolute must-listen.

Pharoah Sanders – Karma

One of my favorite jazz masterpieces. Pure bliss.

Steve Reich – Music For 18 Musicians

It's a bit of an easy choice, but I love this album.

The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

This album is so much fun

D'Angelo – Voodoo

The smoothest-flowing album ever made.

Are you already working on a new album?

Yes. It's called “The Fly Circles The Drain As If It Were An Orchid Blooming”. Right now it runs 99 minutes and it's almost finished. It'll be a bit different from what you heard on “Thirty Three, Recurring”.

I find that a very poetic title. Can you tell us more about the themes the album will revolve around, and how it will sound?

The album is centered on death and the process of coming to terms with it. What it means to die, or to kill. In these confusing times, life isn't taken for granted, but it seems death is. Thousands of people are dying in Gaza right now, and obviously I feel guilty about that. When it comes down to it, though, I'm just one person, and there's nothing I can do, no charity I can donate to or protest I can join that would directly end that suffering. And this suffering isn't limited to Gaza: just think of what's happening in Myanmar with the Rohingya, or the genocide of the Uyghur people at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. This new album of mine is an investigation into the futility of death and the process of dying, and I hope the sound reflects all of that. It'll definitely be a new direction for me.

Judging by what we hear on the album's first single, “May 30, 1431, Rouen, France”, it sounds like you're moving even closer to Paul Dolden's music…

In a way, yes. There are a few tracks on the new album that are very close to Dolden's work — some would call them fear-inducing, but a lot of them are actually quite soothing. “May 30, 1431, Rouen, France” is not one of the soothing ones.

Do you have any other projects besides Fog?

No. At one point I felt like making a no-wave/punk album, but then I dropped the idea.

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