New Flower

Niels Versavel

Interview by L. Valena

October 23, 2021

Can you start by telling me what you responded to?

I’ll start by saying that the two weeks went by like a snap. Before I knew it, I had only a small portion of the music completed. At first I was going to make a drawn response to this image of pieces of string combining and creating forms -- that’s what I was meant to respond to. And then I decided to try out responding with music, which was tougher than I thought.

How did you begin to think about that?

At first I thought it was going to be mostly in the lyrics. So even though the lyrics aren’t very audible, I’m talking about flowers, and the growthspan of plant life. But then I realized that there’s more to it than that. The way I was creating the sounds was very similar to how these pieces of string were combining to create shapes and forms. I used lots of very singular notes, which on their own would not really yield much importance, but in combination they created harmony. That’s kind of what I see in the prompt. Forms arising from where the pieces of string are in the same location. The density and saturation. And then there’s this stark contrast between the blue-green and the white. In what I did, that arises in the kick drum. The way it kind of ducks the volume of the sound half-way through. You can hear that more clearly.

How did it feel to do this? You said it was harder than you expected?

It feels like I kind of rushed it. I could have put more time into it, but as I said the weeks went by like it was nothing. Which has been happening recently. The older I get the faster it goes.

Oh I know exactly what you mean. And I also think that pandemic time is soup.

Yeah. It’s warped and weird. So the first thing I really wanted to respond to it in this was the flower itself. The lyrics I wrote were, “there’s a new flower every hour, till the power goes out.” It’s loosely connected, but that’s what started the gears turning. This concept of the flower, and how it’s hidden behind the strings.

When you say, “till the power goes out,” are you talking about in a big way? Like on a global scale? Or is this a smaller instance?

I didn’t even think about it that way, but it could have several meanings. Electricity. The power of nature trying to redirect energy into this living being. When that power goes out, there are no more flowers. I wrote some more lyrics that I didn’t include, which are: “there’s a web in my head full of spiders/ I feel lighter than a cable made of lead.” I didn’t know how to follow that up, but it was relevant to the strings too. It kind of looks like a spider web.

How does this relate to the rest of your work?

Interestingly enough, this is one of the first times that I combined my more acoustic sounds with the electronic side of what I do. Usually, I produce bare-bones guitar music with vocals or electronic music, and this is the first time that I really combined those.

That’s cool. I really love the texture in this song. Do you see yourself making more work like this?

Definitely. It was a new thing for me to respond to something, and to try to find those connections even if they weren’t immediately there... to try to find the relevance between a piece of art and music is something I’d like to try again.

Do you think you’ll combine the electronic and acoustic sounds again?

Definitely.

You said the first thing that got your attention was the flower. Do you want to talk about your relationship to flowers?

Interesting question! For work, I actually deliver flowers.

Shut up!

I’m not kidding. That’s one of my two jobs.

Wait, I want to hear all about this. Because every time I’m received flowers, the person who is delivering the flowers... I am always just so excited to see them.

That’s what’s kept me with that job. The glow in people’s eyes when they receive flowers. There are many different occasions, of course. It may be an anniversary or a birthday, but then there’s also the darker funerals, and then weddings. It’s really cool to have this superficial role of brightening people’s day.

It’s true. We use flowers to mark so many really important moments in life. But you get to peek in on this surface level. You get to be part of that.

It’s so funny that I didn’t even draw that connection while writing about flowers. Not once did it cross my mind that I have a significant relationship with flowers.

What haven’t we talked about?

I’m not sure. We’ve covered quite a lot. This has really brought new ideas to me in terms of music. I’ve been in a few standstills with music. This is making me think that I can respond to something rather than just creating in a void. Conversation can really be made with art and music, and I never really explored that.

Especially during the early pandemic, I was doing a lot of music on my own. But post-pandemic (if we can call it that quite yet) I’ve connected with some people and started making music with them for the first time in a while. There’s some of that too. They bring in an idea, I respond to it or develop it further, and then they develop it further. It’s a whole different animal from solo work. It’s a turning point in my musical life right now. I’m playing out a lot and finding a lot of gratification in that. Things like this that are happening, there’s a lot of good stuff to look forward to.

As artists, we get so stuck in our own studios, no matter what kind of artists we are. It can be so powerful to get into conversation with other people and open the channel a little bit. I think it’s especially exciting when people answer the call, and really try out shit that they’ve never done before.

The comfort zone is something I’ve been thinking about a lot. I’ve really been challenging my comfort zone recently, and it’s only brought me good things. Which makes me think how different things could be in a year if I keep doing that. When you extend the comfort zone, that becomes the new comfort zone, and you have to extend it even further.

That set-point changes, right?

Yes. And I can revisit things from the past, that are no longer in my comfort zone.

How do you extend your comfort zone? Do you have a trick?

Well, you have to have a reason to. I’ve been too comfortable, where nothing was new for me, and things didn’t have the same value that they did before. That was my reason. And once you have the reason... I haven’t really quantified it or anything, but I’m doing something that works for me. I haven’t really been able to put it into words yet. But ‘trust the process’ is a big motto of mine. That brought me through the production of one of my friend’s albums. We kept telling each other to trust the process. We trusted it, and the process brought us an album.

Do you have any advice for another artist who is engaging with this project for the first time?

Maybe put a little more time than I did into the pre-process. Before you start producing or developing the idea, take a look at what’s really in front of you. I saw the flower, and was like, “Okay, off I go!” I’m seeing much more in it now that we’re talking about it. The other thing is to not be afraid to venture out beyond the direct similarities. There’s a lot of abstraction in art always, so there’s a lot of ways you can find links and connections between what you’re making and what you’re responding to.

Is there anything else you want to say here?

There’s a lot. There’s too much to say. I don’t know where to start. This was a really cool experience. I’m glad I found my way to it, and it found its way to me.

Call Number: Y64VA | Y67MU.veNe

Niels Versavel, who goes by Emil Gries in the context of visual art and Casimirs Telos in music, is an illustrator, musician, oneironaut, adventurer, creative endeavorer and word-maker-upper who takes interest in the many facets of life that define the human experience. He draws inspiration from various disciplines, especially the realm of the physical sciences, notably the extreme micro and macro (particle physics and astronomy). His aim is to tap into the infinite yet elusive creative font while working out new ideas and ways to expand his horizon.