TECHNICAL MUSIC REVIEW


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Fractal Cypher has recently released a new piece of music and I chatted with Vincent and Simon about the album, the band and other various topics.
https://www.facebook.com/fractalcypher
twitter.com/FractalCypher
https://www.instagram.com/fractalcypherofficial/?hl=en
https://fractalcypher.bandcamp.com

TMR: Which of your albums do you prefer more and why?

Vincent : It’s a hard question to answer. I’d say neither of them is my favorite. I like every record we did, they are just really different. However, I have to say that we are really more comfortable and confident when performing the new songs. The reason is that we learned how to work together and we wrote and built the songs in a way that everyone feels comfortable so we can use the talent of each band member at its best.

TMR: Where was your band name inspired from?

Vincent : The band name  Fractal Cypher is originally an idea from Simon, the singer and Ludovick the keyboard player and composer. For those who probably don’t know, Fractal  is a term employed most of the time to describe a geometric shape or a design. It’s a geometric form or object that constantly evolves from its initial shape. Cypher means: a secret method of writing to transmit a message or a code. We thought it would be cool to put the two concepts together, which means a repeating secret code that constantly evolves on itself, so it’s finally a message that can never be found.

TMR: Tell everyone how Fractal Cypher came to be.

– Vincent : The band was founded in august 2014 by Simon Lavoie, Ludovick Daoust and Myself. I met Ludovick back in the days at college, we were in the same music program and we were sharing the same musical interest. Few years later I met Simon in a band contest (Canadian final Envol & Macadam contest) in Quebec City. At that time, Ludovick had a few songs written for a few years already and he was looking to form a band with me.  I contacted Simon and asked him if he would be down to be part of it. After listening to the tracks we had at the time, he didn’t hesitate to join us. A few weeks later, old friends of us Steven Cope on drums and Tommy Fradette on bass were joining us as well. That’s how Fractal Cypher is born.

TMR: What attracted you guys to progressive and experimental music?

Vincent : The main reason is probably because our musical influences are very large and diversified. Everyone in the band has a different musical background that touches a lot of different styles. We see progressive metal as a style with no barrier, we can do whatever we want, switch from a style to another, have a  jazzy song and a really heavy/djenty song within the same album and everything have its place. We like it when an album offers a roller coaster effect, something that is nonlinear and interesting to listen to. This is why we decided to tag our music as progressive.

TMR: Describe the writing and recording process for your upcoming release “Prelude To An Impending Outcome”. Did you guys do anything different musically or recording wise this time around? Where was everything recorded?

Simon : We recorded at the studio The Grid in Montreal, with Christian Donaldson and Marco Fréchette. This is the same studio where we recorded “The Human Paradox” in 2016.

Concerning the writing process, we worked the same way we did for our previous album “The Human Paradox”. The main songwriter of the band is Ludovick, the keyboard player. He usually completes the songs in term of structures and melodies and we go over them in band. They evolve to their final stage during this time. The lyrics are composed mainly by Simon, the singer, with a few exceptions where other members of the band contribute.

Compared to our previous album, I’d say this one sounds more how we really sound live. We took care to use our real tone, especially on guitar and bass, when we mixed the album. In terms of songwriting, I’d say the songs are more refined and more mature.

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TMR: Favorite song from your upcoming release?

Vincent : I love every song on the record, but I have to say that i like to jam “Coming Back To Life” quite a lot. The guitar solo is really cool to play on this one.

TMR: Does Fractal Cypher have any upcoming shows to support “Prelude To An Impending Outcome”?

Vincent : Yes ! We are going to do a release show on January 11th 2019 at Foufounes Electriques in Montreal. So if you are in that area we hope to see you there !

TMR: How did everyone’s journey as a musician begin and who primarily influenced your craft whether it’s a person or a band?

Simon : This is a complicated question to summarize into a single straight forward answer. We’ve all been attracted into metal music around 15 y/o with old bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica or Black Sabbath to name a few. Afterwards, we discovered bands such as Children of Bodom, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica and so on. Looking at those guys certainly gave us the will to do something similar and grab our first guitar, bass or drum kit. What comes after is only hard work and dedication to the craft, the art and mainly because we love it. It’s too hard to pinpoint one artist who changed everything. We all got influenced by the same artists/bands while growing up and ended up together by a twist of fate, a lucky twist that is.  

TMR: Go into detail please about the album title and ep and what everything means.

Simon : Since it’s a 4 song mini album, the album title doesn’t summarise the overall topic of the songs on the record. We wanted a title that gives a statement about what’s coming next. So, this mini-album is kind of a Prelude to what’s about to come. Also, it keeps to mystery about it. What’s the outcome? We like when things are not too literal and can be interpreted in a great number of ways. So we’d like to say to make it your own. What’s the meaning? You tell us!

  1. Who designed the EP cover? It looks cool!

– Vincent: Thanks, glad you like it! This artwork has been done by Mikio Murakami from Silent Q design. He also did the artwork for our previous album The Human Paradox. The work this guy does is simply amazing, you should definitely check out his site.

TMR: You have 8 hours of driving 4 hours each way. What 5 bands discographies do you choose?

  • Toto
  • Scar Symmetry
  • Pink Floyd
  • Periphery
  • Twelve Foot Ninja

TMR: How did your music video for “From The Above And To The Stars” go? Describe your experience.

Vincent: It’s been a really cool experience but a lot of work ! It was not our first music video so we knew what to expect but you really have to stay focus and patient. The video has been filmed in 2 segments, one day with the full band and another one with Simon only. The first day with the full band took approximately 12 hours to shoot. We filmed every band member one at a time and everyone did 8-10 shots each on a 8 minute song…so that is why it was quite long.  We rented a light kit to create like a space/sci-fi ambience to fit with the theme of the song. It took another 3-4 hours just to install the light kit and set everything, so yeah, it’s been a lot of work but we are really proud of the results!


Originally published on Technical Music Review. Republished with permission.



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