Parts Disappear or Change: An Interview with Loscil

Since first recording as Loscil in 1998, Scott Morgan has produced some of most sincere and striking music fluidly floating across minimal techno, ambient, and super-subtle experimental territories. With albums and EPs released by the likes of Kranky, Ghostly International, Gizeh, and Glacial Movements and occasional collaborations (with bvdub and fieldhead, for starters), Morgan also remains one of the more versatile musicians in the ambient and experimental worlds. These works have even spilled over the boundaries of normal formats, jumping across the aisle into video game and film soundtracks. Just after announcing a set of European dates and Kranky’s reissue of the project’s landmark 2006 Plume LP, we caught up with Morgan to find out about his earliest musical inspirations, his time spent as a drummer in Dan Bejar’s Destroyer, and a few recent highlights from Morgan’s almost two-decade-long career as Loscil.

What was the first piece of music you obsessed over? And instrument?
I think the first piece of music I remember truly obsessing over was The Velvet Underground’s “Heroin.” I was probably around 15 years old. I remember listening to that whole record on repeat but particularly that song. I think it was John Cale’s viola that drew me in. It was the first time I had heard an instrument really be something other than melodic, rhythmic or harmonic. It was texture and tone and really emanated this feeling of pain and suffering but was oddly beautiful at the same time. My first drone experience. Although saxophone was my first instrument, it was the guitar that really drew me into the idea that I could make my own music and express myself. I don’t play a lot anymore but still consider it and the drums my main instruments.

What was the last piece of music you enjoyed?
I’ve been enjoying into some solo cello stuff of late. Really enjoying the Scelsi solo cello works namely the Trilogy: Three Ages of Man. These works sound so simple until you see the score and realize the complexity of the writing and the demands on the performer. I’d love to hear these live.

Your work with Destroyer predates Loscil by a few years. When did you begin with Dan Bejar, and when did you begin working on your solo material?
Dan and I were roommates in the mid 90’s. We lived in a big group house with a band room in the basement. We all collaborated and played in each others bands and such. Dan started Destroyer in that house and we became his band by default. At the same time I was going to university for music, studying composition and also electroacoustic and computer music. So before loscil was officially a project I was making a lot of music. Very little of that was released, though I did have a track on this Canadian Electroacoustic Community compilation in ’96 or so. When I moved out of that house with Dan and friends, I lived alone and that’s when loscil was born, late in the 90’s.

What type of music did you begin working on solo?
I did a lot of different stuff throughout my youth and when I was in university. When I started experimenting with samplers and software just after school I was making a lot of very strange beat-driven music with jazz samples. Very odd to listen to today. The guitar often came and went from my solo experimentation. I wrote songs too. All over the map really.

Loscil’s been a project for about 15 years now. Did you envision it lasting this long? What has changed for you in that time?
No, I can’t say I envisioned it but the project has taken on a life of its own. I would say a lot has changed but also there is a thread that has remained the same. I think the project has its own identity in a way. I like to approach this identity in different ways but enjoy the confines of the history and trajectory the project seems to be on. It’s a great place to be a craftsperson – where creativity and invention get automatically restricted by the sound world that the project occupies.

You’ve tended to build albums around a theme or one-word concept: ‘Plume’ (gradual movement), ‘Submers’ (submarines), etc. What strikes you about these themes, and how do you settle on or become consumed by one?
I think I’m predominantly in love with the idea of an album – as in a collection of material that is presented as a unified whole. I think the pieces of an album should speak to one another. It feels more appropriate somehow for otherwise abstract, instrumental music to be presented with hints of context. Not too much, just enough to frame the music a bit. The how part is really a mystery to me. It’s usually an intuitive process. I can be an obsessive person and enjoy obsessing over seemingly mundane things. I think absolutely everything is fascinating if you absorb yourself in it.

Almost exclusively, you’ve worked with Kranky. How did you come into contact with the label and what makes you continue working with them?
I sent them a demo in 1999 or 2000. They liked it and Joel from Kranky and I started talking. That turned into Triple Point and that was that. Joel is a straight shooter. He has become a good friend as well as a valuable ally. I feel lucky to have found my way into the Kranky family and it just feels right.

You’ve also self-released a handful of EPs on your Bandcamp. What determines which material goes where?
Most of the material on Bandcamp is either a version of existing works or it’s what you might call a special project. Sometimes you have material around you want to do something with and Bandcamp is a decent way to get it out there in a simple fashion. I don’t think I’ll ever put a full new release on there but it’s a great way to release extras.

Aside from continuing work with Destroyer, you seem to keep busy with other projects outside normal albums, like with Hundreds. How far into the game’s development did you begin composing sounds?
Those guys brought me in pretty early. I spent close to a year going back and forth with them with the music and the sound effects. They really made me feel like part of the team. It was a fun ride and something I’m really proud to have been involved in.

Dan appeared on “The Making of Grief Point,” the last track of Endless Falls, and Ashley Pitre contributed vocals on “Bleeding Ink” from Sea Island. Do you see yourself asking them or anyone else for vocals in the future? Do you create the music for voice, or is it the opposite?
I’m interested in voice. I would love to do some choral works actually. Dan’s vocal was entirely his own. I merely asked him to do something “spoken” and he literally just handed me the recording. Which was amazing. Ashley’s voice appears more like an instrument. The part she sang was already written and I asked her to sing it because I thought the beautiful texture of her voice would fit nicely in that piece.

You’ve had guest musicians on your albums before, but haven’t done many full-on collaborations. How did ‘Erebus’ with bvdub come together?
Alessandro who runs Glacial Movements suggested the idea. Brock and I started a dialogue and devised a process and then just did it. Brock’s a very productive fellow so I sent him some ideas to start with and he just went to town on them, exploding them into these epic pieces. It was an interesting collaboration where we ended up just letting the process kind of guide us and take over. Sometimes that’s a great way to create – to just give in to the process.

And how did the collaboration with Kelly Wyse come together?
Kelly and I were introduced by Rafael Irisarri. Raf puts on a festival in Seattle called Substrata. Raf has played with Kelly in Orcas and other projects. He invited me to play shortly after I released City Hospital with Wist Rec. City Hospital kind of features some piano because it was written to accompany the Malcolm Lowry book Lunar Caustic, the subject of which was a pianist. Anyway, Raf thought we could try to do a live version of this. We played it at the festival and later recorded it among other things for the Intervalo release. Kelly is such a great player and easy person to work with. I had him back for a couple tracks on Sea Island and always enjoy playing with him.

When did you decide to put out the companion 100 Minutes remix album, and how easily did that project come together?
I decided to do that as the game was coming out as a way to celebrate the release. Up to that point, I don’t think I had commissioned a remix of my works before. It was a lot of work to get it all going but I’m super thankful I have such an amazing and strong community of talent around me. I’m a big admirer of everyone on that album and was utterly surprised and blown away by what people did with the source.

Do you get approached with projects that aren’t strictly music-based?
Sometimes. I did a couple of print works with a local print maker in Vancouver. You can find them on my website. I’m actually really interested in this kind of thing and would love more time to explore the visualization of sound. Otherwise, not too much really far removed from audio and music.

‘Sea Island’ includes a number of pieces that you worked out live before recording. Do you generally work everything out in the studio? How did that affect the end result, or process overall?
Ya, this was pretty unusual for me. My usual process is really isolated-me alone with the works until I feel they are ready to present. I think this process makes the pieces feel a little “tighter” which is not necessarily a good or bad thing. They just get a few editing passes from being played over and over. Parts disappear or change. But I don’t know that I prefer this. I think I like the slow moving, isolated approach a little more. It gives me more time to investigate the work without that feeling of “entertaining” a live audience.

When did you and Kranky decide to reissue ‘Plume’ in particular, and why that album?
It was at least a year ago… around the time Sea Island came out. Kranky mentioned the idea of going into the back catalogue and re-releasing something. Plume was my choice mostly because it is the most recent of my albums never to have been issued on vinyl.

Do you have any plans to reissue the other non-vinyl albums?
There has been talk about others. First Narrows would probably be my next choice but no definitive plans at this point. Unfortunately, vinyl pressing is a slow process.

How do you view ‘Plume’ now, so many years later?
Honestly, I struggle with all my past work. When I listen, I can’t help but find so many things I don’t like and question a lot of my decisions. That being said, Plume holds a special place in my heart as it was created around the time my first child was born and in many ways is very connected to her. “Charlie” was created for her. When we first saw her ultrasound we thought her profile looked like Charlie Brown so we nicknamed her Charlie. The piece was imagined as a kind of womb soundtrack. The heartbeat throughout and the flowing textures of blood moving and such.

Pre-orders of Plume are available now via Kranky.