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Jessica Rylan (Interview!)
Posted on 2005.07.13 at 04:29
Jessica Rylan
i think this description from the Nightlight Bar & Club website is a fine intro to this extraordinary artist: Jessica Rylan is a Boston sound artist who designs and builds her own modular synths. Jessica is also Can’t. She sings pretty songs through boxes that cause the sound of her voice to scatter and flutter all over the place, often while demonstrating some of her amazing dancing skills. The effect is probably my favorite performance I’ve seen here in the past year …One gets the distinct impression that she causes dozens of meaningful crushes every time she plays.
There's a lot to say about Jessica Rylan, even before discussing her sound. One of the many things i found unusual about her was that she recognized the role her music played, and could express it. (seen here, describing her nom de plume of sorts, Can't). Another one of her other prodigious qualities is that she makes the synthesizers she plays! She seems especially keen on constructing modular analog synthesizers.
In connection to her synth building, Jessica Rylan is a manipulator of sounds, and could be seen on the experimental noise branch of the electronic music tree. She acheives some hypnotic results on songs like "casting a spell", "wishing well" and 'New Secret". The harshness, rhythm and novelty of her noise yields an experience you just can't find listening to other types of music. Other songs hint at a different, more consonant seeming side of music altogehter. Recently her songs have mutated to a different, more melodic style. I for one love the primal sound of some of her synth tones.
her machines
her mp3's
her live performance video
all from her website
Though she tells me about the video: That video's actually from 2002, I don't really play quite like that any more, a lot of my songs have lyrics and melodies now. wait she tells me? thats right, I got to email interview her!!
Jessica Rylan Interview
Q:Who were your favorite bands/musicans as a teenager?
When I was in high school I really liked Slayer, Mudhoney, and Hole
(first record only). But my all-time favorite record (since I took it
out of the library in eighth grade and copied it over a Wham tape) is
Velvet Underground White Light/White Heat.
Q: when did you first decide you wanted to make your own synthesizer?
Before I ever played one, or really knew for sure what it would sound like.
Q:some synthesizers (such as mine) use "Analog Modeling Synthesis", do
you think its pointless for digital synthesizers to try and mimic
analog?
It does seem pointless to me, but I'm building an analog computer
right now, which is definitely more pointless!
Q:You said on your website that you don't use reverb, delay or
anything that messes with time. the sentence that follows that
statement says "The music is an intensely personal investigation of
being alive in the instant." are these connected? Would it be too much
to extrapolate from that idea that you view your music not as
psychological (in which the past can echo) but as physical? i.e. a
representation of people, places, or events, rather than an evocation
of emotional states?
I have a lot of feelings when I'm playing music, and it can change
really fast. I like it the best when I don't think about anything,
then my body and my feelings are the same, sound assumes a physical
presence with the other surrounding objects, and the past and the
present become the same, a continuous accumulation. I fear a machine
that changes time would break the spell.
i think this description from the Nightlight Bar & Club website is a fine intro to this extraordinary artist: Jessica Rylan is a Boston sound artist who designs and builds her own modular synths. Jessica is also Can’t. She sings pretty songs through boxes that cause the sound of her voice to scatter and flutter all over the place, often while demonstrating some of her amazing dancing skills. The effect is probably my favorite performance I’ve seen here in the past year …One gets the distinct impression that she causes dozens of meaningful crushes every time she plays.
There's a lot to say about Jessica Rylan, even before discussing her sound. One of the many things i found unusual about her was that she recognized the role her music played, and could express it. (seen here, describing her nom de plume of sorts, Can't). Another one of her other prodigious qualities is that she makes the synthesizers she plays! She seems especially keen on constructing modular analog synthesizers.
In connection to her synth building, Jessica Rylan is a manipulator of sounds, and could be seen on the experimental noise branch of the electronic music tree. She acheives some hypnotic results on songs like "casting a spell", "wishing well" and 'New Secret". The harshness, rhythm and novelty of her noise yields an experience you just can't find listening to other types of music. Other songs hint at a different, more consonant seeming side of music altogehter. Recently her songs have mutated to a different, more melodic style. I for one love the primal sound of some of her synth tones.
her machines
her mp3's
her live performance video
all from her website
Though she tells me about the video: That video's actually from 2002, I don't really play quite like that any more, a lot of my songs have lyrics and melodies now. wait she tells me? thats right, I got to email interview her!!
Jessica Rylan Interview
Q:Who were your favorite bands/musicans as a teenager?
When I was in high school I really liked Slayer, Mudhoney, and Hole
(first record only). But my all-time favorite record (since I took it
out of the library in eighth grade and copied it over a Wham tape) is
Velvet Underground White Light/White Heat.
Q: when did you first decide you wanted to make your own synthesizer?
Before I ever played one, or really knew for sure what it would sound like.
Q:some synthesizers (such as mine) use "Analog Modeling Synthesis", do
you think its pointless for digital synthesizers to try and mimic
analog?
It does seem pointless to me, but I'm building an analog computer
right now, which is definitely more pointless!
Q:You said on your website that you don't use reverb, delay or
anything that messes with time. the sentence that follows that
statement says "The music is an intensely personal investigation of
being alive in the instant." are these connected? Would it be too much
to extrapolate from that idea that you view your music not as
psychological (in which the past can echo) but as physical? i.e. a
representation of people, places, or events, rather than an evocation
of emotional states?
I have a lot of feelings when I'm playing music, and it can change
really fast. I like it the best when I don't think about anything,
then my body and my feelings are the same, sound assumes a physical
presence with the other surrounding objects, and the past and the
present become the same, a continuous accumulation. I fear a machine
that changes time would break the spell.