Anil Sebastian

The leader and founder of the London Contempory Choir, Anil Sebastian, is soon to release his brand new album 'Mesonoxian'. We find out a little more about why it's so highly anticipated.

Listen to his new single 'We Both Know' from the new album.

FFY: Your single 'Human' is a complex mix of vocals and electronic instrumentals, as is a lot of your music - how do you even begin combining such a collection of sounds?

Mesonoxian was made by layering up many sounds into blocks and then carving out songs from it as opposed to composing atom by atom. It’s not very efficient and it takes time - scraping back the layers - often almost entirely. In that respect, it’s a bit more like sculpture than painting. I wrote ‘Human’ with Andrew R Bird. He has a taste for unusual instruments and sounds - and is really masterful at making them. For example, he did the bass programming on the track. I also do a lot of improvisation which gets cut up, and thrown back into the track randomly - and I see what works. Although having said that, I think in making this record I’ve got better at imagining what I want and then making it happen. Another vital thing is collaboration. Having my brother Ingmar and Cherif Hashizume on the production team also really makes the set of sets we use a lot wider.

FFY: Your new album comes out next month, what's in store for you after that? tour? festivals…?

Yes, both - can’t wait to announce stuff as it takes shape. Before all that, I’m going to Iceland and Canada. I’m already actually a fair way into writing my next album - and am feeling the need for some nature to breathe some space into it. I’m also plotting the first record of London Contemporary Voices (the choir I founded with Didier Rochard). Hrim an Iceland-London project I’m in with Ösp Eldjárn and Cherif Hashizume, will be releasing it’s first EP which I’m really excited about. So there’s a lot to come next year!

FFY: Talking of your new album, can we expect any surprise collaborations or musical variations of your current sound on there?

London Contemporary Voices, the choir I founded with Didier Rochard has some epic moments on the record. Last year, I co-wrote and sang a track called Drumheart with Manu Delago (who plays with Bjork and Anoushka Shankar) for his album. He did some amazing hang drum playing on one of my album's tracks called 'Tearless Sighs' which Cherif Hashizume and I then manipulated and created sounds from - that is a really special track to me.

FFY: What's the best thing to happen in your career so far, as well as the hardest part?

I’ve been writing some songs with Guy Sigsworth who is on the cusp of releasing some really incredible new music of his own. He’s been a major part on some of my favourite album’s of all time (for example Bjork’s Homogenic & Vespertine) - so it’s been really inspiring working with him. Didier and I put on a London Contemporary Voices show at Union Chapel last Summer and for me that was the best thing - I was on such a high as it was the coming together of so many artists I love and admire - London Contemporary Voices, Guy Sigsworth, Imogen Heap, Manu Delago, Nitin Sawhney and Shlomo all contributed to the show - it really felt like family backstage. Take a look here.

FFY: With the increased use of the likes of YouTube and Soundcloud, do you feel the music industry is much easier to get into, or harder due to it being over-saturated?

I think it’s easier and cheaper to create music and release music than it’s ever been - which is great for artists but tough for studios. However - the core of the industry is still as impenetrable and mysterious as it’s always been for a lot of artists. Most artists don't really know how it works - and it’s still very much the case that getting your music into the hands of managers, labels etc… is extremely difficult. I think it’s very true that artists need to be all things these days - manager, label, businessperson, marketeer, producer etc... That’s partly because of over-saturation - but I think it’s more to do with money. People in the industry need to see that you’ve come a certain distance on your own first before they can safely invest - they can’t afford to take the risks they used to.

FFY: Do you have any unique talents other than music?

I’m not sure it really counts as a talent but... I did a degree in Physics & Philosophy. My brother Ingmar did Astronomy and so we named our label 'Relative State Records' after Hugh Everett III’s Relative State interpretation of Quantum Mechanics… (… we’re physics geeks). Other than that, I can lick my nose with my tongue. Fairly useless in most other regards.