The future of I, Symptom’s next project lies in the hands of the listeners. You check out the songs and you rate them from one to ten – those that receive the highest number of collective points make the final cut, regardless of the creator’s preferences. We caught up with the producer and songwriter to find out more about this unique concept and how it’s all going so far.
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Things are really starting to take shape with this new album. Are you excited to find out what people think, and do you now have a selection of favourite’s in mind that you’re secretly hoping will make the cut?
Oh yes, even I was surprised when I realized that eleven songs are already there (actually, there were more, but I was not satisfied with all of them, so I did a pre-selection). Yes, I’m really excited! To be honest, I secretly hope that all songs are strong, but I decided that there will be no fillers on the album, so I’m happy to get rid of the weak ones.
How have things been going so far, are you tracking the results as they come in? Are you nervous?
I get email notifications when new results come in, and I’m like “Oh my!!! Let’s check it out ASAP!!!”, I have butterflies in my stomach all the time. On the other hand, I have preliminary results back from 2016 when it all started, and I have received various scores and comments so I’m prepared for any kind of feedback.
Which are your personal favourite two tracks from the collection and why?
For me, each song has its own story and special meaning, it is hard to pick two. You know my life has been upside down recently, it has been a real mess, an emotional roller coaster, but it has also been a great inspiration for some of the songs, for example Miles Above the Baseline, Kraken, I_AM_STRONG, Triple Exclamation Mark, and Am I Nobody. I’d pick Am I Nobody and I_AM_STRONG because these have given me a wow!-experience, since they’ve been created via unusual workflow with unexpected results and out-of-the-box ideas, in collaboration (the former with JOHN3:16 and the latter with my brother).
What will be the title for the new album, or if it’s undecided yet, how will you come to define it?
I’ve been thinking about the title. There are some song titles that could also be album titles like Chaos Is My Middle Name or Triple Exclamation Mark. These seemed to be good ideas, but I have found some albums online called Chaos Is My Name (by Khylst) and Exclamation Mark (by Jay Chou). So now I’m thinking about something else, Pi Radians, for example (but that is far from final). I’m also planning to gather ideas from the fans and create a poll about it. How many more tracks will you release for the public vote before the final project is arranged? Currently I cannot tell you an exact number, but I can tell you that there are some songs under construction, which I’d like to add to the ??? (not implemented) collection soon. There is a new phase in my life so now I can finally focus 100% on creating I, Symptom stuff.
What will you do with the tracks that don’t make it through, will their be a side project or will they be left as singles or personal recordings?
I haven’t decided yet. There was a song called Vanilla People which was rated low. That specific song won’t be released, but the lyrics will be published as a poem because it turns out that I was right when I thought that I want something different than a sleep-and-eat-work-and-reproduce kind of vanilla lifestyle. When it comes to other songs, they might become singles.
Is there an underlying thread or concept to these tracks, or will it be a project purely for the people who support you?
There is a concept, it’s about bad decisions people make, the nondeterministic paths people take, it’s about lies, it’s about secrets, it’s about the cold silence and the comforting noise that surrounds us, it’s about people interacting with each other, misunderstanding each other, judging each other. These are the things nowadays that keep my mind busy and appear in the songs I create.
Is there anything else you’d like to let us know about the upcoming release or your plans for the near future?
First of all, the album is going to be a collection of art, much more than the songs. You can expect remixes, videos, digital art, literature, and so on, some of my friends and I are currently working on it. About future plans… I, Symptom is part of The Germ Project, a collab concept album produced by Mangabros, to be released on June 30th.
Also, there are some other projects, which are a bit different. Currently I’m working on an Arduino-based audio processing device for live shows. This is a great challenge, and I don’t know when I finish it, but I’m going to post updates on social media. Another project is Symptomatik, a virtual launchpad that I’ve been recently working on, my plan is to improve it in the near future.
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Check out the album contenders over on Bandcamp and rate the tracks via Survey Monkey. Find out what we thought in our review. Find and follow I, Symptom on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
