Perturbator: Death Of The Old Model

PERTURBATOR has been at the forefront of the synthwave scene since it’s very beginnings. Rising up to be one of the most renowned names in the genre, it may have occurred to fans on his 2017 release The New Model that he wasn’t as comfortable confining himself within the rules the genre dictates. With new record Lustful Sacraments taking a step in a completely new direction, we caught up with band mastermind James Kent about storytelling through music, collaboration and moving naturally with inspirations.

While music is an industry, it’s also more importantly an artform and a way to tell stories and explore truths. For PERTURBATOR, while at one time synthwave was a great way to express himself, it evidently lost its appeal, and new muses and creative outlooks became of interest. “I was finding inspiration in other genres of music that I love like industrial. With New Model it clicked very well,” band mastermind James Kent reflects. “As a music writer to do whatever I liked with it, without having to worry about if it fitting any genre. It felt so much better, and with this latest album it’s kind of the same, to try different inspirations. So, it’s more like gothic, post-folk orientated. It feels so much better to write without having to worry does it sound like PERTURBATOR? Well yes it does, because it’s me. I get to choose what PERTURBATOR sounds like.”

The freedom of perspective, to be the artist you are happiest with as a person rather than an icon of a scene is pretty difficult. Many lose themselves beneath the baggage of what others expect them to be, but on Lustful Sacraments, things are freer than they’ve been for a long time for PERTURBATOR. The questioning of his motives for changing style and direction might feel like a daunting thing for some, but he isn’t concerned. “I’d already [done the scary thing] with New Model,” he clarifies. “I would say that record was divisive. A lot of people didn’t like it, but then some grew to love it and I’m sure people will be the same on this one. It’s all part of the game; if you do what you want to do, and try to make something you’re passionate about without worrying who is going to listen, maybe people aren’t going to react to it well. But that’s okay. The most important thing is that it’s something you’re proud of.”

With the weight of holding on to a genre off his shoulders gone, it’s evident that this are in a much better place creatively now. “There’s a mix of a lot of things on the album, it’s not constricted to paying homage to music of the eighties,” he laughs. “The thing was that I’d really said everything I wanted to say and could say with synthwave. [But with this record] it’s more like something that came out very intuitively.”

Quite why there was this intuitive break from the sound PERTURBATOR had explored before, appears to be a response to that earlier work. “I believe it was just a reaction to the previous album,” he puts simply. “That was about a cold, mechanical, digital world, it was very industrial. It fit the world I had in my head. With this one I wanted to do the opposite, something warm and inviting, almost alluring. I wanted to make something organic, but to stay dark. I was trying to think of things I like. Movies, paintings, photographs, and came up with a basic story, just as a frame for the album. Its much more based on the human emotions.”

The subject matter is just as important as the sound itself too, and this latest record has a much more human touch to it. “Just like with music, I think I’ve done enough sci fi-orientated stuff, I wanted to focus on the human condition. It’s all about what people do, [I tried to be] more personal. I guess you could say I was writing with a smaller scope. I’m not trying to be William Gibson again; I’m trying to write stories about people. What they do, they’re fuck ups and so on.”

PERTURBATOR is evidently well versed as a storyteller as much as he is a musician. With the change in ideas came a change in sound, and a development into a re-imagining of bigger themes from a new angle. Like an old film, discovered by contemporary viewers, there’s a sense of familiarity and age in what, to their eyes, is new material. For this record, that complicated, contrasting dynamic of the old being new, has been rediscovered outside of the realms of homage and nostalgia. It’s a similar relationship with one particular film that actually had some influence on PERTURBATOR’s current work. “Metropolis was a big inspiration for the album,” Kent tells us enthusiastically. “It’s a movie that I’ve watched many times but every time I watch it, I discover something new about it. When you first watch it, you’re so taken by the visual majesty of it, but when you re-watch it you realise it’s a story about the upper class, and how they dominate lower class workers. All the symbolism becomes much more clear with each viewing.”

With that sensibility in mind, the way in which music itself is approached on Lustful Sacraments is a huge leap away from anything he’s put out before. “I knew I wanted songs rather than just electronic instrumentals. I wanted it to be almost like pop, but dark-pop,” James describes as we comment on the way the record unravels. “I wrote the tracks in the order they appear and it all unravelled in my head as I was writing the album. By the six or seventh track I was already projecting where the album would end, and where to put vocals and ambient breaks and all that stuff.”

When you consider the human aspect that PERTURBATOR is trying to reconnect with, the most obvious real-life example listeners can link is the collaborative aspect of his music. Most of his albums includes features, which makes the effort of bringing music to life as a solo artist much more person-orientated and less isolating. After the release of New Model, the collaborative element of PERTURBATOR makes for the most human record he’s made to date. “I’m kind of used to working with other people, on different albums. It’s the first time I’ve worked with these people, and some friends too. So that definitely helps, it makes the music feel more alive and more organic, especially since this is an album that has a lot of vocals on it, as oppose to my previous works. It elevates it to a point beyond electronic music that you can have on in the background. Now it becomes more like an actual music album.”

It’s been a journey getting to this part of his career, and while it’s moving in directions many won’t have anticipated, it’s been one that PERTURBATOR has enjoyed every moment of. “It’s been almost ten years, I started PERTURBATOR when I was very young,” he reflects. “It definitely feels very crazy for me! When I started, I didn’t think anyone would listen to the music I make. I put it on the internet and it just blew up, that was insane. It’s been a great journey; I have nothing to complain about at all! I’m still on this path, I’m still amazed I can still make albums and that my inspirations haven’t gone away. It’s pretty cool.”

Lustful Sacraments is out now via Blood Music.

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