Dylan discusses the broad influences, aesthetic choices, and live band energy that shape Thief’s uniquely heavy, ethereal sound. Read below!
Describe your sound in 3 words
Dungeon Pop
Sermons from the Pit marks your fifth full-length album. What core themes or central narrative bring this record together? Looking back at your debut in 2016 through to today, how has your sound evolved over the years?
I had sort of gone through a collapse and renewal and this record are is the digging into my core beliefs about myself and the world. These are the sermons delivered from what was uncovered in the process of descending into these “pit layers.” The layers deepen from existential dread, violence, wordly disillusionment and the collapse of romantic and cosmic meaning. I wanted a means of removing my central reference point and just observing it all. Ironically, once it all came together, it ends in letting go.
I find the sound of Thief now more focused and personal. The lyrics, to me at least, are less obscure. The production is leagues better than when I started. You really get to hear me evolve as a producer/mixer as the albums go on. I also feel like the albums have gotten heavier. Once Thief started to find its footing as a live band – which I don’t think we totally did until a few years ago – I think that influenced my writing. I felt more confident in writing that sort of thing and I love playing the heavier stuff on stage.
Specifically for ‘Violent Bloom” you mentioned that it represents the “terminus of trying to find a truth that is older than the gods combined.” Did writing this album provide answers to that search, or did it end in disillusionment?
It’s a never ending story. Once you’ve “found it,” it has changed. It’s very alive. I think in experiencing whatever the track was about was finding it. Life is a violent bloom and we’re all using concepts or dogma or system to make meaning of it all when it isn’t an intellectual answer. There is no answer but there is also no no-answer!
What is your process for sampling and manipulating choral music to make it feel both holy and damaged?
I’d say maybe 70% of the source material is from old vinyl records I pick up at random music shops. I walk straight to the used classical section in the back. They’re usually super old so, in a sense they’re already degraded. Most are a wobbly-popping piece of flimsy wax that has that built in character. If I need to take degradation into my own hands, I really love Sketch Cassette by Aberrant DSP. It can really wear down a sound in a warm, natural interesting way. It can also totally annihilate it.
On the topic of annihilation, I used a technique I call “catherdral clipping” a lot on this album. You basically take a sound source, push it through a short convolution reverb, and then use as many gain utilities as possible to crank it up to 2-300%. It just totally tears everything apart and when you tweak it just right it becomes this overblown mass of interesting artifacts and tails.
Reverb is the cheat code for “holy” sounding. If something needs a bit of elevation or etherealness, I often reach for Eventide’s Blackhole. However I actually tried to use reverb less on these last two records. I’ve learned too much reverb can smear a mix too much and it was also a way to force myself to work with samples in a different way.
Artists and people that have influenced you?
Tons and tons. I’m just a product of my influences. Bjork, Aphex Twin, Ulver, Elaine Radigue, Portishead, Darkthrone, Emperor, Radiohead, Emptyset… I could fill up the page, but those immediately come to mind. Anyone who does their own thing with complete focus and a sense of freedom.
Favorite darkest and mind blending idm drop you wish you had composed yourself?
Oh god probably the ending of “Death Fuck” by The Tuss (an alias of Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin). The ending “drop” starting around 5:12 until the end where it gets really choppy is absolutely mental and completely rewired my brain the first time I heard it. Still does. He’s one of the very few people I have ever heard create, like, a psychoacoustic effect with their music.
When it comes to live performance, how do you adapt dense, glitched electronic production and layered atmospheres into a physical, live act?
I knew from the jump I didn’t want to just be up there with a computer, so I got a live band together to make it come to life. My drummer (Robert Chiang) and bassist (Chris Hackman) both really help workout live interpretations of the songs. They really are the meat of the live show. They’re the base of the triangle while I fill out the rest, handling tracks, samples and keys.
What’s the story behind the name?
I really wish I had a special story for the origin of the name, but I don’t. I just liked how “THIEF” looked aesthetically, and it made sense to me that I’d be ripping these old choir bits. All of the meaning behind the name I see now didn’t really surface until years afterwards, like how Hermes is the trickster god, an archetype I relate to and I feel comes out in a lot of the lyrics. Or like the thief is a recurring theme in Zen Buddhism, which I practice, that represents someone that steals away all your ideas and concepts. I see that in the genre-bending. I hadn’t encountered that until a few years ago, surprisingly. A lot of the time when I’m making anything, the meaning doesn’t really reveal itself to me until later.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Dear god, Dylan, please save the 10 Bitcoin you bought in 2012 to buy drugs on the internet. You won’t recieve them and you’ll end up rich!
Thank you!
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