Delayed with...Quarion
Yanneck Salvo better known as Quarion, has been a staple in the underground house music scene for almost 15 years. The Geneva born, Berlin-based artist just recently released his debut album 'Shades' via legendary Swiss imprint Drumpoet Community. With this in mind, Theresa Baumel spoke with Yanneck at large about how the album came along, deep house as a genre, and much more.
To accompany the interview, we at Delayed are excited to showcase a phenomenal mix from Quarion, recorded live at a recent gig at Folklor, one of the best clubs in Lausanne.
You just released ‘Shades’, an album where the tracks are called after 9 different shades of blue. Please tell us more about how that came together..
I've been wanting to record a solo album ever since I started dabbling with production in the late 90's but I've never found the right “tone” to fully bring that project to life. However, at the end of summer 2016, I went through a bit of emotional turmoil and I found myself working on new music every day pretty much until the spring of 2017. I made a lot of tracks in different genres and I noticed after a while that some of them had a particular vibe or “colour” that resonated with some of my deepest feelings. And for the first time in 20 years, I felt that I had a real good shot of finishing an album which would include these specific tracks.
What was first: a concept you had in mind or did the music evolve given different influences and then BLUE was the connecting theme?
I would say that the concept came naturally and I wasn't thinking beforehand to name these tracks as colours. But when it was time to find names, I thought it made perfect sense as all these compositions seem as if they're all in the same colour palette. At least, this is how I feel it anyway!
What is - according to you - the perfect setting to listen to your album? My personal recommendation would be a sunny afternoon in an empty Robert Johnson as it fits the soundsystem perfectly. What is yours?
It's hard for me to recommend a perfect setting because I believe that the beauty of music lies in the fact that it doesn't really belong to the artist anymore when it gets released and each listener experiences it differently... It was just important for me that one could enjoy “Shades” in all possible settings, whether it's at home, in the club or on the move. It was also fundamental for me that you could appreciate the album as well as while doing something else than staying focused on the music for 57 minutes.
I've otherwise never been to Robert Johnson unfortunately but the setting you describe seems perfect indeed!
To what extent do you get involved with the artwork of your releases?
I usually leave that to the people behind the label although I'll always retain a “vote” to give an opinion on the artwork. “Shades” was a different process because I knew very early on that I wanted to work with Natasha McDowell for the artwork. I stumbled upon her pieces pretty much around the same time when I began doing sketches for “Shades” and I felt that her art was perfectly complementing my music.
What was your biggest learning, if any, in the process?
Not so much of a learning but more of a confirmation of what I've been suspecting for a long time: continuity and discipline really pays off! Working on this album was probably the first time in my life where I was properly doing music every day for about 6 months. I wouldn't necessarily work the whole day but I would get at least 3 hours of music done by the end of the day.
I used to have a different schedule where I would maybe work intensively for 5 days then take a 3-4 day break and then start again. But working on music every day was a welcoming change and was a definitely a key factor to bringing “Shades” to fruition.
Can you describe a bit how a day in the studio usually goes and what your production process looks like?
I usually don't have a specific plan that I'm following when I make music. One of the constant “rule” is that I like moving the equipment around. As soon as I get too comfortable with a certain set-up, I know that I'll get bored after a few days so I'll start patching synths differently or giving myself some limitations...
One thing that I've really noticed in the last 5 years is that I tend to work less and less with software and plugins. I'm currently using Ableton Live mostly as a multi-track recorder and a mixing desk and rarely open up a synth plug-in as I'd rather just tweak my hardware devices.
I get exposed to screens almost every minute of my life now, whether its my phone, my computer at work, my computer at home or commercials on the street. So nowadays when I make music, I really don't feel like staring again at a screen so I try to limit my interaction with the computer as much as possible.
What is your quality filter? How did you know that a track was ready to be on ‘Shades’?
It was really about a specific vibe or “colour” that a track suggested which would decide if it could be a part of the “Shades” project or not. I must have composed about 30 tracks while working on “Shades” and about a third expressed the feelings that I was looking for. Sometime that “feeling” would arise instantly, as on “Ultramarine” and “Azure” (with Ripperton) which are basically one-take jams. Sometime it would take me weeks of refinement until I would obtain that particular feeling for a track.
When I listened to ‘Shades’ for the first time, I thought it was very sophisticated, isolee-esque almost. Listening to it again and again, it felt still subtle but I discovered a veiled drive, some acid-ic meandering well suited for a dancefloor. Do you usually test your tracks on the dancefloor or do you produce entirely beyond a club context?
Although I make club music, I rarely test out sketches of my tracks when I DJ. I usually play unreleased work only if I feel that the track is 95% made and I would mostly play it out to hear how it sounds on a big system and then make some adjustments for the final mix.
On the other hand, a good night out can be a good source of inspiration for when making music the next day!
Do you plan to take the album on a live tour?
No, I haven't played Live in a while and to be honest, I don't feel comfortable with performing Live at the moment. I definitely want to play live sets again in the future but I first want to make sure that I have something special to offer to the clubs.
Talking club context: deep house. In the German magazine Das Filter you recently said that deep house is the most unhip music imaginable. When I read that I thought you have a point here as I recently found myself defending deep house in discussions. What happened to the credibility of deep house?
At some point, every track was labelled “deep house” which in turn created a substantial backlash against the genre so it really carries a bad reputation nowadays. If I'm perfectly honest, I would say that this is a good thing because it really allowed to differentiate between those who were in it for the hype and those who were in it for the love.
You released your album on Drumpoet, a label very close to you. You also have your own label with Hauke Freer, Retreat, and it got a bit more silent there. Are there any plans to revive it?
Not at the moment, I regularly meet up with Hauke for coffee and we like to show each other's new music but we have no plans to revive Retreat any time soon.
As a seasoned and experienced producer, what advice would you give young producers? Even if I've been doing this for a long time, I'm constantly in the process of learning and trying new things so I don't really feel in the position to give some specific advice.
One point that I'd like to share though, is I think it's important for each producer to find her/his own voice in order to add something special to this huge choir that we call dance music! It might take months, years or even decades but I think it's fundamental as an artist to strive to come up with something personal.
Did you read what Jeff Mills recently posted on facebook? To quote him: “When you hear music, it’s only a percentage of what the producer is trying to say. That, they’re true and complete feelings are usually never completely extracted and translated down into accurate notes and chords. There is a lot of compromising going on in the process”. Can you relate to this, especially after the process of creating an album?
Oh yes, I can definitely relate to this quote! I would say that all of my release only translate about 75 to 90% of what I truly feel inside and I could count on two hands the tracks which really felt like expressing 100% what was going on in my soul at the moment. “Karasu”, “Knocking At The Door Of The Cosmos” plus “Indigo” and “Sapphire” on the album are definitely among these rare tracks that achieve that 100%.
Striving for this “100% track” is definitely one of the most difficult yet rewarding passions in my life and I intend to follow it as long a s possible!
You recorded a mix for us. How and where did you record it?
I was planning to do it at home but during the same period, I have just received a recording of a DJ set I performed a few weeks ago at the Folklor Club in Lausanne. That recording contained about 80% of the music I wanted to feature in the Delayed Mix and it exuded this incomparable “live” energy which lacks when you're mixing at home. So I felt that the recording suited perfectly what I wanted to present for the Delayed Mix! It features among others, some current favourites from Genius of Time, Jimpster, Lone or Ripperton and a few classics by Soundstream, Nautiluss or The Backwoods.