**TOGA ARCHIVES** top, shirt, pants, and shoes, **OLIVER SPENCER** tie, and **ALIGHIERI** bracelets.
London-based experimental composer [Visionist](https://www.instagram.com/visionist__/?hl=en) has released his latest record, [_A Call to Arms_](https://mute.ffm.to/visionist). This project expanded his boundaries as a musician, singing on the record for the first time. It’s a record that pushes and pulls the listener from a “daydream society” back to reality, utilizing a beautiful and surreal sound palette which is complemented by raw and open lyrics to ground the track. It’s a record for those who “take time and consider,” creating a soundtrack to open the eyes of the listener to break routine and start reflecting on the world around them.
Having collaborated with designers like William Francis Green, Liam Hodges, and Roxanne Farahmand, Visionist has made waves in the fashion space in addition to his musical experimentation and collaboration. On _A Call to Arms_, Visionist tapped Circuit Des Yeux’s Haley Fohr, Black Midi’s Morgan Simpson, interdisciplinary artist Lisa E. Harris, and many more to contribute to this dream of a record.
_Flaunt_ had the opportunity to speak to Visionist about his latest album, collaboration, isolation, and communication.
**PRADA** jacket, shirt, pants, and shoes, and **TOM WOOD** rings.
**How does it feel to finally get _A Call to Arms_ out into the world?**
Way less scary than I thought it would be. It’s just that this is the first album that I’m singing on.
I started in music via singing as a young teenager, or actually before becoming a teenager. I kind of left it in my mid-teens up to finishing school. I studied music and singing at school, but I stopped for so long. I’ve kind of gradually brought my voice back into my work as I’ve really explored communication and communicating my experience through music and sound. My last album,_Value_, was the first album that I used my voice instead of using other samples. I manipulated my own voice. With this record going into full-on song, I’ve really explored my craft and my journey through music.
**What can you tell me about the ‘daydream society’ that you can find in this album?**
With my music, I’m always trying to challenge the listener. In a way, in this album, there’s a lot of sound design that just takes you to a kind of escapism away from everything. The sound palette was very escapist, but then the lyrics of the song were raw and quite open. When you put it on these palettes, it neutralizes them in a weird way, which interests me.
On the first track of the album, I give you silence for thirty seconds. So where I create escapism, I’m also taking you back into reality. I think that’s kind of what I do in everything I talk about. Yes, it’s personal to me, but I think it’s also a concept and an experience of so many. I’m sonically taking you away, but I’m also giving you reality. I work in juxtaposition.
The ‘daydream society’ is where so much information is given to us as headlines and we start going about our lives without analytical thought. It also plays on society in cities like London, you get on the public transport and you put on your headphones. Your natural instinct is to shut away from everything and it takes you into this kind of daydream state. You’re not seeing your world as it really is because you want to shut it down and just get through it. I think, maybe with lockdown happening, this has been a time where people want to explore more. If they can get out, of course, this activity of going and doing things that they haven’t done or wouldn’t really do.
I stopped listening to music when I was traveling for a long time, because I really wanted to engage with the outside world. As someone who is often at home, making music by myself, I am quite isolated constantly unless I go out and play on tour and do all of that. A lot of my time making music is isolated, so I try to learn when I do get that opportunity to step out. I want to see it. I want to experience it.
**LOUIS VUITTON MEN’S** suit, **ALIGHIERI** necklaces, and talent’s own tie buckle.
**TOKYO JAMES** suit, **UNTITLAB** shoes, **ALIGHIERI** necklace, **TOM WOOD** necklace, and talent’s own necklace.
**So this album was produced before lockdown, how do you feel listening to it after the events of this last year?**
With this album, a lot of it was about trusting others. There’s way more collaboration, and that was about trusting others, experiencing new things, and having different creative ideas. That was something that I wanted to explore more, because I felt very comfortable in what I could do myself. I always really try to challenge myself on every record. I selected the people I wanted to collaborate with because I felt that in their music they deal with similar subject matters. This record was definitely about becoming comfortable with my voice when singing and just trusting others. It felt like a good creative experience and a good community experience. Listening back to the record sound-wise, it’s one of those things you can listen to and just attach it to a time.
Right now, yes COVID has happened and you can correlate the isolation situation that we’re all going through. But I probably felt that quite a lot through my career anyways, so it just happens to fit with the time.
**What did you learn the most about collaborating and including others within your work and your space?**
Conversation is key. An understanding of each other is key in collaboration to achieve the best work. I think before you even get into the practice of writing, you should always just have good conversion. Collaboration can be very playful. Something happens, a new spark, and how you react gives you that opportunity to react again. I found that opening myself up to these situations are crucial to practice going forward, whether that be working alone or with others.
**TOKYO JAMES** suit, **UNTITLAB** shoes, **ALIGHIERI** necklace, **TOM WOOD** necklace, and talent’s own necklace.
**TOKYO JAMES** suit, and **ALIGHIERI** necklace, **TOM WOOD** necklace, and talent’s own necklace.
**Were there any prominent ‘aha,’ or spark moments in creating this album?**
In the first track, Ben \[Hopcraft\] didn’t only perform as a singer, he also played clarinet on the record, which was funny, because we both played clarinet as eight-year-olds. I also worked with Francine \[Perry\], who’s Mute’s in-house mixing engineer. She recorded all the vocals and mixed the record, but we also worked creatively. We had a bunch of equipment that I don’t have at home. Having external equipment to use helped expand on existing ideas.
**Outside of this album, you’ve also done a number of fashion show soundtracks and have worked as a stylist and a model. What can you tell me about that?**
I’ve always been interested in fashion because I love detail. So whether you take it to fashion, music, or art, I’ve always been really interested in the detail and process. They’re all art forms. I’ve had my tracks used by various brands like Acne etc but also I’ve worked with a lot of more independent brands. They wouldn’t describe themselves as couture, but there is a similar process with these fashion designers that I see as artistry. I feel there’s always a connection to be had with music and fashion, and so it’s very natural for me to do these collaborations.
When people have asked me to model, The brands are also interested in my music. I like the conversations we have and I feel very comfortable modeling with them.
**TOGA ARCHIVES** top, shirt, and pants, **OLIVER SPENCER** tie, and **ALIGHIERI** bracelets.
**LOUIS VUITTON MEN’S** suit and shoes, **ALIGHIERI** ring and necklaces, and talent’s own tie buckle.
**LOUIS VUITTON MEN’S** suit, **ALIGHIERI** necklaces, and talent’s own tie buckle.
**What are you reading, listening to, or consuming at the moment?**
Reading not so much, but that’s something I definitely want to get more into. I’m not so good at reading whole books, but I will occasionally stumble across a poem or an interview that keeps my attention. I’m listening to a lot of singers and had spent a lot of time listening to ‘80s music. What fascinated me about the ‘80s is just how some of the songs were pretty experimental, yet they were pop songs. My sleeping pattern wasn’t great a few years back, and there’s this show on TV over in the UK. I was watching and I’m just like, “Whoa, that was a pop song.” That was fascinating for me because I feel like today we’re not given that freedom and that crossover isn’t the same. Obviously, I’m listening to a lot of newer music as well, a lot of ambient works and various electronic & acoustic stuff. I have a playlist that I do monthly called the Echoes and I select 12 tracks for that every month.
I also enjoy Adam Curtis documentaries, watching the patterns of life.
**What’s next for you?**
I have a collaboration to come with Okkyung Lee and some new music in the works. There’s hopefully going to be quite a bit more music for me to share over the next few years. I usually take some time away from music after an album to focus on performing. I feel like now I’m in a good headspace to probably be more prolific with my writing process. I’ve also recently done a recorded performance which I’m excited for people to see. I’m continuing my work with fashion designer Per Gotesson and bringing out the _A Call To Arms_ [merch](https://visionist.bandcamp.com/merch) range in collaboration with Heliot Emil & Peter De Potter.
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Photographed by [Ollie Radford](https://instagram.com/olradford?igshid=tn3z6mcdoiqx)
Styled by [Andréa Käding](https://www.instagram.com/andreakading/)
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