5 Q&A With Cracksinthereal
Punk Head: Sound design feels like a primary language here, not just a texture. What role does experimentation play in your writing process versus emotional instinct?
Cracksinthereal: I've never really understood the distinction between sound design and composition. The texture of the piece is so important to me compositionally. I'm torn on the experimentation question, because I tend to have a plan, so that minimizes experimentation, but on the other hand I do tend to explore as many avenues as possible, which is experimentation. I think it's all in service of emotional instinct though.
Punk Head: The record carries a sense of unease without ever fully explaining itself. Do you see ambiguity as essential to the experience?
Cracksinthereal: Yes. Nothing puts me off faster than didactic art.
Punk Head: There’s a dreamlike quality throughout, fragmented, spectral, unresolved. Were you drawing from personal states of mind, or more abstract conceptual ideas?
Cracksinthereal: Both, and they're interwoven, but I don't want to answer this too exhaustively.
Punk Head: As a solo artist, you’re holding every element of this world yourself. Does that solitude shape the emotional weight of the album?
Cracksinthereal: I think so. I think I have a pretty clear, idiosyncratic voice, and adding another voice to that would substantially change it.
Punk Head: Compared to other moments on the record, “Dagaz” carries a strange clarity beneath the distortion. What made this one feel different?
Cracksinthereal: I mean I think I leaned a little more into pop influences.
