Worriedaboutsatan Interview: “More people should be bass players!”

2024 marks 18 years of worriedaboutsatan, the now solo project of Bradford-based producer, Gavin Miller.

Following the departure of co-founder Tom Ragsdale in 2019, Miller has continued to add fascinating chapters to this ongoing story. Since the 2015 acclaimed Even Temper (This Is It Forever), the producer has channelled a vibrant endorphin rush-like energy, pulling from the sound worlds of Brian Eno and Jon Hopkins to the warmer corners of tech-house where all paths lead to the dance floor.

Worriedaboutsatan is all about purity. Producing new music at a blinding rate, it almost defies belief at the immaculate nature of Miller’s work. His compositions, emitting a translucent sound, transporting the listener to some futuristic metropolis. By pulling your mind to these places, in many respects, it makes the worriedaboutsatan project one of a world-building variety.

Last year’s excellent Falling But Not Alone (Wolves & Vibrancy Records) sparked the same senses as Even Temper, but even then, Miller covered new ground, purifying the muddy waters that have contaminated post-rock over recent years. And Miller’s latest long-player, Ricochet, continues to do the same.

From the first note of the eponymous opening track, the hooks are in. The creeping guitar and sinewy grooves, shining a light into the cobwebbed corners where Labradford once inhabited.

Elsewhere, Circle of Glyphs and What Do You Remember about Summer underline the locality the worriedaboutsatan canon offers. The spectral echoes drifting across the M62, and Miller barrels further into this darkness with Fremdkörper. A track of warped sound design cloaked in motorik tech-house.

On closing cut, Hidden Images, Miller essentially crafts a collage of what worriedaboutsatan is. The juxtapositions of euphoria and darkness; tones light and heavy; imagery day and night. It’s all here with a piece that emphatically culminates Ricochet.

Earlier this month, Miller answered a series of questions about Ricochet, his influences and his creative process. Coincidently (or not considering his constant output), today Miller releases the remix from fellow British producer Nathan Fake of the worriedaboutsatan track, More Meat for the Grinder, which you can listen to below.

Sun 13: Do you remember the first record that inspired you to produce music under the worriedaboutsatan moniker?

Gavin Miller: “There were two, really – dEUS’ The Ideal Crash made me want to play in a band and make music – I’d been playing guitar for a few years at that point, but that album made me sit and think, ‘Oh boy, I need to do something like this!’ Then there was Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children – that made me want to explore electronic music a bit further, and so hearing that record, it was amazing because it sounded exactly like the stuff I really love about music, but just played through synthesisers – the weirdness, the melodies, the rhythms, it had it all! So with ’Satan, I wanted to smush the two together and see if I could get away with making this sort of stuff on my own!”

S13: The one aspect I’m always drawn to with your music is that it’s so well produced. Is technology something that you are always looking to build upon to improve your sound?

GM: “No, not especially. Obviously, it helps if you have lots of gear, but my setup is fairly rudimentary compared with others. I have a few bits kicking about, but nothing that you’d think, ‘Oh wow, look at this guy’s studio!’ It’s all crammed into a tiny box room as well, so I don’t have much physical space to start collecting modular stuff, or stacking synths all over the place! I also like to keep things quite low key – I still do everything on a battered old laptop from 2008, so it’s very limiting with what you can do, but the trick (and fun!) is finding ways around it… finding ways of working that don’t necessitate a whole bunch of plug ins, or mad walls of synth, etc.”

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S13: Can you tell us about the process behind the making of Ricochet?

GM: “With this one, I wanted the whole thing to start with really small sounds – like glitches and clicks and weird bits of tape hiss, that sort of thing, and then gently unfurl into something that sounds a lot bigger and warmer – like, loads of layers and big bits of percussion. I always like to go in with an idea in mind, and then see how far I can push it, so this album was all about this one particular feeling that it should sound quite organic. There are lots of voices, and guitars and even my trusty old bass guitar all on there in amongst the synths and drum machines. Playing bass is great, by the way – more people should be bass players! It definitely took me out of the whole ‘right, now I have to program this bass synth to do this bassline’ sort of thing, and frees you up to have fun and experiment.”

S13: What was the most important aspect you wanted to achieve on the record and was it any different to your previous releases?

GM: “I definitely wanted to give it that rusted, worn-in sort of feeling, like it’s an electronic record but played through a knackered old tape player or something like that. I wanted it to be different from previous albums, and I wanted it to have a more ‘played in’ feel, so not be super concerned with loops and grids, and more about actually playing stuff in and getting a bit tactile – turning and twisting knobs as it gets recorded, rather than doing it afterwards, making sure the guitars sounded good going in, and leaving little imperfections here and there, things like that.”

S13: There’s a really beautiful atmosphere to the record. I get echoes from the Kompakt touchstones throughout. Is that scene one you’ve been influenced by?

GM: “Oh, absolutely! Around the time of Arrivals, the first ’Satan album, we were listening to a lot of that Kompakt stuff, and just a lot of atmospheric techno in general. Stuff like The Sight Below, GAS, The Field, etc. It’s definitely a scene I’ve kept up with over the years too, properly formative!”

S13: I also get a feeling of that misty, wintry Trans Pennie imagery. How much does your local surroundings influence your work?

GM: “A lot! Living up here is nice as there’s a really cool experimental scene in and around Shipley and Saltaire, and then as you broaden out you find little pockets of weirdo scenes everywhere – Todmorden, Sowerby Bridge, Halifax, etc. There must be something about these rustic Northern towns that affects people in similar ways, I think – there’s a balance between a lot of old industry and nature – cotton mills and rolling hills, that sort of thing. Plenty of odd, forgotten history about these places too, which I don’t think you’d find to the same degree anywhere else.”

S13: Your output is so prolific, are you working on music every day?

GM: “No, I work a day job, so music takes a back seat to that really! When I get in the mood to record something though, I do it in bursts – so I’ll be really focused on recording for a few days and just smash through as much as I can, then work on it in little pockets of time that I have free.”

S13: Continuing with your process, do you need to map out ideas before recording an album, or is it more about following your nose?

GM: “A little of both, but before I do anything, I’ll always have an idea about what I want it to sound like in my head first – even if it’s just a loose sort of, ‘Oh imagine if HTRK had a jam with Can’ or something silly like that. I’ll always want a structure like that to work within, then I’ll just throw a ton of ideas at it and follow my nose within it, see what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes I’ll get really fed up that something doesn’t sound quite right, so I’ll re-build it, or just scrap huge chunks out of it and it’ll start to click once I get a fresh head on it!”

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S13: Are you someone who has their finger on the pulse of new music, or do you like to stay within your own sphere and not get distracted by what your contemporaries are doing?

GM: “I listen to a lot of new stuff, and always love to investigate anything and everything that comes my way – I think you should always have an ear for stuff outside your bubble, and try to take something from different places. It’s way more fun doing that, too!”

S13: Given the current state of artistic culture around the world and particularly in the U.K. following Brexit, as a solo producer, do you see your endeavours as a little more future proof in comparison with, say, a four-piece band?

GM: “I suppose so, in that context, but I guess none of us are having much joy in the music biz as a whole. I think Brexit is quite possibly the worst thing that’s happened to this country in my lifetime, so having to deal with that on top of everything else is just… not great. Being on my own does make things easier in some instances, but for the majority I think we’re all swimming in the same shit, sadly!”

S13: Do you think worriedaboutsatan best represents your personality?

GM: “Good question! I think so yeah, as the band is definitely an extension of who I am as a person. Sophie (my other half) joins me on some of the records, and plays with me live, which is really nice, so she’s probably a better person to ask!”

Ricochet is out now. Purchase from Bandcamp.