Cerebral Yet Accessible: Exclusive Premiere of Rioux's "I Understand Now"

Logo artwork by Peter Richards.

In the unpredictable, capricious ocean known as the music industry, only the most innovative, talented, and resourceful artists are able to surface to the top. Brooklyn-based NYU senior, Erin Rioux, is a producer, songwriter, and performer, who strictly goes by his last name Rioux (pronounced ree-you). With influences as diverse as David Lynch and Creator Jamie xx, Rioux crafts elaborate, dream-like productions with organic instrumentation.

Over the past three years, Rioux has released four EPs, one full-length album, and has toured extensively in the New York area. We caught up with Rioux over email, who’s gearing up for his next show at NYC’s Mercury Lounge this coming Monday, March 19. Check out the premiere of his track “I Understand Now” below.

Music written and performed by Rioux; Lyrics by Sophia Le Fraga

The Creators Project: First off, I'm interested in how you might categorize yourself as an artist. I understand you're a musician, but you pair your music with psychedelic visuals. What do you feel they add to your music?
Erin Rioux: I’m a musician and producer who’s always asking myself, “How experimental can I be?” Additionally, I always try to see the beauty in the question “How many people can I reach?” I’ve always been interested in exploring sound and vision, and creating immersive, multi-sensory environments. Pairing my music with visuals helps to create a transcendental effect.

Can you tell me a bit about how you make your music? Do you use real instruments or is it strictly digital? What specific programs do you use?
My creative process usually begins with going on an adventure and collecting ideas. That’s really important to me before I can even start to think about selecting sounds and building loops to tell some kind of story. I use a lot of real instruments like guitar, drums, trumpet, piano, vocals, and kalimba. Instead of performing a specific part, I’ll often sample myself and program a new sequence in Ableton Live, which is what I use to record.

Photo Credit: Sophia Le Fraga

Do you create music first and pair it with a visual component later, or does it happen simultaneously?
The music has always come before the visuals, unless I’m scoring a film.

Who creates the visuals for the music? How closely do you work with him/her? How much creative direction do you offer throughout this process?
Josh Cabrido creates the visuals for my music. We did an audiovisual album together, called Everything You Need Is Right Here. We brainstorm together but ultimately leave each other’s element up to the one who’s making it.

You've mentioned to me before the prominent role technology plays in what you do. How do you feel your work has progressed with the recent strides in music technology?
I use a software called Ableton Live to automatically change the sounds that are produced by my MIDI drum pad and keyboard. You can perform sounds that don’t come from musical instruments. John Cage said that all sounds have a musical potential and technology is helping everyone explore this.

How do you feel your work fits into the ever-changing music industry? Is there a sense of keeping up you feel influenced or even encouraged by?
A lot of people talk about how volatile the music industry is, like it’s this uncontrollable force, but it’s important to have the right perspective and attitude. We’re not victims of a changing industry, but rather the ones who get to change it! Everyone’s work fits into the changing industry because every day someone makes a record. I’m really down with the frequent-release model as opposed to the album every three years tradition. If you let it stress you out I guess it feels like you have to keep up, but I think it’s cool musicians are slowly turning into radio stations, always broadcasting. That’s beautiful.

You recently spent a few months in Berlin. Has this influenced your work?
Berlin had a huge influence on my life, and the influence on my work followed. The dance music culture in Berlin was really refreshing, and after seeing so many DJ/producers I realized that I really want to be producing other peoples’ records in addition to making my own stuff. I also met a lot of new friends and collaborators, including Sophia Le Fraga who wrote the lyrics for “I Understand Now.”

To learn more about Rioux’s music, follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

@packyouralex