Konstantinos Soublis, aka Fluxion, has been quietly pushing the boundaries of dub techno and experimental electronic music for over two decades. His latest album, Haze, represents a profound exploration of musical storytelling. For CDM, he breaks down that work track by track and dives into his thought process, then and now.
Words: David Abravanel
Soublis is now back in his homeland, Greece, but his first Fluxion releases emerged from the influential 90s Berlin dub techno scene on the legendary Chain Reaction label. Alongside contemporaries like Basic Channel, Monolake, Porter Ricks, and the (underappreciated!) Hallucinator, Soublis mined spatial territory with noise and motion.
Over many prolific years, Soublis has brought Fluxion to other labels like Echocord and his own Vibrant Music. Forays into more cinematic, jazzy, and contemplative sound have marked his last few albums, including 2021’s Parallel Moves and 2020’s Perspectives. The just-released Haze, however, marks something of a Gesamtkunstwerk statement from Soublis, covering smoky techno thumps, lush evolving chords that betray modern classical influence, and an ever-keen ear for space.
Plus, that cover art! I mean, just look at it:
Cover art for Fluxion’s new album, Haze (Vibrant Music)
I recently spoke to Soublis about his creative process, musical philosophy, and the intricate stories woven into his latest work. In an electronic music space where experienced musicians are often pushed and pulled between atavistic expectations and amorphous definitions of “relevance” and “originality”, it’s truly a joy to hear from someone who navigates a different path.
Your promotional material talks about telling stories through your music. How do you approach narrative without words?
For me, storytelling is about creating connections between musical pieces. It’s not about forcing a specific narrative on listeners, but creating a meaningful journey. When I made Ripple Effect, for instance, I had this film noir concept in my mind – with heroes and emotional arcs. But it’s more a conceptual framework that helps me link different musical elements together. I’m not trying to pinpoint [the hypothetical film] for the listener to hear it in a specific way – but it makes sense to have stories in my head to connect pieces of music together.
Fluxion’s 2018 release, Ripple Effect
What stories would you attach to Haze, then?
The last couple albums that I recorded and released before Haze [2021’s Parallel Moves and 2020’s Perspectives] were from a generally turbulent period in my life, a lot of changes. I would say it was a rather emotional journey, those two albums. I consider them as something of a duet, and as a way of getting out of this period.
The title, Haze, says it – you can’t pinpoint it. It’s more trying to see how I can broaden the horizon of what I do, and incorporating other elements that I always like, like scoring or classical music. It’s branching out, because sometimes I get bored of doing something, of repeating myself. It’s me finding my way again after a certain period, trying to see where this whole thing is going.
Haze feels very intentional in its flow and sequencing. How do you approach creating an album versus individual tracks?
I’m always thinking in terms of longer piece lengths, it’s kind of how my head is wired. With an album, you have the flexibility to explore different moments and emotions. I want to combine multiple aspects of my musical interests – sometimes more danceable, sometimes more introspective. The album allows me to express a broader range of musical ideas without being confined to a single approach.
Arovane & Mike Lazarev – “Footsteps”
The single release that preceded Haze featured a couple of your edits of “Footsteps”, a track by Arovane and Mike Lazarev. How did you decide to start this latest phase like that?
I did two versions of “Footsteps” that Arovane and Mike Lazarev really liked. It felt strongly connected with some other things I’ve done on the album, in terms of the piano and some other tonal elements. I thought, ‘okay, let’s go with that first’ – not a grand plan, you know. But I wanted to see how this would reverberate with people.
Can you tell me about your musical background? How did you first start creating electronic music?
My first experience was with piano lessons as a child, which I really hated. I don’t have classical training or something like that; I studied electronic music technology starting when I was about 15 years old.
One of Fluxion’s early Chain Reaction releases, “Atlos”
What music technology did you start out with?
I had a computer and a couple of analog synths like a [Roland] SH-101 and [Roland] JX-3P, and a Sequential Circuits drum machine, if I remember correctly. I was using the mixer as a tool at the beginning, making long mixes – like one hour, one half hour – and then cutting them.
What I first approached Chain Reaction to work together, Moritz [von Oswald] was the one who kind of edited one track to the other. I was less concerned compositionally then, more focused on production, playing with frequencies, creating the elements, the idea of the musicality of something. Not the notes being placed, but frequencies and how they interacted.
Since about 2010, I slowly started to build into a more compositional aspect in my music. I differentiate the two periods.
Fluxion – “Inductance”, from the 2010 album Perfused on Echocord
Yeah – the early albums on Echocord sound very transitional.
I didn’t use to have the need, or the urge, to sit down and write parts. It was more questions and answers that were chords interacting for a duration and giving you the idea of a melody, plus atmospherics, of course. Through this period, slowly, I started to develop the need to write more.
Techno, since the beginning, it’s a way of producing which is mainly a jam – everything basically happens on the fly. You cannot create a lot musically on the fly, so you have to interact with what’s going on.
“Techno, since the beginning, it’s a way of producing which is mainly a jam – everything basically happens on the fly.”
What is your technical setup down? Did Haze come together more layered rather than jammed? For acoustic parts, are you working with studio musicians?
I’m using a lot of hardware and software combinations. I work with large sound libraries – it’s never players or recorded samples.
There’s a really interesting noise and pressure on the percussion on “Magenta” – how did you get it to ‘pop’ like that while maintaining space?
As a general rule, I never narrow the space in productions. I allow myself a lot of space so that the echo of each sound can blend and create something in the background. That’s where the atmospheres are coming from – it’s usually auxiliary parts with effect that are doing their thing while I’m doing something at the front.
Fluxion – “Magenta”
Do you ever find that you have to restrict yourself from adding more to a piece, or make sure you’re not crowding things out, or watch how much you’re compressing?
I have a general aesthetic for when I feel that a track is working. There’s nothing irritating – say, something that could overwhelm or distract you hard. I’m always cautious of how the background is being developed, why I’m creating a track, not allowing one thing to cover the whole space.
I do compress the background sounds to make them more rhythmical – then they all pump, go up and down in a more audibly pleasant way.
Fluxion – “Nexus”
One of my favorite pieces on Haze is “Nexus”, which is more subdued and melodically gorgeous. It almost feels like a drop to build tension?
I like it in connection with the other things that are going on in the album. I like variations in the album. At some point I could probably go melodic and atmosphere totally and drop out the beats for an album, but I like to allow myself the ability to feel the aesthetic direction of a song when I create it.
The cover art for Haze is some of my favorite that I’ve seen this year. What’s the story behind that photo?
It’s a photo I took in a Berlin art gallery that I went to with a friend. It has a certain vibe. It doesn’t say much, but you see that something is happening. You don’t really know what it is.
“I allow myself a lot of space so that the echo of each sound can blend and create something in the background.”
You’ve also got a track on Haze called “Berlin”, and you used to live there. What’s your relationship with the city?
I was coming and going for a long time, before COVID. I like the freedom that you have there, and the fact that you can bump into people over time and talk about art. “Berlin” is kind of how I feel about my relationship with Berlin – it’s more mechanical.
How do you balance music what the other aspects of your life?
I don’t want to talk about it in detail, but I have some other business that I’m involved in. I see a lot of people stressed with music. They have to constantly play live, which I understand because I was once there. I believe you can be much more creative if you can separate art for art’s sake, and do it when you want to be creative instead of being forced to have something to present. I realized at some point that for me it’s more health to not have to rely on music as a job as well.
Ed. After some insights into process and this mention of personal journeys, I can’t help but add this additional video, shot in the artist’s flat four years ago. Hmmm… four years ago; there was some reason we were all performing at home, wasn’t there? But apart from it being great to see someone play on just an Evolution UC-33e controller, it speaks to that intimate inner narrative.