Just as reality seems ready to blow off in a gale, Whatever the Weather II is here on Ghostly to pull you back to earth and the grace of the everyday. Loraine James – or I should say, the artist, Whatever the Weather – talks to CDM about how this full-length came to life.
In this interview, Whatever the Weather is clear to refer to Loraine and Loraine James in the third person. And she’s earned complete focus on Whatever the Weather: the album instantly hits that sweet spot where you want to obsess over the music, keep it running as a soundtrack on repeat as much as you can. I loved volume I, but volume II feels like an instant Ghostly classic. It reminds me of the days when I was in New York, fixating on the imprint, floating off into other sonic worlds as if they were a flood of color and feeling. I don’t know that Ghostly International had drifted from that, but maybe it had been a while since I had that relationship to listening. It’s urgent in volatile times to find it.
Whatever the Weather II feels spontaneous, unstudied, but intentional. Each track is economical and composed even as it’s flowing. They sound familiar, like you’ve already had this album on repeat. There are nuanced, unassuming modal harmonies. It’s music that feels richly emotional but ambiguous; you can project your current state into it. It doesn’t push at you like a lot of releases now; you don’t feel the artist shouting over your own inner world with the production.
It’s eight degrees now in Berlin, but cloudy, and you feel the tug back toward winter as the nighttime temps head back to freezing. It sounds warmish for this time of year, but maybe the world feels a little cold right now. The sound of a couple kids playing nearby my flat echoes atop the playground sounds on the release.
“Can’t wait to be… summer…”
Portrait images of Whatever the Weather: Darryl Daley
Artwork provided by Ghostly International
Cover Photo: Collin Hughes
Design: Justin Hunt Sloane
Interview via Zoom; lightly edited.
CDM: So I’ve already talked about the single. I really appreciate the full album having spent some time with it now – deeply felt and with lots of detail.
WTW: Yeah, I really enjoyed making this one – hopefully that’s felt.
The first one, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with it. I think I’m falling more in love with the project. It felt less like a side thing this time around.
What drove you to do the first project versus this one; what was the impetus the first time around?
Ghostly International reached out about wanting to do a record with me. I’ve been a big fan of Ghostly for years, right – Lusine and Shigeto and everyone. So I was, like, oh my God — but I really don’t imagine Loraine on this thing; I just don’t see it!
Yeah this one sounds like Ghostly to me, no question. So the first one was more like an assignment, a challenge?
A little bit like that! The main issue with the first one – I don’t think it’s bad or anything, but I was making Reflection at the same time. So I didn’t have my whole intention on it. I was wanting the bigger second Loraine thing to be really good, so that was more my priority. And at first, I didn’t know if I wanted people to know it was me.
Now I’ve done a few shows under that alias, and I really like it. It’s a nice change from the Loraine thing. It’s nice to have something else.
I can imagine what you mean, creatively – especially when the ideas are flowing, you can almost distract yourself. This one sounds really focused.
Yeah, I made sure I wasn’t doing anything else during that time. It was a much more pleasant and enjoyable experience.
At what point did you pick the temperatures as framing element? Was it something you knew you wanted to do from the start or did it happen after the fact?
I usually think of song names or album titles, all that, at the end – after I finish making it. With the first one, I couldn’t imagine it with words, whatever. Why not Celsius? And then I was like – aw, that’s really silly. So I was doubting myself about doing it; it was too on the nose. For the second one, I was like do I change it, do I make it Fahrenheit or something? Fahrenheit is pretty much only used with the US, right? I was like, no, alienate you guys for once. I don’t need to change it.
They’re so evocative, though; it makes sense. You could do a remix album with Kelvin. Even reading it, people have this association with a feeling, right?
When I take my producer hat off and I listen – it’s kind of boring, does this feel cold or does this feel hot. It’s also if I listen to 12 degrees now, it might feel colder to me. That changes – even if it’s three degrees outside, but you see the sun is out. So all the degrees have an asterisk next to them. It’s open. It’s nice to see when people say, oh this feels colder. There’s no right or wrong.
How long was the process of working on this?
This one was a few months. With any album I make, I don’t like to spend too long – definitely under a year. I like it to be a focused period of how I’m feeling, from A to B. I feel like if I took some years on an album, I would just end up hating a lot of it because I’d be in a very different place than I was two years ago. That’s not by choice – that’s always how it’s been. But I’d like to keep it that way.
It feels like a set of different moods. Did you set out to make these different emotional colors, or did it evolve into this particular array?
I never know how this album, or any album, is going to shape. A lot of this was playing around with different things – half outside of Ableton, outside of the DAW. Like the Tasty Chip GR-1 [granular synthesizer] I’ve had for a couple of years – I honestly do not really know how to use it. I usually run the Novation Peak. I’ll fiddle with the knobs and straight-up record it.
There’s a lot of me playing around with things, mainly having fun. I just press record, a lot of time not really to a click – play for four minutes. It’s like, this makes me feel very chill, this feels very relaxed — just playing to myself. And then I end the recording and I sit and – I won’t do anything with it.
Yeah, you can feel that. There’s enough hyper-edited stuff these days. It sounds even on the stuff that’s more layered, that it’s layered live on existing material, more of an organic process, if I understand correctly?
With “12 degrees,” the first single – it’s that synth that just plays. I bought the KORG SQ-64 [sequencer]. I run my Novation Peak with it. The drums I think were from the [Elektron] Digitakt. It was all just one take wiht the Peak, and the other with the Digitakt.
There are a couple of others that are more traditional in Ableton, but I think most of it has something outside of it.
“I’ll fiddle with the knobs and straight-up record it. There’s a lot of me playing around with things, mainly having fun.”
There’s a lot of nice, crunchy digital noise around and some nice fuzz and buzz from field recordings. What are we hearing?
A lot of it was field recordings – and I’d put that through Ableton Redux. I realized I don’t ever use that. So I was having a lot of fun with that. If I put the field recording just straight in, there was no energy, no feeling coming out. And there’s a lot of bloop-y bloop-y things with this Hikari Monos [drone/noise synth] thing that I love. I also like using it as percussion – I think in one of the later songs. Those two, I use to add a different layer than what you’ve heard in my stuff before.
Sometimes there is this gentle groove going on, or some kind of motion in a kind of textural way.
I definitely wanted that; the first album, the drums were heavier, especially “17 degrees” – sort of breaks. And I didn’t want that for a second. If there are drums, it’s quite minimal – or that kind of clicks and cuts stuff that I really enjoy listening to. I was inspired to have more of that type of rhythmic texture as opposed to full fat, more Loraine James-type drums; I didn’t want that on this one.
It reminds me of a lot of my favorite old Ghostly stuff. Do you feel more at home now as a Ghostly artist?
Yeah, this one definitely feels more Ghostly, or the older Ghostly stuff I used to listen to, as well. It’s maybe easier for me to say now that I’m happy with it because it’s fresher. The main thing for me at the end of the day is I did enjoy making it.
I feel really proud of this one – but I feel like I could also do better, as well, whatever that means.
That’s good in a way, though, right? Like you’ve entered some terrain you haven’t exhausted yet – some territory you can come back and explore more.
A hundred percent. There are so many different ways for us to do ambient. I’m looking forward to exploring that more in the future. Definitely, I’d be stressed if I said I’ve done all I can.
So yeah, my brain is always ticking, trying to go out of my comfort zone, trying to find something new. So I’m excited for whatever I’ll make under this and under my own name.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching too much Severance, but I wanted to ask about splitting the ambient personality from the other project. (“Your outie is playing club beats on a mainstage.”) Is it about dividing the time, or do you really think of the two things separately?
It’s weird because I kind of want Whatever the Weather to stand on its own two feet. But honestly, it’s kind of hard to promote and push out an ambient album. It’s more low key; it’s not – as loud? I don’t know. Like, I don’t want Loraine to be mentioned every two seconds with Whatever the Weather.
My brain is always ticking, trying to go out of my comfort zone, trying to find something new.
It feels like it was easier to promote ambient music before, back to early Ghostly – like it’s harder to get people to focus on things now.
Honestly, it’s so much harder. I’m also fed up of Instagram.
It’s so different to Loraine’s stuff. Loraine is louder and it’s more going on. There’s also usually some collaborators on it. It’s been quite interesting. And the climate is very different than it was a few years ago – it’s much harder to push things out. So I want to separate Loraine and Whatever the Weather, but it’s really hard.
It’s a s*** funky time, I’d say.
Yeah. Maybe that’s even a stronger argument to say to people, hey, chill out, go, put on some headphones, put your phone in flight mode. Like we all need it, right?
Honestly, that’s the kind of album. Go out on the street or travel or in your living room or whatever. Just grab some headphones and put it on and get on with your day. It’s not necessarily meant for intense listening. It could be background or foreground.
I like that kind of listening environment – walking around or doing dishes. Maybe you don’t want to know, but I wondered if there was any kind of narrative or connection to the field recordings you used – even if just for you?
Not a strong narrative. It’s more like – one was from when I was in Tokyo, another when I was in Paris. Those two places are definitely favorite places of mine. I really enjoyed Paris – I know people say it’s dirty and smelly, whatever. I like that what you see is what you get kind of thing. And Tokyo had really pleasant times, especially playing there, the crowd get it or try and ask questions, want to know everything. So Tokyo has become a very important place to me, also.
I just captured, if there’s kids playing tag. Paris, just people out on the street or the train, going about their day. It doesn’t have a direct meaning.
“Go out on the street or travel or in your living room or whatever. Just grab some headphones and put it on and get on with your day.”
I wanted to ask about the finishing, too – everything fits so nicely in the same space, how did it work on mixing and mastering and the collaboration with Josh? [Mastering is credited to Josh Eustis, also known as the sole remaining member of Telefon Tel Aviv]?
I mix it as poorly as I can – I’m really not a good mixer, but I do what I can. He mixed the first one, and I loved how much stronger he made it sound. I asked him to do Gentle Confrontation, as well, and this one again. I really like how he makes it all sound complete – and an added warmth that maybe I lacked when I mixed it.
I hand over stereo. So no stems.
I like that separation, though – even if you’re one person, to find some kind of objectivity.
Yeah, you need a very different head for that.
So what’s next for you?
I slowly started the new Loraine album – let’s see where that goes; I don’t know yet. I’m trying to make a lot of music, although I need to sort out my Whatever the Weather live set. But I’m really in a Loraine James headspace at the moment. That’s at the forefront of my mind right now. I’m just itching to.
Speaking of the background – what are you listening to in the background these days?
Ooooh…. I’ve listened to Basement Jaxx recently again – and enjoyed the new Baths album; that was really good. I’ve been listening to a lot of Dntel recently – him a lot, and I have this ambient playlist on Spotify. A lot of Fennesz on here. I was very late to the game – I think early last year, that late. But I ended up buying up four of the CDs or something, just obsessed with what he does. I can’t explain it; I love it. Hopefully, one day I’ll see him play.
Thanks. Can’t wait for both new projects and live sets, speaking of hoping to see an artist play.
The temperature has dropped a degree while I finished editing this. Whatever the Weather II is out now. And there’s a hat, which in this case is suitable for summer.
https://whateva.bandcamp.com/album/whatever-the-weather-ii
